NationStates Jolt Archive

"Haq qa, adep qua*!" The Srilik shouted the ancient qutalese terms and bowed down. The lights in the bridge of the Abara went on and the instruments came to life. This was a very good sign, Abara allowed the crew entrance. The Srilik made a gesture towards those, who would interact with the spaceship and those cautiously approach. Haru-Q@la, the navigator, first entered the bridge and thew himself to the earth in front of his console. Then he approached it. About the same procedure was done by the other ones, worthy enough to interact directly with the spaceship. Everyone was allowed access, even Yek-Nganh, who was considered the least pure of the group because it was said to also pray to the ancient Gods as well as to the S@dria. The different ceremonies were celebrated in all detail before the Abara was asked to leave and take the course into the unknown. The Abara was the most advanced exploration vessel the S@dria provided the Noldor with. therefore, the Noldor was even more traditional than they
would be for transport ships or passenger ships. The Abara used its magic to leave the orbit of Nge Nhata (the last planet of the Nge Noldo solar system) and accelerated to interstellar speed. What would be on the end of the journey? Where would they land? Only the S@dria know...

OOC: some explanations: "Haq qa adeq qa" means "Oh Glorious, those in your service will arrive" adding the last u makes the sentence past tense.
a Srilik is a master of ceremony
Qutal is a language comparable in its importance (not in its grammar) to Sanskrit.

OOC: Just out of curiosity, in this context, what are the Noldor?

OOC: it's a 80s computer game reference where I changed the i into an l to make it sound more serious... I wa inspired by Ninja Turtles and said game when making the race. If you are more interested, participate here :-)
IC: Maybe it was a bit detrimental to communication to use quralese despite for non-ceremonial reasons using Nkonoldo, Nkohreso or even Nkoguqe. When the Srilik proclaimed "Teq la aseq, hane|a" most of the crew knew what to do in such a case, but the inherent meaning was not quite clear at first. The small differences between the words are not parsed as easily as they would in their languages. The ship stopped in a distance from the solar system, they were ordered to explore. Here seemed to be a flurry of life so it seemed the best to be there and passively scan before changing the methods.

The Abara is a small ship. It has a crew of only 64 Noldor. It is shaped irregularily and there are Noldor, who say that over the course of years, the very shape of the ship changes. The Abara and other Noldori ships are not cloaked, but still disguise their inner working rather well. For the normal oberver, something is rather easily spotted, but what it is exactly takes some tech to discover.

OOC: @ is a Schwa sound, | a click and Y a German Ãü

"We are unable to determine much more than that there is yapqa of different entities. This solar system seems to be multi-specic." |adhaq, reported. |adhaq has the formal title of jagh saly, which means he is in charge of the sensors and the interpretation of the data they deliver. In the ranking-pyramid, he is a jagh, which means he reports to his qjanh. The qjanh (most similar to a captain in other nations) would report to the Srilik and they would decide what reaction is best compatible with their ceremonial and ethic code. |adhaq sometimes sees the hierarchies in front of his inner eyes with extreme clarity, then, every Noldor on his ship was shown to him in his exact position within the code of behaviour. this saved him more than once even though he has no idea why and when this happens.

"You think we should establish contact?" the qjanh asked, |ahaq knew exactly that this was a trick question, that the qjanh wanted him to slip up.

"I am unworthy to decide, oh qjanh!" he lowered his head into his carapace during this to indicate his position.

"|adhaq, does your data indicate danger from things out there?"

"They seem, if you allow me to say that, most busy among themselves. I do not think to them, we would be much of a concern. The geqdap in the see ignores the lake"

After a long discussion between the Srilik and the qjanh, they agree with the jagh's position. The standard Nge Noldor request for contact is send: a wave function, from which's characteristics, the number of pi can be derived to the 50th digit in octal. Hopefully, someone would care.

One had caught notice-a certain One, at that. A collective mind, a dominant will, a power to be held among the Powers...the One. The total mind of the Amalgamation.
The wave that had been let off by the ship was interesting and perking to the One, and it decided to act on the information, possibly a new species to assimilate, to bring into the fold...but no manners were those! The One had to look courteous at first. And so it would be.

Space
An odd, bizarre ship jumped into space near the ship that had made the call. It made a sort of calling of its own, but no mathematical code was this. Rather, the ship let out a shriek-a psychic call into the depths of the mind, enough to perk the interest of any nearby sentient to see that which had devled into the minds of the nearby. And curious it was, indeed.
The ship was covered in odd-looking, almost organic portrusions and blisters of sorts, speckled by black, blasted pits and glowing spots. A hob-job of jumbled mess, the ship seemed cobbled together, but upon closer inspection, it was actually a standard ship of the line-or, it was once a ship of the line. Transformed, the ship was no longer its old identity, now a symbol of itself, a horror that still perked interest, especially combined with the psychic call it had made. For that call was not just designed to alert-it was designed also to sway others to come closer, to try and meet, to try and hail. For if they did...another hail would return.

The Noldor realized the existence of the ship and tried viewing it without rating it in their terms. They did hear the call in a certain way, since compatability was not fully existing. The foreign ship was passionlessly examined. The strict rules of conduct and politeness were a certain protection against its psychic inluencing: Even if the ship succeeded in changing their stance, the rules would mean that this does not matter. The Noldor started scanning the ship so they knew how to react to its appearance.

Someone has said that thought is a requirement for existance. The construct known as Abara was not sure. Near a status of losing its identity and its mind, it was there. The way it changed the Noldor gave it a link to their minds like a thread in a spiderweb. It is in the middle, listening to the small vibrations the Noldor caused by their perceptions and thoughts. This was something, the existance known as Abara yearned for. Even though there was not much of it left to yearn.

The oddity continued to list back and forth in rythmic motion, pulsating at every beat. It nosed closer to the other ship, slowly manuevering around space. With a sudden dramatic spring in light, the ship glowed and sent out a mental message:

"Yo'cho fu'ramit'ki"

What these words meant were unknown...