NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: this is an extension of the thread 'Return of Gentec Amalgamated', primarily regarding an exploratory patrol sent out to establish contact with any other civilisations that might be colonising the planet and/or its moons.
For more information on the nation and/or its situation check out the other thread here:
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=484165

Anyone with interests in orbit around Jupiter is welcome to join in, and anyone else is welcome to rp pirates or vessels from their own nations if they wish.

IC:

Spreading out from the Habitats protective influence, two drone carriers and their escorts of cruisers begin a systematic sweep of the space surrounding the planet. They transmit their designations, and their purpose is declared to be exploratory and in no way intended as hostile. That said, their secondary, unstated purpose is to nuetralize any possible threats to their Habitat's wellbeing, and as such they are under orders to engage any pirates and set up a perimeter of sensors.

Meanwhile Orestes, specialised sensor drones with intelligence and personalities akin to those of dolphins, spread out and search the upper atmosphere of the planet, flitting through the gaseous clouds and seemingly impervious to the violent storms. They record and relay everything, and while impulsive and unpredictable they make brilliant spies, and are almost totally harmless.

The two expeditionary forces are both formidable, but neither is large enough to stage an invasion or even large scale battle, as such they can and will respect any claims to soveriegn space, and skirt areas defined as others territory. At least until the diplomatic corps and backup arrives to verify it.

A few eyes watch, curiously, scrolling the EM band and occasionally drifting into the G band, without really bothering all that much - it's mostly passive looks, actives are taken care of (And distributed) by the usual, all-encompassing observation nets that span the planetary sphere at large.

There's some 'Aaaah's amd 'Ooooh's, of course, as sapience-occupied drones and spaceships - pityful remnants of a once much larger presence, but DA activity around Jupiter has decreased over time, not quite as much as Mars, but still - observe the maneuvers of the 'GTA's, and Themisto fires off a few confirmatory messages in response to the newcomers' detachement's transmissions.

The Orestes are regarded quite curiously - they seem to be almost 'Cute', at least to the minds in question (Only one of the minds considers acquiring one as a pet, though), and at least their movement involves an elegance rarely seen in space (Or in the atmospheres of gas giants, come to think of it). A few fullband vids are taken, and then taken apart for less refined senory perception, like human eyes.

A few minds consider what they see. Habitats, and rather more than casual interest in Jupiter's atmosphere. Well...

So that's where they'll go.

And with that, everything's back to business as usual in the land where nothing much happens.

The drone carriers respond in kind, diplomatic officers that had been attached to their crews dealing with any and all transmissions from external sources.

Without doing anything alarming they return the active scans, the enormous vessel's own senses registering wide band impressions of any ships they come accross.

The Orestes meanwhile play and dart around in the upper atmosphere, seemingly without any real purpose, as the small fleet continues its search pattern.

A lone Pilonese merchant freighter detected the ships and transmitted the information via the Nodelink back home to Mars. Within seconds the channels were alive with conversations, theorizing who these unknown people might be, Pilon had never had contact with anyone with similar technology.

Some voiced concerns that another splinter colony from the imperial ages had survived and caution should be taken with these unknown ships. Afterall they didn't want another incident like the one with the Pilonians.
Others, more optimistic in mind, voiced opinions that they should be greeted with open arms regardless of who they may be, for they were obviously akin in spirit with the Pilonese people and therefore potential allies.

The debates raged on for several minutes, fairly normal in these circumstances, both sides stating opinions and finally a vote was cast. A majority of the Pilonese voted in favor of meeting these people.

*Several Hours Late*

A lone craft jumped out of hyperspace, it was one of the brand new seventh Generation Diplomatic Craft. Upon entering realspace a small school of escorts were released for their pods in the rear of the ship, where they took up positions around the craft.
The Diplomatic Craft resembled a large Manta Ray, almost 115 meters long with another 15 in the gravitic engine in the tail. As it moved through space it appeared to flow, like its predesessors who flowed across the seabed.

As it approached the Gentec Drone Carriers a simple identification was transmitted along with a greeting:
"This is the Diplomatic Craft Gourami of the Greater People's Hegemony of Pilon, we have detected your vessels and wish to meet with a representative of your people to establish diplomatic relations."

Short and to the point. The twin Elwyn's looked at each other. Their mission had several goals, first they were to discover who these people were, especially whether they were decended from an abandoned Pilonese colony, and learn a bit of their technological level.
Second, as ordered directly from the Arbitrators, they were to establish a trade relatoinship with these people and open up negotiations between the Megacorps and these people, and lastly, they were to look into expanding Pilonese influence in the region, especially if it turned out that these people were based on Jupiter.

The carriers do not respond for a few moments as they scan the vessels for weapons... The Skien* comes alive with sense impressions and empathic projections as the vessels communicate with Iris and her sister.

After this short wait, a 3d audiovisual transmission is sent.

It shows a small but tough human looking woman of middling years, her face lined with worry, and years of making hard decisions. She smiles, and it rests ill on her face, as if she has little opportunity to practice that expression.

"This is the captain of the Ultrix Tisiphone, Carrier class vessel of the Gentec Navy. I am authorised to represent my people." The channel remains open as she stands impassive in the center of the image.

Meanwhile the Orestes immediately around the Ultrix approach the Pilonese vessel, dancing and darting about as they go.. they seem intent to investigate the strange ship and its escorts.

On board, marines scramble and GCD's** emerge from holding pods to take up positions outside of dropships. No weapons arm, but they are ready for a trap. Years of travelling the stars has left the Gentec navy with a case of procedural paranoia.

The Carriers are six kilometers long and, like all Gentec ships, simple elongated spheroids of shimmering blue shell, punctuated by spiracle like openings in rows along the sides. Unlike the Pilonese vessels it does not seem to have any external means of locomotion, no obvious engines, boosters or anything else. not even windows. The ships are surrounded in a field of gravetic disturbance caused by their alcubierre drives. Basic scans show that the ship is organic, with almost no ferrous metal used in its construction at all. The ships 'sensors' are shallow depressions on its sides containing clusters of highly sensitive receptors.

*The Skien is the psychic network that connects the bio-constructs, and humans modified to communicate with them.
** Information on the Gentec military can be found on NSWiki.. though the navy section is still work in progress (read absent at time of writing).
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Gentec_Amalgamated

Scans of the Pilonese Diplomatic craft reveal a highly specialized lifeform capable of living in the harsh environment of space. The ship is complete with organs, skin, blood, and even internal power systems. The shielded living compartment within the creature does not reveal any information about the interior of the craft or its occupants though the living compartment is about 1/3 of the creature. Beyond the external pods that house the support craft on the ship there are no apparent entrances or exits on the creature. The scan also reveals a thick carapace armor using a organic/metallic compound indicating manipulation at the cellular level. Though the Diplomatic craft appears to have only short range weapons the support craft are each armed with a long range weapon and a nasty looking lamprey-like mouth. Each of these support craft are 5 meters long and swarm around the larger ship like insects.

The Empathic Projections reveal a general feeling of excitement from the ships, and a curious beweilderment of the much larger vessels.

In response to the transmission a tri-vid projection of the cloned Elves is transmitted back to the Ultrix Tisiphone. "Ah! So nice to meet you Captain, we're sorry we didn't catch your name. Please allow us to introduce ourselves, our name is Elwyn, I (The one on the left) am Elwyn87, and this is Elwyn142, we have been authorized with full diplomatic authority on behalf of the GPH of Pilon in the hopes of getting to know you better. We typically meet in person to do such things, its more personal that way, but if you would prefer we can continue our conversation here."

As the Orestes moved about them, the Ulls (support craft) responded by coordinating their movements with one another to prevent line of sight with the diplomatic craft.

In the meantime the transmission, as well as images of the craft and analysis' based on scans of the vessels are shared through the nodelink. The Pilonese excitedly share their thoughts and impressions of this information and eat up any new insights or observations with voracious tenacity. Who were these GenTecs? The Pilonese anxiously awaited additional information, there was nothing more interesting than discovering something new and interesting, especially when it appealed to the people so much. Other Organic Nations! Obviously Pilon had accepted the idea that such a thing was possible, but they were so rare it was nice to finally meet one.

One after another questions waited in queue waiting to be asked by the Elwyns...

Again a slight pause as the captain perhaps conferrs silently with someone else. "I am Luminate Átene. At present Iris habitat is in a state of emergency, and the only people being recieved there are the Scolopendrans, in recognition of their aid during our crisis. We would, however, be happy to meet in your territory."

The interior of the vessel's habitable area is hard to discern also, though more due to the lack of contrast between the ship's internal organs and its crew than the second layer of armour that encases it. For those with psychic abilities, it is easy to discern the sentient nature of the vessels themselves, and they emanate amusement, and curiosity.

Meanwhile the Orestes seem to take the intervention of the support craft as a challenge, and begin dancing around the ship in ever faster, ever more confusing patterns. None of them have any discenrable weapons systems, only an extensive battery of sensors.

(OOC: Copied from the original thread, with some addition.)

After much internal deliberation, the Ganymede Node finally came to a concensus to contact the Jovian system's new arrivals. Radio waves streamed out from Ganymede's south pole carrying the message...

Greeting Iris and Eris, from the Snel of Ganymede. Please excuse our delay in contacting you. Should you require any further medical assistance, we offer our services to assist in repairing your damaged populace. Assuming the individuals involved would not object to temporary subsumption into the Crana web, we can handle extremely high capacity. In any case, however, we do not have record of ever contacting your polity before, and what we observe of your technology in propulsion, space-time manipulation, and biological engineering intrigues us. We request permission to dispatch an Envoy to meet with you in person.
~Ganymede Node

After a short pause, a second message is sent.

Iris and Eris, we have completed preliminary telescopic and spectrographic surveys of your construction. While we cannot make any guarantees without more intimate details of your operation, we are fairly confident that we can assist in rapidly instituting at least basic, macroscale repairs to any structural tissue damage you may have undergone.
~Ganymede Node

Snel Race:

Iris herself responds to the transmission. Her strange, androgynous voice seeming to fill any space its in, even in this weak, broadcasted form.

"Thank you, Snel of Ganymede. I am Iris, Habitat of the Gentec Corperation. The critical point in our crisis has passed, and most urgent external repairs have been completed. Our medical facilities are now within safe margins and we are recovering slowly. We would be happy to send a delegation to you, however at present time due to the recent emergency i am not recieving further visitors. I hope you understand."

A microscopic pause.
"If you are willing to recieve a delegation, one can be sent immediately or at your convenience. and as soon as i have reached a point where i am comfortable recieving guests i will notify you."

A rush of discussions moved throughout the nodelink. There was a general sense of excitement at the prospect of actually getting to host a meeting with these strange people. The general consensus of the Pilonese was an overwhelming acceptance of the idea to host a Gentec Delegation in Pilon. Another flurry of questions were sent out and filtered, most of which would not be asked at this moment, but merely assigned to the ever increasing queue that would undoubtedly be asked in the actual meeting.

The Elwyns sighed, it was very tiring dealing with this much enthusiasm and a tone of frustration was broadcast to calm down the endless jabs in their direction to quickly gain the information everyone was anxiously waiting for. Soon this feeling was spread and a new debate quickly ended in a decision to set up a meeting as quickly as possible and find out what emergency they were speaking of, after all Pilon was still new to this part of space, mostly sticking to the transit lanes between their bases in the outer system and their Martian Holdings.

“Luminate Atene, we would be more than delighted to meet with a delegation of your people at your earliest convenience, we are sending the coordinates now. You will be meeting directly with the Headspeaker of the Council, Pilias Simber as well as several representatives from the Megacorps and likely several Arbiters from some of our Research Projects as well. Our people are very excited to learn all they can about your people, their culture, and your technology, in fact if they had their way you would be bombarded with thousands of questions right now, but we are filtering these questions to keep the demand down right now.
Our people are eager to open up trade relations with you, others want are curious to know exactly what kind of emergency has befallen your people, and what Pilon can do as a nation to help, though I would note many of our resources are tied up at the moment addressing a planetary catastrophe on Mars, but we will offer what aid we can if you so desire.
We are delighted to hear that you have established contact with the Scolopendrans, we are on fairly good terms with them.
One last question, we have several different venues we could meet your delegation in, would you prefer to meet at one of our Grand Casinos or at one of our reception facilities?”

The Ulls did not seem to think the Orestes’ behavior was very funny, however the overriding commands from the Diplomatic craft prevented them from doing what they would normally have done, eat the Orestes. Instead they simply powered up weapons and tracked the movements of the Orestes, continuing their movements and taking full advantage of their maneuverability to maintain their positions between the Orestes and their host.
In the meantime the Diplomatic craft continued to send soothing thoughts to the Ulls to keep them calm and try to maintain control over them, while the necessity to have defensive drones was recognizes it was sometimes a pain to keep their military minds in check from obviously playful intentions. The military mind often saw threats where others saw innocence.

OOC:My nation is a ring shaped space station in orbit of Jupiter. I won't have to go far.

IC: Several small sattelites picked up a handful of ships approaching the area. The Dictator sat at his desk, looking out the window onto the capitol city when the phone rang. "Yes?" he barked into the phone. "Sir, we read several ships approaching our space." He replied, "send a transmission to them. Send two Star Destroyers to intercept them, and ask them of their objectives." He hung up.

Skillcrossbones OOC: What prompted the sudden switch to these forums? as far as i can tell they are parallell and dont interact much with one another. If you are up for some serious RP then im happy to oblige.. but just a little thing. Star Destroyers are about a mile long. The Gentec Carriers are three times that size. They are going to look more than a little puny in comparison, like a couple of three year olds mugging you for candy.

IC:
The Orestes eventually fall back in a sulk. A couple hold station a fair distance away, tumbling and jostling one another playfully and the rest sip off in search of something more interesting.

Aténe seems happy with their decision, her smile becoming more earnest, and creasing her care-worn face. "Though i am sure the Diplomat Caste would be delighted with the prospect of Casino's i think i should make an executive decision on their behalf and say one of your reception facilities. I can have a diplomatic vessel here in moments, there are several sitting on standby as we speak. We had expected there to be rather more interests around than there in fact were." She seems quite perplexed by this.

Meanwhile the Orestes seemed to have found something they deem 'more interesting' and have started gamboling around in anticipation. Back at Iris, a diplomatic vessel preps for launch, its crew scrambling and boarding as the the conversation is relayed through the Skein. It would take mere minutes for them to be at the Carriers present location, and most of that time would be spent navigating the potentially treacherous gravetic wake around the habitat.

Skillcrossbones OOC: What prompted the sudden switch to these forums? as far as i can tell they are parallell and dont interact much with one another.

OOC: What do you mean? & the reason I only sent star destroyers is because I don't know what you are yet.

OOC: what i meant was i looked through your post history, and most of your RP has been on the International Incidents Forum. they are more lax about alot of stuff and from what i have seen there isnt much interaction between the nations that rp in NS and II. If you want to rp with me, then great, im fine with that, but post the ships approach and so-on, as so far youve only posted your intention to launch the ships. I dont have anything to respond to IC yet.

With the Orestes withdrawal the Ulls powerdown their weapon systems though they are still very agitated. The ship’s continued efforts to keep her children calm and relaxed finally starts to get some headway, and over the next couple minutes, one by one, the ships resume normal flight operations and calmly protect their host again. The problem with such simple creatures is they are very difficult to keep under control in such tense situations, however the Ulls could not attack without authorization or apparent threat to their charge. Notes would be taken of the apparent playfulness of these strange sensor drones, and adjustments made in the future to prevent things from getting out of hand. These GenTec ships seemed relatively friendly, so they should be treated as such until good reason is given for them not to.

The Elwyns both smiled. The mirrored expressions on both of the clone’s faces gave them almost a robotic appearance despite their flesh and blood. “Feel free to send over some of your Diplomat Caste as soon as possible, as we speak we are preparing a delegation of Pilonese groups who wish to speak with your people. Due to a recent incident on the ground in Mars we don’t recommend landing on the planet’s surface, but we have an appropriate facility being prepared now in Orbit over Pilon.”

There was a sudden rush of joy from the nodelink. PPC had won the bid to host the conference beating out both the Casino and Genesis Corps as the best candidate for this. Even with the internal struggles within PPC, or perhaps because of those struggles, it was determined that the Starlounge onboard the main PPC orbital laboratory was an appropriate, non-entertainment based site to meet with the GenTec Delegation, though they would be sure to invite these Diplomats to visit the Casino at a later date, even possibly after their meeting. One simply could not come to Pilon, especially when first getting to know the Pilonese, without visiting the hub of Pilon’s social life.

“If there are no other matters we can help you out with here we would be happy to escort your delegation back to the facility where they will be met by representatives from our Government, each of the major Megacorps, as well as the Administrator for the facility that will be hosting the meeting, the appointed Arbiter for the Research Project that works on the facility. We will be ready to leave at your convenience.

The grizzled officer nods, and her smile widens slightly. "The diplomatic vessel shoul dbe here any second. It was scrambling as we spoke."

Sure enough, a comparitively diminutive cruiser class vessel, seemingly lightly armed, with low-yield fore and aft torpedo launchers and a small shuttle come boarding and/or escape craft, appears nearby. Like its larger cousins, it is a sleek elongated spheroid of irridescent blue carapace.

The Carriers begin to pull away, leaving the diplomatic vessel to initiate communication, which it does. Their transmission shows an elegantly dressed, fine boned man with piercing eyes, but a friendly smile.

"I am Luminate Janus. Honored with being the Emmissary of the Council. Your names, i take it, are Elwyn?"

Considering that human cloning as such was not common in Gentec, he seems remarkably at ease with the identical Elwyns... perhaps from dealing with the faceless Constructs that are so common in the Habitats.

Meanwhile the Orestes are pulling further and further away, followed by the carriers in a manner that suggests a massive chariot drawn by tens of tiny horses.

Additional light scans were made of the new incoming craft. Analysis of the ship was compared to what they had onthe carriers and Orestes and an extrapolation was made of other likely designs and common design features present in all of these Gentec Ships to get a better picutre of the overall technological level of the nation.

As the data came in through the Nodelink a rush of frenzied discussions again hit the channels. These Gentecs were the hot topic of discussion, many were proposing the establishment of a small trade outpost in Jupiter in the hopes of exchanging technology with the Gentecs and the possibility of doing a collaborative project or two was also discussed. Now the Research Projects were interested as new projects meant new competition and likely more voices from scientists in the Directive Branch, something most scientists had been screaming for since the Volarian Incident.

Other people were, mainly the common Pilonese worker, were more interested in learning who these Luminates were, was it a title? This was something that garnered enough support that the question made its way up the queue, it would be asked relatively soon.

The Elf Clones smiled, it had been quite some time since this level of enthusiasm had been shown for their work, it was quite refreshing is somewhat unnerving to feel the elation and at the same time keep everyone under control till they had a chance to finally sit down and talk with these Gentecs.

"Luminate Janus, you are correct, our names are Elwyn. I am the 87th clone of Elwyn and she (Indicating her partner) is the 142nd. In our society we will sometimes create specialized persons, combining a genetic makeup with an environment condusive to optimal performance in our specified duties to make a specialist. One of our most successful of such programs is the Elwyn program, our clones make up a majority of the Diplomatic Corporation and serve both the Government in most of their important Diplomatic functions as well as a majority of the Megacorps dealings with both non-Pilonese and internally between the Government and other Megacorps.

We have many questions we'd like to ask you, and as we are rather well known for our good hospitality we wish to some with you. We are prepared to escort you back to Martian Orbit where we can meet at the PPC Administrative Center in orbit, we have everything already prepared for our arrival. It will give us a chance to get to know one another a little better and learn just how much we have in common with one another."

With the withdrawal of the Orestes and the apparent lack of threat this new ship posed to the Diplomatic craft the Ulls were now quite calm, slowly moving in their orbital patterns around the Diplomatic craft, several even returned to their pods on the ship, might as well dock now with no apparent threats about and soon, the departure of their ship.

Janus nods, He had been briefed on the suggested course of action and seems happy with it. The glow of curiosity in his eyes reveals his own excitement.

"I look forward to it. Let us get underway, then. I feel that we are keeping people waiting."

The Skien, a psychic network spanning the vast distances of space to link the Habitats and their children, was also alight with interest. It had been since they arrived, but these Pilonese, who seemed so similar, yet so different from themselves had produced a particularly intense degree of interest.

Every scrap of information they received was immediately disseminated across the network, thousands of minds tearing it apart, and coming up with their own interpretations which would then be further spread. The result was a cacophonous roar that gradually harmonized. As more Lumina became aligned in their views, so their particular opinions grew in strength and unity. Soon a smooth and generally positive weave of opinion grew from the riotous tangle of threads.

As this happens, the Gentec Diplomatic Vessel prepares for departure, and its crew and marine escort all gather in the briefing room, discussing amongst themselves the possible implications of this meeting.

(ooc: Jumping ahead to the station, feel free to throw in anything else you wanted before we arrived)
The trip back to Mars was a relatively short one. The Diplomatic Craft escorted the Gentec vessel. During the flight the Elwyn’s spent most of their time coordinating with the PPC representatives setting up the room for their arrival. There would be a proper greeting awaiting their new guests once they docked with the station.

As they arrived in orbit the Elwyns took note of the exceedingly large number of ships currently in orbit. “Probably a better idea to alert Gentec, most of those fleets currently engaged in a pissing contest with one another are either unfriendly to Pilon or are generally unfriendly to Mars…”

“Luminate Janus, as we approach the station please be aware that you are no longer in Jupiter Space, Martian Space is… somewhat more dangerous in general. Currently there is a bit of a competition going on between one of the alliances on Mars and some newcomers over a territory dispute, nothing to do with us, but indications are that shots have been fired, stray fire may come our way, our defensive swarms will be deployed to prevent damage to the ships, but we wanted to inform you of the possibility of collateral damage.”

(referencing this thread on the Mars Boards: http://z4.invisionfree.com/The_Planet_Mars/index.php?showtopic=952)

Mars itself appeared as a dark ball. Radioactive particles circled the planet, much of the planet’s surface was still covered in the Tons of particles that had already settled. (http://server106.totalchoicehosting.com/~tpjzdd/gallery/ScenesandPosters/radiomars_3D_2_001)

Mars had numerous ships in orbit, thousands of ships from several dozen different nations. Most of the vessels in orbit outside of those involved in the conflict were merchant vessels, coming and going from Mars or from outer systems to trade their goods. Pilon itself sported an impressive array of orbital defensive systems including several battlestations, satellites, and weapon’s platforms. There was also a giant spawning bed of organic and metallic debris within a thin mesh enclosure, many small craft of various shapes and sizes could be seen within, feeding off the scattered ship bits to supply easy nutrients to the young ships. A large double mushroom shaped structure with flashy lights and heavy traffic coming and going was identified as the orbital Grand Casino of Mars.

The Administrative Station itself resembled a dark blue brain coral. Already about a dozen ships were docked with the station. Thousands of Ull’s busily moved around the station like a cloud of Gnats, scanning for incoming fire from the ongoing battle.

As the ships approached docking instructions were given, thought he location indicated did not seem to have any apparent opening. “Luminate Janus, I hope the trip to Mars was pleasant, we also hope that your stay with us will be a memorable experience, we will see you in person when you arrive.” Several seconds later two bright balls of light shot from the belly of the ship, where a small crack opened, and lanced out toward the station, where a similar small opening appeared within the carapace of the station.

The Diplomatic Ship remained motionless for a few moments, then turned and sped away toward its Creche down on the planet.

The various TYCS forces scattered about take notice, but generally don't do much more than wave 'hi.'

(OOC: I did the irradiated Mars graphics. ^_^)

The Diplomatic Vessel for its part seems to shimmer at the mention of danger, visual distortion suggesting some form of defensive field having been engaged, and its visibility on all but gravetic sensors becomes vastly reduced.

They follow the Pilonese diplomatic vessel, and maintain observation of the conflict on Mars through passive means, trying not to attract unwanted attention. For the most part, Janus is silent. He spends the short hop preparing himself, lightweight fabric bodyarmour going on under his simple diplomats robe.

Elsewhere in the vessel, the Marines who are following the situation outside seem no more tense than they would otherwise be. Most of the others are asleep, catching a few more minutes rest before they go in.

At the end of the hop, as they drift in at sublight, the ship expresses confusion at the Elwyns seeming lack of explanation for how they might dock. It contacts the station, directly if possible, and if not, then through the radio channels. Its voice is asexual, calmly soothing and strangely compelling at the same time.

"This is the Gentec Diplomatic Vessel Demeter Thesmophoros. Please forward docking instructions."

ooc: Sorry RL getting very busy with Wedding Stuff (getting married in two about a week and a half)

ic: A Holographic Demonstration of docking procedures were transmitted to the ship indicating that as the ship approached the Station would adapt itself to accomodate the docking apparatus used by the Gentec Ship.

OOC: Congrats! Hope it goes brilliantly!

IC:
The diplomatic vessel approaches slowly, minimising the gravetic wake that the ship produces as it moves. When it gets close enough, it collapses the envelope around it and nudges itself in using small manouvering thrusters. A circular bulkhead-like hinged flap opens on the hull and a muscular flexible tube emerges and mates with the stations hull, acting as a passenger tunnel.

The tube is longer than strictly necessary for a simple docking tunnel and the mouth of it is equipped with a lamprey like maw full of blue composite teeth, implying that the organ has a military application as a breaching and boarding device as well. The teeth however do not engage, instead it creates a seal using a fringe of tiny cillia like the pads of a gecko's feet.

Janus awaits, dressed in a simple and elegant blue robe over a semi-fluid environmental epithilia designed to protect him from pathogens. The second skin is almost undetectable, a mere sheen on his skin. Behind him a Marine and his detachment of five GCD's waits in formation, standing at ease. Their weapons are slung accross their backs, stubby smg patterned weapons clearly designed for close quarter fighting. From the look of the Marine, whose helmet is under his arm, they do not expect to use them. The GCD's are almost indistinguishable from a marine in full bio armour so to unfamiliar eyes it would seem that six marines stand at guard rather than five constructs and one man.

OOC: Back from Honeymoon, thanks and it did go well!

IC:
The PPC representatives meant to escort their guests to the meeting hall eagerly exchanged conversation, both with one another and with others via the Nodelink. There were representatives from 15 of the Pilonese Megacorps, several research projects, and even renowned general and Speaker of the Council Apletesh Simber had made an appearance. Even the Genesis Corp representatives were treated with respect, rivalries aside when guests were present it was not the Pilonese way to show internal conflicts.

They watched via the building’s sensors as the ship approached and docked. The system used was similar to others they had encountered in the past and was easily adapted to, opening up to accept the tube. Both of the reps lined up in anticipation of the arriving delegation smiling eagerly. As last they caught sight of the Luminate and his escorts.

The two PPC representatives are both human men, though one has a greenish hue to his skin and the other sports obvious genetic enhancements to his sight and has a tail. When the Gentec delegation arrives on station they both raise their hands in front of them, palms facing toward the Gentecs in greeting. “Greetings Luminate Janus, we have been sent to escort you to the meeting hall where the other representatives from Pilon are awaiting your arrival. My name is Dirby and my companion here (pointing to the green skinned one) is Fraed.”

They turned to the Marine and the GCDs and individually greeting each of them to the station as well. They gave no different treatment to the GCDs or the Marine, though they did make an effort to afford the Luminate more courteously than the escorts.

Janus strides serenely through the proceedings, chatting to whomever had something to say, or simply caught his eye. He seems to make little distinction between the people around him, as willing to have a conversation with a waiter or bellhop as he is to tlk to a corporation boss or general.

The Marine on the other hand seems slightly disgruntled and gruff, his accent markedly dissimilar to the diplomats, he says little unless directly addressed, and maintains a respectful distance from Janus and the hub of activity. His GCD's mirror his actions eerily, maintaining formation and smoothly slipping into subtle protective positions. He is clearly a highly experienced bodyguard.

Dirby and Fraed get a smile and a skeptical appraising look from Janus and the Marine respectively, and Janus nods in response.

"Greetings Dirby and Fraed. I would be glad to accompany you to the meeting hall."

He then follows the two, happy to respond to their questions, but saving his own for later.

Io

Io's turbulent surface mirrors it's history, mirrors it's occupants; the first to lay claim to the burning moon was Lucius Lancaster and his Burninatonian vassals, alike in temperament to the land around them.

Then came the clans of the Burning Mountain, hallowing their strange gods in war and sacrifice, that one day great Jupiter might rise anew as a sun over Io.

Following them came the long-feuding empires of the Menelmacari and the Five Kingdoms, and throughout all this time the Hordesmen of Burninatonia kept the fragile peace of Io - until Lancaster fell to an assassin's blade, and the eternal war of elf and orc erupted anew.

Into this maelstrom stepped the late Lord's allies, the Non-Democratic Alliance, and the Tsarainese as caretakers and new inhabitants of the burning moon.

The Tsarainese sit uncomfortably in Lancaster's capital of Necron II, dwarfed by the monolith of his citadel the Bonecave. They are not akin to the world of fire, being a people cold, cautious, pragmatic in their dealings.

Well, most of them.

Offices of the Markhreifane, the Bonecave, Necron II, NDA Protectorate of Burninatonian Io / Tekhat Io, Io, Jovian Subsystem, Sol

Blades clash across the echoing space as Arisaine arViradt presses her advantage; the Markhreifane is taller and more skilled with the traditional klrsukali blades than her Adjutant-Commandant, and in the past half hour she has defeated Senat arIngult thrice.

Slash and stab and swing and block, parrying with the left blade as she thrusts for his stomach with the right. Senat blocks clumsily, returns clumsily with a chest-height swing Arisaine easily counters.

"Esen, please!" he exclaims, retreating another pace. "I yield!"

"We are ktrazirha!" his superior snaps, forcing him back still further with a flurry of steel. "Once we rode bloody-hooved out of the West to the gates of Kel Tsaraint itself! In the Tournament of Shadows we were the spearhead of the State! Even in death we do not yield!"

Arisaine disarms him in a flicker of blades which leaves Senat's klrsukali clattering against the floor and her own swordpoints at his throat.

"But we may be merciful, should we choose to be," she says, quieter. "Once again you get to live, Senat."

"Thank you, esen."

Senat scoops up his swords and scurries off. So far his superior has been merciful every time; she is bound by the strictures of Tsarainese law, after all, for all that she may fancy herself a latter-day Ezkhara. But she is notoriously unstable, and who knows when that mercy may run dry? He survives her governance as best he can, and hopes for a transfer which has yet to arrive.

Arisaine watches him leave, and begins the careful process of polishing her blades. That these klrsukali are originals, and not replicas created after the Obsidian Event, is a point of pride for the arViradt clan. And a warrior does not allow her tools to tarnish.

The flash of an icon in the periphery of her vision alerts her to an incoming message, and she expands it to reveal the visage of Radukh tsaRega. The senekhal of Kel Meralkharant is Tsakh, once the ruling class of the Dominion, and once his clan were kings; he too bears the right of blades, although he is not clanlord to wear them.

He is also solidly in the Commonwealth camp, egalitarian and loyal to the Arkhora in Deep Tsarai, and his position as commander of the Star Command's circumjovian facilities was gained through merit and not through blood. For the past five hundred years even the Tsakh have abhorred all but the trappings of their nobility, and Sche'dayach, Hyazinari, and the Scheighuikhi Arisaine's ancestors once ruled have risen to command the State.

"Markhreifane arViradt. Khara dteh."

"Neiqi, Senekhal tsaRega. What wills the Star Command today?"

"There is a diplomatic issue for your office."

Between each other there is no need for the flowery circumlocutions of diplomacy, and they cut straight to the point.

We've given gifts recently to the Burning Mountaineers, Arisaine thinks, And the Menelmacari and Ardans have been solomnescent for years. The Jovian League is defunct - the entire Jovian subsystem is quiet, in fact. Who could it be?

"Please do tell."

"Are you prepared for SuperPlexus immersion? I can best explain this if I show it directly."

"A moment, then ..."

Arisaine finds the cable of the SuperPlexus input, connects it with the socket at the back of her neck.

"There."

TsaRega nods, and images fill her vision. Setnet satellite data, Arisaine realises, and watches as the bulk of Iris emerges insystem.

"That is going to play merry hell with the system," she remarks, and TsaRega nods again; among the Star Command's duties is mantaining SuperPlexus maps of the Solar system.

"If I could draw your attention to this ..."

The feed zooms in on the GenTec drone carriers leaving their mother craft - vessels dwarfed by the bulk of Iris, but still over seven times the length of the largest Star Command vessel (by strange coincidence, also a drone carrier).

"And the transmissions."

Arisaine's knowledge of standard English is functional even if she personally dislikes the glutinous-sounding language; State officials need to be fluent in the Solar system's lingua franca.

"GenTec Amalgamated ... I don't recognise the name. A contact situation?"

Extrasolar vessels seem to choose Jupiter as a destination nearly as often as Mars, possibly due to it's size; first contact situations are nothing new to the diplomatic corps officers of Io.

"So it would appear. The Triumvirate has aid operations well in hand, but it would be wise to establish formal relations with anyone possessing vessels on this scale."

"Indeed." Arisaine does not particularly like the Triumvirate - they are egalitarians, and worse, democrats - and in any case the Ascendancy lacks the capability for large-scale foreign aid expeditions. It does, however, have diplomats.

"I'll tap someone for the duty, then. I believe Diplomat-Commandant keiSakht is avaliable."

"Excellent. I'll keep you updated, Markhreifane. Tsang dteh!"

"Tsang dteh, Senekhal," she echoes. TsaRega signs off.



Message To: GenTec Amalgamated Drone Carrier*, Jovian Subsystem
Message Fr: Diplomatic Corps Offices, the Bonecave, Necron II, NDA Protectorate of Burninatonian Io, Io, Jovian Subsystem
Message Re: Welcome to Sol!

Honoured sirs,

It is my honour to welcome you to the Solar system on behalf of the Tekhat Io, the Non-Democratic Alliance, and the Greater Ascendancy of Tsaraine.

Regretfully we lack the means to treat very large numbers of patients**, or we would surely render assistance to the wounded aboard your habitat starship. The TYCS is well known for it's prowess in humanitarian aid, however, and we hope that they can assist you as we cannot.

However, we would be most pleased to assist you in other ways; if you seek knowledge about the Solar system we can certainly be of assistance, and we are eager to establish some form of diplomatic relations with you if possible.

Sincerely,

~ Karissé keiSakht
Diplomat-Commandant


OOC:
* Whichever one is closer to a Tsarainese asset, which I shall detail below.
** Translation: Scolopendra has already got there first. Unfortunately my computer is very slow, so I don't check the Jolt forums as often as I should; it was a very pleasant suprise to run across your threads, and I hope you don't mind my late arrival. You write very well and it would be a pleasure to roleplay with you.

Tsaraine's assets in the Jovian system consist of the NDA Protectorate of Burninatonian Io, which is most of Io, and which is known internally in Tsaraine as the Tekhat (province or colony) Io.

In addition to that there is Kel Meralkharant, a distributed series of asteroid bases which serves as the Star Command's base of operations in the outer system and the headquarters and home port of the Outer System Fleet. Kel Meralkharant is composed of Alpha Rock and Beta Rock at the Jupiter/Io L2 Point, Gamma Rock and Delta Rock at the Jupiter/Io L3 Point, Epsilon Rock at the Jupiter/Io L4 Point, and Zeta Rock at the Jupiter/Io L5 Point.

There's also various satellites and probes strewn about the place, but everyone has those.

Tsaraine:
OOC: Thanks :) it will be a pleasure RPing with you also!
IC:

The message reaches the Ultrix Tisephone's bridge just as Aténe was about to retire to her quarters, and she quirks a smile of tired amusement. Looks like she might have to take some more stimms and stick this out a little longer.

Tisephone broadcastes her reply, using the same text-only format.


Message To:Diplomatic Corps Offices, the Bonecave, Necron II, NDA Protectorate of Burninatonian Io, Io, Jovian Subsystem
Message From: Captain Aténe, GSS Ultrix Tisephone
Message Regarding:Re:Welcome to Sol!

Thank you for your communication. Opening diplomatic relations with our neighbours is the purpose of our presence, and we would be happy to send a delegation to meet with you.

I am sure we have much to learn from one another.

Captain Aténe
GSS Ultrix Tisephone


After sending this however, she then sits in her captains chair, and immerses herself in the Skien, floating in the sea of transmitted thoughts and ideas. She exerts her will on the space, reinterpreting it as a complex web of strands, then carefully picks and gathers a handful to herself. Down these strands she sends a message back to Eris, and her superiors.

"We have recieved communications from a civilisation calling themselves the greater ascendency of tsaraine. It is possible this may be of interest, but i do not believe that Iris' diplomats are... appropriate."

Something about the tone of the missive had left her with a hunch that this was one for the Navy diplomats, not the toga-clad politicians from Iris.

Dirby and Fraed lead the way as they walk down the circular hallway. The walls are obviously organic, likely planet based as they have a green tone to their color. As they draw closer into the center of the station the smell of decaying plant matter and other smells of a bog grow increasingly strong, the PPC representatives seem not to notice the smell at all. In addition the place is very hot and humid, like they were in the middle of a tropical rainforest in the middle of the summer months.

After walking for a few hundred meters the two stop and turn to their right, where a room opens revealing a large chamber within. The air that wafts out of the chamber is crisp and clean, easily explained by the foliage that dons the upper portions of the chamber. Within are approximately 50 or 60 Pilonese, mostly unclothed, though some do sport light and loose fitting clothing. Their appearances vary widely from roughly Human to very exotic with animal or alien appendages and features. Several, swimming in the small river that flows through the room appear to be a hybrid of Dolphin and Elf, there are also a dozen security guards, of various races and armaments, mostly nasty looking personal weapons, one even resembling a preying mantis.

Besides the Pilonese there is ample life present in the room. Flying creatures move from tree to tree, small rodents and other scavengers scurry along the short grass, and fish swim through the river that flows from a waterfall at one end of the room and ends in a lake at the other side. Tall plants surround the lake and cover the walls and ceiling. At the top of the room shines an artificial light source that resembles a small sun.

Dirby and Fraed raise their hands in Pilonese greeting as they enter and introduce the Gentec Delegation, who return the greeting.
There are servers assigned to each member of the delegation who offer food and drink, virtually anything imaginable is available to order.

After some the servers are given orders the delegates approach ready to ask questions and greet these new people and show them the meaning of Pilonese hospitality.

Diplomatic Corps Core, the Bonecave, Necron II, NDA Protectorate of Burninatonian Io / Tekhat Io, Io, Jovian Subsystem, Sol

One of the advantages of being a Diplomat-Commandant is the ability to make fairly wide-ranging decisions without consulting anyone higher up the food chain. The Diplomatic Corps has an internal hierarchy like a pancake - just tall enough to support a minimal burecracy atop it, and a vast sea of equal-ranking Diplomat-Commandants underneath.

Being Tsarainese, of course, they tend to specialise, and within their areas of expertise they shuffle into informal hierarchies of their own. So while Karissé keiSakht is merely a Diplomat-Commandant among other Diplomat-Commandants, she's also Tekhat Io's senior contact diplomat, the one who gets picked first when unknowns come haring out of the black.

Rather like combat, this makes for situations of 99% boredom and 1% frenetic activity. Right now Karissé is experiencing the latter as she assembles data from a half-dozen different Plexus and SuperPlexus nodes into a coherent format, gathering whatever information might be vaguely relevant to the visitors at hand.

As usual in contact situations, that isn't much; but Karissé is senior contact diplomat because she's good at filling in the gaps.


Message To: Captain Aténe, GSS Ultrix Tisephone
Message Fr: Diplomatic Corps Offices, the Bonecave, Necron II, NDA Protectorate of Burninatonian Io, Io, Jovian Subsystem
Message Re: Re: Welcome to Sol!

Honoured Sir,

Thank you for your reply! We are ready to meet with you or your representatives at your convenience; please find attached safe approach vectors and landing instructions for the East Gate of Necron II. Alternatively, we would be happy to send a delegation of our own to meet with you aboard your vessel.

Sincerely,

Karissé keiSakht
Diplomat-Commandant


OOC: Sorry about the delayed reply - like I said, I don't check the Jolt boards as often as I ought.

Pilon:
Janus and his bodyguard enter side by side, neither standing ahead of behind the other. As they survey the chamber, Janus smiles and the Marine raises an eyebrow and mutters to himself.
"Behold the Eloi."

This quiet comment draws a widening of Janus' diplomatic smile, and turns it to a grin, friendly but at the same time amused. He imitates the greeting as best he can, which is fairly well given that he is an expert imitator.

"It is good to be here and meet your people. On behalf of my own i greet you all and thank you for your hospitality."

He then waits for the inevitable questions.

Tsaraine:
Eris' response is immediate, the cold, grating nature of her thoughts raising the hairs on the Captains neck.
"Very well.. I am assigning you to open talks with them. If you feel the Navy is better equipped, then you can deal with it yourself."

Aténe sits stunned, and manages a reply only barely.
"This... is highly irregular. I am not a diplomat. i do not have any training."

"Then you will be sent an advisor. That is all."

The connection breaks abruptly and leaves Aténe shaken and sweating profusely. She stands unsteadily and staggers from the command deck, mentally giving the order to change course for Necron II, and to give her a couple of hours to rest before arriving. Her last act before losing conciousness is to send a reply to Karissé.


Message To: Diplomatic Corps Offices, the Bonecave, Necron II, NDA Protectorate of Burninatonian Io, Io, Jovian Subsystem
Message Fr:Captain Aténe, GSS Ultrix Tisephone
Message Re:Re: Welcome to Sol!

We are changing course to meet you currently, Eris has authorised us to represent Gentec and we shall be arriving in six hours. We look forward to meeting you and your people.

Captain Aténe, GSS Ultrix Tisephone.


Meanwhile a cruiser is launched from Eris, and heads in at FTL speeds to intercept the Ultrix Tisephone, and drop off a Diplomatic Advisor to make sure Aténe doesnt start a war.

The Pilonese began their bombardment of questions. The manner in which they asked the questions seemed to indicate there was some sort of queued system with pending questions. 3 different Pilonese reps took turns asking the questions.

Tell us a little about your history.

We understand that like ourselves you possess Biological Technology, would it be possible for a small delegation of scientists to visit your homelands or colonies to study your technology.

We are looking at expanding our holdings into the Jupiter System, is there any possibility we could discuss some sort of co-habitation treaty in the system?

Would you be interested in setting up relations with other Martian Nations?

We are currently holding a trade conference (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=502213) are you interested in attending?

Tell us a little about your people’s culture, especially your cuisine, entertainment, and cultural values.

Are your people interested in Gambling?

What is the significance of your title, Luminate?

These were the first questions they asked.

Iris and Eris, we request an update. Should you wish to send one, we are willing to recieve a delegation at Ganymede at any time. Otherwise, is it yet appropriate for us to send representatives to you?
~Ganymede Node

Pilon:
Janus was ready for questions, but the sheer quantity,and the manner of the questioning combine to take him aback. Though not given to obvious shows of emotion, the Lumina's brow flickers downward and he takes a deep breath before formulating his replies.

"Our history is fairly vague.. We once resided on earth, that much we know. From what surviving records we have we understand that we were a true corporation, where we are now more of a republic. At some point, our ancestors researches caused some kind of cataclysm. We do not know what it is as those closest to the event did not survive to tell us, but approximately a tenth of the recorded population of Gentec Island ended up somewhere else entirely. An entity caught us, whom our human ancestors dubbed Hyperion. Hyperion was a habitat of incredible age and power. Its mind was so foriegn to those surviving humans that they could not interact with it, and were forced to survive like animals within its biodomes, living like cavemen for almost two decades."

He pauses to allow the assembly to absorb what he had told them, then continued.

"After nearly twenty years in such a state, the first of the Lumina came to them, created by the Habitat from harvested DNA. They, my ancestors, were capable of comunicating with the Habitat, and also capable of learning and articulating Human speech. They did so, and so began to orchestrate the recovery of Gentec as a new and very different society. The Lumina became the ruling class, and the Humans prospered under our tutelage and regained their grasp of technology quickly, adapting Hyperions facilities to produce technology they could use. When our numbers grew sufficiently, we left Hyperion on Habitats of our own devising, and everything from there to our arrival here is unimportant."

He then looks at the next interrogator, and answers his question.

"That is not a question i am ccapable of answering, our 'technology' makes up a good portion of our sentient population. It would have to be put to the Habitat, and the sentient constructs to answer you."

And then he seems to lose patience slightly.
"Trade will be established on an individual basis, we have little demand for many items, and i dont doubt many nations will have little demand for much of our technology. Lumina do not gamble as such, as we have no currency as such, though Humans do. And Lumina is not so much a title, but a group of closely linked species. We are Human-like, but not human. We also make up the majority of the ruling class, and the core of our nations military."

He then falls silent, his expression unreadable.

Snel:
Iris responds rapidly tot he question.
"My situation is now under control, thank you. Accepting a delegation at this time however would be innapropriate. We would be glad to send a delegation of our own at your convenience."

As each question was answered the questioners stopped. Their eyes glazed over and they stood motionless for a long while. After a few moments their eyes returned and they smiled.

We thank you for your willingness to answer our barrage of questions. We apologize for the voracity of the questioning, our people are eager to learn all they can about yours. We are of course most interested in setting up diplomatic relations with your people and in engaging in trade with your people in any area you are willing to deal with us in.

We wanted to give you some information about the Piloense. We are a nation of traders and merchants mostly. We like to spread ourselves amongst the many nations of Sol and beyond and live in close proximity to them so we can easily trade our goods and services with them. We mostly deal in food products, medical technologies, and cultural resources, especially entertainment.

Outside of Pilon we primarily live in small trade ports that are hubs of trade in the local area, with a few thousand Pilonese living there or just passing through at a time. We also set up what we call a Grand Casino in the port that serves both as the central gathering point for our people, but also as the main point of contact between our people and the neighbors in the area, who are encouraged to stay at the Casino or just visit and enjoy the Pilonese Cuisine, Nightclubs, and various forms of Entertainment we have on each Casino. We specially tailor these Casinos to the local inhabitants to make them feel more comfortable, creating a sort of blend between their culture and ours.

We are very interested in setting up something like this in your area, especially if you have anything around Jupiter as there are other nations in the region we are interested in forming closer bonds to as well as yourselves. If such an arrangement is not possible however we are willing to discuss a simple cultural exchange if you would feel more comfortable with that.

Do you have any questions you wish to ask of us?

"Casino..." Janus considers for a moment. "We have nothing like that amongst the Lumina, as i have said. even amongst the humans gambling is small scale, and we would prefer to keep it that way. We have a demand for raw materials at the moment, and in return we can offer biotech products of our own manufacture. From what i have seen our approaches to our technology differ, so perhaps such trade would be constructive."

He then steps back, and the Marine steps forward, then speaks. His voice is forceful, his words clearly enunciated and spoken at a volume sufficient to be heard in all corners of the room. A drillmasters voice, though admittedly used with diplomatic tact.

"I am Luminate Elan, I am a Marine negotiator and serve as representative for Eris Habitat. I have some questions."

He looks around the room, his face not given to expressiveness, and his eyes bleak and difficult to read. Its hard to tell what he thinks of the scene around him, but what traces of expression he has are grim.

"What are your social and governmental structures? You clearly have a liberal society, but just how liberal are you?"

Having asked his question, he then subsides slightly, crossing his bio-armour clad arms across his chest and waiting for an answer.

Snel:
Iris responds rapidly to the question.
"My situation is now under control, thank you. Accepting a delegation at this time however would be innapropriate. We would be glad to send a delegation of our own at your convenience."
Our convenience is now. We are ready to recieve your delegation at Ganymede.
~Ganymede Node

Snel Race:

The response this time is deliberately slow in coming. Iris is keen to establish relations where it can, but this seemed a little too much like a demand.

"We will send a delegation shortly then. Expect them within the next 3 hours. they will notify you when they leave."

Meanwhile onboard the vessel, Habitats Luminate elders sit in virtual council within the Skein. There are gaps, one belonging to Elias, leader of the elders and member of the Luminate Council, ruling body of Gentec, and another belonging to Ahab, a member who had gone missing some eight hours earlier. Since that was a difficult thing for a Lumina to do, the old man was presumed dead.

There is a general air of exitement and anxiety in the room. Never before have their diplomatic corps been spread so thin. Sol system had more civilisations hiding within it than a rotting log had bugs, and apparently Iris had kicked that log over. In addition, the apparent tensions between some of the governments they had been talking too also added to the tension in the room. The feeling that they might have to pick a side was not a nice one for a species more used to nuetrality. At present however their task was to choose a delegate for the Snel. A race they knew absolutely nothing about.

The argument took place as the speed of human thought, on an almost subconcious level. It took only the space of seconds for a unanimous decision to be made, but the space of seconds was a long time indeed given that most were almost instantaneous. They had reached a decision devoid of precedant. To send a half-breed to do what was, until now, considered a full-blood diplomats job.

"Aidan will be the emmisary to Snel. have him notified, and his Vessel prepared."

OOC: Sorry for the long wait, things have been hectic on Mars, taking up a lot of my time.

IC: “I think we can find something can be arranged to send you some raw materials. We would be most interested in seeing alternative forms of biotech design.”

The Pilonese listen to Luminate Elan with interest, then respond. “We are a democratic nation ruled by its people. Our government is made up of 4 branches of government, The Assembly consisting of all citizens not currently serving in one of the other branches of government, the Council of the Wise consisting of 7 Speakers of the Council, who are elected by the Assembly every 8 years, the High Court, consisting of 9 High Judges, who determine whether or not Laws enacted by the Assembly are just or not, and the Directive, consisting of Representatives from all our branches in the military, each research project, and every corporation in Pilon. The Directive Branch issues Directives to the other branches giving input from the Scientists, Military, and Corporations.

Socially we live primarily either on Mars in underwater Arcologies or spread out amongst the various nations in the stars, where we sell our goods and services, set up and run our Casinos, and mine valuable resources throughout the Solar System. We have a few out of system colonies but our interests lay primarily where there are other people to barter and trade with.
The Casino is not just a place to gamble in Pilon, it is the center of our Leisure Life, serving as a commune for people to gather and enjoy each other’s company, a place to discuss politics in a relaxed environment, and to have fun playing games or hone your skills in various forms of physical or mental activities.
Our arcologies back at home are surrounded by a vast underwater ecosystem teeming with more life than is naturally possible to produce. We call it the Eco-Jungle. Through the Nodelink, our people maintain the balance in the Eco-System as it is constantly adjusted and adapted to the gradually changing environment on Mars or wherever else we may be.
We are a fun loving people who relish a chance to share information, art, music, and vids with other nations. We gain a reputation as a liberal nation mostly due to our prolific rights to choice, both in how we live and what we do to our bodies, and for our well known practice of either living in the nude or with barely any clothing to speak of, mostly loose fitting robes and the like.”

The Pilonese smiled as they took turns speaking the descriptions of their culture. There was a reverence in their voice as they spoke and it was clear they had a great deal of pride in their way of life.

Pilon:

Both delegates nod at the response, but Elan's expression changes little. Then again nothing in the two men's demeanour suggests that they are given to overt expressions of emotion.

Janus however has been watching the way they speak, and in particular how they seem to talk in turn, each speaking as if they are all reading off of different parts of the same speech. He thinks on this for a moment, and then decides to make an intuitive leap.

"You say that all members of your population are active in policy making? how do you achieve this level of communication?"

Elan meanwhile eyes up the combat modified Pilonese with some suspicion.

Snel:

Aidan is in the bath when he recieves the news, and rises wet and cursing under his breath. The orders where flagged as requiring immediate attention and brooked no room for preparation. That meant that he didnt have time even to dress.

"At least i have some bloody clothes on the ship.."

He wraps a towel around his waist and grabs a bag containing his console, some nutrient sachets and an arc pistol then heads out the door.

After a short but somewhat embarassing walk through the corridors in his towel, he reaches the docking area and boards his ship. Still cursing, and grumbling unhappily to the vessel over the Skien he gets dressed, and soon is waiting for launch in his naval uniform.

His ship, Medina, is in orbit over Ganymede exactly 2 hours and 45 minutes after Iris' last communication, and he quickly transmits his identification and requests permission to land.

OOC:
sorry its taking so long to post. University projects are appearing all over the place and ive got to ration my time.

Necron II, NDA Protectorate of Burninatonian Io / Tekhat Io, Io, Jovian Subsystem, Sol

From a distance Necron II looks nondescript, a simple geodesic dome scratched and stained by volcanic emissions. It looks diminutive, huddled on the plains of Io.

But only from a distance.

Necron II is vast, built on a scale fitting for its original, monstrous Lord; there is an entire city of two hundred million people under that dome, and it is mostly empty. Once, the capital of Burninatonia held billions.

One of the great airlocks of the ship-ports slides open to welcome the GenTec ship*, the AeroSpace Tracking and Regulation Corps guides it in with fluent, if accented, English.

Pressures equalise, the outer doors shutting and the inner doors opening, but the Great City remains hidden; for the ship-ports open onto the interior of a steel cone - the hollowed interior, in fact, of a dormant volcano.

The Tsarainese are waiting as the GenTec** disembark. They range in height from five to seven feet, their skin tones range from a deep olive to an almost albinoid pallor, and likewise their hair (which is long on both genders, tied back in a simple braid) varies from brown to black or an unpigmented albinoid white.

But for all that, they are much the same, dressed in stiff black coats of the same pattern (womens' hang to the ankle, while mens' finish at mid-thigh) with red or grey trim, and neat rows of silver and gold pins on their high collars indicating rank.

From their midst a woman steps forth to greet the GenTec; shorter, darker, and stockier than many of her subordinates, with a welcoming air about her despite the lack of a smile.

She bows to a precise forty-five degrees, arms crossed at the waist, and straightens.

"We welcome you as honoured guests to Io and to Necron Two, in the name of the Tekhat Io and the Greater Ascendancy of Tsaraine, and in hope for future fellowship and good cheer between our nations and our peoples.

"I am Karisse keiSakht, senior Diplomat-Commandant. Captain Aténe of the Ultrix Tisephone, I presume?"

Finally she smiles, broad and genuine, as if to show that the prior speechifying is merely formality, which is not the definition of a people even though they must obey it.

OOC:
* The ship-ports are actually large enough to fit the entire Ultrix Tisephone, if it can land and if you want to bring it, although it'd be a tight fit through the airlock and given that multi-kilometer cruisers make poor diplomatic vessels I advise against it.
** Do you have a preferred agental suffix for your people? GenTeccers, GenTecese, GenTecians ... ?

Sorry about the delay in writing - I did manage to replace my computer within a week of initialising the old one, but given that my new one is like a twenty-four inch alabaster goddess I spent a week or two wasting time in all the non-constructive things I can do with it.

The Pilonese all smiled at once at some collective joke. “Its very simple. We all live with an implant called a Node. The Node connects us to the Nodelink, effectively an oldstyle Internet connection on Steroids. Through it we connect our thoughts with one another as well as emotions, discussions, news and multimedia, even the collective knowledge of our society is easily accessed through it, however probably of more interest to you, through it we have control over the very Ecosystem we live in, including the Buildings and Wildlife in our Eco-Jungle. Using the Nodelink our people live in harmony with the Eco-Jungle, as we slowly adjust it to planetary conditions and brong about the gradual terraforming of Mars and other planets.
It takes years to properly learn to access every aspect of the nodelink, and only at Adult Age are most Pilonese able to do so."

Neither of the Lumina seem terribly overawed at that, in fact Elan looks as if they have said something quite distasteful. Janus however does nod in polite acknowledgement of their achievement.

"We have something... similar. i suppose. Lumina such Elan and myself have our entire nervous systems geared towards a broadly similar end. Different branches of our society have different abilities, but the common areas seem similar to your own. We have near-constant access to all information known to our people, and though a strict code of behaviour proscribes against it we also have a great deal of access to each others minds. In effect, we have the physical capability to become a true hive entity, but have chosen not to."

He cleares his throat, perhaps to give himself time to think.

"It is interesting to me that while our technology seems very similar, our cultures are anything but. We walk on different sides of the same street, and i fear that while interaction between our people would no doubt be profitable, it will be a difficult road to travel. You have allready given our council's much to consider. It will be interesting to see what else you have in store."

Tsaraine:

The Ultrix does not attempt to dock in her entirety, instead she remains in orbit and a smaller vessel is launched with Aténe and her advisor, along with a Marine bodyguard with four GCD's and an MMU.

The shuttle lands in its allocated space and the seven emerge, walking down an organic ramp like a tongue which extends to the ground.

Aténe is a middle-aged looking woman, her casque, the band of metallic composite that shows her status, is lined with rosethorn like spines, and the hard choices and grim determination that define her life are mapped out in the lines of her face. She stalks down the ramp like a predatory animal and when she stops in front of the welcoming comittee it is with the ramrod straight posture and still watchfullness of a heron. She mimics the angle of the bow, but not the style. Instead it is with a fist flat against the palm of her left hand.

By contrast, her diplomatic aid is a benevolent looking man of later years, his snow white hair and beard is short and curly and blue eyes twinkle with amusement in his wrinkled face. He looks like father christmas after a haircut, or a renaissance painting of God. A warm looking blue robe hangs loose off of his massive but not neccesarily overweight frame, and something in his walk suggests he isnt as cuddly as he seems... But still, he bows probably 46 degrees and then smiles as if seeing the assembled welcoming commitee has made his day.

Meanwhile a step behind the two is the Bodyguard, a marine in Bio-armour with his helmet under his arm, his combat drones arrayed behind him. Most of the drones are almost indestinguishable from a marine in armour, apart from some differences around the joints, and the lack of seams. The MMU is absent from the lineup, possibly because it is somewhat intimidating, and has been left on the shuttle.

Aténe speaks, and her voice, like her face, is initially hard and uncompromising.

"Yes, I am Aténe. This is Burland, my advisor."

Her expression then softens somewhat. not much, but enough to make her seem human and not some military automaton.

Burland chuckles, but otherwise remains silent.

Neither of the Lumina seem terribly overawed at that, in fact Elan looks as if they have said something quite distasteful. Janus however does nod in polite acknowledgement of their achievement.

"We have something... similar. i suppose. Lumina such Elan and myself have our entire nervous systems geared towards a broadly similar end. Different branches of our society have different abilities, but the common areas seem similar to your own. We have near-constant access to all information known to our people, and though a strict code of behaviour proscribes against it we also have a great deal of access to each others minds. In effect, we have the physical capability to become a true hive entity, but have chosen not to."

He cleares his throat, perhaps to give himself time to think.

"It is interesting to me that while our technology seems very similar, our cultures are anything but. We walk on different sides of the same street, and i fear that while interaction between our people would no doubt be profitable, it will be a difficult road to travel. You have allready given our council's much to consider. It will be interesting to see what else you have in store."

"Yes indeed it will. Feel free to take a walk around the station, we have cleared you for access to all public parts of the station and you may wander at will. We will be here if you have any further questions. Feel free to sample the Drink and Food bar as well."

Elan nods at that, and Janus bows gracefully. Both seem eager to explore, but Janus only really gets as far as the food table. He looks over the spread, and tries some of the more exotic and interesting dishes, then loads a plate and returns to the delegation.

Elan however seems intent to do some more serious exploration. He first inspects the room, his gaze critical. He seems very interested in structural elements and design, frequently pausing to examine some interesting piece of engineering. If there is not anything of interest then he returns to the Diplomats side.

"What kind of environments do you provide for your citizens? Do they live in enclosed habitation levels or do you have the resources to provide artificial ecosystems to house all your population? And what is your economy based on?"

There are literally tens of thousands dishes available upon request to Janus. A small holo-projector built into the food tray displays an images as a smell and taste synthesizer displays the smells and taste of the various foods.

The display is quite interactive and easily directed toward a palette that suits the whims of the customer.

Already out on display are some of the more popular dishes of Pilon including: PiFish, several platters of fruits ranging from Blue to Bright Orange in color, electrified veggies, small green-brown wafers about 3 inches in size, and even several types of Mushrooms. There are 4 different cheeses ranging from Mild to Sharp and a variety of breads, ranging from Flatbreads to large juicy rolls with a sweet interior. There are 5 different brands of beer, 3 types of wine, and several other alcoholic beverages at the drink stand, as well as 14 different fruit juices and 3 kinds of Tea. There are a dozen small dishes of dipping sauces as well.


The room itself is made of some kind of plant material, there are no visible seams, entryways or exits, and only a couple windows. All of the windows show underwater environments teeming with more life than is naturally possible, literally thousands of species can be seen with a quick glance through. They range from tiny bug sized creatures to fish and other marine animals about 12 inches long.

Along the outside edge of the room are trees that have grown into the walls themselves, these trees seem to be the centers of the life within the room itself, each housing small groups of animals and birds. On the ground about the room scurrying through the grass are smaller rodents with long tails and jagged spikes at the end, with gray fur.

In the far end of the room lies a waterfall and a small stream that flows across to a pool at the far end.

At the top of the room is an artificial light source that is about as bright as the Sun on Earth but much much smaller.


The Pilonese looked about and stretched out their arms. "Our people live in harmony with the natural world we create for ourselves. We adapt the environment to suit our needs and live with it as a symbiotic creature in perfect harmony. Most of our people live either in giant living arcologies similar in design to this station or in smaller habitats in or around our Grand Casinos, which we spread around trade partner's territories as trade nexus'. In our own territory we use the Eco-Jungle to produce a variety of products that we market to the outside world, particularly exotic foods, pharmaceuticals, and entertainment.

Our economy is mostly free market based. Only a few ethical laws and certain laws enacted to prevent monopolies really restrict what one can buy or sell in Pilon."

Janus thinks for a moment, both about what he has seen, and what the Pilonese ambassador has told him. He weighs his words carefully.

"If you create it for yourselves, then surely it is not, by definition, natural?"

He walks a short circuit around the group, making a point of looking around, then speaks again.

"I do not intend to offend, or to cast judgement but from what you have told me your society seems to principally exist to manufacture pleasure and excess. From what you have told me, it is a carefully maintained anarchy. Needless to say that is a contradiction in terms. What i am curious about is how you mintain this difficult state? surely your ability to control dissident elements of your society is difficult without severely impeding their freedom? And if your entire population is in government, how do you prevent knee-jerk herd reactions without compromising the absolute democracy you seek?"

He bites into a dumpling of some kind, and savours it as he awaits an answer.

Meanwhile, Elan walks up to one of the more heavily modified guards, and looks him in the eyes. His gaze is difficult for a normal man to meet, the intense yet hollow stare of a man who has faced hell, fought, sacrificed and bled for what he stands for. It is, in essence, the gaze of a special kind of fanatic.

He keeps the guard under his silent glare for a while, then quietly asks him a fairly simple question. Innocuous even.

"Are you human?"

OOC: The people of Gentec are simply reffered to as Gentec, so 'the gentec', 'a gentec' or 'he/she is gentec'. Like Aztec :D

The Pilonese smiled at Janus in lighthearted amusement.

“Yes, by some definitions of Natural the Eco-Jungle and ourselves are not considered Natural, however consider this for a moment, while it is designed and carefully engineered to fit a specific guideline, it is still natural. We do not construct the plants and animals, they are born as in nature, they live out their lives as in nature, and just like in nature they are subject to the harsh laws that govern nature, they eat those lower on the food chain and are consumed by those higher, when they die their bodies are broken down and recycled, the strongest survive and the weak die.

Humans by definition modify their environment to suit their needs, this is one of the achievements as a species that makes us different from other animals. What we have done is taken this a step further, and take nature by the hand and guide her in the direction we wish to go, allowing us to work with Nature rather than fighting against her.
Considering that most Humans instead choose to shelter themselves away from the natural environment I would say that our symbiotic relationship with it would be considered natural, even if we manufacture the initial designs in a lab.”

There was another brief pause, with the accompanied glazed over look following Janus’ second question.

“We would not use the word Anarchy… a Minimalist approach is more appropriate as we do have some measure of restrictions and regulations, even if most are to enforce civility toward each other. While we live in harmony with Nature around us, and allow the laws of Nature to dictate in the Eco-Jungle, within the Arcology the laws of Men still prevail. We have created a Bill of Sentient Rights ensuring certain freedoms to all Sentients. You are essentially free to do whatever you wish so long as it does not negatively impact others, however that is the trick, how would you define what negatively impacts another Sentient?
We try to avoid Extremist Views as much as possible and walk the line of the Moderate, in general we allow the People themselves to define what is and is not acceptable behavior, and while there are a number of precedents in place to define this behavior, with enough push from the society at large those precedents can be overturned.

Concerning criminal activity, it is largely treated with outpatient behavioral modification and for more extreme cases inpatient treatment. Instead of taking action to punish past actions Pilon tends to favor preventative systems that stop the behavior in the beginning, and though we still have crime it tends to be isolated incidents rather than behaviors passed down the generations through the family or learned by incarcerating prisoners. In the end some people are exiled from Pilon should they prove unwilling to change their ways.

We try to run on the idea that living in Pilon is a privaledge, should you make an attempt to fit in and be a productive member of society you can stay, sometimes this takes a lot of work, however the rewards in the end are great. Should you decide not to a productive member of society you are exiled from the Nation and are not allowed to return to the nation ever again. This only happens in rare cases, most people are willing to change their ways.

To answer your last question, the idea behind our democracy is to give a person their voice. As each person has a direct say in the government and through the Nodelink an easy means of accessing any information they require on the subject at hand our citizens have an unprecedented ability to make their opinions known. Forums are opened up to discuss all varieties of subjects and the pros and cons of each solution are explored thoroughly and rapidly before votes are called. There are no methods of preventing the herd responce, we don’t feel there should be controls on it, it is merely an unfortunate side-effect of living in a democracy, however the benefits outweigh the costs.

Our laws prevent political parties from taking an active stance on more than a single issue, as such people tend to clump into specific parties for various issues but that doesn’t necessarily stop those people from joining a different party than some of their other party members on a different issue. With no representatives to elect it makes it much more difficult for special interest groups to influence the government and the focus is on the issues at hand, and finding solutions to them rather than achieving re-election or serving the interests of your Political Party as a whole, as we have seen in other Democracies.”



Upon close inspection the Soldier’s Skin seemed to be grafted to a green and brown colored carapace armor plating, in fact all of the equipment the Soldier wore looked as if it had sprouted from his body or by some other means was attached to the body.

As he turned to face Elan he quickly glances him over, sizing him up. He then faces off to him directly and speaks in a low and gruff voice. “I am Transhuman, but Human is close enough if you prefer.”

Janus nods at that, his expression still deeply thoughtful.

"Our people must have a very conservative view of what is 'natural' in that case. Even those biospheres we have which have been directly and faithfully reproduced from natural planetary habitats are considered artificial by us. I suppose it is just yet another example of our very different philosophies."

"As for your approach to government, i commend you. We do not have such enormous faith in humanities ablity to lead itself. Too often in our early history mistakes were made due to fear and herd instinct. It i due to such mistakes and mass ignorance that we exist at all. Even now, where ready access to information is widespread, people react based on irrational fears and baseless prejudices. Even Lumina are susceptible. There is certainly a certain amount of 'democracy', in the form of elected representatives who form two ruling bodies for each Habitat. They are the Luminate Council, and the Human Tribunal."

"Each body governs its respective species, though the Tribunal deffers to the Council on matters of national policy. Above them however is the Assembly, which is the collective term for the Habitats themselves. They of course are not elected, they just are. The Habitats rule over everything and have oversight powers that allow them to overrule any and all edicts by either body. The only one with power exceeding that of the Habitats is Hyperion Himself. And he has not been heard from in centuries."

As he says this, he casts a glance at Elan, who is still standing by the transhuman guard. The old soldier listens to the guards answer and grunts before asking another.

"Did you choose to be as altered as you are?"

It is hard to tell what his own opnion is on it... His face is as unreadable and immobile as stone, his tone nuetral if slightly interogative. If thoughts or judgements cross his mind, they do not show in his eyes.

The Pilonese nodded. “It is a central tenant of our nation that our differences only strengthen us, and effort should be made to accept others for their differences. Your ways have merits, as do ours. I can tell you this however about or government. It has been a difficult struggle, and we have not always been democratic, in fact in Pilonese history it is a relatively recent change, only happening about 100 years ago. Only through diligence, patience, and a lot of work have we been able to mature the population to a point where they can utilize the responsibilities we have entrusted to them.”

The Pilonese looked at each other after the Luminate spoke, nodded then turned to him again.

We would like to learn more about this Hyperion, also we are curious if your society has any kind of guaranteed rights they give your citizens.”


The Soldier nodded. “I am an active duty soldier. I was selected at birth and have been trained as a warrior all my life. I have personally selected all of the bio-modifications I wear to suit my own personal fighting style. In 8 months I will begin my 109th year in the service of the Greater People’s Hegemony.”

Janus mulls that over, then answers the question about freedoms first.

"Our people have many individual freedoms. Humans particularly are for the most part left to their own devices. All of our citizens have the right to food, shelter and freedom of expression. Beyond those basic rights, we Lumina have our Duties and Humans do what they can to improve on their basic provisions."

"Lumina are born into castes, which broadly define your carreer path. I was born into the diplomat caste for example, my neural structure is geared specifically towards procesing large quantities of data. My education was tailored to my eventual carreer as an ambassador, a scientist or an administrator. Elan was born into the Marines. Their path is a hard one, with physical augmentation and military training starting shortly after birth. Their nueral structure is designed specifically to interface with our technology, particularly the combat and medical drones that make up 4/5ths of the Luminate military. They also make up the majority of our doctors, as medical training is a popular alternative route for those with the talents neccesary."

"The third caste is the Pilot caste. Our pilot is still on the ship. Theirs is the most glamourous, but also the least forgiving caste. Their entire nueral structure is geared towards piloting the vessels they fly, and their vessel, and thus to a great extent their rank, is given to them at a young age."

His miniature lecture over, he inspects his plate and tastes some jelly-like dish, then frowns and tries something else.

Elan meanwhile nods thoughtfully, his brow furrowing for a moment.

"Very good, I congratulate you on your diligent service. I shall leave you to your duties now."

He then marches off, his expression still thoughtful as he returns to Janus' side.

"Our people value our individual freedoms, especially since without or individual freedoms we would be little more than a Hive society all linked by the Nodelink to one another, it wouldn't take much to turn an Authoritarian Control into a master control that took control of our people and it is the fear of this that has led us to value our freedoms as we have and embrace them.

The one exception, which is a minor one, a fraction of a percent of the newborns each year are taken at birth, they are randomly selected, and put into a government facility where they are trained in the Military. These soldiers become our active duty soldiers who serve the community at large as protectors, however our active duty military only makes up 10% of our total military forces, the rest coming from Volunteers in the larger society who serve in the reserves and are called up as needed.

The Active Duty military is heavily augmented with Bio-Technology and Genetic Enhancements.

Janus nods. Even as the Pilones talk, Elan is transmitting the conversation, and his own conclusions directy into the diplomat's conciousness.
"I can hardly criticise your recruitment policy, as ours is little different. With our people however, it is a matter of bloodline. Lumina who choose to have children are aware beforehand that their child will be trained in accordance to its birthright. In addition we have a strongly ingrained cultural policy against modification that negatively impacts a Marines quality of life. Combat modifications that are as extensive as those i have seen on your.. active duty? soldiers seems to fall under that category."

He hands the dish to elan before continuing, folding his hands into the sleeves of his robe.

"This may not seem a significant cultural difference, but it is significant to us. Also, while the duties significantly limit our freedoms in some respects we are free to make whatever we like of our off-duty time. This downtime is how we maintain our individuality, by engaging in art, literature and debate. An important part of Luminate philosophy is the balance between the Duties and our own personality. Just because you are born a Marine does not mean you have the mental fortitude to be a soldier, after all."

He then pauses, and then smiles.
"hmm. I apologise. I am getting bogged down in details. Let us instead concentrate on common ground. And perhaps we should move on from this place, i am curious to see your Eco-Jungle, if i may."

The Pilonese perked up at the mentioned of the Eco-Jungle.

"Well we could very easily transport down to the planet's surface and take a guided tour through the actual thing, or if you'd rather we can interface with the mind's of several individuals already there, or we can walk through our smaller version of the Eco-Jungle we have here on the station, I will leave it up to you to decide which is easiest.

I will warn you however, the Eco-Jungle is not 100% safe, we do occasionally have accidents there, it is a living breathing ecosystem on its own and though we mostly maintain control... occasionally there are people eaten down there."

They both smile in unison at that, and Janus is swift to respond.
"Nothing ever is. We have bio-armour suits and sidearms in the shuttle, and i have had basic combat and recon training. I would like to see your Eco-Jungle, and i am sure that our people will be curious to see what others have achieved using biotech."

“How effective is your Bio-Armor in underwater conditions, not to mention your sidearms. We have found in the past that many nations have not adapted their combat systems for optimal usage underwater, which is one of the reasons in our early history we preferred underwater development. I would remind you that underwater combat is quite different from surface combat and considering how aggressive many of the species in the Eco-Jungle are you may very easily be outclassed by them with your standard gear.

We do of course only wish to relay to you the proper sense of risk in what you are doing, no one in Pilon travels through the Eco-Jungle unless they have to or with a moderate amount of Genetic Augmentation. As we speak we are preparing a transport to one of our Arcologies if you still wish to see it. We voice our concern mainly so you are properly informed, the last thing we want is a diplomatic incident with your people.

You will be met there by another PPC rep who will give you additional instructions before introducing you to one of our Eco-Jungle guides, an Elphin named Marias, who is one of our longest living Elphins in all of Pilon, she has centuries of experience in the Eco-Jungle and should be able to properly protect you should danger arise.”

Janus nods, listening to the warning carefully, and when he responds his tone is reassuring and confident.

"One of our armours primary design considerations was underwater combat as most of the Habitats uninhabited levels are kept flooded, and all Gentec citizens recieve training in underwater environments when they are trained to use the civilian version of the suits. However, you are quite correct that a diplomatic incident as a result of follishness on my part would be unfortunate. I will remain behind, and Elan will go explore the jungle."

The grizzled old soldier's eyes gleam at the prospect and he salutes smartly.

"I have combat augmentations, and the bio-armour suits we have on our shuttle are top of the line military models. Unless your breeding super-predators in there i doubt that i will have much trouble. As for weapons... ill have to look around. Most of our standard issue small arms are laser based, and dont work as well underwater. Blooming, apparently."

OOC: check out the main thread of you want an ooc looksee at the civilian suits.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=12043481#post12043481

The PPC reps seemed more relaxed upon hearing both about the experience and that an experienced warrior, instead of a diplomat, was heading down. They were noticeably calmer upon hearing the news.

"The Eco-Jungle serves several purposes, one of which happens to be defense against unwanted travelers. It is because of this purpose that we allow it to be so dangerous, and is also the reason we very carefully restrict the growth of the Eco-Jungle, only allowing it in territories we ourselves control usually, though some special exceptions have been made in the past, it was primarily used as a bolstered line of defense, and was used only when the entire planet was in peril, namely during the Tyranid Invasion, but that Eco-Jungle has long since been disbanded, it served as a good model for land-based Eco-Jungle designs. We don't usually allow outsiders to see certain parts of the Eco-Jungle for security or safety reasons, so most of the areas you will be in should be within your capabilities to handle."

There was a pause then they continued.

"We have just received word from Marias herself. She has a route planned that will include leading you through the main aspects of the Eco-Jungle, show off various uses for it and will hopefully give you at least a general sense of the Eco-Jungle as a whole. There is no way we could fully show you everything unless you wish to commit years just to venture on trips through the different areas, but we can at least get you in to see some of the most popular areas. We have also received word that a transport is ready."

An Elwyn arrived and raised her hands in Pilonese greeting to Elan.

"Good day to you sir. I have been sent to escort you to the surface where you will meet up with Marias for your tour, I am ready to go when you are."

Elan cracks a rare smile, and nods smartly.

"Great! Ill just go suit up, and see if anyone thought to pack a flechette launcher or a harpoon gun before we left."

Without particulatly waiting for a reply he turns and strides away, leaving Janus alone with the other diplomats. He sounds like he is eager to see what challenges the Eco Jungle might pose, and his long stride only emphasises this.

Oddly however, even as he is walking towards the ship, an armoured figure is descending down the shuttles ramp, its blank chitinous face looking from side to side as it reaches the bottom. If unchallenged, they swap places at Janus' side, and Elan puts on his Marine standard-issue combat Bio-Armour before returning with a short stubby weapon that seems both ugly and primitive compared to the rest of their equipment.

The Elwyn nodded in approval of Elan's apparel.

"Well lets be off then."

She bowed to Janus and then led the way down the hall.

After going some ways they stopped, a room to their right opened. "This is the Pilonese personal transportation room. We have two pods already prepared for us, all you need to do is step on the white pads in the floor and you will be taken to our arrival platform on the surface. The ride is quite surprising the first time, so prepare yourself best you can."

The room was obviously on the outside edge of the station. The far end showed off a view of the planet below. Like much of the rest of the station, this room sported a mini ecosystem with ferns, vines and running water, however in the center of the room was a platform which rose about a foot off the ground on which there were two white panels about one meter in diameter each. There was room on the platform for several more such panels however there were none that could be seen.

Elan follows readily, eager to be off. However at the mention of transportation platforms he pauses and eyes them distrustfully for a moment. He quickly shakes it off, and strides over to stand on one of them.

Karisse has met examples of the military mindset before, the grim sentinels who hold nothing higher than Duty, and any extraneous emotion wasteful; it is a mindset the military encourages, of course, since it is so similar to the virtues set forth in Tsarainese philosophy.

That Aténe seems to be of much the same school is not surprising, militaries being cut from the same cloth whoever they serve - with one or two notable exceptions, of course. The GenTec may be one of those, although time alone will tell.

"I am pleased to meet you," she replies, "If you'll follow me, we can go to a more salubrious location to converse."

The inner door of the ship-port slides open as the Tsarainese approach it, revealing the Great City itself stretching away before them; the door is set into the side of the volcano, offering a magnificent view of Necron II; geometric prisms of a green-black material stretching away along a perfectly geometric grid of streets. That the Burninatonians built so orderly a city is a wonder to those who met the unruly Hordesmen before their demise.

En route to their destination - in a spacious VTOL flier marked with the insignia of the Tekhat Io - Karisse points out features of interest; Necron's Gate, the massive portal near the ship-ports through which only Ioans may pass; the boxy structures capping and controlling the active volcanoes of the City, which generate much of Necron II's power; and finally the Bonecave, their destination.

Built of the same featureless green-black material, the Bone-Cave rises four kilometers high, with the flags of the Tekhat, the Ascendancy, and the NDA flanking the gates. As might be expected by now, the gates, and the reception hall beyond them, are built to a more-than-human scale, dwarfing the officials at their reception desks. If some of those officials, or the security officers positioned unobtrusively throughout the building, feel any unease at the sight of the GenTec Marine with his drones, they show no sign of it; the man has been cleared, his armament allowable to a foreign diplomatic party.

Karisse leads the GenTec past the reception hall, to a smaller conference chamber several floors up. The room is still large enough to comfortably seat the Tsarainese and GenTec both; she indicates that they should do so, and sits herself.

"Well," she says, "What would you like to know?"

Tsaraine:
Aténe listens to what Karisse has to say with interest that is more than polite. Everything that she sees she seems to consider, and file away for later analysis. When she is eventually given the opportunity to ask a question, she takes very little time to think of one.

"What materials do you use in construction? there seems to be alot of uniformity in your designs."

Meanwhile Burnham strolls behind, genially making small-talk if possible with anything with an ear and a mouth.

That was hardly a question Karisse had been expecting - but one couldn't fault the extrasolars for being curious. It took a second to set a smartspider program trawling the Plexus for an answer, and another second for the answer to arrive ...

"Necron II was built by the Alegnans of Burninatonia, the government which previously ruled much of Io - I'm not quite sure why it's so formally arranged, I'm afraid. The buildings here are made of ... a kind of concrete, I suppose you'd call it, poured at high temperatures, with support beams made of various naval-grade alloys.

"Our own cities are built underground, using stone mined from the site and advanced ceramics, also produced from local stone.

"I understand that your own vessels are grown, rather than built?"

ooc: I plan to post to this thread sometime next year, RL is just too busy right now for me to post ATM.

Aténe nods, her eyes flitting around between various objects of interest.

"I suppose you could say that. Our vessels are organisms in their own right, and our relationship with much of what outsiders would regard as our technology is symbiotic. A relationship based on mutual benefit. So.. what is the function of this... structure?"

Burnhm also seems quite interested in his surroundings, though he pays more attention to the people than the buildings.

OOC: Alright life less crazy again, sorry again for the delay in reply.

IC: The Elwyn followed Elan and stood on the other platform and smiled. There was a low hum for a few seconds and then a sudden heaviness as if the gravity in the room suddenly doubled. A bright white light shone from the white panels and then after a few more seconds a shimmering bubble began to take form around both Elan and the Elwyn.

The bubble began to glow with an ever increasing radiance. As it did the outside room faded from view and the heaviness lifted until finally only a faint outline from outside the bubble could be seen and the body felt almost completely weightless.

The bubble rotated until they were facing the floor, which opened beneath them to reveal a view of the planet beneath, faint though it was behind the white light. Suddenly a momentary sensation of falling started as the bubble shot forth from the station at a terrifying speed toward the planet. There were several seconds of weightlessness before again feeling the falling sensation as the bubbles hit the atmosphere. The Northern Ocean of Mars could now very clearly be seen as it began to take up an ever increasing amount of the total view beneath them as they fell.

For several seconds more the planet rapidly grew in size until at last they plunged beneath the surface of the ocean. A new view, mostly of blurry green formations all around took shape around them as the bubbles continued to sink toward an open bay door that looked very similar to the one they just left. They passed into the bay doors and settled on identical platforms to the ones on the space station, and after settled the doors closed and the water flushed out of the room.

Finally the bubble faded and they were standing on the platform, on Mars, in a room that looked very similar to the room they just left.

“Welcome to Transhumana, Elan, capitol arcology of Pilon. I believe Marias is waiting for you.”

Elan seems slightly pale, but otherwise fine. He pats himself down, to make sure he's still all there and checks his equipment with speed and precision, even after being largely removed from active service he lives by his training. After all, if you look after your equipment, your equipment looks after you.

His equipment checked and ready, he then more closely analyzes his surroundings, and orients himself as much as possible.

"Thank you.. that was one hell of a ride. Lead on, Elwyn."

The Elwyn nodded and then led the way out of the room.

Unlike the station there was an almost claustrophobic feeling to the Arcology. Despite a hallway almost 4 times the size of the hallways on the station there was considerably more traffic and even the hallways teemed with life, mostly smaller plants and scurrying rodents and insects. There was a translucent wall on the far end that showed the Eco-Jungle beyond.

The inside wall of the hallway was lined with a layer of blue-green moss. Patches of it had obviously been eaten away along the way.


They walked down the hallway for a ways before Elwyn stopped and turned toward the inside wall which opened to her revealing another room. At the far end lay ocean water and a creature with pointed ears and Green skin. Its lower body was that of a Dolphin and its upper half was that of an Elf. She smiled and beckoned to them. "My name is Marias."

Elan's expression is carefully nuetral through the whole walk, and when he meets Marias, he conciouslyt suspends judgement about the high probability that Marias was what they called a 'transhuman'.

Instead, he bows slightly and smiles.

"I am Elias, Representative of Eris Habitat. Pleasure to meet you, Marias."

Simultaneously, he is casting an eye over the 'Ocean', seeing if he can judge the size of the body of water from his current vantage.

With her duties complete, the Elwyn excused herself and left the room.

Marias smiled warmly at Elias. "I am glad to see your journey to the surface was uneventful. Please, join me in the water. Its a pleasant 25 degrees Celcius in the water, so a bit cooler than the air in here. Once you have properly suited up for underwater we can begin our tour."

The Ocean Water is well lit, however there is so much life in it that it is hard to see very deep into it's murky depths. It seems unnaturally bright judging from the distance underwater they would have traveled, more like the water is just below the surface, not several dozen meters beneath its surface.

From what can be seen there is an energy within its depths unlike anything in the natural world. Thousands of different lifeforms can be seen in just the small bit of the water Elias can see, yet it also has an air of order to it, the creatures move and go about their duties with a purpose in mind, whether it is to eat, find shelter, or reproduce. There seems to be an abundance of food as well, in just a short time one can observe most creatures eating smaller lifeforms then turning after satisfying their hunger to make room for others.

Marias herself seems completely undisturbed as several creatures crawl up her body and rest on her shoulder, using it as a vantage point in their search for food.

Elias says nothing further, his mouth a thin line as he accesses databases on ecosystem mechanics, and begins a sensory datastream back to Janus. In the confines of his mind, he wonders what purpose all this needless artificial diversity could possibly serve.

He voices none of this concern however as he wades into the shallows, instead he slings the flechette launcher over his shoulder and puts on his helmet. As its nueral and circulatory structures inteface with his armour he is fed sensory information, then the HUD comes up, giving him external temperature and chemical breakdowns of the air and water.

He himself cannot feel the water, or the wind on his face. Within the controlled environment of the suit, environmental factors are reduced to a series of numbers and graphic representations. He turns his head back to Marias, and nods. his face concealed by the smooth organic composite shell of his Bio-Armour. Vocal chords in the suits respiratory ducts mean that when he speaks, his voice is rich and human sounding, lacking the tinny buzz of inorganic systems.

"I am ready."

Even as he speaks, he enters water deep enough for his suit to enter shallow water mode, and the smaller fins deploy, unfurling like petals they are suprisingly delicate seeming in comparison to the rest of the sleek but formidable bulk of the armour. Then again, they are not designed to propel him at any great speed, but instead to allow him to move underwater without causing visible surface disturbance.

He submerges himself to his neckline, then allows his fins to maintain his position.

Marias smiles and after giving time for Elias to get adjusted, fluidly dives beneath the water and begins swimming into the depths of the Martian Ocean.

One of the first things noticeable is how bright it is under the water. A message is sent to the (radio?) in Elias' suit, "Welcome to the Eco-Jungle. Our tour today will consist of a general overview of the main parts of the Eco-Jungle. We will take a look at several food manufacturing facilities, I will show off some of the more interesting species and explain the overall setup. As you can see here, we are currently in what is classified as the pacified zone of the Eco-Jungle. The more passive species congregate in this area and it is relatively safe for Pilonese to venture outside of the Arcologies in this area.

You will also notice our artificial Light Sources there and there."

As she talked she pointed to two bright orbs that shone in the distance, giving off bright white light.

"Our Light Sources draw upon the water itself as a fuel source and using nuclear reactions to create light and heat for the water. They are maintained in place by projected Gravity Fields and they are sent on a course about the Eco-Jungle in an emulation of the Sun moving across the horizon. We found these to be a necessity due to the lower light levels and colder atmosphere on Mars and is the primary reason for our Tropical Temperatures throughout Pilon."



As they swam along the view grew to show off more and more of the Eco-Jungle around them. The Arcology behind them was immense, from the few hundred meters they had already traveled it was still barely smaller than when they first left it, and rose as far as Elias could see both up toward the surface and down toward the ocean floor. It loomed as a great wall on either side as well with no end in sight.

The area they were swimming through was mostly filled with very tiny plant and animal life, which moved out of the way with ease as they traveled through the waters. It seemed as though every single creature in view was different from every other creature and each moved about with a purpose. Before them over by the light sources they were heading toward there rose immense plants that resembled trees, rising up from beyond Elias' view below them and toward the surface as far as he could see. They seemed joined with one another, their branches woven together in some places. The entire surface area of every tree was covered in other lifeforms, resembling a coral reef built onto underwater trees multiple kilometers high and spreading out as far in both directions as Elias could see.

"We are often told by outside visitors that the scale seems unbelievable, in fact its the hardest thing to grasp when we are describing to you the function of the Eco-Jungle. What you see here is merely the outside edge of the more aggressive portions of the Eco-Jungle, once we enter you will need to be on your guard, not from the animal life you see, but more so from the plant life. One of the things unique to our creation is the massively more aggressive forms of plant life we have created. Outsiders often spend so much time worrying about the animals swimming around they take for granted those tentacles with stingers in them will not move to touch them as they pass, an often fatal mistake. Plants are as much a part of Pilonese defense as they are a part of the environment, the more passive forms we use as food are housed in separate enclosures to protect them while these out here feed and are eaten by the animal life, just as the animal life eat and is eaten by other animals and plants.

The path we are taking is one I travel regularly, it should be kept relatively clear of the most dangerous hazards. My kind, the Elphins, are the shepherds of the Eco-Jungle and know it better than any other sentient species, knowledge of the dangers is instinctual, passed down in genetic knowledge programmed into our DNA, and on top of that instinctual knowledge I have been caring for this portion of the Eco-Jungle since these very trees were mere saplings on the Ocean Floor."

If she was hoping for a simple 'show the bumpkin around and hope he doesnt get eaten', she was sorely mistaken. Elias follows her, larger fins deploying until he sports a complex propulsion system capable of propelling him at impressive speeds. He looks more fish than man in his suits deep-aquatic mode, and certainly moves like one.

"Hmm. I live on an intelligent organism that is larger in size that Earh's moon, with entire ecosystems contained wihin her that sustain themselves. Nevertheless much of what i see leaves me curious. Why is there so much diversity? a natural ecosystem could not possibly support it, so i assume it has been artificially sustained."

"You are right, a natural, as you call it, ecosystem would not be able to sustain this level of complexity. Everything in our design is adjusted constantly with a national view in mind. Many species are specialized their their specific biosphere and exist no where else in the entire Eco-Jungle, and only number in a few hundred total. The nodes in our brains take advantage of the idle portions of our brain and use the processing power to help monitor and control the evolution of the Eco-Jungle. When that part is needed by the person it seamlessly switches to another part or another person as the need arises. Even with over 8 Billion people however we do not maintain 100% control over the entire biosphere, more like a mere 65% of it. As our population grows and the species within become more used to the Eco-Jungle it becomes easier and easier to monitor and maintain, however at the same time we are always evolving the biosphere so they must adjust to the changes.

At one point Mars was close to Terran Conditions, partially thanks to our efforts, but after the Volarian Incident we have been regressed hundreds of years in the Terraforming Process and even now, more of our international efforts are focused on cleaning up the radiation over adjusting the Martian Conditions to a more Terran friendly place.



They moved through the dense coral reef tree formations. The water was full of creatures, almost 4 or 5 times as many as when they first entered the Eco-Jungle. All forms of life moved about with a purpose, eating, being eaten, propagating, and building up their homes. Some of the forms resembled traditional marine life in Earth's oceans, others looks like monstrous abominations out of fairy tales, others still looks like strange crossbreeds of the two. Very few of the forms looks like the others, and even the trees and creatures on the branches gave off a sense of the sheer volume of life within the area.

Marias swam forward noticing that the GenTec suit truly was well adapted to underwater conditions. As they swam on for about ten minutes finally they approached a large spherical structure within the growths. The structure was about the size of a small town. The walls were an amber color and there was a faint light shining through the carapace from within.


"This is the first stop on our tour. It is a mass agricultural pod where we grow some of the food we mass produce both for our population and for those around us. If you'll follow me we will head inside and I'll explain how it all works."

All organisms are mostly water, and Habitats are no different. the military had to develop techniques for fighting in the lymph ducts, digestive systems and major blood vessels of their larger ships if they were going to repel determined boarders. Bio-Armour was a direct result of research into the food production organs on Hyperion, designed to repel the aggressive digestive bacteria and chemicals, and provide protection against predation by the inhabitants of those organs. Its military application was only realised after the second generation began their search for earth.

"Interesting that you choose to place these pods underwater. any specific reason?"

He studies the sphere, looking for signs of how it interacts with its environment, if at all. pipes, tubes.. maybe root structures or vents built into the sides. Due to its scale, detailed analysis was impossible at this distance. but he was on an information gathering mission and so he did what he could.

Marias slowed as they approached the pod.

"The tradition of being an underwater culture draws it's history back to our early history as a nation.

We originated from a portion of Earth that was very swampy, and due to religious oppression were forced to live out in the most inhospitable parts of the region. We built our city upon pylons and invested in technologies that would let us develop underwater resources that could not be reached by our neighbors.

As these ancestors grew more hostile we left the region and became a fully underwater culture. The name that once was used to describe the city by outsiders, Pylon, became adapted into Pilon, which became the name of our nation.

When we came to Mars we settled in a portion of Mars we knew would be submerged once the planet was properly terraformed, and with out help it became a blue planet.

We continue to live underwater for security reasons as much as for cultural reasons. There are simply not as many nations capable of invaded underwater structures nor of combating forces specialized for underwater combat, so we would usually have the advantage in warfare against an invader. Since that is less likely to be a real problem these days we mostly do it for secrecy. Most nations have little interest in the Northern Ocean of Mars, and we are pretty much permitted to do as we wish here.

The specifics of our manufacturing methods are one of the secrets we keep safe. You will not learn of those, however I am authorized to show you the process at work."


As they grew closer it was very easy to learn more about the pod just from its appearances.

Below it was a mesh of roots and other plants that seemed rooted into the trees around them. As they swam below it a small entrance opened for them revealing a bright white light from within the structure. There were no creatures that seemed to be living off of the pod itself, however there were many that lived around it, using the light it gave off as a source of food if plants, or an easy vantage point to spot prey if animal.

"We grew these pods a long time ago and made them part of the greater eco-system. Within each one is grown enough food to feed 10,000 people, and as long as it is maintained the food output will remain and those people will be fed. We use these pods for most of our agricultural products that are produced on a mass scale. One of our primary exports to other nations is bulk food shipments that are grown here. We have genetically engineered this food for optimal growth rate and productivity, and the pod protects the environment from contagions that damage food in most natural farms."


She led the way inside the pod.

Elan follows without comment, taking everything in as he swims after her. His interest however is piqued by the story of their origin. He relays what he has learned to Janus, along with his conclusions and some recommendations.

Upon recieving the data stream, Janus finds the nearest Pilonese representative, perhaps one of the Elans since they seemed fairly helpful earlier.

"My colleague has brought to my attention some interesting information, and requested that i make a proposal on behalf of his caste."

He then pauses for a moment to allow a response.

((in the case of a positive or nuetral response, he will say the following, otherwise ill wait for you.))

"He would like to open discussions with your military regarding your technology and training, and perhaps engaging in joint training exercises and small scale war games. It seems that we apparently have suprising similarities in our military tactics, particularly where it relates to underwater combat."

The Elwyn nodded approvingly after hearing Janus' request.

Her eyes glazed over for a few seconds then she spoke.

"I have forwarded your request to the Speaker's Council. They have expressed a willingness, even an eagerness to conduct military operations with your nation in the hopes of possibly learning from one another, which can never be a bad thing.

The people you will need to get in touch with are Apletesh Simber, our Grand General, in charge of all ground forces in the Pilonese Military, and Gwendalin Simber, our Grand Admiral, I will forward their contact information to you to pass on the who ever they will be dealing with in your government to work out the details."


As Marias and Elan entered the pod, they encountered a force that pushed against them, however with a moderate push they were able to enter.

"What you just felt was the Pilonese Bio-containment shield. As we passed through it, our bodies were scanned for possible contagions, which were isolated and left outside in the Eco-Jungle. We use Bio-containment shields to maintain "clean" environments within our agricultural systems."

Marias pulled out a small disk from a hole in the wall to their side. Upon activation the disk began to float in the air. Marias climbed upon the disk and led the way through the pod.

The air was very humid and warm. The outer shell appeared to be the walkway and most of the interior was covered with corn stalks in various states of growth.

"This facility grows Corn. We have other facilities for all the major food items consumed by Earth Based cultures. The entire facility is an assembly line system, that circulates the Corn in sections between the areas where they are given the nutrients, sunlight, and water needed to grow efficiently. When they are finished they are processed and the Corn is taken to food distribution centers. The husks are left here and recycled as part of the Pod's food source, along with light and creatures from the Eco-Jungle that are consumed by the Pod. The Pod them provides nutrients for the Corn grown here."

The inside of the complex made it seem somehow larger than it appeared outside. At the base level there seemed to be mostly newly planted Corn, however several stories up actual Corn Stalks were clearly visible. The entire pod was well lit.

Elan watches everything with a polite interest, but he is as far from a farmer as is probably possible, and has his mind on other matters. He does find the mer-elf's method of locomotion on land interesting however.

"Were your people always like you are, or have you been artificially adapted to aquatic environments?"

The The Cataclysmic Persuasion (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/49592401/) , hanging like a brooding mother over the Dargonese surface territories had turned most of its rescources inwards to concentrate on makin the Dargonese colony thrive, however around him hanging in the voide and twinkling like so many red stars hung the Dargonese Fleet, it was one of these, a Sharima Class Destroyer (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/19191266/?qo=106&q=by%3Adevildalek&qh=sort%3Atime+-in%3Ascraps) that tugged at the ethereal strands that encompassed the fleet wide communications network.
TCP had shown some slight interest in the Pilonese recently due to certain projects and the small picket craft had picked up on this, reporting on the arrivial of a new vessel of some sort, in an unidentified configuration, The Command ship allmost dismissed this out of hand as the prattlings of an over excited young ship, but something made him look again, and soon a message was winging its way to the Pilonese Base command.


From Dargonese Command Ship 'The Cataclysmic Persuasion'
To The Grand Casino of Mars Command.

It seems you have some new visitors. I was just wondering if your going to be polite and introduce us!



Yes indeed, TCP was somewhat bored, and this intruiged him.

The Dargonese message was received.
"Hmm... well it wouldn't hurt to invite them to meet with our guests, they are after all, another Bio-tech nation."

"Agreed"


A message was broadcast back to TCP.

"You are cleared to dock at the PPC Orbital Conference Center. Our Dargonese allies are always most welcome to visit us and we would be delighted to introduce you to our new acquaintances. Upon docking, you will be escorted to the Conference Room where we are entertaining one of the representatives from Gen Tec."



At the same time the Elwyn with Janus was informed of the decision.
"Janus, I have just been informed by my superiors that a representative from one of the other bio-tech nations in the region, an ally of ours known as the Dargonese, has requested clearance to come and meet with you. Unless you have any objections we have cleared them for docking and they should be arriving shortly."



Marias took note of the lack of interest Elan displayed and hurried through the tour of the facility.

"My people, the Elphins, were one of the first Genetically Engineered Sentient races created in a Pilonese lab. We were created specifically to act as shepherds of the Eco-Jungle, to take care of it and nurture it. Elves were chosen for the job because of their natural affinity with nature, however we were adapted for an aquatic environment.

The design was based on the mythical creatures of earth commonly referred to as Merfolk, and as you can see we bear a resemblance, however we can more closely be identified with a race known as Aquatic Elves, who are Elves who adapted to aquatic environments naturally.

With the development of the nodelink, greater possibilties opened up for us and the current incarnation of the Eco-Jungle truly began to take shape, however the foundations had already been laid by that time for much of Eco-Jungle.


Perhaps you would be more interested in seeing some of the fisheries where we harvest meat? Or would you rather meet with one of our outlying military outposts and speak with some of our military commanders?"

Janus:
Janus nods, noting the 'have' in the statement, which indicated the Dargonese were already presumably cleared. As it is, he is happy to meet another nations representatives despite the added pressure.

"I would be happy to meet these representatives. It seems i am in for a busy day!"
He says this with a good humoured smile, and then awaits any more information.

Elan:

Meanwhile in the agricultural pods, Elan listens to Marias explaining the origin of her species, and nods understandingly.

"My people have strong laws against genetic modifications of sentient species. At least by Man and Lumina. With the exception of our ships being able to inherently effect minor genetic modifications on their offspring to accelerate their evolution, none has happened within our borders for a long, long time. However we are not a people given to projecting our taboos on those beyond our borders, or judging those who disagree with us. I can understand the need for a sentient hand in maintaining such a complex system, and to keep it going this long and non this scale is an admirable feat."

He seems grateful for the accelerated tour, but also perhaps a bit chagrined that his impatience with the farming process is so apparent. Had Janus been here, this tour would have been much slower, with myriad of questions thrown in to boot. But Elias was a soldier to the core, and had no patience with it.

"Perhaps the military installations, assuming i have clearance. I am a soldier when it comes right down to it, and i think it best i stick to my area of expertise. I am sure others will follow from my people who will be more than interested in your food production, given its evident scale and probable efficiency."

OOC: Sorry, I missed your reply in this thread.

IC: Marias nodded in understanding at Elan's statement. "We find it relatively common for there to be social taboo's against Genetic Manipulation. In our own society there were laws against genetic manipulation on Sentient Lifeforms until we attained enough understanding of DNA and what the various portions of it are used for that we could accurately predict the outcome of our... "tinkering". However once we attained this knowledge it only made sense to repeal those laws and now today we routinely make genetic modifications to our bodies as a part of life.

Obviously certain changes, such as a change of Sex, or major reconstruction of the body's makeup take a while for the body to process and change, but we have treatments that help to minimize the discomfort and accelerate the process. In particular I think you would be interested to hear about the military applications of our procedures I think.

Our Military consists of both genetically modified sentient citizens and of non-sentient creatures that serve as vehicles, spaceships, and even weapons and armor for our military forces. Of our citizen soldiers, 9 out of 10 of these serve an inactive role in reserve status, only being called up when they are needed. As we are basically a peaceful nation we do not have need of such a large military force all the time and we mostly keep them on inactive duty.

When our forces are called up, the majority of the downtime is spent adjusting to the Military Grade genetic modifications that transform them from regular citizens into weapons of war, the process takes about 3 months to complete. During that time the mind of the soldier is put through training simulations designed to hone their skills and make sure they have been properly trained for the task at hand.

Each Soldier tends to get their own specified design that compliments their style and their job, as the vast majority of our citizens do not serve in a combat role, but rather in a combat support role.

The Guards we are on our way to meet right now serve in the branch we call the Submarine Guard. They are tasked with homeland defense and border patrol. All of the Guards you will see are part of another group of people, the 1 out of 10, who are retained on active duty status. They are a little different.

At the behest of a parent, usually in the case of an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, the Government takes the child and raises them from birth to be a soldier. Military life is all they know and while they are granted full rights as Sentient Lifeforms, their Military Duties keep them separate from the rest of society. This is as much for the protection of Civilians as it is to help keep the focus on their duties.

Those who wish it are allowed to go to inactive duty and they become reserve forces, and during the rigorous training program, which includes duties on our colony in GEC-42 system and on Mercury, we tend to flush out about half of the applicants, who are then retained on reserve duty. Those who pass are among the top 3% of our military forces. Of those, remaining, the top 1% are usually taken for special forces training. You are not cleared to see them I'm afraid to say.

Since its a rather long way to the base I suggest we swim back to the Arcology and take a MAGLEV.

Elias digests the information for a moment before nodding. "Very well."

As he follows her, he responds to her statement, his tone thoughtful.

"Our understanding of genetics is more than sufficient to alter human DNA to suit our needs. We have however never come across a situation where the genetic alteration of a human being was the best solution. That said, the Luminate race was created based on a Human genetic template, but they were created from scratch, the first Lumina being born from Hyperion's Amnio-sacs. The genetic divergence of the castes occurred over time due to the breeding policies enforced at the rebirth of our civilisation, and not through direct alteration."

He thinks a while before proceeding further, his gaze thoughtful and introspective.

"Marine caste Lumina, like myself, are capable of multitasking and spreading our consciousness across multiple physical bodies. Our training takes up most of our early life, along with hormone treatment and a nutrient intensive diet. We live a... spartan lifestyle. Our intensive training and the abilities imparted by our bio-armour mean that genetic manipulation on the scale i have observed has so far proven unnecessary, and we have proved a match for any military force we have come across. But there are not many of us."

"To make up the numbers we use GCD's, or Ground Combat Drones. They are designed to be indistinguishable from Marines in armour, and form the majority of any off-habitat military ground force we field. There are also MMU's, or Military Medical Units, who's purpose is to minimise luminate casualties by treating injuries and pulling wounded soldiers out of the front lines."

"Some of our military personnel use a similar setup, only instead of spreading their minds amongst themselves and several others they live in a symbiotic relationship with their equipment, including their weapons systems, vehicles, their armor, and in some cases additional creatures. Scouts in particular use other creatures as their eyes and ears in the field."

They swam the distance back to the Arcology and entered via the same entrance they left in.

"I have just contacted Colonel Harrison, he is the commander of the installation we are heading to, he is eager to meet with you. If you'll come this way I'll take you to the MAGLEV and we can head out to the base."

She pointed down the hall.

A brief nod, and perhaps the hint of a smile is Elias' response. He follows her whilst mulling over what he has seen and heard.

They headed down the hall to the MAGLEV station.
As they headed toward the MAGLEV station Marias explained about it.

"The MAGLEV system stood for Martian Aerodynamic Ground Live-rail Express Vehicle system, and was an international transportation system that connected most of Mars. Pilon in particular has made significant contributions to the system and currently own the largest portion of the lines. In addition to connecting parts of our territory to one another we also connect to all of our neighbors and, via a series of core tunnels, also connect to the southern Sea, called the Hellas Sea, and also connect to several areas in the Northern Ocean as well, which we use in our mining operations and for easy transport to other parts of the world."


When the entered the station it was bustling with traffic, mostly cargo, though a few passengers were boarding various transports. While it was apparent from looking at it that the MAGLEVs were biological, their design was distinctly similar to a traditional mechanical design for mass transit systems.

Marias indicated to the transport they needed to board. "I sent forward the request via the nodelink and already secured our tickets. The transport will be leaving for our destination in about 15 minutes."

He listens with interest, and studies the vehicles as much as he can at a distance. Apparently something about this particular system intrigues him.

"Interesting.. Our mass transport systems are simply part of our Habitats anatomy. We just have to grow the shells of the transport modules and then fit them out according to their purpose. How fast are these transports?"

"We use a similar system for our tunnel networks, each uses a modified nervous system that accommodates MAGLEV transportation. The reason most of the rest is an independent system is because the system uses Martian Standards that go beyond our own nation and we comply fully with those standards so, for example, someone from Sunset could get on a transport and ride it all the way over to Pilon. Regarding its speed, well you're about to find out."

The transport had arrived. Marias motioned for them to board it.

After boarding it only took a few minutes for them to travel the few hundred kilometers to the outlying outpost, where Marias motioned and they got off.

The landing pad was all there was around them besides the Martian Ocean which spread out as far as the eye could see. The only other object visible to them was the Maglev lines. Marias plunged back into the warm water and waited for Elias to get his suit on and follow her again.

Elias never took the suit off, so he follows without more than a moments hesitation. His armour makes minor adjustments on the descent to minimise the splash, and he enters the water smoothly and quietly before deploying fins. He stops dead, hanging in the water as he scans the area.

He is impressed with the railways speed but being a spacer from birth the idea of living on a planet, and the infrastructure required to do so is alien to him. It just doesn't seem worth it.

After entering the water, he looks to Marias for further guidance. If he has a way of communicating with her, he speaks.

"I have some further questions about the maglev,. and also about some other things. Why construct the maglev organically? surely since its ability to self-replicate is either hampered of completely neutralised by its function there is no reason why it should not be built from more conventional human technologies? While the application is certainly impressive, it strikes me as... frivolous?"

Marias replied as they continued their dive toward the military installation.

"Pilon at one point, like most Human cultures, used mechanical technology in everything, but after certain technologies were developed it was decided that it would be far easier if we switched entirely over to Organic Technologies, which maintains itself easier and lasts for a longer period if well maintained. Also many of the technologies we were developing were augmented in their use when we began using Organic technology. Now everything we build uses it.

In the case of the MAGLEV, we designed a system that adhered to the Martian Standard yet was easy to build and maintain. We simply did not design the creature to reproduce, that is not it's purpose, though it does have self regenerative properties. We use similar designs in our buildings though our ships do reproduce. Much of our military grade technology is also incapable of reproducing and is all grown in labs.

The main focus behind our switch to organic was to supply something on the same level of utility to us as the old mechanical item it was replacing, the only thing that changed was how it was created and how it was maintained. For an underwater nation especially the decision to go organic was a wise one.

Some of our carapace designs, of which you will see the old models at the base, are as resilient against damage as other FT level armors used by other miliitaries, most of our construction designs are as strong as other FT buildings .

We are nearing the base, you won't be able to see it until we are a bit closer but I assure you it is near."

Elias nodded at that. he seemed fairly satisfied, though a certain level of puzzlement remained.

"It seems our approach to our technology varies quite considerably. The reasons for our shift to total biotechnology was more necessity than anything else. Stranded on a living spaceship with no access to the quantities of mineral resources necessary to construct and maintain inorganic structures we were forced to retro-engineer the tech used to maintain the first habitat. Later we discovered that the Vessels interfere with many inorganic technologies, and so rather than go to the trouble of shielding everything we built, we simply carried on with organic tech."

"As for our approach, we tend to make technologies that maintain themselves, and reproduce independantly. The less supervision they require the better, as there are not enough Lumina to monitor everything. In essence we create ecosystems in which organisms do their job because it is in their best interests to do so. Cleaners feed on waste products, and keep ducts clear because otherwise it cuts off their access to fresh feeding grounds and suitable mates, for example. After that we leave them to their own devices, and eliminate those who start showing significantly unhelpful traits. In general, natural selection then works on our side, creating better organisms without the need for manual improvement. In our eyes, evolution and self-replication are the most useful traits of organic technologies."

"As for our armor and structures, they have been the match for anything we have met so far. The combination of armoured shell, and the distortion effects of the Alcubierre drives provide ample protection against both particle and energy weapons, and our ship to ship weapons are very effective. Currently our only concern is our militaries personal weaponry, which has proven less effective in our most recent conflicts."

OOC: Yes, i know that i haven't actually roleplayed any significant conflicts with anyone yet, but several wars have happened within the backstory prior to their arrival in the Sol system.