Tortoise

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Did she seriously side with the unarmed clowns against a clearly technologically superior civilization?

Raylah

I'm as surprised as you!

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

<Snipped quote by Tortoise>

I'm here, just got ill - trying to be careful as its vaccine time for me next week and I don't wanna be ill for that too XD.

@Taeryn

Oof! Take whatever time you need xD

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Taeryn
Hey buddy, I approved your sheet a while back. You still here?

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

_{(Addressing: @Ekreture)}

It's high noon. The desert air is sizzling, and the two cowboys are wiggling their fingers around their guns while the clock tick, tick, ticks. The duel is about to begin, and about to end. Only one walks out. Tick, tick, tick...

Twelve o'clock!

The first cowboy, who doesn't look much like a cowboy except for his hat, moves faster. His gun is drawn- trigger pulled- he gets the other one in the leg before he can dive away. He's standing over him now, pulling his best Clint Eastwood impression. His pistol is raised.

"Partner, you've yee'd your last h-"

A buzz goes off at the cowboy's hip. He looks down and frowns. It buzzes again. He frowns, but this time harder. Things in the Wild West aren't supposed to sound like that! (Well except for rattlesnakes, maybe.)

It buzzes again, just to taunt him.

Finally, Oligarch Tanaka quits the holo-program, his mood completely ruined, and checks his infopad. Three messages. Who's bothering him this late? Oh, he realizes. Savant Heralds is.

A new ship has come through the Gateway, the infopad reads out. Early communications establish it as some kind of- religious group. The young Oligarch doesn't need to have Heralds in front of him to know he wrote those words with disdain. And since Tanaka was the first one to speak to another Colony...

"You're being sent out to greet them," the message reads. "You can take the same shuttle. Represent us well."

A list of diplomatic instructions follow, but Tanaka knows them already. He's went over them seventeen times since his trip to Zelrio Corp. That one went so well, Tanaka isn't surprised Heralds is picking him again. At this rate, he'll be his right-hand man by next month! The not-cowboy whistles a tune as he heads out for his shuttle.

~~~~~~~~

_{(Addressing: @Ekreture)}

As he steers the shuttle up to the foreign ship, the Oligarch can't help but think I wonder if they're like the Mixtists? They were the only real religious movement on New Hollywood in its 300 years of history, but from what Tanaka has been taught his whole life, they were insane. Always praying or singing, talking about things that can't be real- no wonder the Savant drove them out. They're supposed to still be living in the ruins these days. Like animals. It sounds terrible.

If that's what religion is, hopefully these people won't bring any of it here.

"Hail!," Tanaka sends to the new vessel. "I greet you on behalf of the Earth Cultural Union, a league of mankind dedicated to preserving the ways and forms of Old Earth." The new official greeting, as per this morning. Things are changing fast these days. It's a little scary.

"I speak on behalf of our elected leader, Savant James Heralds," he goes on. "And I am his student, Oligarch Tanaka. We welcome you to our space, and to the lights and joys of New Hollywood!"

~~~~~~~~

_{(Addressing: @Irredeemable)}

"Ah, ah, you should find somewhere to go lay down- no, it's okay- yes, yes, I've got this. I'll talk to the aliens for you, sir, yes I will. It's okay..."

Scientist onboard the Gateway Listening Post, Dr. Budi, is leading Oligarch Andrei off of the Holographic Suite. He'd smiled politely at Epsilon-Bouchet's joke, but within, felt more than a little embarrassed. Is this the best the ECU could present themselves?

"I... apologize for my colleague's behavior," Dr. Budi says once his boss is gone. The holographic marble floor seems to flip upwards as he tries imitating the cyborg's bow. "Of course, it may not compare to your own modifications, but I myself have a prosthetic. You will come to realize that some in our society," by which he means the ECU, "are somewhat close-minded to such things. It's a by-product of our history. I ask you not to be offended."

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

_{(Addressing: @datadogie)}

Something different in the air. Neo London is always moving, always bright, always loud. Until now. People stand around in circles, mumbling, staring down at their infopads. Or they stand by themselves, looking up the screens mounted to the sides of buildings, not making a sound. It's like a spell is over the city.

Martina Ward is by herself in the crowd, like always. She hasn't heard the news yet. It launched an hour ago, and every person on New Hollywood from the factory worker to the Neo Bangkok Entertainment Director has already been caught up, already informed, already stunned. Except for her.

She weaves her way through the throng, not brushing up against anyone, but she still hears a man mumble "The Gateways..." and then a woman: "I didn't know space stations could even be that big!"

She'd been out of the city. In fact, she was hunting through the Bezian ruins, trying to find those Mixtists that are supposed to be out there. All she found was dust that made her lungs hurt. But soon, she would find that the ECU had discovered something new itself, this time: they'd met the Zelrio Corp.

~~~~~~~~

"I'm proposing it now!" An excited writer was telling a bored Oligarch. "The next big holo-program: walk aboard the Featherfall Station, touring the forest in space!"

There was a long sigh on the other end of the line. "But... we don't know what the inside of Featherfall actually looks like, do we? Only that kid Tanaka do-"

"We'll make something up! Trees, flowers, a view of the stars all around! It'll be a hit!" The writer exclusively speaks in exclamation points. "Plus- plus- it'll, you know, it'll make the people like these Zelrio boys more! It's diplomacy!"

The Oligarch had to pause for a second. That one was actually true. Heralds had made it frighteningly clear he wants the ECU citizens to accept contact with these foreigners. Essential, he said it was. Essential.

"...alright," she says, and then shields her ear from the storm of happy exclamation marks answering back.

~~~~~~~~

"You have been selected as Diplomat to the Zelrio Corp," a happy holo-announcer cheers him to wake at noon. "This exciting opportunity, presented from the Savant himself, comes with great prestige and benefits, including but not limited to-"

"Hologram: Mute," he says, and it does. The job offer is just a formality. Heralds told Oligarch Antonio he'd be the new diplomat last night, and his few things are already packed. With a hangover the size of New Texas, which is actually pretty small, he pulls himself out of bed, through the closet, down the stairs and out towards the old Launch Pad. It's exhausting. He's exhausted.

But, he does feel pretty satisfied when he sees what he'll be flying out in. The newly christened "Deal Maker," painted gold, is a remodeled asteroid-mining ship with all those ugly practical bits cut off. It's sizable interior- hollowed out, holographically enabled- will let him make the inside of this ship look like anything he wants. An obvious gimmick to impress the new guys, but still fun.

He's only halfway to the Gateway when he finds the wine cooler. Do the Zelrio boys drink? Let's find out.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Update Time.

Lately, I've been fielding a lot of questions in the Discord. So in order to avoid future confusion, I'm answering some here. Later tonight or tomorrow, an FAQ will appear in the OP as well.

---

Q: Is space magic allowed?
A: No. But I'll allow fantasy-style elements that can be explained in a science-y way.

---

Q: Can we meet other Colonies through methods other than the Gateway?
A: No. We do not have FTL other than the Gateways, and humanity is spread out across an unimaginable distance. It would take centuries of travel to bump into another human settlement. And more bluntly put: the theme of this RP revolves around the Gateways, so naturally other forms of travel are limited.

---

Q: Can we communicate through the Gateways?
A: Short answer: Yes, but only with Colonies you have met already.

Long Answer

Previously, I did not allow communications through Gateways, because I was afraid that early players would just send messages through the Gateways instead of seeking out other Colonies to meet them. However, datadogie proposed a solution.

We can say that we're unable to communicate through the Gateways because our encryption technology has developed separately, but as time goes on, we'll learn eachother's communications. This means that you can now send messages back home, or to previous contacts (as you have encountered their communications technology before).

---

Q: Are aliens allowed?
A: Your Colony was founded by humans from Earth, but you may have met aliens in the time since, so yes.

---

Tagging everyone, making sure we're on the same page, you know the drill.

@Ekreture@Crusader Lord
@Sigma@Raylah@datadogie@ClocktowerEchos@Irredeemable@MetalWeight@GreyGoblin@Timemaster@Taeryn
@Dog@Willy Vereb

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Ekreture
Approved

The Alchemist seems like a strange figure. He appears kind of randomly through your History, like a recluse or a spiritual hermit.

@Crusader Lord
With discussed military fixes, approved.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@an abomunist
It's no problem. The fact that you came and told us is more important than the leaving itself.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Collab between: @Tortoise and @datadogie

“Of course!,” Tanaka, who was genuinely excited, sent back to the Zelrio vessel. “We will accept both navigational data and escort to whichever location you desire, Captain Lillith.” Out of the corner of his eye, part of Tanaka realized his two crew members looked less-than-excited about the idea of going under foreign escort. ‘Terrified’ might be more honest.

The young ruler was certain they would do what he says anyway, because he’s an Oligarch and normal people all know Oligarchs are wise and good and you should listen to them, but he still couldn’t help but remember what Savant Heralds always says. “If people are afraid,” it goes, “you can’t calm them. You have to distract.” He says that like it’s the most important thing in the world.

“Hey,” Tanaka suddenly asks his crew, innocently, “what do you think that other vessel is? The one that just came through the Gateway?”

This launches a tirade of theorizing from the two Holographic-obsessed men, which ranges from “probably weird aliens with tentacles?” to “a trick from that Lillith lady to flank us.” But at least for the moment, they were occupied. Huh. He didn’t expect it to work so well.

A reply was soon sent to Tanaka; “We are sending you the data now. Escort will be provided, and the landing pad to arrive on has also been included within the data. Do not worry about sending any docking requests, we have that all sorted out for you for the time being,” Captain Lillith replied. Soon enough, a data packet was sent to Tanaka’s ship, and two corvettes from the gateway’s blocking force moved into escort positions for Tanaka.

"Hey," Tanaka asks his pilot, "Can you interpret that data?"

"...Yeah," Pilot Jonas says after a while, sounding surprised about it. "It's not that different from ours." And then the engineer, a little sarcastically, adds "I guess this doesn't technically count as being captured." He had been the one to propose tentacle aliens.

Unsteadily, the little shuttle follows along with the two corvettes, small by their owner’s standard but large to the eyes of the ECU crew. They had not built such ships. They had not needed them.

“We cannot go to war with these… people,” Engineer Abubakir comments, even though nobody asked if they could. “Tell me we’re not going to fight them.”

“Of course not,” Tanaka tries to comfort him. “Think of them as friends we’re only now meeting.” Abubakir tries to, and is painfully aware he’s not succeeding. He’s thinking of guns and aliens and aliens holding guns and New Hollywood exploding. After a short eternity, they find their destination approaching them.

~~~~~~~~

Featherfall station, their destination, was one of perhaps thousands of stations that occupied space above Oria, though it distinguished itself from the others by it’s size; whilst many other stations were ‘tall’, with a clear top and bottom, Featherfall Station could be defined as wide. It was very elliptical in size, a smooth dome, albeit with some ridges that defined it’s docking locations and crew quarters. Another feature of it was that it was huge; There were other large stations around, but Featherfall was definitely one of the largest above Oria, being several kilometers wide.

And today, it had a few more naval ships than usual around it, a welcoming and defensive party for the diplomats that were due to be arriving. One of the smaller ships, a corvette, was resting just outside of where Tanaka’s shuttle was due to arrive. None of them, however, hailed Tanaka, and as the shuttle got closer to the destination, the two ships that had been escorting the shuttle turned and began making their way back to the gateway now that their job was complete.

The hangar itself was large enough to accommodate Tanaka’s shuttle, as well as two others of its class if it had brought sisters. As hangars usually were, it was quite metallic, with docking equipment at the ready should it be needed. It was surprisingly clean, and had two exits, one of which was clearly for the maintenance crew, but the other primary entrance was larger, and held a trio of humans that were waiting for the shuttle to land.

Inside it, Abubakir was already becoming more frightened, almost panicked, and trying not to show it. He spent too much time watching alien horror holo-programs, but more than that, he once had a more truly horrific experience on a space walk. Abubakir was sent to perform repairs on the outside of the Listening Post after a small meteor collision, and his tether got torn on a twisted little piece of damaged metal.

He was free-floating for fifteen minutes before they could rescue him, and in that short time, his mind had already imagined every terrible death you could meet in out in space. (He counted fifty-seven of them.) He hasn’t trusted the entire place since. Or any people who would try to build so many things in it.

“I’m not going,” Abubakir crossed his arms. “I’ll stay here and… watch the ship. You and Jonas can go.” He hadn’t asked for this mission.

For a second, Tanaka looked like he wanted to say something. Really, he was imagining how Heralds would deal with this- how he could probably get Abubakir to go out of the ship willingly, even enthusiastically. But a look into his engineer's eyes tells Tanaka he won't be doing that today.

With a shrug, the Oligarch tells Pilot Jonas to come with him to meet their hosts. They set down gingerly, and soon after, they're meeting the trio in the hangar.

~~~~~~~~

The one in the center of the trio was a woman with long, brown hair, and a pair of gentle blue eyes. She was wearing a suit, quite business-esk, though neatly worn and obviously presenting herself as the main diplomat that the Oligarch would be meeting. That was in comparison to the other two individuals that flanked her at either side, both of which were in military armour, albeit with helmets clipped at their waist and not on their head, and weapons on their backs and hips instead of in their hands. Despite their armour showing them as strong and military, their faces were just as casual as an average joe’s, lacking the traditional military tough-guy look. Their eyes looked over Tanaka and Jonas cautiously, as if exploring them visually for threats. On the other hand, the woman in the suit kept her eyes on Tanaka’s eyes, with a welcoming smile on her face.

“Greetings, and welcome!” She says, spreading her arms widely. “My name is Amelia Cellica, I represent the Department of Public Diplomacy. It’s amazing to see some friendly faces coming through the gateway,” the woman spoke cheerfully.

“It’s amazing to see some on the other end of it!,” Tanaka, who was wearing a red suit and a cowboy hat that anyone in the Oligarchy would adore, cheered back. “We in the Earth Cultural Union had no idea if any other humans had survived.” He knew where Heralds would want him to press first. He softened his eyes, lowering his head a little bit. “In fact, the Tragedy of Earth shook us so deeply, we took it upon ourselves to carry on the legacy of all human cultures and peoples. We strive to keep the past alive.” Now that the stage is set, time for the important part: “I wonder enough to ask- how have your people gotten along?”

Amelia nods her head slowly. She understood what Tanaka meant; the Tragedy of Earth had struck the colonists of Oria hard. “In the beginning, our people handled things… Difficultly. Oria, the planet below, is a very harsh environment. We tried our hardest to survive down there, but no matter how hard we kicked, it just kicked back harder. Our entire population is now up here, above the planet. We could only afford to build this many stations because of the planet itself, of the materials it provides us. You’d think that we want to go down, to touch our feet to the planet and the ground once more. The truth is, we’re comfortable in space now. Stations like the one that we’re in now fulfill our need to be, well, outside,” she explains.

Tanaka nodded with genuine sympathy. (While behind him, Pilot Jonas tried not to smirk at the thought of how Abubakir would like living here.) “I see,” the Oligarch continued. “It is no wonder you have such impressive ships here!” And frightening. He rarely thought of the bad side of things, but watching his engineer’s reaction had left an impression. It seemed like the ECU had lucked out on their planet, empty and easily terraformed, but the Zelrio had prospered in another way. And then an idea struck him.

“We are fortunate,” he said. “Our planet has never put up a fight. The original populace made themselves extinct through some series of events our archeologists are still struggling to understand. War, we think. What is it good for?”

The key, Heralds says, is to wave a promise in front of someone’s face without telling them when it will be fulfilled. Tanaka never liked that hard thinking, but well, the Savant must be Savant for a reason. So he keeps on: “We have since repaired much of the damage they wrought. Our terraforming technology is believed able to completely restructure a world’s ecosystem, atmosphere, temperature,” he smiled, “and so much more. In the future of our two peoples, I wonder what it could do for Oria?”

Amelia blinked in surprise as Tanaka spoke about terraforming technology. The Zelrio Corporation had thought about terraforming in the past, however with the situation on the surface they hadn’t bothered to try. Even if they did manage to do something, the time it would take to enact such a solution meant it was pointless, as well as the research required beforehand and the damage they likely were already doing to the existing ecosystem with the refineries on the surface, meant that the idea was shot down whenever it was brought up. However, if the ECU already had such technology, deployment on the surface might be feasible. There was just one problem.

“It would likely do great wonders for Oria, however, we do have problems on the surface that extend beyond what terraforming could assist with. You spoke of war, well, the situation on the surface may as well be described as a war, with two opponents; the environment, which terraforming may very well help with, however the second opponent is the wildlife. Specifically, a species we call Vacuarians. Whenever we’re on the surface, we have to be on our guard at all times. Hives of Vacuarians attack whenever they please, in heavy numbers. Nobody on the ground is safe, and our primary groundside facility has defences upon defences piled on it to push back attacks, and even then, there has been reports that attacks come… Too close for comfort,” Amelia explains. “I fear that terraforming equipment that we place on the surface may very well be destroyed before it can do anything."

She's talking about being afraid. Distract! Tanaka suddenly laughs. "Oh, but I imagine you did not guide us all this way to talk in a hangar. Is there somewhere else we should speak? That domed part of Featherfall looks almost like a little piece of Earth…"

~~~~~~~~

The two diplomatic parties walked in pace with eachother, strolling through the park-like interior of the Zelrio station. Tanaka often stopped to admire the grass, the trees, the plantlife, and often hinted that it would be so gratifying to bring that beauty to Oria. Amelia told him about the struggles of the Zelrio Corp, and skillfully dodged some questions about their military capacity.

By the end, a sort of understanding seemed to be reached; they could continue on friendly terms, and Tanaka proposed a more permanent establishment of mutual envoys, to which Amelia agreed.

On their way back towards the Gateway, the ECU shuttle sent a little message of greetings to the Ospa Alliance vessel: a diplomatic equivalent to 'Hey, catch you next time!'

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Crusader Lord
PM sent!

@Ekreture
In the process of reviewing your sheet. Later on today, I'll probably give you some of my thoughts on it, but I can't fully approve if you consider the military section to be incomplete.