The Reluctant Vassal's Guide to Living in the Frontier (with some Treason)

Dr Tamara Trench's Guide to the Realms and Peoples of the United Empire: The Preatorium of Sakuya-Hime

Founding of Sakuya-Hime and the Power of the MtM-Interface:
Ever since humanity first discovered them, diamonds have been a sign of wealth and prestige and not even FTL travel could carry humanity out of its love for the rocks. The mass-production of laboratory grown diamonds would sate much of the appetite, but this only meant that natural or "True Diamonds" became even more sought after by those who could afford them and no strain of diamond was as sought after as Pink Diamond.

Pink diamonds are the rarest of all diamond colours, to the extent that even the constant expansion of human space in the Age of Expansion could sate the need for natural pink diamonds, with only a handful of worlds being able to profitably support pink diamond mine operations.

One of these handful of worlds is Sakuya-Hime. When it was first discovered it was largely ignored, an extremely volcanically active planet, with a thick, toxic atmosphere which barely allowed any life to exist. But when a survey drone discovered a deposit of pink diamond, all such shortcomings could be forgiven.

The Kagoshima Mineral and Gemstone Corporation (KMGC) would establish a settlement to administer the mining and surveying operation and build several hundred bases across the planet to house the mining crews. But these mining crews wouldn't be the normal type, no, the environment was far too hostile for that, so in order to feed the eternal diamond hunger, cutting-edge tech was needed.

Enter the Mind to Machine Interface, a revolutionary piece of tech developed by the Empyrean Technologies Corporation, which allows the user to temporarily upload their minds to a mechanical body. Sakuya-Hime would be the testbed for the tech, its miners serving as lab rats.

While the tech would prove to have a slow yet steady decaying effect on the human mind, it was still effective in boosting productivity and lowering deaths to an acceptable amount, making it an undisputed success.

The Sakuyan people would suffer under both the boot of corporate rule and the deadly environment of their new home, yet would, like on all planets, manage to develop their own culture and customs. One difference with the Sakuyans however, is the divided way they walked.

The Sakuyans were never a single, unified group, split between City Sakuyans living in the planet's only city of Ninigi and Ashland Sakuyans living in the various mining bases, them, in turn divided based on whichever of the hundreds of bases they originated from. Still, even as the hostile atmosphere made for little contact between these groups, they managed to work together in relative harmony, the Ashland Sakuyans extracting and transporting the diamonds and the City Sakuyans shaping and exporting them.


Development of Sakuya-Hime and invention of the Volcano Wanderers:
Humanity's grasp over the galaxy grew even wider and its wealth grew ever greater. Pink diamonds flowed like a river out of Sakuya-Hime and into the wider galaxy. But more mines were needed to sate even a fraction of the demand.

The problem with expansion was that the largest deposits were found, not in the black mountains and ash deserts, but in the volcano lands, a place the robotic suits couldn't even traverse. But in the face of human ingenuity, nature would never prove an insurmountable obstacle. Once more, KMGC and Empyrean would work together, this time to design a new generation of MtM compatible robots. What they designed was the Volcano Wanderers.

Until this point, the mining robots used had been largely human in size and form, this having proven to reduce the mental decay MtM using humans experienced. For the Volcano Wanderers, this rule was thrown out in the name of efficiency. These new robotic bodies would be more like giant mechs, a horizontally long frame with long, flexible legs would allow for not only easy movement across the hostile planet, but their great size would even allow them to function as transport vehicles.

KMGC and Empyrean had once again brought about a breakthrough in human-centric machinery and an explosion in productivity followed, making the Volcano Wanderers design and implementation more than worth it.

The Volcano Wanderers proliferation across the planet's mining bases did however lead to an increase in cases of Machine Psychosis. Machine Psychosis was the name for the endpoint of mental decay that MtM workers experienced, in which an individual's mind couldn't handle changing between their human and robot body anymore, leading to erratic behaviour, organ failure and eventual death. The huge differences between the human body and the Volcano Walkers only sped up this process.

This proved especially bad for Ashland Sakuyan society, as the MtM workers were held in high regard and often served as community leaders. With their leaders more erratic and unstable than ever before, Ashland Sakuyan society as a whole grew more unstable and the transhumanist ideas so common among MtM workers grew more and more common.

But while the Ashland Sakuyans suffered through the last days of the Age of Expansion, the City Sakuyans thrived, as the productivity increase brought by the Volcano Wanderers brought about a golden age for the city. Ninigi became a regional trade centre, its finely crafted diamonds renowned across the galaxy


Troubles of Sakuya-Hime and the Hegemony of the MtM Interfaces:
The Age of Troubles was harsh for Sakuya-Hime. The destruction of KMGC during the Burning of Luyten and the takeover of Empyrean by the Kheproni left Sakuya-Hime without a suzerain, ripe for picking. Still, the planet wasn't defenceless. In the early days of the Age of Troubles, Ninigi had constructed impressive defences for the city, from shield arrays to massive land-to-space artillery.

So when the first enemy, the Nippan Federation, came to Sakuya-Hime, their first assault was completely crushed. The RenTech Corporate Dominion likewise tried attacking the city with its fleet and was likewise handed a crushing defeat.

But while the City Sakuyans fought for their new-found independence, change was stirring in the ashlands. The breakdown of interstellar trade meant a breakdown in the traditional Ashland Sakuyan way of life, in which diamonds were sold in exchange for basic necessities, such as food and water. It did not take many years until chaos and famine gripped the ashlands.

While there were attempts to restart trade with Ninigi and the wider galaxy, all but a handful of groups were turned away as the decline in trade left Ninigi similarly (but not as extremely) lacking in basic necessities.

Each mining base attempted to deal with this new age in different ways. Some resorted to cannibalism to stretch out their food stores, mass population cullings were not unheard off and other similarly brutal actions grew common. But a handful of bases walked a different road.

While inside of a Volcano Wanderer, the MtM worker didn't need to either eat, drink or sleep, meaning they could survive indefinitely in these harsh conditions. All the Wanderers needed was electricity for their batteries, but easily accessible geothermal energy made that a non-problem. The only problem was Machine Psychosis, but these bases all, independently of each other realised, if an MtM user simply didn't go back to their organic body, they wouldn't be afflicted by Machine Psychosis. It was a radical idea, to permanently abandon their human forms, but in these times it had to be done.

The first to do it were the regular MtM workers, the leaders of the bases. Their transformation allowed for these bases to further stretch their supplies, but everyone knew, as long as humans of flesh and blood remained, the stores would run out, sooner or later.

While the need to transition their populations into machine forms was obvious, no single base had enough Volcano Wanderers to outfit an entire base's population. So another hard decision was made, to go out and gather more Wanderer robots from other bases.

The Ashland Sakuyans who had transitioned ventured out into the ashlands to find more robots to be able to save their friends and families from starvation. Many bases had by now entirely died out, making the collection of their robots relatively easy. More desperate Sakuyans resorted to attacking other bases, stealing their Volcano Wanderers. As the first handful of bases carried out these kinds of expeditions, the concept of an entirely machine population as a way to survive spread. Soon more bases joined this giant competition for survival.

After this age of consolidation, known among the Sakuyans as "The Great Reduction", there remained only 82 Ashland Sakuyan societies left, they the only ones having managed to transition their entire populations.

At about the same time the Nippans returned to Sakuya-Hime, once more to try and the planet for themselves. This time however, they had a plan. While Ninigi was a formidable fortress for any enemy fleet, the Nippans would try to secretly land a small force in the ashlands, to attack the city from the ground, while their fleet attempted another landing.

This expeditionary force would find itself quickly reduced by the hostile environment, but did manage to survive, all thanks to the Ashland Sakuyans. When the Ashland Sakuyans were informed of the invaders mission, they surprised the Nippans by demanding to join in the attack on Ninigi. The Ashland Sakuyans had over the ages grown to despise their city-living cousins and wished to punish them by allying with the Nippans.

The Nippan force managed to organise a massive alliance of Ashlander clans (The Nippans called them clans due to the groups family structures and the name stuck around even after the Nippans left) in their assault on Ninigi, inflicting a decisive defeat on the City Sakuyans. In the aftermath the Nippans occupied the city, while also properly restarting the diamond trade which had been dormant for so long.

The Ashland Sakuyans forms were perfectly designed to harvest the pink diamonds and the Nippan Federation was large enough at the time to make for a suitably big market. So, in exchange for their loyalty and a restart of diamond mining, the Nippans gave the Ashland Sakuyans extensive autonomy and an equitable deal in the diamond trade.

This status quo would continue for the rest of the Age of Troubles. While the instability of the wider galaxy meant that the city would change hands, as regional polities rose and fell, the Ashland Sakuyans were largely isolated from such conflicts. Whoever wanted their share of the diamond trade had just to occupy Ninigi and make a deal with the clans, meaning that any loss of life fell on the City Sakuyans, something the Ashland Sakuyans were completely fine with.

The City Sakuyans as a culture would never really recover from their loss of independence. They would become second class citizens in their own city, slowly being replaced by citizens of whatever power happened to own the city at the time.

Unification of Sakuya-Hime and the Introduction of the SBTs:
When a previously unknown fleet entered the system, the Sakuyans could be forgiven for thinking it just another invasion fleet by some regional power. When the Stellarch's fleet arrived above Ninigi, they had merely threatened an invasion by their overwhelming fleet for the local leader to surrender the city. The Stellarch could have stopped there, like so many before, but they instead decided to descend to the planet and journey into the Ashlands.

The Ashland Sakuyan clans had continued living separately in their clans, only gathering together in temporary alliances when the time called for it. But the Stellarch wished to unify the Ashland Sakuyans like they had unified so much of humanity already, but whenever the Stellarch met with any of the clan chiefs (known as Uji) and told them of their wish, the Uji all asked the same question, why would they agree to it? And to these merchants of the Ashland the Stellarch had one offer which they could not refuse.

The Ashland Sakuyans had, ever since the Great Reduction, been a purely mechanical people, without the ability to reproduce and while their bodies made them ageless and hard to kill, their population did still shrink and they had no way of making children.

So to solve this, the Stellarch offered to give them the knowledge of the Standard Biological Templates(1), a cloning technology which could produce entirely new life, in exchange for them uniting under one leader, appointed by the Stellarch. With the potential that the SBTs represented, the Ashlanders agreed. Using the SBTs the Ashland Sakuyans were able to build cloning vats in their bases, growing humans who could then be uploaded into newly built Volcano Wanderers.

The Ashland Sakuyans had long since moved away from any desire to return to bodies of flesh and blood, having come to see their mechanical bodies as almost divine manifestations of mankind's ingenuity and willpower. But until the Stellarch gave them this final tool by which they could become a complete society, they had been in a slow decay.

With joy in their (figurative) hearts, all 82 Uji of the Ashland Sakuyans swore undying loyalty to the Stellarch. From among these 82, the Stellarch elevated one to become Praetor of Sakuya-Hime, the Stellarch's representative on the ashen planet.


"Dear Diary, I cannot wait to get off this bloody planet.
I do not mean to imply that the people were in any way unkind or that I didn't enjoy learning of the Sakuyans history and culture, but the planet is far too warm for anyone to be truly comfortable.
Well, let's begin the story somewhere fitting, how about the beginning?
I arrived to Sakuya-Hime five days ago. To be specific, I arrived to Ninigi, the planet's only city and spaceport. It's not an especially beautiful city, since it is constantly covered in several layers of ash and dust, making the city a landscape of greys and blacks. Quite fitting seeing as the surrounding ash desert is about the same colour.
But not everything in Ninigi was bad. My contact and host on Sakuya-Hima was one Director Hannah M. Howard, one of my fellow countrymen. We both left our home planet to travel the galaxy, me to write the book you're currently reading, she to participate in the galactic diamond trade.
It felt like meeting family and we got along very well. The food I was served tasted as if it was cooked by my own cooks back home. For such a small city, Ninigi is very diverse, meaning the access to ingredients even from my distant homeland was easily available.
I spent two days at her townhouse, learning the history of the city from her and several of her staff, who were native Sakuyans (Specifically City-Sakuyans. If you've read the chapter this excerpt should be placed below, you can probably guess why the distinction is so important to them). I didn't venture outside as much as I might have wished, the climate truly is horrible and the climate suits you need to use are a hassle to get in and out of.
On my third day I began my journey into the Ashlands. A clan of Ashland Sakuyans had arrived to sell their goods in the city and were gracious enough to allow me to travel with them (for only a small fee, which was well worth it).
I travelled in a sealed container made specifically to allow the Ashlanders to carry us smaller humans around, it even had windows, though I will admit that the environment was kinda repetitive. (2)
We finally arrived at one of their bases. It was way bigger than what I assumed a mining base would have been, though in hindsight it feels quite obvious. The Volcano Wanderers aren't small and the bases have probably been expanded to fit them all.
One thing I found even more surprising though was that there were a few flesh and blood humans walking around too. Apparently the Ashland Sakuyans reproduce via cloning. When someone wants to have a child or the clan just needs more people, they purchase biological material (usually blood) from one of a handful of specialists in Ninigi, slot it into the material into a cloning vat and then wait until the kid is finished.
The children are kept flesh and blood until they're about 15 years old, which is when they are uploaded into a Volcano Wanderer. It's an interesting society and it was even more interesting to live with them for a couple of days. The children asked me a bunch of questions about life outside of the bases. One child even asked why I haven't gone into a robot seeing as I'm so old (one of the adults, who I assumed to be one of the child's parents scolded him for that and told him to apologise. It was a weird yet kinda cute exchange). I did also get the chance to ask my own questions and I learnt a lot about the history of the Ashlands and the Ashland Sakuyans, both from oral stories and from their massive collection of documents (they take preserving their history very seriously).
On the third day I was escorted back to Ninigi, but not before I bought a souvenir. Sakuya-Himan Pink Diamonds are renowned across the United Empire and really bloody expensive. I should know, I own several pieces of jewellery with such diamonds. But anyhow, I had the honour of buying a couple of raw uncut pink diamonds directly from the Sakuyan who mined it. It wasn't cheap, but I didn't regret buying them for even a second.
Anyhow, when I got back to Ninigi, I spent one last night with Director Howard. During the goodbye dinner I gifted her one of the diamonds I had bought as thanks for her hospitality (She made a joke about us "not being that close"... I definitely didn't find it funny).
The next day I got on the ship and am currently procrastinating organising my scientific notes, while on the way to the next system."
-Excerpt from the Personal Diary of Dr Tamara Trench


Footnotes:
(1) The Stellarch had before their arrival to Sakuya-Hime, met and integrated the United Kingdoms of Hallon, who are the original developers of the Standard Biological Templates. They had provided the Stellarch the schematics for the SBT vats and its associated technology.
(2) I learnt from Director Howard that I wasn't the first non-Ashlander to visit one of the Ashland bases, though most people who visit are merchants or lapidarists.

---

I actually managed to get this out before midnight, which is neat. Hyperfixations are great!

Another exotic planet and people Tamara has visited, though probably not one she plans on visiting again anytime soon, even if the diamonds are very nice.
We also learn some more about the author, like the fact the good doctor isn't exactly strapped for cash.

Speaking of diamonds, I do wonder how much of the House Iris Separatists GDP goes to just buying Sakuya-Hime diamonds. It's a luxury and a damn good looking one at that.

Next chapter will probably be Khepron. I've mentioned it several times and have some plans for it already (like hot AI women), though I probably not have it out tomorrow. I've been writing a lot these last few days and I don't know when the muses will decide to punish me for my hubris.

Anyhow, cheers to Dr Trench and her mission to bankrupt the galaxy's students by forcing them to buy the latest edition of her book, EVERY. YEAR.

Edit: Btw, if you wanna get an rough understanding on how the Volcano Wanderers look, google "robot police dogs". They look a bit like that, except with more flexible joints and an actual head.


/Royalist

(Construct Chain (Chrysanthemum Scales): 29 +7 (Radana) +11 (Wealth) = 47)
(Construct Chain (Chrysanthemum Scales): 52 +7 (Dorothea) +11 (Wealth) = 70)

Progress: 4/4. Finished!

New Helm has built Chrysanthemum Scales.

When one thinks of the Brilliance Knights, they tend to immediately think of the more prominent and famed branches such as the Rose Knights, those who excel in the martial arts. If not them, then the Lycrois Knights who help keep peace and order in their local communities, prominent public figures who demonstrate a mix of compassion and resolve to do whatever is needed for the smiles of all. But these branches are only a fraction of their entire kind, just those who happen to be the most public.

Yet those who work behind the scenes such as the Poppy and Camellia Knights do invaluable work themselves, the silent majority that helps keep society functioning in day to day activities. They are still ordained and honored with circuits to augment their bodies, but their responsibilities are instead towards the mundane duties and minutia instead of frontline combat or public glory. Make no mistake, they are still skilled experienced warriors in their own regard, still armed and armored with the Solarium of the Helmsmen. However, it is not in the radiance of the stars, but the warmth of the suns that they draw their power from.

Dorothea of the Lycoris Knights knew that without this warmth, she and many other far more public Brilliance Knights could not accomplish half of what was asked of them. So when she was asked by Radana of the Camellia Knights to aid in this construction for more background infrastructure, she wholeheartedly threw her support and grandly proclaimed it so. She put on a spotlight to the project in general mentions and spread word with those who counseled with her. Anything to help promote her colleague's efforts in a positive light that would eventually come around to supporting the Lycoris Knights as well.

With such public support available, Radana was able to facilitate and build strong ties between interested trade companies and organizations. When they made mention of needing a middleman venue to conduct such business, she need only smile and gesture to the burgeoning foundations of the Chrysanthemum Scales. Soon, the project was certainly not lacking in either sponsors, budgeting, or skilled contractors.

Little wonder then that it was complete within the cycle ahead of all projections, a feat that drew many a public eye. But in time, it is known that this grand market would soon become taken for granted and fade away in the background, an everyday venue that is not often remarked upon, only simply and flatly mentioned as where trade occurs. No glory, no spotlight, no prominence.

The way that these quiet Brilliance Knights like it.


(Design Ship (Wisteria-class): 84 +15 (Kat) +11 (Wealth) = 110)

Progress: 6/4. Finished!

You had to admit, there was a sort of eager giddiness bubbling from within you when you learned that the prototype was operational. Then when you were officially informed, there was a further surprise that Heliophile Voidworks believed it to be not just working, but ready for a shakedown orbit around the planet! You did do a quick check of your various bugs and leaks to make sure it wasn't a scheme, then eagerly accepted the invitation so.

Now here you were, standing on the bridge of the destroyer Wisteria, first of her class. There was a rather conspicuous lack of a ship prefix that you did question, but it was apparently because officially, Wisteria hadn't been commissioned and ordered by your government yet. She was only a prototype whose design was be refined and smoothed out while putting her through the trials, then her blueprints then became the property of House Iris once completed. The ship herself was still incomplete and would likely remain that way, until somebody bought or scrapped her from the company's assets.

You made a note to look into that, if only because many of you people would likely latch onto Wisteria for sentimental reasons. Perhaps you did as well, but there was more importantly a great opportunity to plant further information leaks within for more secret gathering, particularly if whoever was onboard felt confident and safe within these halls. Already you felt a dark haughty laugh threatening to spill from your lips, imagining being able to remotely listen in on gatherings of ship captains from afar.

There was quite tug at your side that helped stifle that, and you looked to see Kat twiddling her fingers nervously. "Um-m, we...we will launch now-w!" She stuttered and looked over to the volunteered crew of Wisteria. "A-a-activate the re...reactor!"

Even though her words were barely a whisper, the officers still heard and heeded the commanding Prism's command. Within moments, you could feel it, the subtle rumbling of the ship's distant power systems turning on for the very first time. The dimmed navigation and weapon stations of the bridge grew bright and the assigned personnel began to rapidly interface with those in front of them, intense looks of concentration on all their faces. Soon, reports began to fly and you watched Kat close her eyes to listen intently to them all.

"Reactor at seventy percent efficiency and growing! Time to eighty percent, thirty seconds!'

"All hull sections reporting green! Airlocks cycled and sealed!"

"Weapons online! Safeties...on!"

"Engine ignition confirmed! Thrusters, ready!"

"Docking controls established!" The one who called this out paused, then turned to face Kat. So did many others with expecting faces. "Ready whenever you are, ma'am."

"I...um…" The words fumbled coming out of her mouth and her face rapidly crew red in wake of so much attention outside her workshop. She became even more flustered with every passing second, resulting in her tongue twisting even further, creating a destructive loop that didn't have an easy out. Soon, the atmosphere on Wisteria's bridge grew awkward from the growing silence, everybody tensed and hoping the Hyacinth Prism would just bark the single command needed.

It's not going to happen. Kat's just not that sort of girl out of her workshop based on all my observations. You hid an exasperated sigh and gritted your teeth. You couldn't let this carry on any further and took a quiet step to her side, leaning down to whisper into her ear. "With your permission?"

A shaky nod, then you drew yourself to your full height, suddenly becoming the star of the moment. You took in a moment to mentally scream inside, then sucked in a deep breath with flashing eyes. "All hands! Ready yourselves, for today you may consider yourselves proud successors to those brave men and women from eons ago who first decided to leave Terra, leave Luna, leave Sol itself!" You declared, deciding to tack on some fancy words of encouragement that your best friend would have encouraged you use. "This humble vessel is not much, but it will herald a new generation of ships for House Iris. In that alone, take pride; for in the tradition we honor today, we launch a brighter future for us all!" Oops, that may be a little overboard. Wrap it up, wrap it up!

"So then! Prepare!" You gave a dramatic pause, then your hand shot out in a forwards motion. "Launch!"

On the outside, large clamps that had been holding the prototype destroyer in place while she was under construction for the last two cycles abruptly released with the hiss of hydraulic pressure. But instead of falling to the bottom of the deserted drydock, the ship immediately jolted forwards under the power of her own thrusters. It was slow at first, rising sluggish while it fought the planet's gravity, then it began to pick up speed. A reddish glow surrounded the outside plates when it warmed from the intense drag, one that petered out the longer and higher she climbed. Behind those glowing plates, crew members held on tightly while keeping wary eyes on the bulkheads, engineers ready to slam emergency alarms in case of faults.

Soon, Wisteria had broken the atmosphere and moving into the empty space around Andernia IV. Status reports echoed throughout the bridge from the officers at their stations, confirming that she had entered a stable geocentric orbit. Once the final adjustments were made and the appropriate thruster force applied, a ship-wide message was sent out announcing the successful launch. You didn't even need to listen in on the intercom to hear the cheers reverberating through the ship's hulls, the officers even allowing themselves to loosen up and smile in wake of the overwhelming success.

But after a few minutes, order was called for and the list was called upon, an exhaustive detail of every test the destroyer had to work through. It was likely a process that would continue even after you took a shuttle back down to New Helm, but one that would finalize any last minute changes that would need to be made for the Wisteria-class. You only stuck around for a few more hours before departing, satisfied that your first of many ship designs was off to a grand start. With that, you planned to relax and do a little recreational scheming in a dark room, only to arrive back to your office with Radana giving you a smug grin...and a video playing of your 'inspirational' speech.

As it had turned out, part of the shakedown orbit involved recording everything that occurs onboard for later review. This included the bridge before launch, and then somebody decided to do a public service by leaking a clip of it on online websites. Within hours, it become yet another rallying point for your people, thinking that you were definitely the true heir of the Solar King!

You spent the rest of the day locked in your office so the screams didn't escape the room. You could only hope that perhaps, given how public the launch was, that your sister was experiencing the same amount of grief.


(Send Spies: 98 +18 (Violet) +11 (Wealth) = 127)

Progress: 4/4. Finished!

The video ended, and the gathering of like-minded entrepreneurs was in an uproar.

"A destroyer! Your sister dares?!"

"More importantly, why were we not told until now?! Why has none dutifully reported such an act of rebellion beforehand?!"

"We are already struggling to establish trade with settlements to other planets, they are refusing our partnerships! At this rate, we can't even proceed with the plan to coerce them-!"

"Enough." The word echoed through the room, the voice augmented by pulsing circuits. There was a pause, then the speaker idly took a sip from a wine glass, smacking her lips. "Enough. I understand your concern, but please, let us remember our manners. This is a banquet, not a war gathering. We will address this in a manner befitting of the rightful rulers of this system."

There was a round of mumbling from the assembled, then chairs were gently scraped back into position to resume the feast. It soon became an awkward but tolerable silence broken up only by the sound of food and drink being consumed. For her part, the Solar Princess drank and ate daintily, seemingly not bothered at all by whatever her younger sister was up to.

Yet her eyes were sharp still, reflecting that serious thought was given to the affair at hand. Her gaze swept over the various finely dressed individuals at her table, eventually settling upon those who sat at the end, the newer members of her inner cabal. Specifically, sharply dressed man who calmly cut and at at the dinner without seeming worry, so she raised her voice. "These developments are unforeseen and unanticipated, so in which case I would like to hear the thoughts and opinions from those newly introduced tonight. A fresh mind could contribute considerable insight as to the machinations of what the pretender is aiming for."

There was a pause while the man realized that the Solar Princess was addressing him in particular, but still he properly finished his current chewing and made sure to drink from the goblet to freshen up. This raised her estimation for him, so she studied him carefully, especially when he began to speak. "Simply put, my Lady, it is clearly an attack on you."

"So it's war?!" A panicking individual blurted, only to pale in realization of their mistake. Indeed, it seemed at the Solar Princess did not tolerate those who disobeyed her standing orders when she gestured and guards marched into the room. They roughly grabbed at the offender and bodily hauled them away, uncaring about the pleas and begging for forgiveness.

Once that little distraction was gone, the Solar Princess spoke up. "So it's war?" She softly asked and her newest guest shook his head.

"Nothing so grand so far as I would believe, as she hasn't the guts your sire had." A few hackles rose at mention, but the very recent demonstration kept any further interruptions from occurring. "It is merely a public face to try and demonstrate her growing power. Much like how your eldest sister would do it."

Shadows crossed over her face. "Do not mention her again," She darkly ordered in a cold tone. "Your ignorance earns you one pardon. You have used it."

"I see. Then if I may continue my explanation independently, it is an attempt to shore up her image in hopes of possibly competing against you." His eyes locked onto hers. "What we see implies that this is the first of its kind, a prototype perhaps. Complete or not as well, it is only one ship, yet here she is flaunting it so. You would know best if she would be the sort of fool to do so."

"Hm." A finger tapped against the glass flute. "Perhaps so. She was...reclusive. Shy."

"Then why has such a video been shared?" He pushed, striking to the point he had sensed. "I call it for what it is: a paper tiger bluff. She projects power she doesn't have compared to you, my Lady. You may choose to respond however you wish, but it should be in a way that you see fit."

There was a long moment after the simple statement, one that was finally broken up by an approving smirk from the Solar Princess. "I do believe that you will need pay attention to changes made for the next gathering, as the seating arrangement is likely to be shuffled about." She inclined her head towards him. "Do not make such a foolish mistake at that time."

His heart finally settled back in his chest and he disguised a nervous swallow with a respectful nod. "I will strive not to." He couldn't believe his luck- it had gone just as those mysterious individuals had told, even about the mention of the First Princess! He paused, then subtly reached up to press a button on a pen attached to his breast pocket to deactivate it. No, it wasn't luck, he decided. It was his manners and cool analysis.

He'd work his way into becoming closer to her without them, and if they should try to demand him back, well now he had the damn favor of the Solar Princess! The commissioned enforcers would take care of them! But he'd have to damn careful to dispose of that pen they had gifted him- he didn't want anybody to ever learn of how he had even managed the first entry fee in the first place. Future fees was going to be an issue, but that was likely already taken care of judging by the interested looks from others around the table. He had made it, and he wasn't going to be anybody's puppet after erasing what he knew from them.

He settled more comfortably into his seat and tapped his foot, too used to the old wear and tear that disguised a false heel compartment with blinking electronics. This time, he didn't know about them.

- Violet's favorite tune? "I've got no strings on me"