NationStates Jolt Archive

Salinity levels in Oceanus Borealis have been rising at a far higher rate than they should be based on soil leaching. Several vessels have been seen dumping chemicals into the ocean at the points of highest salinity, and increases in salinity appear to be consistent with these dumps. We sent out one previous warning of the effects that these activities could have. If we are not heeded now, we may be forced to take more direct action against these ecoterrorists. Whoever you are, cease now, or risk attack.

We note this fact with much interest but are unable to do much about it at this time. Still should any data be recieved or discovered we shall pass it on to you.

Farseer advisory Council
Tor Yvresse-Mars

The nation of Pilon gives a full report to the Snel of the actions taken by Darksith in this matter and their reasons for it.
"We investigated the matter after the very first drop as we monitor quite closely for such actions expecting VC to try something sinister."

Menelmacar has increased patrols along the northern Carnili coast. If we catch any of these individuals within our lands, they will be dealt with. Harshly.

http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/nationstates/sirithil/sirithilnosfeanor.gifLady Sirithil nos Fëanor
Elentári of the Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar
Chancellor of CENNA
"If it is to be war between us, it shall be war to the knife and the knife to the hilt."
~Foreign Minister Duke Paolio, The Outlands
We Love the Iraqi Information Minister (http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com)
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the dumps occur over unclaimed territory.

We'll help investigations if we can.

God bless,

The Republic of Syskeyia

Even with the war raging, the salt shipments don't stop, as they are made in the northen area. Besides, there is nothing in the ships connecting them with any martian nation. It could even be some Earth nation dropping an excess of salt. You are free ICly to make all the wild guesses you want.

We still do not know who they are, but they have been given fair warning. Prepare to face our wrath.

And soon, little packages of flaming mercy began to fall from Yggdrasil....

We have been monitoring these droppings, as well. A pair of our TIEs were assigned to follow these unmarked ships (OOC: Lie, they were escorting them) and they took samples of the dropped products for analysis, which is enclosed (OOC: Lie, the analysis comes from the same factory that makes the salt).
When challenged through radio, they responded with an encoded transmision that we weren't able to decipher, but working on it. (OOC: Lie, here is the transcript:
"Hi, Joe, how's doin'?"
"Booooring. Three Earth-Mars and back a month. How are the children?"
(insert more inane chatter between two people with nothing better to do)
"Fine, well, gotta go. Godspeed.")
As it is stated, these ships drop about one thousand tons of salt over unclaimed, open waters. The oceanic currents spread it over all parts of the ocean. Salinity levels on the areas where dropping has occurred drop fast, signaling that some entity with deep knowledge of the northen ocean and its currents is at hand here. (OOC: heheh, of course)
General saline levels are now two thirds the ones on the Pacific Ocean of Earth (OOC: the lowest saline content, IIRC).
If the salt drops keep at this rate in a decade, will reach the levels of the Mediterranean Sea. (OOC: True, but the drops will stop way before that, as the martian salt content is still being contributed to the ocean)
We are reluctant to take any kind of measure, as we are the first interested in the ocean to be the more earth-like possible.
Actually, we are hastily building several industry-grade laboratories to mass-produce marine specimens of unicellular algae in order to take advantage of this unexpected development. (OOC: Hastily? Unexpected? HAH!)
We'd like to bring to our esteemed colleagues the unique opportunity of rebuilding the Earth's oceanic ecosystems here, where we can protect and nurture them, far from the voracious reach of the most greedy nations of Earth. (OOC: Playing sentimental ecocrap? May be someone will buy it.)
To the country of Snel, I'd recommend caution on your proceedings as they can have ill effects over the terraforming process. (OOC: Flaming Mercy?? What are you dropping? Phosphorus bombs?) DarkSith Mars is an entirely oceanic colony, and doesn't take lightly any potential threat to its environment. And we don't consider these... droppings a threat. (OOC: As noone seems to know exactly how accurate is the picture of the ocean, only pointing that this is how will be at the point of stable environment, my structures are all underwater from the start.)
Has someone actually pinpointed the source of salt in Earth? (OOC: It is an automated factory in an unclaimed, desert island. And we have several backup factories in case someone blows it up. :))

We have many ears in this world, if we come across any information we will also pass it on..

(OOC: the reason for this almost clandestine operation is actually VC's fault. We perceived that they would strongly object to the adaptation of the ocean to accept earth lifeforms. Their "Mars for martians" policy seems to point there. We are still playing dumb in the case VC is spying, but if TY or some other nation perceived as non-threatening (that excludes BEB and the scary snel) asks, we'll tell them the truth. And we DO have reasons for this, even though they are totally IGNOREable by any nation not interested.)

To the country of Snel, I'd recommend caution on your proceedings as they can have ill effects over the terraforming process. DarkSith Mars is an entirely oceanic colony, and doesn't take lightly any potential threat to its environment. And we don't consider these... droppings a threat.

As leading contributors to the terraformation, we are well aware of the effects of our actions. As an aquatic species, we do consider the salt dumps to be a threat. They must stop, and soon, or continued introduction of foriegn salt may lead to unnacceptably high salinity levels for all but brine-adapted life once the rate of soil leaching increases and global soil/water salinity levels stabilize. In addition, this unnaturally rapid increase in salinity levels is jeopardizing the aquatic ecopoesis process.

If you have been able to follow the perpetrators once, we request that, if you have a second chance, you attempt to bring one down and capture it for questioning. If this is not possible, and salt dumps continue, we may be forced to resort to heavier artillery. It is not our wish to kill, but our targeting calculations can certainly be made more accurate if need be.

(OOC: Flaming Mercy?? What are you dropping? Phosphorus bombs?)
OOC: Just big rocks from really high up, in the vicinity of offending ships.

The nation of Pilon, being entirely underwater as well, has been investigating this disturbance since the first drop. We currently are considering shooting down the ships responsible as they seem to be causing a problems for the terraforming process.
We do not like those that would harm the environment. (Note:Pilon is 223 in the world for most eco friendly, Martian Pilon is 2nd in the region)
The next shipment that comes in will be fired upon if they do not stop immidiately. We don't have time to worry about such things right now.

(BEGIN ENCODED TRANSMISION TO PILON MARS)

Let's see... Is the cipher on? ahah... it is... Damn. I should have taken that comms course back then... Audio on? Crap!

Err... I mean...

Hello. This is Viceroy Darth Tempius in a Leader-to-Leader coded transmission.

You see. The salt droppings are our doing. We asked the Metropolis to salt the oceans when we discovered that the martian saline content wasn't enough to get the ocean salty enough to support earthling sea lifeforms.

The Martian Colony of DarkSith was populated mostly from underwater-born people, as we are most adapted to the closed nature of this colony.

But this ocean is empty, devoid of the life we are used to. Without our friends. It would be a morale boost for the population if the ocean were as we are used to see it, teeeming with life, and with our friends around, having fun.

So we'd like you not to attack the salt shipments. They are due to end in a few years, as otherwise, the added salt content and the natural salt content would make the ocean too saline to sustain life. And we don't want that, too.

We made this effort a black op due to the fact that those pesky vascilians would likely object to bringing earth-native lifeforms here. We were avoiding a cause for war.

Of course, we are at war, and that is a powerful reason to keep this operation secret, as they would detour some forces to attack our ships just to get back at us.

I'm not sure if you have some leverage with those Snels, but if you have, would you please try to talk them out of doing the vascilians' work?

Thank you. Tempius out.

(END CODED TRANSMISSION)

(OOC: Tomorrow Sunday the salt drops will stop. And on Monday, the factories in our colony will start spreading red and blue algae ("cianoficeas" and "rodoficeas"). Later on we will add green algae ("cloroficeas").)

(OOC: Oy! And what of the big rocks being dropped on the ships? No repsonse to that? Quote: "If ... salt dumps continue, we may be forced to resort to heavier artillery." Obviously, they continued, ergo they aimed to kill instead of scare off.)

(OOC: Ouch! Well, if you are throwing rocks, and behave like rocks, they can be avoided. The ships don't stop to drop the salt. They simply open the cargo doors and let the salt through its path, they can turn and evade. And they do not get to water level to drop the salt. They are in atmosphere, but not that low, too. Oh, and thank you for the throws, they heat the water, making salt dissolution faster. If that makes you happy, you destroyed two of the cargo ships, putting them and their salt in the water. And killing the crew, of course. But that simply made the rotation schedule of the ships tighter until they were replaced. The TIEs didn't do a thing but get back to the base. Strict rules of engagement. And no comment from us. But we put you on our "to get back at them" list.)

(BEGIN ENCODED TRANSMISION TO PILON MARS)

Let's see... Is the cipher on? ahah... it is... Damn. I should have taken that comms course back then... Audio on? Crap!

Err... I mean...

Hello. This is Viceroy Darth Tempius in a Leader-to-Leader coded transmission.

You see. The salt droppings are our doing. We asked the Metropolis to salt the oceans when we discovered that the martian saline content wasn't enough to get the ocean salty enough to support earthling sea lifeforms.

The Martian Colony of DarkSith was populated mostly from underwater-born people, as we are most adapted to the closed nature of this colony.

But this ocean is empty, devoid of the life we are used to. Without our friends. It would be a morale boost for the population if the ocean were as we are used to see it, teeeming with life, and with our friends around, having fun.

So we'd like you not to attack the salt shipments. They are due to end in a few years, as otherwise, the added salt content and the natural salt content would make the ocean too saline to sustain life. And we don't want that, too.

We made this effort a black op due to the fact that those pesky vascilians would likely object to bringing earth-native lifeforms here. We were avoiding a cause for war.

Of course, we are at war, and that is a powerful reason to keep this operation secret, as they would detour some forces to attack our ships just to get back at us.

I'm not sure if you have some leverage with those Snels, but if you have, would you please try to talk them out of doing the vascilians' work?

Thank you. Tempius out.

(END CODED TRANSMISSION)

I have a compromise to suggest to you. Send us a DNA sample of the desired lifeforms and we will Genetically modify them to exist in the Martian Environment, we are Genetic Engineerring Masters and it would add another creature to our repertoir.

Ahem... We have very strong sentiments against genetic tampering with sentient beings. We'll ask them as it is really their decision to make, but I seriously doubt they want to be genetically changed, if we can explain them what genes are, how they work and why they need to be changed. We are still trying to explain them what a "tool" is.

(OOC: Ouch! Well, if you are throwing rocks, and behave like rocks, they can be avoided. The ships don't stop to drop the salt. They simply open the cargo doors and let the salt through its path, they can turn and evade. And they do not get to water level to drop the salt. They are in atmosphere, but not that low, too. Oh, and thank you for the throws, they heat the water, making salt dissolution faster. If that makes you happy, you destroyed two of the cargo ships, putting them and their salt in the water. And killing the crew, of course. But that simply made the rotation schedule of the ships tighter until they were replaced. The TIEs didn't do a thing but get back to the base. Strict rules of engagement. And no comment from us. But we put you on our "to get back at them" list.)
OOC: That would've been better as an IC post, but whatever. It works.
IC:

"As neither peaceful warning or violent methods were sucessful in stopping the salt shipments before their damage was done, we must take a more direct approach. Now, there is not freshwater to be found anywhere on the globe, save for Argyre. As we still know not the perpetrators, it would be unwise to allow a leakage of the information detailing exactly what this approach is. Though we try to be open with all, such are the times."

~Shapers of Worlds~

Small ships and submersibles originating from Snel-held coastlines traversed all navigable segments of the Oceanus Borealis, sucking in water like great whales, desalinizing it, and dumping it back. Where possible, even small speedboats had desalinizers added to their engines. Recovered salt was sneaked into shipments of other materials up Yggdrasil, and away from Mars.

Ahem... We have very strong sentiments against genetic tampering with sentient beings. We'll ask them as it is really their decision to make, but I seriously doubt they want to be genetically changed, if we can explain them what genes are, how they work and why they need to be changed. We are still trying to explain them what a "tool" is.

Its a possible solution. You could try and explain that this would be a way for them to live with you on Mars.

(OOC:
Snel, you are not only "fighting" against me, but against Mars itself. We stopped the shipments because the rest of the saline content of the planet would eventually be in the oceans, as it happens on Earth. We only accelerated the process, and were ready to remove any excess of salt our dumps made to balance the aportation of salts into the ocean. You are fighting a losing battle against a planetary self-balance. There is no freshwater in the ocean. The soluble contents of the oceanic soil alone would have made that this way a very long ago. I was "pushing" downside, you are trying to stop an avalanche.

IC:)

Deep in DS territory, a third Total Matter-to-Energy-to-Matter Conversion device is assembled in a specially built underwater dome (specially means it is heavily reinforced as making sodium underwater is dangerous, and make it react with chlorine even more). Its only purpose is producing salt, and dump it in the water. If salt levels fall below a certain level, it would start to produce salt.

The lab-factories stopped producing red algae, and reduced the production of blue algae, spewing in its place massive amounts of green unicelular algae. Its chlorofilic functions would start filling the ocean with oxygen, up to the point of saturation, then any excess oxygen would be sent to the atmosphere, in a cycle almost as old as the universe. They would take regular samples of the algae, to take advantage of any evolutionary mutation of the algae in order to change its production to a more martian green algae. When, not if, the green algae held in the ocean, it would be time to drop the unicellular zooplancton.

To Pilon:

Thank you for your offer, we are still trying to explain it to the dolphins, but they are more alien to us than you (OOC: IIRC You are not human, aren't you?) or any other race established on Mars. And we still don't have succesfully communicated with the other group, the orcas. Though the translator seems to be progressing.

I doubt that any pilonese would like to have his or her DNA altered to match the conditions of a particular world, as it would make impossible for them to visit their homeworld.

(OOC to Pilon: Besides, I have plans to help both dolphins and orcas to establish first their own nations (more puppets yay :( ) and later spread them to any planet that can hold them. Can you imagine spacefaring dolphins and orcas? Ships with water instead of air inside? Starship controls that can only be used by them? I do.)

(OOC:
Snel, you are not only "fighting" against me, but against Mars itself. We stopped the shipments because the rest of the saline content of the planet would eventually be in the oceans, as it happens on Earth.
That's the point. The Snel don't want any extra.

We ... were ready to remove any excess of salt our dumps made to balance the aportation of salts into the ocean.
The Snel had no way of knowing that.

(OOC: Argh! And we should stop OOCing! I thought I gave Pilon a good hint to talk to you IC and try to make this Snel's IC public knowledge. But he keeps talking about DNA reestructuring. Well, I suppose that's each one of us with its national characters and obessions.)

BTW, I have increased my water monitoring and analysis to paranoic levels since the moment VC has got (very indirect) access to the ocean. He might get back to all of us through the water. And underwater colonies can be very vulnerable. If he ever gets a foot in the water, I swear I'll make sure there is a Megalodon there ready to eat his toe.

(OOC: That's an empty threat. :) Everyone knows that Megalodon natural prey were whales. Besides, having 15 m long sharks would make living in the water too interesting, even for DarkSithian Standards. Orcas, on the other hand... I intend to have... :twisted: )

(OOC:
Snel, you are not only "fighting" against me, but against Mars itself. We stopped the shipments because the rest of the saline content of the planet would eventually be in the oceans, as it happens on Earth. We only accelerated the process, and were ready to remove any excess of salt our dumps made to balance the aportation of salts into the ocean. You are fighting a losing battle against a planetary self-balance. There is no freshwater in the ocean. The soluble contents of the oceanic soil alone would have made that this way a very long ago. I was "pushing" downside, you are trying to stop an avalanche.

IC:)

Deep in DS territory, a third Total Matter-to-Energy-to-Matter Conversion device is assembled in a specially built underwater dome (specially means it is heavily reinforced as making sodium underwater is dangerous, and make it react with chlorine even more). Its only purpose is producing salt, and dump it in the water. If salt levels fall below a certain level, it would start to produce salt.

The lab-factories stopped producing red algae, and reduced the production of blue algae, spewing in its place massive amounts of green unicelular algae. Its chlorofilic functions would start filling the ocean with oxygen, up to the point of saturation, then any excess oxygen would be sent to the atmosphere, in a cycle almost as old as the universe. They would take regular samples of the algae, to take advantage of any evolutionary mutation of the algae in order to change its production to a more martian green algae. When, not if, the green algae held in the ocean, it would be time to drop the unicellular zooplancton.

To Pilon:

Thank you for your offer, we are still trying to explain it to the dolphins, but they are more alien to us than you (OOC: IIRC You are not human, aren't you?) or any other race established on Mars. And we still don't have succesfully communicated with the other group, the orcas. Though the translator seems to be progressing.

I doubt that any pilonese would like to have his or her DNA altered to match the conditions of a particular world, as it would make impossible for them to visit their homeworld.

(OOC to Pilon: Besides, I have plans to help both dolphins and orcas to establish first their own nations (more puppets yay :( ) and later spread them to any planet that can hold them. Can you imagine spacefaring dolphins and orcas? Ships with water instead of air inside? Starship controls that can only be used by them? I do.)

Actually we've already done it, several times.

(OOC: You like replying laconically to long posts, don't you? :)
As no further comments have been added, I'll assume Snel keeps controlling and balancing the saline content, same as I, but with different saline levels in mind. And we still do not talk to each other about what we both are doing. Though he announces his steps and progresses, and I keep my IC mouth shut.)

The lab-factories have stopped producing red algae. An excess of them is dangerous, and they should start either holding in any favorable spots, mutating or dying. Blue algae apportations are reduced, but not cut. Green algae are changed as a more favorable mutation has appeared, but the flow keeps going massively. The factory that produced red algae starts sprouting a brown mass. Unicellular protozoo. If this holds, we will have earth plancton (fitoplancton plus zooplancton) stable on monday. We still need the plancton to achieve a positive imbalance towards green algae. The water needs to be saturated with oxigen. When fish are added to the mass, later on, thier eggs and larvae will add to the plancton diversity.

(OOC: It is fortunate that the army of this colony is payed and maintaned from the Metropolis, and that the Metropolis also helps economically to this effort. Otherwise this would be impossible to make for a nation alone.
But the time Mars colony will be an independent nation is getting closer. We are the only non-independent DarkSith colony.)

ooc: Yes

To: Pilon, DarkSith, other ocean states
Re: your fears surrounding VC's access to the ocean.

While we have granted VC acess to the canal, as we have for all nations on Mars, the ban on military vessels still stands. It's the largest canal in history but it still isn't that hard to keep control of. VC *cannot* get anything in through the locks without it being scanned. Certainly a shipment of arms or other small weapons, up to maybe a couple of tanks, could be smuggled through, but any armed ship would be detected immediatly.

Then it would be questioned.
If it did not surrender it would be vaporized.

In short, it would be easier for VC to drop submarines into the ocean from orbit than it would be to get them through the canal.

The nation of Pilon requests that you scan the Anti-Funitism ships for Biological and Chemical weapons as well due to their recent use of Biological Agent against our country.

Do you have a suggestion for how? Managalan technology cannot scan for microbes from ouside the hull of a ship... Boarding the vessel would slow traffic and be illegal under Mangalan law, unless there was due cause.

We finally have spoken to the dolphins about our martian aquaforming effort.

It seems _they_ can live in water low in saline content, as long as it doesn't contain toxic salts. The problem lies in what can live in these waters that can be used as a self sustaining food source for the dolphins.

So, I'd like to address Pilon to provide us with several posible lifeforms that can live in the ocean and adapt to its varying conditions. The "several" part is needed as dolphins like variety in their food, same as any other sentient being.

As an initial experiment, about ten dolphins will be brought here from Earth and put in the ocean. Even though more than ten dolphins have volunteered, we cannot track more than ten, and we won't be limiting their movements in any way. They will be free to roam the waters. They will also be provided with the latest, dolphin-portable, translator. Should they enter in another country's waters, communication with them will be possible. As a matter of goodwill, should any dolphin venture too far from us, we'd like any willing nation to provide him or her with food. Preferably fish, but some vegetables and a limited number of other foodstufs can be fed to them. See attached list. Oh. DON'T GIVE THEM SUGAR. You don't want hyperactive dolphins around. Trust us on this one.

Respecting the ban, I agree with Mangala, but don't limit it to warships. Any cargo ship carrying military material unless it is a trade product (with proof of purchase from the buying country) should be added to the ban.
I also agree that tracing hypotetical Chemical or Biological weapons is next to impossible without a thorough search of the suspect ship.

As a nation that still maintains a Trading Embargo against all nations composing the WC of Mars, we will not let any WC ship into our waters. They will be sunk on sight. This is their only warning.

I should clarify. Persuant to our 'speak softly and carry a big stick but don't use it unless you absolutly have to' doctrine of forign policy, we don't like war and military hardware in general, unless its ours, and even then we dislike it.

The Canal is not open to ANY military cargo, unless they recieve special permission. We have other transportation options for that, and the Canal is not to be used for anything involving military men and material.

Do you have a suggestion for how? Managalan technology cannot scan for microbes from ouside the hull of a ship... Boarding the vessel would slow traffic and be illegal under Mangalan law, unless there was due cause.

If you so desire we will give you some biological scanners that we have developed. These biological scanners are capable of detecting any harmful microbes, we use them to ensure the safety of our secure bioengineering facilities so we are quite confident they will work.

We finally have spoken to the dolphins about our martian aquaforming effort.

It seems _they_ can live in water low in saline content, as long as it doesn't contain toxic salts. The problem lies in what can live in these waters that can be used as a self sustaining food source for the dolphins.

So, I'd like to address Pilon to provide us with several posible lifeforms that can live in the ocean and adapt to its varying conditions. The "several" part is needed as dolphins like variety in their food, same as any other sentient being.

As an initial experiment, about ten dolphins will be brought here from Earth and put in the ocean. Even though more than ten dolphins have volunteered, we cannot track more than ten, and we won't be limiting their movements in any way. They will be free to roam the waters. They will also be provided with the latest, dolphin-portable, translator. Should they enter in another country's waters, communication with them will be possible. As a matter of goodwill, should any dolphin venture too far from us, we'd like any willing nation to provide him or her with food. Preferably fish, but some vegetables and a limited number of other foodstufs can be fed to them. See attached list. Oh. DON'T GIVE THEM SUGAR. You don't want hyperactive dolphins around. Trust us on this one.

We are sending you some samples of 1,000 possible canidates on a shuttle. Have the Dolphins test each and give feedback on which they like the best, we will then properly adapt them to the Martian Waters and begin mass production.

Pilon, that would be excellent, and we will purchase some (for other reasons if not this one). However, just how effective are they? we're not boarding ships here, that would violate civil liberties unless we have a legal cause to search the ship. Could it really detect the stuff form outside a reenforced durasteel hull? I suppose a cursory scan of the upper deck might work...

Pilon, that would be excellent, and we will purchase some (for other reasons if not this one). However, just how effective are they? we're not boarding ships here, that would violate civil liberties unless we have a legal cause to search the ship. Could it really detect the stuff form outside a reenforced durasteel hull? I suppose a cursory scan of the upper deck might work...

The scanners are capable of breaking down the contents of a ship to the Basic Elements. You then run that through another scanner that counts for the Organic Elements of the known organic objects on the ship. If they are carrying Biological Cargo it will show up. Then a third scanner goes through this information and gives a list of the probable contents of the cargo. You'll need to train the people operating it in quite a bit of Chemistry but its quite effective. We are willing to help train your operators or even operate the Scanners ourselves if you'd rather. If we are allowed to operate the scanners they will be free of charge in exchange for free living quarters for the operators.

Wow!

You could build huge scanning arcs in the canal and the ships wouldn't even need to be stopped while they are searched...

Pilon, we are still examining the samples. The dolphins say that most of them are OK, but they have found already several bocatto di cardinale among them. When we have finished, we will send you the complete "tasting" of your samples.

Come to think of it, we will taste them too, to see if they are edible and the tastiness for human palates.

Excellant, our experiments go on, we await your responces...

OOC:

Concerning the samples, I am still trying to figure out something. I am neither ignoring this nor forgetting about it.

OOC: take your time, we are in no real rush.

Secret IC:

Besides the ten dolphins, two orcas are brought into Mars' ocean, also equipped with portable translators. For now, all dolphins and orcas are fed by DarkSith. They roam free and travel as they please, but they do not leave DS waters. No food out there. :)

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