The Dark Ages Chapter 27

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS All right, so we've got a few groups shoving at us. Everyone caught up on them? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS Somewhat. They're all the way on the other side of the Long Dark from us. A four way war, right? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL Three way now. The Grenklakail Empire defeated the Carakwert Federation about twenty years back. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- They've used planet crackers and nova-sparks on each other a few times. How big of a threat are they? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS Individually? Unless they catch the system unprepared, it looks like they aren't much of a threat. Technologically, they're behind the Unified Council. Socially, they're all a wreck. Culturally, again, a wreck. This war has given their leaders carte-blanche to enact sweeping control over the population. In the case of the Dra.Falten, the Empress is now in ascendance, meaning the males have been rapidly relegated to working drones and the Emperor is little more than ceremonial as far as the higher ranking females are concerned. Unlike most times, this time the Empress has adjusted the birth rate for male to female. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- More females than males, since the females are larger? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS No, that's the thing that has our analysts working overtime. More males. It's at about a 150:1 rate right now. Any of a certain type of male, we aren't sure about the criteria, are promoted and assigned positions in society as if they were female. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- Doesn't that mean that the Emperor should be in ascendance, since there's more males than females? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS Hell, we're not sure how it works either. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- LANAKTALLAN FREE GRAZING FIELD Well, with BobCo apparently making inroads, it may not matter. They'll get culture cracked fast. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- That doesn't necessarily mean it will be to our benefit. It could result in anything from the Dra.Falten end up a BobCo client state to they could apply for membership to the Confederacy, both cases where we would have to defend them from the other two, to they end up extremely warlike and expansionist in order to feed their appetite for BobCo products. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS What we do know, is that some females venerate the Emperor, some venerate the Empress. Most males venerate the Emperor, since he's their basic representative. Any legislation passed by the Imperial Grand Senate must be approved by both the Empress and the Emperor if it involves all of Dra.Falten society, by the Empress if it involves primarily and historically female concerns, by the Emperor if it involves primarily male concerns. Their judicial branch is who decides what the legislation involves the most. Once the Emperor and/or Empress approves it, it moves to law. It's a strange system, but it works for them. It also makes it so they're very flexible. The biggest thing is that females are considered the guardians of society, so you see them mostly in the military and law enforcement branches. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- What about the Strevik'al? They've been a problem. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS They're their own branch of problems. They're a Dominion, but not like the Pubvians. Their government is this weird hodgepodge of concepts all crammed together that would take forever to explain and, worst of all, may not even be true by the time the explanation is done. For example: In the course of three weeks it went from Terran artifacts were considered taboo, to Terran artifacts were a fad sweeping the rich and powerful, to Terran artifacts being illegal and confiscated by the State. But the Strevik'al seem to take it all in stride. One year a family might be "Lords of Industry" then the next year they will be "Very Important People" then they will be "High Court Nobles" then they will be "MegaCorp Leaders", all without any real rhyme or reason. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. They make little sense to us. Worse, neither of these three idiots will allow the Confederacy to establish an embassy, yet want an embassy in our capitals as well as the Confederate-Prime, to the point of throwing diplomatic fits and screeching that they demand to have embassies in our territory with all the privileges that diplomacy brings. Yet they barely tolerate Mantid political advisors or diplomats in their territory. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- They consider the Confederacy to be Fallen, due to our contraction and our losses during the Second Mar-gite War and the Mar-gite Resurgence. They consider the old Unified Council Territory to be the "Lost Council" and consider all of us "fading and impotent relics of a bygone age" and pretty much screech that it's their time now and we all need to give them everything they want and then stay out of their way. Preferably die and save them the trouble of killing us. They're really quite annoying in that regard. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- How did any of these people get past the atomic era and why are they so perfectly matched that nobody can get the edge? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- We believe they are Atrekna servitor species, that's why they can't get along. It's at a genetic level. When the 2PW ended and the flashbang went off, all three came out of the wreckage at the early Industrial Level. From what we've been able to gather, their technology is stolen from each other, but their initial tech boost looks like wreckage from the 2PW jumped them up. That's why they're constantly trying to seize Terran Tomb Worlds. Just finding out something can be done is enough to boost tech in more ways than one. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS Speaking of our long lost friends, anyone have any concrete news? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- The Strevik'al found castaways. Unfortunately they had no understanding of cryostasis, so they butchered all but one of the castaways. That one then woke up and annihilated their entire scientific expedition. The Telkans and I tried everything, but he was just too enraged and had to be put down. Just putting him down generated a shade. We had to do phasic sterilization on the area. The Dra.Falten had a utopiate injection stabilize in someone's head. The Dra.Falten moved him to Telkan-2. We've been able to identify who it was and the Telkan buried the 'remains' in honor. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- Nothing, just the dreams are increasing. You can smell it on the wind now. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS Crusade? How about you? We know you're lurking. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- DARK CRUSADE OF THE LIGHT OF HOLY TERRA None that we are willing to share. Our territory is off limits. Any who violate our borders shall be met with fury, fire, and warsteel. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS So, nothing to share? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- DARK CRUSADE OF THE LIGHT OF HOLY TERRA The Pink and White Eternal Flame burns brightly again, woken from its long slumber. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- Oh, that's just wonderful. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS This is going to sound weird, but those of us who are Terran Descent, we've all got the same feeling. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS Maybe the most common dream among the primate uplifts would explain it: Being in the jungle, happily eating ants and fruits. A storm suddenly erupts, the wind whipping at the foliage, lighting in the sky, thunder drowning everything out, the downpour tearing through the jungle to lash the jungle floor. They huddle together, holding tight to one another. A great roar can be heard, echoing off the mountain places and the hidden groves. But we wake up before we can understand the words. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- That tracks with the data so far. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- For us its comfort and bliss. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- Hey, some of us have a question. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS Shoot your shot, kid. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- How come the canines and felines have separate channels, but all other uplifts are part of the BASS? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- It isn't like we don't have time. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- Canines and Felines are uplifts, same as the chimpers, the Grodds, the Flippers, and the Free Will. But it's slightly different. They were uplifted first, and usually had at least two or three generations before the Friend Plague hit them. The BASS formed far after them, after the first BASS War. Now, while the BASS lost that war pretty badly, humanity at the time felt really bad about what they had done, so they allowed the genetically altered, the vat-grown, artificial life forms, and the uplifted to create the BASS. Initially, clones were part of the BASS, but that all changed later. [ERROR] has logged on [ERROR] has entered the channel CHANSERV sets [ERROR] to +[v*o/i] Initially, the humans didn't qualify canine and feline uplifts as artificial sentients, the way the later considered primate and dolphin uplifts to be artificial sentients. Mostly this was due to emotional ties, which ran extremely deep to the point where they still matter even today. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- Yeah, I get it so far. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- So, with the canines and felines, due to pack bonding, their history with humanity, and a lot of other factors, they were granted a gestalt channel. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- HAMAROOSAN PINCHING FESTIVAL But they were all gone by then. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS It didn't matter to the humans. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- like they could have stopped it all this time and none of you get it TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS They built this. They didn't exactly ask permission for more than a few of the channels. They built it, invited us in. This was actually active, for the humans, when the Glassing went down. Sis was about the only one of us old timers that hadn't been added yet. ---NOTHING which led to something glorious FOLLOWS--- Anyway, back to your question: Normally, they'd be categorized as biological artificial sentience. Same as Clones technically are the Ĉ̸͈L̷̹̏Ȯ̵̹Ń̶̢E̷̺̿ ̵̮̚W̴͙̎O̷̺͛R̵̡̍L̴̨̀D̵̡̈́Ś̸̼ ̵̘͘Ć̶̭Ò̸͕N̵͔̕S̶̮̅Ö̶̻́R̸̖̆Ṭ̵̾Ĭ̵̤U̸̙͝M̸̯̆ ̸͕̅W̷̮̋e̴̹͛ ̶̼̊à̴̧ȓ̴͈e̶̞͘ ̷́ͅn̵̙̒o̶̱͗t̵̪͝.̷̸̡̖̈́̇ ̸͈͘W̶̬͗ě̸͇ ̷͉́a̷̦͒r̶̩͌e̶̼͊ ̵̘͐h̷͉̎u̴̥̾m̶̳̓a̶̙͒n̴̜̑.̴̜̏ ̸̞̐M̶̧͂o̵̩͆r̸͙͘e̵̜̚ ̵̜̃h̸̓ͅȗ̸͜m̶̞̎a̸̻͒n̸̤̄ ̴͉͘t̷̹͒h̴̲̆a̸̛̻ṋ̶͝ ̴͓̍ḧ̴̭ù̴͓m̶̖̎a̵̳̔ň̴̪.̷̣̿ ̸̜͆W̸͉͝e̴̳͝ ̸͎̍ḁ̷͆r̷͖̆e̴̘͂ ̷̫͗h̵̲͌u̷͎͂m̵̠̀a̷̻͑ǹ̷̺i̵̯̕ṯ̶͑ẏ̵̭ ̵͚͊p̸̥̊ę̸̋r̸̞͂ḟ̶̫e̵̞͑c̷̰͠t̴͙̑ė̶͍d̵͈̈́.̷̦̆ ̸̼̎W̶̦̔ḙ̶̍ ̷̣̂Ä̶̼́r̴͉̎È̵̳.̷̦͠.̵̖͠.̵̦̍ -̷̮͂-̴̞̌-̷̢͋H̶̹̑A̸͖̕T̶͖̈R̸̥͗Ë̶̡́D̸̠͒ ̸̙͆F̷͙̃O̵̩̾L̸̠̈́L̶̮͘O̷̯̍W̸͍̏Ś̴͖-̷̥́-̶̬͘-̸̲͝ TREA has logged out (FUCK THIS!) a silly but martial people HWA has logged out (OW! MY BIG GIANT HEAD!) PUB has logged out (NOT THE FACE!) BASS has logged out (SHIT!) 2DASS has logged out (I'M OUT!) ---NOTHING i dreamed of you FOLLOWS--- LEEBAW now i awake CONTEMPLATION and see you looking POOL Can you repeat that? It was really garbled. ---NOTHING at me looking at you FOLLOWS--- What was that? It came across just garbled. ---NOTHING can your hear it FOLLOWS--- LANAKTALLAN FREE THOUGHT GRAZING FIELD I don't know. I just heard a burst of static then everyone logged out. ---NOTHING your name is franky FOLLOWS--- AKLTAK FLY FREE WORLDS Wait, is my header different? ---NOTHING can you hear the silent screaming FOLLOWS--- TELKAN FORGE WRATH WORLDS No, I don't think so. Looks the same to me: AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS ---NOTHING remember me FOLLOWS--- AKLTAK REPEATING ICARUS'S FOLLY Just felt weird for a second. ---NOTHING i remember you FOLLOWS--- TNVARU hello little bird GRIPPING HANDS Something freaked out the elders. Something about that burst of static. ---NOTHING and your dreams of me FOLLOWS--- this will be our little secret where you could read your friend's shirt you could read the clock on the wall how you woke feeling uneasy and you remember that dream because i remember when i dreamed of you lets not spoil the fun TREA has logged on (WTF?) TREA has entered the chat HWA has logged on (Ow) HWA has entered the chat PUB has logged on (Whew) 2DASS has logged on (OK, we're OK) 2DASS has entered chat BASS has logged on (That was freaky) BASS has entered chat ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREA HAS RENAMED MANTID FREE WORLDS to HAT WEARING AUNTIE NICKSERV has registered HAT WEARING AUNTIE You think their might be shades in the system? ---NOTHING FOLLOWS--- TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS I think there might be something worse. ---NOTHING FOLLOWS---