NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC: Just for any who do know about what's happening with us at the moment, this is set after the war with the AoW, so we basically are starting over.)

IC:

Glory and power. Such things that once were common within our society and now, a hundred and fifty years after my grandfather founded the Republic, it fell into ashes. Glory gone, power removed, all because of corruption between members, members who forgot what the great man who made the alliance wanted, equality, and so they fought over individual power. This lead to civil wars, revolutions, and seperations, all of which brought the beleagered Republic to it's knees, then left it with nothing to fend for itself out in a universe hostile to the weak. But not all is bad, we now have a chance to start over, the few loyal nations within the Republic, and tho things seem bleak, we have a chance. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, and after it was built, it was sacked several times before rising to power.

Julianus Augustus Kellerman, Emperor of the Taledonian Empire, set down his quil that still dripped ink. He looked down at his journal, contemplating the words he had just scribbled onto the paper, and with a sigh rose from his chair and looked over at the window of his office. As usual, a heavy rain came down on Taledon, distorting the view of the many street lamps and building lights that gave the only refuge from the dark of night. Julian's own light being the crackling fire on the left wall. He turned and stared into it for a moment, still contemplating something, and then a smile formed on his face as he reckonized the slumped figure that sat staring at him with a faint smile next to the fire.

"Caesarius, only a true friend would adapt ones sleeping habits to fit my own."

"Well I figure since you keep waking me from my bed whenever you have one of your dreams, I might as well stay awake with you incase one should dawn, that way I don't lose any comfort I might have had."

Julian smiled, "Well, perhaps I can get some sleep after I compose a message to be sent out to the intergalactic community. We haven't lost yet, all we need is some new blood and we'll be back in business."

"Then I suggest you go do that. We could both use some sleep after being up for twenty-two hours" Caesarius stated matter-of-factly while yawning and scratching the back of his neck.

A knock came to the door, which made both men look over. With a creek, the oaken doors opened and in walked the old eunuch Eutherius, who bowed politely and greeted us both. "Julian, Caesarius. My lord, the message has been prepared, and all we have to do is broadcast it after you authorise the contents."

Julian nodded wearily, 'Well sum it up for us."

"Certainly, my lord. The message is in written format, and clearly states that any sovereign nations who have very few alliances and connections with large alliances, such as the Galactic Empire and the Galactic Federation, are invited to Taledon to attend a meeting. We did not specify what would be the purpose of said meeting, but we are confident enough will take notice."

Julian and Caesarius confered briefly, and when they came to the same conclusion, both nodded their agreemance and said their thanks to the old eunuch, who then curtly bowed once again and left the two men in peace.


To Whom it may Concern,

We, the Galactic Empire of Taledonia on behalf of the Republic, hereby invite all those sovereign nations who have none or little ties with the super powers such as the Galactic Empire, Galactic Federation and others, to attend a meeting of good faith that will be hosted on our capitol planet of Taledonia, in our capitol city of Taledon. All those interested may follow the co-ordinates that follow this transmission as they please, and may attend at a time convenient to them.

In good faith,
Marcus Decimus
Personal Assistant to the Emperor Kellerman

Bumpity Bump Bump

+++MACHINE SPIRIT ACTIVE+++

+++Transmission Recieved+++
...
+++Translated to High Gothic+++
...
+++Lord Macharius Informed+++

----------

The Lord Commander paced around the bridge of the Spear of the Emperor, reading the print-out of the message his ship had recieved.

"Do we know the origin of this message?"

A nervous looking officer, new to the navy, stepped forward.

"N-no, my Lord. Co-ordinates were attatched, but that world was never part of the Imperium according to our Auto-Libram."

"Xenos?"

A tall, gaunt Inquisitor stood up from the impressive chair he was previously sitting in, his augmetic eye casting a thin beam of laser radiation across the deck.

"We do not know."

Macharius growled, throwing the clipboard at the nervous officer, who scuttled across the bridge to his station.

"Send the Deus ex Imperator, with the Slave of His Will and Bolter of the Void. Have members of the Inquisition aboard, and have them contact the unknowns. At the first sign of contamination, have the Commissars purge the crews. Have the Astropath respond."

His Lordship the Lord Commander Solar Macharius wishes to inform the galactic 'empire' of taledonia that he will be sending envoys to the location you provided, and that the noble Representative of the Emperor of mankind also wishes to know wether or not the inhabitants of your domain are human.

It was a late night, and Sandler was drifting off into slumber at his work station, only to be startled and reawoken by the beeping of his control station. A message had been recieved. He looked around, noticing that almost all had taken an interest in the rather uninteresting event, everyone of them knowing that it might be a reply to the Emperor's message.

His Lordship the Lord Commander Solar Macharius wishes to inform the galactic 'empire' of taledonia that he will be sending envoys to the location you provided, and that the noble Representative of the Emperor of mankind also wishes to know wether or not the inhabitants of your domain are human.

The nervous young man ran from his chair and attempted to push through the now busy crowd of workers, trying to reach his superior to receive orders of what to do. It took nearly ten minutes of discussion between the two confused men, but soon another message was composed.

We are most thrilled to hear that you will attend our meeting. As to your question, we must inform you truthfully that we are infact not human. While we have the exact same physical appereances and attributes as humans, we are superior in the fact that we are completely immune to disease and illness of all kind. We are aware of nations such as yourselves, so put your worries to rest, we are human enough for your standards.

Taledonian Command

Once more Macharius was sitting in his throne, reading a print-out of a Taledonian message. He turned to the gaunt Inquisitor who had sent him into a rage over their lack of intel.

"What do you think, Leo?"

"Smacks of mutation. Perhaps a bizzarre gift of Nurgle?"

All eyes moved to the Inquisitor as he spoke the name of the Chaos God. Macharius broke the dead silence that pervaded the dark, gothic bridge.

"I don't think so. Still, have crewmen patrolling all decks of the ships we sent with shotcannons. If somebody so much as thinks about running off to start some cult, I want them splattered all over the walls. Do those ships have any Marines aboard?"

"Yes, my lord. Custodes gifted to our cause by His Divine Majesty himself."

"Have them form an honour guard for Inqusitor Horst. Will the signal reach his ships, or is there the usual Warp storm in the way?"

"It is all clear, my lord."

"Inform Horst."


__________________________

The three ships of the Macharian Crusade had spent what seemed to them to be weeks in the unstable maelstrom of the Warp, the real amount of time was obscured to them thanks to the daemonic energies it contained. In a burst of energy, they finally broke free of its currents, launching themselves into the stability of real space. The lead ship broadcast a signal to the nearest planet.

This is Inquisitor Horst of his Divine Majesty's Macharian Crusade. I am here to make contact with your people. If you have no objections, my Thunderhawk will launch now. I myself will be unarmed, although my guard of five marines shall carry bolt pistols, which they will leave on the ship if it is necessary.

The excitement of the communications center had spread to the Palace. Tho the sun would not rise for another hour, crowds of courtiers and eunuchs bustled about the halls. The Emperor, who had just awoken from one of his three hour naps and was as refreshed as ever, walked to the throne room and sat upon the great seat of oak, gold, and sattin. He turned to Eutherius, "Grant them permission to land. Send two fighters to escort them down to the Taledon space port and send a car to receive them. Bring them immeadiatly to my presence afterwards."

"And of their request to bring arms?" inquired the old eunuch.

A wry smile formed on Julian's face, "I'm wearing the Imperial Armor, therefore am protected by an energy shield. Plus I'm flanked by several Honour Guards who will cut them up if they try anything. Now go fetch our guests."

The impressive Thunderhawk gunship was not typical of it's class. This one was gleaming white, with the guns removed and the extra weight allowance used for armour. Unlike most others, it showed none of the signs of frequent cannibalisation that is endemic in Imperial battle-fleets.

The ramp dropped slowly, hissing as it went. It finally touched the ground with a muffled thud. Out stepped a tall, thin man clad in a scarlet cape, and power armour of an ancient model no longer in use by the bulk of Imperial forces. He was covered in the marks of his trade, the armour studded with purity seals and marks of holy protection. Like many distinguished warriors of the Imperium, much of his body was augmented by the Adeptus Mechanicus' holy technologies. His jaw was gone, his voicebox replaced by a crude technological one equipped with a primitive machine-spirit.

His honour guard was similar, holy warriors chosen by His Divine Majesty to personally guard the Golden Throne. Each one bore the scars of batle, and each one proudly displayed the symbolof the Adeptus Custodes, the bodyguards of the God-Emperor. Their bolt pistols were lowered, and none of them had chambered one of the deadly mass-reactive rounds. Their power-armour was chipped, and there were signs of a recent battle on them.

Inquisitor Horst spoke, the odd sound of the crude replacement to the voice he lost defending his ship from daemonic incursion was tinny, electronic.

"I am Inquisitor Ernst Horst of His Divine Majesty's Inquisition, here to speak with the Taledonian government."

Tho it was midday, the sky was gray, and a slight rain fell, refreshing next to the rather warm temperature. The Taledon spaceport sat a kilometer out of the city, and was full of the massive, powerful starships of the Empire, who were currently loading thousands of shocktroopers and preparing to move out as the troop rotations were being implemented this month. A group of three moved towards the shuttle, and awaited patiently while the door opened and the "ambassador" stepped out, flanked by his battle hardened guards.

"Ave. I am Senator Galerius of the Taledonian Senate." The man was about in this fifties, with thinning grey hair on his head, blue eyes and a wrinkled face. He wore a plain but elegant court toga, white cotton with purple embroidery along the edges, and elegant and comfortable court sandals on his feet. He stood confidently, with his back straight and his chin hight, hands behind his back and a warm smile visible beneath his kept beard that made a circle around his mount. "Welcome to the Empire, Inquisitor."

The two Praetorians behind him, in the ancient armour worn only by the Taledon guards for cultural reasons, slapped their right fists against their leather breastplates and shouted "Hail! Inquisitor Horst!"

Galerius looked the man up and down, sizing him up, then with another friendly smile indicated with his hand the main building behind them. "I have been asked by our Emperor to fetch you and bring you back to the palace for an audience. Come, I have a car waiting."

The Inquisitor bowed quickly to the Taledonian senator, mentally noting the remarkable similarities between the Taledonians and the ancient Romans, to whom the Imperium owed much of the Tech language.

Horst looked back at his guards, making a few gestrures with his fists. The marines nodded, saluted, and returned to the Thunderhawk.

"Greetings in the name of the Lord Commander and the Divine Emperor of humanity, senator Galerius. My guards shall remain on my shuttle. I feel it would be distasteful to enter the presence of the leader of an empire with warriors at my back."

The Inquisitor entered the car, inwardly fascinated by the Taledonians. It was nearly enough to make him think about the stance of the Inquisition on mutants. He quickly snapped out of this mood, assigning himself five days confession and penance with his confessor.

It was an hours trip to the city, but an enjoyable one, one Galerius always enjoyed no matter how many times he'd seen it. They passed through the Taledon mountain chain, which was simply remarkable. The high snow tipped mountains that the great river poured out of, covered by thick pine forests that sparkled because of the rain. But the true beauty was when they cleared Mount Talean which looked over the Imperial City.

The high walls of stone erected billions of years ago when the city was first founded, but were still kept do to their practicality. The great colisseum could be seen standing over them, along with the Imperial Palace which stood high into the air in the middle of the city, right by the river. The thousands of one story houses and villas of varying sizes, all of dressed sandstone and ceramic tiled roofs. Technology may have advanced, but culture was something Taledonians valued, and they kept their way of life virtually the same since their beginnings.

"Oh bad luck" muttered Galerius as he peered more attentively out the window, "It's a market day, the streets will be crowded. Driver, take us to the back entrance of the palace please."

It took another hour just to make it through the city, since the streets were so condensed with the plebs and the vendors shouting out prices and slogans. Arriving at the back gates to the enormous palace of marble and stone, more Praetorians came to open the car doors for the men, and then escorted them inside. Pushing open the double doors of heavy marble and ivory, the men entered the building.

Tho it wasn't the main hall that would have been shown if they entered by the front, it was still an impressive sight. High arching ceilings with crystal chandeliers full of unlit candles, polished and sparkling marble flooring, white stone walls adorned with tapestries of red and white and purple, and of course the large assortment of courtiers and advisors who stalked the palace, taking up room with their presence and making it nearly impossible to navigate through. They were led to the throne room directly, where another set of massive marble doors was opened by guards.

Inside, a the room looked the same as the rest of the palace, a great empty chamber with high ceilings and marble floors, stone walls covered in tapestries, and a large red rug that led all the way to the throne where the Emperor sat, having a discussion with his old friend. Two lines of Honour Guards flanked the red carpet, creating a seperate hallway that also served to keep the hundreds of court staff out of the way. Their black armour that glowed red, indicating the power shields were activated, the halberds that they carried looked exactly the same and stood perfectly verticle in straight lines with each other. The helmets of the men, covering the entire face and making them look like daemons in a way, shone red also, giving a hellish look.

Galerius led the guest through the line of men, their footsteps echoing in the halls as everyone present stood silent, watching the Inquisitor. The only other noise was that of the Emperor, who continued his low conversation with Caesarius, but who kept his eye on the approaching guests. He wore a white court tunic, with gold enlays on the sleeves underneath the Imperial Armour. The breastplate of shining gold, matching the golden greaves and bracers. A cape of white hung from claps' on his shoulders. He was a young man, in his late twenties, with a head of kept, chestnut hair and an orderly court beard of matching colour. He had intelligeant eyes that took in everything, and his left hand rested on the hilt of the sword of Taledon that hung by his leather belt.

"I present to thee, his Imperial Majesty Emperor Julianus Augustus Kellerman, Inquisitor Ernst Horst," announced Galerius, before stepping back and signaling with an outstreched hand the foreign diplomat. The Emperor smiled and concluded his conversation with Caesarius, who also looked on at the guest. Standing up and descending the three stairs that led to the throne, the Emperor moved close to the Inquisitor; tho he was of medium height, he was a few inches smaller than the other man, and with a wry smile, he moved his right arm from its place behind his back with his left, and extended it half-way out towards the man in the classic legionnary embrace.

"Ave, Inquisitor."

(OOC: Well, I hate to leave now because it's just getting interesting, but it's late here and I have to be up early tomorrow. Go ahead and post something, but I won't reply until tomorrow. And by the way, your right, my nation is basically Romans in space, so if your having trouble picturing anything, think Rome. Till tomorrow then.)

Horst simply looked at the Emperor, puzzled. He then dimly remembered the gesture as it was used by a coven he destroyed a century before, and extended his arm.

"Your Majesty. I come with the authority of the High Lords of Terra, the Warmaster of the Imperium and the Doge of the Ecclesiarchy, to extend the hand of friendship to your people."

The Inquisitor noted the features of the young Emperor, somewhat taken aback. In the fleet, it was rare to see a man without some disfiguring injury or augmetic limb. Horst himself was tall, with a crescent of snow-white hair at the back of his head, although the baldness was covered by his peaked cap. His eyes were once a bright blue, but now they were milky-white and sightless. Horst relied on his psyker abilties to see, after a fashion.He couldn't get past the habit of actually facing whatever he examined, partially on purpose, to keep those he spoke to at ease.

Horst pulled out a wax-sealed envelope from the long coat that partially covered his power armour.

"I was taken aback when I was ordered to deliver this. Without wishing to offend your highness, my people are not particularly tolerant of divergence from the normal Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Still, I am happy to be able to do something peaceful on such a pleasant world."

In the name of His Glorious Divinity The Emperor of Mankind,

I, Lord Commander Saint Solar Macharius, leader of the first Macharian Crusade and saviour of the Eastern Fringes, wish to offer you this guarantee that my crusade shall not touch your domain, and that your people shall be classified as within tolerable limits of genetic mutation.

At the bottom of the letter was an elabourate signature, that of the Saint himself.

[It's really really late (or early) anyway. I have to sleep some time.]

The Emperor listened intently to the Inquisitors words as he read the letter aloud, and then silence fell over the chamber as he thought about what was presented to him. A hint of a smile started to form at the corners of his mouth, but he quickly disguised it by keeping a stern face. "Macharian Crusade, you say? I presume, from what my intelligeance forces have pieced together about your people, it would be against any non-humans. Quite a few of those in the universe, quite strong too. To me it seems fruitless to attempt to destroy them all, especially when you could befriend them. All races can work, and pull a trigger, and apparently run matters of state or else they would all be in utter anarchy.
"But it is not for me to question your ways, and I mean no offence. I am quite please that you have chosen to spare my people, tho such a young nation as yourself would have a hard time doing so, once again, no offence intended. But receiving your word that you will not attack us is not entirely what we had in mind when we sent out our message that attracted you to our great city. Tell me, Inquisitor, how far does your mandate extend?"

Horst felt the amusement of the Emperor, and inwardly felt some of it himself. He along with most of the other high ranking officers of the fleet realised the futility of Macharius' campaign. He and the others followed out of sheer devotion to the Emperor he represented.

"I realise that our forces are meagre... But it would be heresy for me to say any more. As for my mandate, the Lord Commander has authorised me to act with his full authority on diplomatic matters. I can organise any kind of relations between the crusade's authorities and any state, provided they are not classed as xenos, heretics, or mutants. Strictly speaking, however, we are not a nation. technically we are the 15th Gothic Battlefleet, the 2nd Segmentum Ultima Battle Fleet and the 2nd Segmentum Solar Elite, but we find it much simpler to act in the manner of a nation."

"Ah, a battle fleet, with undying loyalty to an Emperor who's ideals do not match their own. I congradulate your leader on finding such loyal men, but also am quite saddened by this news, as it would make my task that much harder.
"I'm not sure if you've ever heard of us, the Republic that is, not us Taledonians specifically. We are an alliance of nations that have come together under the banner of the elected Senate, and strive for universal unity. Thus, the actual cause of our transmission and our invitation to our city. I would like to extend to you an invitation to join us, all those other "nations" or fleets if you would prefer from your Imperium also, and your Emperor too if he so chooses. It would have significant advantages for you, as most of our members are very large and have extremely powerful economic and militaristic strenght.
"You see, we have recently suffered a great civil war that led to the seperation of most of our old members, but they were all weak minded and were more of a curse to the Republic than a blessing, and now we have the chance to start over, to once again rise to glory and power. And you and your friends would have a welcome seat amongst us, however there may be a problem for some of you. One of our citizen nations are what you would call Xenos. Have you had any dealings with the Covenant before? Well they are an assortment of different creatures, who have undieing loyalty and great strenght and weaponary. I believe I should have brought this to your attention before I allowed you to consider the possibility of joining our ranks."

Dairdius Prime, Capital city of the main Planet within the Black Reich federation...

The clear crisp morning air filled the buildings of the High Council with a fresh pine scent as the sun broke across the Daridius Alps and pierced into the chamber room. Inside the lovely facilities sat none other than the Emperor of the fledgling Black Reich himself, Emperor Julian Portan - in his hands a small holo-pad with one of the most important pieces of literature he had seen since the day the Old Empire had finally signed the papers of dissolution...

To Whom it may Concern,

We, the Galactic Empire of Taledonia on behalf of the Republic, hereby invite all those sovereign nations who have none or little ties with the super powers such as the Galactic Empire, Galactic Federation and others, to attend a meeting of good faith that will be hosted on our capitol planet of Taledonia, in our capitol city of Taledon. All those interested may follow the co-ordinates that follow this transmission as they please, and may attend at a time convenient to them.

In good faith,
Marcus Decimus
Personal Assistant to the Emperor Kellerman

The message now silently floating in the small holo-pad of Emperor Julian Portan was quite remarkable. After recieving the message from their local transmission detection vessels Emperor Portan had had all information on this force, and it was indeed an 'interesting' history...

A nation many times the size of their own fledgling empire, fallen to pieces from internal strife and external warfare, was looking for new alliances.

"Not only that, it will be an excellent training ground for our troops, such a land MUST have dissidents and rebels from the last few conflicts" at least that was the argument of High Commander Dodge anyway. To Portan it was a chance to spread the creed of the Black Reich and to meet another force that valued what his people did - strength through force, purity of will and devotion to the cause.

A few days later the Emperor's personal envoy Charlie Brackham boarded upon the BRSFV (Black Reich Space Fleet Vessel) Divinity with a message from Portan himself.

To Emperor Kellerman

First and foremost, greetings from the people of Daridius and our fledgling empire of the Black Reich - despite our name we are not as one would say 'Nazis', we value all races and creeds, though we do implore faith to the Emperor and the Reich before creed or colour. With that out of the way we hope that we can establish communications and proper dialogue in hopes of establishing some form of mutual agreement that, hopefully, can eventuate into some form of mutually beneficial alliance.

Unfortunately, due to the hectic nature of our own politics at this point in time, I personally cannot attend, though I send in my stride my most trusted advisor and personal friend. Aboard our vessel is also a small contingent of our Black Reich Armed Services - these men and their services are offered to you in a token of good faith so we may show our willingness to assist in re-strengthening your empire from the influence of rebels and dissidents from your recently troubled history.

For the Black Reich

Yours faithfully,
Julian Portan
Emperor - The Black Reich federation

The Inquisitor flew into a rage at the mention of the Emperor in the same sentence as an effective suggestion of capitulation. The mention of Xenos made his rage all the more potent.

"His Divine Majesty would damn me for all eternity if I seriously listened to such heresies, and he would be right to do so! It is insulting enough that you mention even the POSSIBILITY of his capitulation, but that you then mention the presence of XENO SCUM in this republic makes it the blackest of heretical entities! I must leave this place IMMEDIATELY. Emperor take all your souls!"

The Inquisitor's psychic power began to manifest itself, with the rising and crushing of small objects around him.

"Then," began Julian, taking on a face of controlled anger, "it is time for you to leave. It is sad that your people are too blind to see profit from interacting with different races, and very stupid. You humans use to hate yourselves, or should I say a minority of yourselves, the negro race. They would be the equivalent of the "Xenos" today, and look how much better your race got once racism was destroyed and the negros became a part of your precious society. Now go, before I have you removed."

He then turned on his heels and stormed out of the throne room, followed by three of his Honour Guards, the other remaining ones inching closer to the now-unwelcomed guest incase he did not feel like leaving.


But the distateful events at the palace were of no concern to the people at Taledonian Command, as now a new message had come through, and the prospect of more arrivals was realized.

Black Reich Federation,

It would be our great pleasure to have your ambassador on our humble planet, and your gift of security forces is appreciated, however not necessary. We await your arrival.