We aren't yet. We don't view them as equipment yet. It would be incredibly easy to do so, and I bet we're going to do so barring write-in votes. Like, serious dedicated write-in votes constantly aiming her that way. But yeah, this Quest does fit a lot better if you just assume you're playing the villain. Maybe I should think of it that way.
Nah, we aren't a villain yet. We're a mook. We'd be a villain if we'd swapped positions with Peobody or Iglesias from the start of this though, because our allegiance to evil is our unconscious refusal to oppose it, our incomprehension that it is a thing that should be opposed - because that's all it has to be. I'm happy with that.
I'm aware its highly unlikely but it felt like something I should check.
Actually some more depth on the whole colonial nature of the setting would be nice. Because the various colonial nations through history, whilst similar tended to have fairly large differences.
I suppose so. I suppose the start made me feel we were probably flawed and imperialist, but I was honestly more imagining the later British sort of thing...which is to say, deeply horrible.
But we've apparently literally brought back the evils of the pre-modern empires (like Rome, as you mentioned) and then added the evils of modern bureaucracy to it.
Incidentally, great writing @Havocfett . Very evocative. It's hard not to miss that the entire point of the second half is to point out that if this Enterprise fell through a wormhole and arrived on Earth...but it was called Thrae and we had green skin and everything else was the same, they'd be laughing at us silly primitives and then enslaving/'allying' with us.
Either way, it wasn't subtle but it also felt like it didn't need to be because all it was was the unvarnished opinion of someone.
Edit: I do hope we eventually get to the part where we discuss how Empires are *weird*. I mean, there's an Empire in recent human memory that grew addicted to a drink, and then quite literally acted as PSA-level drug dealers to an entire nation in order to gain economic primacy. Empires can be pretty weird and odd and quirky.
I'm... Not gonna vote. This quest is too much, it's like Europe never left the Victorian age except applied to the whole of humanity and turned up to eleven. I would like to think our descendants would know better than this.
I feel there is a fair bit of difference between Hellenizing and vassalizing the peuketii and turning them into tributaries, and the imperialism as shown to us.
There really isnt any difference aside from timescale of bringing the colonized to heel. Eretria arrived, killed, and enslaved a fuckton of dudes and then proceeded to expand over the years, conquering, raping, and enslaving as they went because Megale Hellas must grow larger.
EDIT: Also they killed the shit out of the indigent polities until they could force them to become client states.
There really isnt any difference aside from timescale of bringing the colonized to heel. Eretria arrived, killed, and enslaved a fuckton of dudes and then proceeded to expand over the years, conquering, raping, and enslaving as they went because Megale Hellas must grow larger.
Obvious point is obvious, besides telling you to stop being a jerk just because someone expresses an opinion. Eretria is in the past, a past we know about and know to be a worse place (at least in many objective ways) than our current time, and definably more violent.
This is set in the future, a theoretical our future, and posits that after fifteen hundred years of technological and etc, etc advancement, we'll be even worse than the British of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Thus, it evokes different emotions. It's easy to say, 'that's the past' or 'oh, it's a silly fantasy novel, I'm not a monarchist in real life.' Science Fiction on the other hand has often had a very serious vein to it because of how its very premise is often 'our future, or what our future could be.'
More frankly, you should respect someone else's limits and opinions rather than dragging other-thread drama into this.
There really isnt any difference aside from timescale of bringing the colonized to heel. Eretria arrived, killed, and enslaved a fuckton of dudes and then proceeded to expand over the years, conquering, raping, and enslaving as they went because Megale Hellas must grow larger.
EDIT: Also they killed the shit out of the indigent polities until they could force them to become client states.
Yes but it was not our goal, we were engaged in major wars due to circumstances beyond our control. That we became the dominant power was through us playing intelligently, and taking advantage of a slightly weaker native power picking poor ways and times to go to war.
International Politics: New England and her Major Allies:
New England: The oldest of the United States successor states, New England claims continuity with the United States of America starting in the 18th century. Realistically, it was formed by the breakdown of the Atlantic Alliance in the late 30th century. New England inherited many of the Atlantic colonies, as well as many of their holdings in the First and Second expansion regions, with coherent strips in the Third and Fourth. It has extensive colonies in the Fifth expansion region and has been jockeying for launching points into the Sixth. New England is militarized to an enormously disproportionate degree, and her navy is the pride and joy of the nation.
New England is noted for its use of alien auxiliaries as filler troops in the military, especially regressive treatment of AI, and relatively high alien population. The topic of alien labor, and the possibility of it supplanting human labor, is a major issue in New English politics. The current neoliberal government has been lenient on AI citizens, however it has also put ever-harsher restrictions on alien job opportunities outside of their home systems as a pre-emptive measure. There is an enormous push to 'do away with' or 'decommission' all remaining AI citizens in New England, as well as pushes to halt all AI production.
Quebec: Quebec emerged from the war-torn ruin of shattered Canada and solidified as a state in the mid twenty seventh century, before the rest of Canada managed to reunify. This emergence was driven in part by French Expatriates, who'd moved to Quebec in the late twenty fourth century, leaving an ever-more-religious europe, and the legacy of those Expatriates helped shape the character of Quebec. There has been significant emnity between Quebec and the European Union (What it terms The Vestan Pact or Muslim Europe, depending on who you ask) culminating in a minor war in the 3840s, which Quebec lost decisively. There's also been a decidedly unhappy relationship with the rest of Canada, though it's one that has so far avoided bloodshed.
Quebec is relatively lightly militarized, and has only made token efforts to rebuild its forces after the Quebec-Euro war.
Cydonia-Mongolia: Cydonia and Mongolia officially united their governments in the late 28th century. The enormous resource base of her First and Second expansion region claims allowed her to take enormous swathes of territory in the Third and Fourth expansion regions, including much of the incredibly valuable galactic core. Cydonia-Mongolia is largely uninterested in the Sixth Expansion Region and only has cursory colonies, chosen for strategic importance, in the fifth. They are one of the Great Powers of the galaxy. New English transit routes through the Third and Fourth regions tend to go through C-M territory.
Cydonia-Mongolia conquered much of what was once the Russian Far East in the Thirtieth century, completely subsuming most of her colonies and her Terran territory. Cydonia-Mongolia has limited enfranchisement for aboriginals based upon spectacular civil or military service, or other exceptional heroism. Approximately one in twenty million aboriginals has been enfranchised in this manner.
Iran: Iran has a reasonable claim on being the oldest currently existing human state, as it has full continuity before and after the Revanchism. She has large territories throughout explored space and is poised to enter the Sixth Expansion Region. They are one of the Great Powers of the galaxy, but only tenuously allied with New England and the rest of her web of allies. Speculation of a possible Iranian exit are constant.
AI rights are a constant source of tension between Iran and many of her allies, as Iran's religious authorities insist on preserving religiously mandated AI protections and rights that have been part of Iranian law since the inception of Artificial Intelligence. Like the Hejaz, Turkey, EU, and Indonesia, Iran claims to maintain a pseudo-dhimmi system for aboriginal species, but in practical terms her actions do not differ significantly from those of the international community.
Tradewinds: Tradewinds isn't a nation but a titanic, interstellar corporation. Albeit, one rich enough to own planets and the genetic information of species. They were founded on the eve of the 34th century, as the Fourth Expansion Period started, and made a fortunate performing survey work, integrating species into national and galactic economies, running abo schools, building interstellar infrastructure, and providing similar frontier-oriented services. They used the economic boom that accompanied the exploration of the Fourth Expansion Region to solidify their power and become a fixture on the galactic corporate scene. Tradeswinds swiftly developed a reputation for exploiting and trafficking aboriginals, something that the galactic community largely ignored.
Over the past fifty years Tradewinds has fallen on hard times. Many nations have begun to put pressure on it for various excesses, nationalizing assets, putting executives on trial, and generally deciding that previously acceptable excesses were now faux pas or, worse, genuinely horrifying. This has driven her to undergo a massive internal reformation, followed by tying herself to New England and, by proxy, her allies as the galaxy gears up to enter the Sixth Expansion Region. Most CMVs in the New England navy carry Tradeswind First Contact and Integration specialists, though they tend not to get along well with the Chaplains otherwise in charge of those duties.
Sirius: The Federation of Sirius broke away from Oregonian rule near the end of the Thirty Fourth Century. She has significant holdings throughout the Third, Fourth, and Fifth regions, but simply doesn't have the position to compete for the Sixth. She has a significant fleet, but her status as a breakaway power have limited her recognition in Terran politics.
Sirius' infamously brutal treatment of aboriginal species immediately after her founding drives widespread condemnation to this day, in spite of significant internal reform and the abolishment of chattel slavery of abos. AI and cloning are both heavily used in Sirius to manage constant, rapid population increase, and AI have full enfranchisement in the Sirian political system.
Depends on where you are, generally (And in New England), no, as enfranchisement is generally defined as being for all humans of sufficient age. Many countries include AI, but their acceptance in the international community fluctuates constantly.
How many, and what sort, of AI are in existence? Is this an alternate history, or did the setting just develop from the present on for a millenia or so? What is the Revanchism?
So, uh, population numbers being really hard to pin down because the Galaxy is holy shit huge so Imma focus on types of AI.
An AI is what we'd refer to as a 'Strong AI'. A machine based intelligence capable of human-like processing. The muslim world adds 'volition' to this list of requirements and doesn't count AI who don't meet this criteria as people. What we understand as 'weak AI' aren't referred to as AI, and aren't targeted by the anti-AI sentiments endemic in New England.
AI are generally expensive to construct and specialized AI underperform augmented humans (And, increasingly, aliens) in their field of specialization. Your Fighter Pilot AI won't outfly a trained pilot, your e-sports AI won't outcompete a human.
Is this an alternate history, or did the setting just develop from the present on for a millenia or so?
Ronald Iglesias. He's a borderline madman who joins almost every away team and envoy personally, something you swiftly learn is a result of his near-suicidal obsession with boning aliens.
I have finals next week, compounded by bits of the next update being less than comfortable to write, and as such there shall be a mild delay in updating both here and in Ravana Quest.
I apologize for the delay, schoolwork has been a pain in the ass and my school's computer system has repeatedly tried to delay my graduation to Fall 2016 which has caused a spectacular amount of grief to all involved. Midterms have largely subsided, I don't think I have to sprint across campus on a bad knee in a frenzied fetch quest for the rest of the quarter, so assuming that things work out I should have an update out within two weeks. If I don't, I'll bull through and write up that critique of HDR so we can all feel good about @Swordomatic's abject misery.
Prologue: Ensign 2 Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, April 13, 1919.
"Affirmative, Miree!" You say. The line closes and you turn towards the door and shoot your prisoner dead in a single smooth motion. You don't want to waste the time it would take to secure him.
Inside of two minutes you're in the building's front lobby, with the rest of the platoon assembled in front of you. The Imperial Palace, and Captain Iglesias, are a good quarter-mile from you, across a street and a public square, the entire length packed with varimi. Iglesias is on the fourth floor, you have a rough fix on his locations but the Palace blueprints haven't been digitized or intensively mapped yet, so you're not entirely sure what room he's in. It's a minor problem, though, trivially solved once you're actually inside of the Palace. It's the crowd outside that's the real issue.
The situation isn't quite as chaotic as it looked from your first glance out the window. There are active clashes between protesting varimi, some with those yellow buttons your would-be assassins wore, and the local police, but largely it just seems to be a protest gotten out of hand. A mass of aliens demanding whatever indigs demand. Under normal circumstances the protest wouldn't be much of an issue, you could subdue or kill the actual assassins and then peacefully deal with everyone else. Unfortunately, you have a job to do.
You've already silently talked over your options with your second in command, Petty Officer Alojzy. He objected to your plan at first, listed excuses, alternate options, but they fell apart under closer examination, as you explained what may be at stake here. He relented, submitting to your judgement as his superior officer.
You're not exactly looking forward to it either. It's a distasteful thing, after all. But if you're to be honest, the idea of not doing it isn't something you've seriously considered.
You lead the platoon outside. One of the goblins, Vonithain, closes the door behind you as the last soldier exits the building, and the rest fan out behind you. Some of the closest varimi look your way, other hurl insults or throw stones.
The smartest start to get out of the way.
You raise one arm, fist balled. "Ready!" you call out, and the platoon raise their plasma rifles as one.
"Aim!" More varimi start to get out of the way. Vonithain starts trembling, and you hear Petty Officer Teuku whisper a prayer under his breath. Alojzy is cursing at the varimi, quietly demanding that they get out of the way.
"Fire!"
*
The square is a charnel house.
A wide swath, a straight line from the New England platoon to the gates of the Imperial Palace, has been reaped like wheat. Corpses, broken, burning, blackened, bleeding, lay about the square. Others are wounded, screaming in pain as they die from plasma-wounds.
The Platoon sprints through the killing ground, ignoring the gory consequences of their actions. Even Vonithain, who hadn't fired during the killing out of either righteousness or shock, keeps his head forward and does his best not to notice the crunching beneath his feet.
They cross the square swiftly, in less time than it took for them to kill, and vault into the palace grounds.
Behind them, the bodies begin to cool.
*
You enter through a third story window. The platoon has split into fire-teams and drawn ray-guns to minimize collateral damage. You have three goblins with you, rushing for the captain, while the rest of the platoon secures the grounds.
A trio of varimi turn towards you, pistols in their hands and yellow pins on their jackets. They're dead before they recognize that you're there. A nobleman that they had surrounded thanks you, you tell him something vapid and reassuring, and tell him to hide while you clear the building.
Fourth floor. You're on level with the captain, approaching his room. You negotiate the halls without issue, sonar mapping them as you run. Four more yellow-pinned men die as you move, and you rescue a family of nobles before you finally figure out the captain's location.
Two varimi are preparing to kick in the door to what you realize is the Prince's bedchamber, yellow pins attached to their lapels. A guard lies on the floor in front of them, badly wounded but, according to your sensors, stable. You shoot the assassins dispassionately, tell a goblin to help the guard, and look through the door.
You read two heat signatures in the room, one with the captain's locator beacon, both on the prince's bed. Three more are outside of a door across from yours, one swiftly cooling. You very quickly realize exactly what's happening, and curse under your breath.
You kick in the door. The captain leaps up, instinctively putting himself between you and the prince. He begins to relax as he recognizes you, but then the other door to the room bursts open as the remaining assassins enter.
The goblins fire. You step over the corpses of the would-be assassins and deploy a goblin to secure the other hall. Captain Iglesias salutes you. "Excellent shooting, Ensign," he calls.
"Thank you sir," you reply, "If you don't mind, sir, I think we'd all be better served if you both got dressed."
Things go much more smoothly after that. Dumas put down the rebellion without issue, killing most of the traitorous soldiers, capturing the ringleaders, and dispersing many of the remaining citizenry with minimal casualties. The massacre in the plaza is written off as the rout of a rebellious company, and within a week you are being praised as a hero once again. Even get awarded a Naval Commendation Medal for it.
You wipe Vonithain's gun logs. You've talked to him, made sure it's not going to happen again, but you don't care enough to really punish him for it.
The rest of your tour is largely uneventful. Some action, but not much of note, and by the end of your tour you lead Dumas 8-7. You're promoted on time, two years to the day after your graduation while on leave at Rocenveaux Crossing, the only embarking point to the Sublustris and Sixth Expansion Region owned by the United States of America.
What is your assignment as a Junior Lieutenant
[ ] Expeditionary Command. You signed on for another tour aboard the Enterprise. The second tour will be the same as the first, albeit between different systems. You've been told that you may see work in a Power Armor team.
[ ] Operations Officer. You are a member of the Ops department aboard the Hunter-Killer Wild Blue Yonder. You collect, catalogue, analyze, and distribute information vital to the accomplishment of the ship's various missions. You have several warrant officers of various description under your command. You report directly to the Commander of the Yonder
[ ] Administrative Officer. You are a member of the Administrative department aboard the Armored Lancer Rustabout. You maintain administrative data and paperwork necessary for the ship to function properly. This includes data processing, managing public affairs, internal digital media access, police services, postal services, and personnel records. You have several warrant officers, largely clerks, under your command. You report directly to the Commander of the Rustabout.
[ ] Fighter Command. You are in charge of a starfighter wing aboard the Escort Carrier Richard Smith.You are charged with the discipline and training of the pilots and deck crews under your command, the maintenance of their equipment, and commanding them during combat. You report to the head of Smith's head of Fighter Command.
[X] Expeditionary Command. You signed on for another tour aboard the Enterprise. The second tour will be the same as the first, albeit between different systems. You've been told that you may see work in a Power Armor team.
The reward for a job done well is a handshake, maybe a medal, and another job.
