NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This is another intro thread for my country. Just testing out different rp ideas, and seeing how I like this. Feel free to tell me what you think. Also to get into the mood of this post put on some sad/scary music that has no vocals.

IC:
My Dearest Wife Katherine,

It seems as if a day of inevitability has come at last. We are breaking the cloister, expanding, making our lives known. You know how much I have opposed this, how much damage I knew it could do. Despite my vehement opposition I have been chosen to leave our space and travel out into the deep void in hopes of making first contact. Damnit, we are a selfish people. This should have never happened, but the time to stop it is over and I must carry out my duty.

The tall weary man paused and began to think. This was a time he had been dreading since he had been old enough to dread anything. It was not fear for himself or his people that he held, but of something else. It was a selfless fear for the well being of all. The universe must never meet our people, such an event would be a catastrophe. Despite his and millions of other best efforts the desire for power and trade prevailed. How could so many people be so selfish. He slowly began to dictate again to the massive archaic machine.

We are leaving port in just three days and should be out of out space within a months time using low power drives. I’ll be damned if we hasten first contact. This will be my last letter to you for a great deal of time, and I must apologize for its brevity. Tell Sarah and Helen that I love them and that there is a light in the dark.

Love,
Edward

The man removed the message and sealed it in a massive envelope and placed it in a long winding shoot. He slowly left the room and returned to his duties laid out for him. He constantly muttered that this would be a bane of unimaginable consequence, and partially if not wholly he was right.

The Infinite Crucible was an ancient kingdom. It encompassed a small hidden portion of the galaxy shielded by both naturally occurring phenomenon and technology from a time before the rise of the kingdom. For as long as anyone could remember leaving the area of space had been impossible. Great machines that stretched for light years kept them trapped. It had been thought for millions of years that they were cursed and that a cruel galaxy had chosen to imprison them. Others believed that some greater race had chosen to protect them from the galaxy. Still there was a final theory, one darker then all the rest. Were they trapped to protect the galaxy from themselves. Were they the threat? The foreboding cloud, the terrible wind, and the coming disaster held back from a virgin reality. How could they be? They were not warlike nor were they beings of incredible power. The reason was clear from the beginning however, but many refused to accept it. Then something happened that happens to all things aged. The great machines failed. Constructs that had served for hundreds of millions of years failed. That was three thousand years ago. The universe was open to the people.

Still however they waited. There was no great rush into the beyond no blitzkrieg of vessels to find out what was out there. No, the people held back. By the time of the great failing they knew what walked hand in hand with them and knew their responsibility. For all their desire they must hold back. So they did and they waited three lifetimes. A lot can change in three lifetimes, and a lot did change. The people abandoned the conservative attitude and decided that it was time for a change. What plagues they brought with them, they cared not. Three days, three days until the isolation ends.

Interesting, and well-written. I like the letter, with the break in the middle.

this is a great thread. Mind if I find some way to jump in here or something like that?

Three days passed and the time for the departure came. It arrived with no fan fare, no tolling celebrations, no it came quietly. Great celebrations were beyond these people, incredible joy something of legend. Each day was a test, a long grinding test. For many time is a fleeting thing. There is never enough, just a few more seconds are in the prayers of trillions across the universe. For these people however time came all to liberally, it often threatened to crush them with its magnitude and there was no end in site. For these people time was a weed, it infiltrated their lives and multiplied. So each day their people would awake and slave through an eternity with sleep at the end. Such was one of many curses that fell upon them.

In just another second, of just another day, of just another year the launch came. The craft named Felgorn was to be the bearer of the people. It would harbor them beyond known space into realms unknown. It was a despairing monstrous craft. It was an incredible four miles long, materials had been scavenged from the great barrier after it failed. It was also completely unarmed, war and defense was a foreign concept to these people, millions of years of isolation tends to do that. The final and most terrible of its aspects was its almost utter emptiness and darkness. One could walk for hours in the craft and never come on to another soul. There were vast arching cavernous halls and long claustrophobic passages, all were barren. Why these people chose to create such vast empty expanses was a mystery, even to themselves. Compounding the emptiness was the darkness. Everything was dimly lit, it always seemed as if the lights were in the middle of powering up, just giving off a faction of their radiance, but they never brightened.

The monstrous craft began to slowly pull away from the space network surrounding a lost planet. On the bridge massive gears and analog displays slowly ticked away displaying data. Nothing was digital. The captain of the ship Vince Green sat in a large command chair slowly watching the expanse of space through the massive window in front of him. Edward Penburry, the man who had sent the letter, was one of the captain’s chief advisors and had recommended to travel out on the low drives. The captain had reluctantly agreed to this three days prior, but with some encouragement from powerful politicians changed his mind. They were leaving on the high drives and would be reaching the great barrier in a few days time.

Edward was in his dimly lit quarters and was dictating his first log.

Chief Advisor Edward Penburry
Log One/ Day One
We set off today on the high drive despite my wishes and advisement to the captain. Someone must have gotten to him after my request. Why are we so eager to bring ourselves to the eyes of the galaxy? How can we be so callous? I received my schedule earlier today, a simple one hour briefing a day then I am off. Maybe I will wander these long halls and confront my demons in the depths of this behemoth. I saw the chapel today, it was a quite a site. Not like anyone will use it though, so my deepest thinking will occur in that hallowed hall. In just a few days time we will be in uncharted space, what am I to do? Until then I will ponder from the inky depths.
End Log

Felgorn had been traveling for five days when it finally came to the barrier. The barrier was a construct without rival in time or space. It seemed to be the very definition of infinity. If one were to stand on its surface it would extend farther than their eye could see and beyond that. This epic wall stretched for hundreds of light years in every direction and angle. Such a creation seemed impossible. Surely it would have exhausted millions of planets of all resources, stripping them from existence. Despite its seeming impossibility it was their. Before its failure massive gears thousands of miles across could be seen turning on its surface as massive shafts and carts moved across its surface.

All that life came to a grinding halt one day, however, three thousand years ago. Now sections of the immense thing had been stripped away and the outer realms of space revealed. It seems as if the construct itself had been hidden within an immense nebula that caused incredible interference to all things that entered it. Even after the first exposure of outer space everything seemed hopeless until by sheer chance a massive gate was found. It was a half a light-year across. Within a hundred years of its discovery it had been dismantled and a path to space abroad was found. This gate had opened into the only stable section of the nebula.

However people still held back for two thousand years, until this day. Felgorn slowly approached the epic portal. This was it, the first steps into unknown space. Within a half hour the ship had cleared the gate and was no treading where none had ever before. It was what could be called a joyous occasion.

It was not. As Felgorn moved through the gate something followed it, and intangible force. So long as these people had been trapped so had it, but now they went boldly out into the galaxy and in turn so did it. This was the catastrophe that Edward had known would happen. The which walked hand in hand with them followed suit free to spread through space no longer restricted by unknown forces. This thing, it was what made the days long, ground the souls, darkened the corridors, expanded the hulls. It was malign and terrible, a force beyond compare. As the hunter follows the herds that are its prey so it had followed.

Within a day they cleared the nebula and were finally in open space. It was a site they had never before seen. Even the immensity of the barrier could not match that of open space. Who they found now, was up to the winds of fate.

Edward continued his journey.

Chief Advisor Edward Penburry
Log Six/ Day Six
We have passed into open space and the day of loathing has come to pass. We are free from the barrier, but we are not free. It remains biting at our ankles, tugging us down. So we are free, and now it too is. I would rather wander the expanse for a thousand years alone then bring this fate unto others. They wont see it coming, no nothing can. No science can detect it, no logic isolate it. One can only feel it, but by then it has grabbed hold. I think I will take up prayer to our nameless god, for all other options have died.
End Log

Interesting. Keep going.

Tag, possible involvement. TG if interested in a first encounter.

OOC: Anyone can feel free to post running into my ship, dont worry the malign presence is hardly an overt aggresive things save at rare times. It is actually very subtle, but infinitely sinister.

Larguth sighed as he looked over the scanner. His ship was an Oni, second only to the Titunac cruisers in raw firepower. It's reputation, however, came from its ability to catch anything off guard, due to its deliberate resemblance to an asteroid.

Grinning, he spotted something coming up on the scanner. Something big. He checked the numbers, and stiffled a gasp. Something ten kilometers big. He checked the visual, and nearly filled is built-in cathader.

"All active crew, report to stations! Prepare for contact!"

As the crew got into position, everything went about as though a drill. Since the ship was clearly visible, however, the call went with a "no drill" addition. Imagry details were sent, and (hopefully) a few cruisers would arrive shortly. In the meantime, Larguth hailed the unidentified vessel.

"Greetings, unidentified vessel. You are now in a Muktari border system. Please make clear your intentions."

Hopefully, the ship's disguising design would not give them away.

And like that it happened. First contact was made. Like so many other things the lives of these people it occurred without true event. A ship of an un-cursed kingdom had come across the Felgorn. Unknowing it had sent out a message.

This words of a snaked through the void and were picked up by the monstrous rusting sensors of the Felgorn. In fact every aspect of the Felgorn was worn and the monstrous ship could easily pass as a derelict. It was lopsided, looking as if it had been constructed from mismatched parts and modified. The simple fact, however, was that it was. It had been constructed from massive pieces of the barrier and then modified. One would say it looked like a ghost ship.

Once the message hit the sensors it was converted into electric pulses that arched through system after system until they became audible. This sound then poured out on to the bridge. First contact had been made. The message was in an odd language that was foreign in all respects to these people’s ears. Suddenly translation systems began to click into action. Millions of infinitely small gears began to turn, powered in different ways by the flow the electrical current derived from the message. Soon the message clicked onto a display on a section of the bridge. Winding cogs with letters on them clicked into place and there before them was the first message ever to come from one not of their species.

The captain read over the message and called his advisors to the bridge, this was it. Within minutes each of them stormed through the bridge’s door ready to work. Yet ready to work, could hardly be deemed enthusiastic. They were still weighed down.

They began to read the message and formulated a response. A typist input it into the computer on what could be described as a typewriter. Soon the transmission towers powered to life and sent a response.

“We are the first of our people to leave native space. We are on a mission of exploration and hope to establish diplomatic ties through first contact. We are unarmed.”

After the message was sent the crew began to work to find out where this message had originated from. Despite there best efforts to find its source they remained clueless as to its location. Nothing but asteroids out here.

Larguth sighed in relief at that last part. His receiver, like most Muktari receivers, had the translator built in.
"Pilot, bring the ship about so the visiting vessel knows where we are."
"Yessir."
"Attention exploration vessel. I am Commander Larguth of the Oni frigate Deruket. I will be transmitting a map of Muktari territory shortly. We are willing to establish an alliance provided knowledge of your nations basic principles, as well as trade if you possess anything we value and we have anything you are interested in." Flipping off the communicator, he then turned toward his TacCom officer. "Call off those cruisers. Unidentified vessel is friendly and unarmed."

Soon the letter cogs began to spin again and a new message was once again before the crew on the bridge. Multiple people smiled, or at least came close to smiling, this race seemed to be peaceful. After reading the message Captain Green turned around and was ready to once again consult his advisors on a reply. He noticed someone was missing, Edward had disappeared from the bridge without anyone realizing it. He motioned for two maintenance officers to look for him. Green knew what this may mean, Edward had to be found. No point in wasting time on a response however, and he quickly began to formulate one with the aid of his advisors.

Edward was already far from the bridge, and the chance of anyone finding him for many hours was incredibly slim. He needed to get to the transmitter room. On the second day of despair something had come to him in the darkness of the winding halls. When first contact was made he would warn the other ship of the terrible danger, hopefully saving them. He descended floor after floor, passed through murky passage after murky passage until all that stood before him and the inner workings of the transmitter was one long maintenance access way. He began to trot down it, then something happened.

It, the presence became aware of his thoughts, his soul, his plan. That little hall began to grow, stretch before Edward. With each and every step the door grew two steps away. The already dim light began to fade and his steps became light. It felt as if he was running through water towards an ever fleeting object. He must reach the door, but it continued to move father. Soon the air was as thick as syrup and he collapsed slowly drifting to the floor. Edward blacked out, a mere foot from the door. It would be hours before he was found.

Soon many decks and a mile away a new message was formulated and sent.

“Hail great Commander Larguth of the Deruket. We had just picked up your ship on our sensors, quite ingenious. Our nations basic principles you ask. We are what you could call a democracy, and believe in the rights of our citizens. With this we will send you a map of the space we know, which is very limited. As for natural resources we can name a few, but formal trade negotiations will have to occur at a later date. We have a great deal of unstable gasses from the nebula and an incredible amount of metal alloy harvested from the great barrier which can be seen in our map. We will finish with a rather open question. What is the galaxy like?”

The message whisked off into space towards the foreign craft. Something grabbed hold of it however. A tiny bit of the presence, nothing truly powerful. It was enough however to do something sinister to the words. Should one read them they would fall into the most sullen of moods and remain hat way for several hours after the last syllable was taken in. If the words came out audible from a translation program they would sound different, slow and each moment of audibility would stretch out for what would seem like and infinity and wear on the soul.

The commander chuckled halfheartedly as he read the message's question on the screen. He was overwhelmed by a feeling of dread, one he (at the time) assumed was because of the response he would provide to the question.

"We respect your basic principles as a society, and thus have no reason not to engage in diplomatic activity later on. This barrier is a most remarkable achievement, and explains the size and design of your vessel. As for the galaxy as a whole, it can be summed up with the word paranoid. There are so many factions ruling various territories of space right now that every minor event will draw the attention of a half-dozen nations, each bringing a cruiser to bear in case of a fight. The epicenter of the fighting is the Sol System, a solar system a bit of the ways counterclockwise from our territory. My personal advice as to how to get along in the universe is to avoid anyone who isn't near you, and make sure you have good relations with your neighbors."

Edward was still missing. Multiple crew men were nervously searching for him about the ship. A team of two men entered the chapel having heard that he had taken up prayer there a few days ago. They quickly scanned the pews, nothing. Then they noticed something. At the head of the room was a fifty foot faceless statue that was meant to represent anyone’s belief. What caught there eye was the face of the statue, in the fact that there was a face on it. It was Edward’s. The face was locked in a look of terrible agony, or at least they thought it was until they blinked. For that moment their eyes were closed the face changed as if it was writhing in agony. At this they fell back terrified.

Numerous decks away the a two man team moved down the passageway where Edward had collapsed. On the floor there was the outline of a man in fresh clean metal, but Edward was nowhere to be seen. As the reports came together the command of the ship began to understand what had happened.

Green knew this had to be dealt with, secretly, the other ship could not flee. They were the closet neighbors to their kingdom, and there newest message suggested that one should have close ties with close neighbors. They formulated a response.

“It saddens us that the galaxy is torn by suspicion and war, but we are not in a position to change that which has already been set. We have numerous smaller diplomatic craft docked, and we can leave one in your system to continue negotiations and treaties. However, we must push on, as much as we regret it. Should you desire we can launch a ship to dock with yours, or at the nearest space port.”

Edward awoke from the darkness into darkness. He strained his eyes, but nothing could overcome the black around him. Below him was rough metal. He reached out and slowly fumbled forwards until he reached a wall only a few feet away. He attempted to stand but found the ceiling terrible low. The space was circular and irregular. He was a few hundred feet below where he had passed out. He was within an imperfection of the structure, as gas bubble. The malign presence had trapped him, for the time being. He began to yell and shriek as loud as he could, the sound merely fell to the walls without consequence. The darkness grew, prevailed, and permeated him.

The commander nodded, still oddly shaken by the strange feeling. He sent back this message:

"We are heartened by your persistence, and are more than willing to host a diplomat within our system for negociations. However, we will need to call upon one of our larger vessels, as this frigate is a vessel of combat without any means to receive another vessel. In the meantime, however, we must ask: IS there anything from within your territory we may not be adapted for? This barrier would cut off most, if not all contact, and there be matters such as disease or some equivolent to address."

The advisor and Green blinked at the message. Or some equivalent to address… Or some equivalent to address… They read the message over and over. Green was willing to not mention a few things, but outright lie. That was a different story. The bases of any good alliance was truth. Despite a few advisor’s objections he decided to inform the ship of it, that which can not be seen.

“We thank you for your generosity, and will send out a diplomatic ship once a larger ship of yours arrives. To answer your question, yes there is something. I can’t really explain what it is, few can, save those who devote their life to understanding it. That is a fools errand as the sane can not comprehend the truly insane. Words can only hope to describe, but I can offer you a true explanation, if you are willing to make a sacrifice for your people. You will understand more than most can if you feel it, and it can be felt on this ship. We extend the offer for you to board our ship, but we recommend that you come alone, for the sake of others with you. Should you desire to board, the location of a docking bay are with this message. Any shuttle will be sufficient transportation. Brace yourself, for once felt in its entirety it lingers for a lifetime.”

The message flew off into space, response unknown. Edward was still trapped in the inky darkness, his fate dwindling in the gnashing teeth.

The commander narrowed his eyes at the cryptic message.
"This is most... unusual. Send a Masakari to look into it. Has the Titunac we requested arrived yet?"
"Yes sir, it's coming out of hyperboost now."

Nearly eight times the size of the Oni, the Titunac had similiar camoflauge on its front half. After a brief communication, the Titunac sent a lone shuttle to the Oni, upon which boarded a Masakari. The following message was sent from the Deruket:

"Given the nature of your reply, we have considered it within our best interests to send a Masakari to look into the anamoly of which you speak. Masakari are agents trained to fight enemies with psionic, Force, or similiar supernatural abilities. We believe the Masakari's training would help resist any negative influence of the anamoly. The Masakari will be docking shortly."

Green read over the message and was slightly relieved. There was no sudden abortion of all contact, no arming of weapons, no these people were civil about the matter. Apparently one that was skilled in the arts of the mind was coming to learn of it. God be with them. The shuttle began its final approach towards the massive ship, approaching one of many bays. Two massive cogs began to turn sending deaf echoes through space as a large opening appeared on the side of the ship. While many ships of the day had complex shields that held out the void, this ship utilized primitive but effective airlocks. The ship docked in a large space, it was pressurized and another set of doors leading into the ship opened.

Green, a few advisors, and ranking crewmen waited behind the second airlock. This was it, the first site of another race. Now would be a good time to describe these people. They had never applied a name to themselves, for reasons truly unknown, but despite this fact they had a unique shape. In fact one would describe them as a startling race. They were bipedal, like humans and stood around the same height as a human. They, however, were hairless. There skin was a deep inky black that reflected little light. Contrasting this were their eyes, which were a pure white. Their overall shape was like that of a human, but a bit more slender and sleek. Green and entourage stood nervously and jumped slightly as they heard the shuttle land on the other side of the bulkhead. There was a faint his of pressurization, this was it. The door began to rise.

Far away from this tremendous event Edward lay sobbing in the impermeable inky black. The ground was terrible and hard cutting at his flesh. Then something began to happen. It started with the metal slowly heating and growing slick. Suddenly he could feel a thick liquid boiling from the floor and falling from the ceiling. The floor began to break to pieces and was replaced with something far more terrible, flesh. What had been cold lifeless walls now was a hot, slick, slimy, hair covered, pulsating orb of flesh. He was scratch by tough wire like undulating follicles and began to thrash about. Suddenly the flesh began to shift towards the sound of grinding and gnashing of teeth. He began to panic and flung himself away from this dreadful sound.

Then something else was there. A comfort in this horror, he felt his two daughters at his side, and heard them whisper low words of love. He was at peace for a moment, but this entity was cruel and had other plans for these hallucinations. Suddenly the daughters began to scream and panic as they were pulled towards the great gnashing maw by millions of ripping hairs and barbs. Edward was overcome with a need to help his daughters and moved to save them. For every inch he crawled, they were just one more away. Within moments they were at the maw. He suddenly heard the sound of cracking bone and spilling flesh. A new poignant odor filled the room as the small children were torn asunder by terrible teeth. He screamed an let go of hope, being pulled into the mouth. He, however, passed through unscathed.

As the ship opened, a varient human stepped out. The meaning of the term varient human is a human that so adapted to a harsh planet they seem a different species. In this case, cold temperature and extraordinary gravity made the Masakari slightly shorter, stockier, and hairier than a normal human. He was wearing red-lensed goggles which allowed him to see certain anomolies like a human would be seen in infrared. His uniform was standard Muktari gray with black trim and shoulderplates. Stepping down from the platform, he reached out to shake hands with Green. If Green is unfamiliar with the tradition, he pulls his hand back once he realizes this. In either case, he states: "Juro Kada, Masakari Third Class."

OOC: Masakari Classes are levels of skill ranging from 1 to 5.

OOC: Risking slightly breaking the mood, just got one billion people! :D

IC: Green smiled as the Masakari approached him. This was it, Green was a legend. The Masakari extended a hand, although Green was not used to this he quickly extended a return shake. First contact, literally had been made. Green, the first to touch another intelligent species. This achievement lifted him, if only for a moment. The shadow receded and color poured through. There was a light in the dark, it was pure ecstasy for him. He welcomed the newcomer and introduced his advisors and ranking crewmen.

Greens emotions were like a geyser of color and sound to the entity. Something new, delicious, the entity began to focus on the room. Its presence grew and the lights began to fade deeper and darker. Never reaching utter darkness however. While very powerful by definition, it was still weak compared to others, so this entity was greatly drained by its interactions with Edward and could not muster a corporeal presence in more than a single place. Still though it could be felt, and there was something new. This, was an ultimate triumph. Edward would have to wait.

Edward was found by a wayward crew men shaking on the front pew convulsing violently, mind shattered. The statue of the god had returned to normal, and Edwards induced hallucinations had ended. The terrible darkness had other plans, with a new arrival.

It hovered just beyond sensation for the newcomer. A tantalizing presence was what it sought, an eerie churning. It would approach later.

OOC: So I guess I should give you a rough idea of how powerful this thing is. These things have almost no limit to what they can do as a collective, but individuals have limitations. This being is very powerful in a general sense, being able to influence the entire crew of the Felgorn at any given moment, which numbers in the thousands. So how powerful that shows up to your guy is up to you.

After introductions, the Masakari, Juro, looked toward a wall. "I think I see what you were refering to. There's this red haze beginning to fill the room on my sweep. I think it's curious." Juro looked over the presence, which was visible was a red smoke on his goggles. "So tell me, is this thing intelligent, or just some sort of primal entity? Or do you not know?"