Tortoise

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

Still here, just got back, first post coming out tomorrow.

@Kale19

Make sure you put your nation in the Char tab, and I recommend placing it inside a hider. (There's a button for it when you're writing, that looks like an eye with a line across it.)

Hider

Yeet.

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

Got bored while playing Stellaris. Did thing.

ECU

Civics:
Police State for protectors
Memorialists to represent their obsession with the past

Traits:
Traditional for obvious reasons
Charismatic because of the propaganda and diplomatic dishonesty
Unruly because of all the Mixtists and wild protectors and the fact that they have to use propaganda/violence to keep their populace under control

Ethics:
Fanatic Xenophobe because WE MUST STAY PURE TO EARTH AND THE HUMAN FORM YOU TOASTER SCUM
Authoritarian because the Oligarchs are pretty strict about keeping the populace contained

Undefeated

@Raylah



Civics:
Functional Architecture because Raylah mentioned having such in her last post.
Warrior Culture because obviously.

Traits:
Strong because soldiers
Resilient because soldiers

Ethics:
Xenophobe because of their enslavement of Screechers and mistrust of Zetans
Fanatic Militant because the military and war are pretty much their entire way of life

(Also I know we have a male leader named Blackwood here, even though Kelsie is female. I forgot the Grand General's surname and just went with hers. Fight me.)

FPR of Auriga

@Taeryn

Civics:
Shared Burdens because socialisms
Environmentalist because rebuilding and preserving their environment seems to be an important goal for the Aurigans

Traits:
Conservationist because socialists and environmentalists
Quarrelsome because I don't know, it just kinda felt right. Maybe because of the different member states and their history with the corporate overlords beforehand? Or maybe I'm just too used to communists constantly arguing with each other about how hardline they're gonna be

Ethics:
Fanatic Egalitarian because of their overthrow of a corporate government to create a more equal and fair one
Pacifist because they have reduced their military and have a distaste for conflict, according to the NS

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

_{(Addressing: @Irredeemable)}

"We didn't plan for this," Captain Korhonen is saying, for the third time this meeting. They're onboard the Memory, the ECU cruiser and impromptu center for the invasion of Zeta. "Your men are dedicated, but they're just not..."

"Not what?" Protector Chief Davids interrupts, as he is prone to doing. "Not good enough?"

The Chief- a tall, fat man with a face always flushed- stares down the table. There are a dozen other men in here, all of them commanders of some protector troop or another. Except for Korhonen. Because somebody- somebody- thought it would be a good idea to let the cruiser's captain in on their meetings. That somebody is getting a club to the gut, soon as Davids can find out who he is.

"It's not that," the Captain tries, but he's cut off again.

"Well what is it then, Cap? Because I sure wish somebody would tell me! Every day since we've been here, we got some Oligarch or Savant or big-brained Captain tryin' to tell us we can't cut it, and I'm about sick of it. What is it, Captain? You wanna go down there and fight the toasters?" With some effort, he hoisted himself out of his steel chair and sent it skidding into the wall, half the other protectors standing up with him. "Because I've got a club for you right here!"

Across the room, Korhonen's shoulders seem to arch up tensely, then let out slowly with a sigh. "If that's a threat, Chief-"

"It is!"

"-then I'm afraid it's not working, because I have a pistol and you have a metal stick."

At that bold of a challenge, the room is momentarily filled with protector's shouts, gasps and laughter, and the Chief's eyes look like they're trying to bulge entirely out of his head, but Korhonen only- calmly- holds up a hand for silence. "The cold fact is, Chief, that your men aren't cut out for an invasion. They're... police," he nearly said thugs, "who are intended for combat with civilian threats. And," seeing the Chief billowing up again, he hurries along, "and they're very, very good at it! We couldn't do without our protectors. But this war was not expected to be a long siege. We need help. The volunteers from the URC are more... trained. For this sort of thing."

The Chief has plopped back down into some else's chair while Korhonen is speaking, but the tension in his face remains. He feels like hitting something. He needs to hit something.

He hits the table.

"It's not right," he growls, half to himself. "You people, you eggheads in charge of everything 'round here, you made us this way. You pick us out just 'cause we're big and not smart, and you through us in rooms and show us bad things and make us hate everything. And now we're not good enough." His gaze shoots up to Korhonen.

Who looks away, feeling almost ashamed. The Captain is not on Oligarch, but his father was. He knows what the protectors go through- and he notices that suddenly, none of them seem very interested in making eye contact with anyone.

"Chief," one of them mutters, a thin man with sunk-in eyes, "how many people have come back from Zeta?"

The silence holds for a second.

"How many protectors have made it back, Chief?" Someone else echoes. And then another, and two more.

Davids looks away.

"The correct answer is," Korhonen says quietly, "none. No protector has returned alive from the surface of Zeta-5." And that settles around the room. "I recommend an immediate cessation of all protector activity within Zetan held territory." Realizing his audience might not be the kind to understand that language, he tags on: "I mean, I'm saying that we should stop sending any protectors to the surface."

A vote is held. With no Oligarch present, (Kayla being off-ship for negotiations) that's the default method. 9-to-4, it's decided.

"From this moment forward, until or unless decided by an Oligarch or by order of the Savant, or an authority selected thereby, there shall be no more protectors sent to Zeta-5." Korhonen smiles in a way that's meant to be reassuring. "It's for the better, I promise. Let the Undefeated and those crazy volunteers handle it. Us ECU boys can just bombard that rotten place from up here, right?"

Davids nods his massive head without looking up, half furious and half ashamed. It's right when the protectors are standing to leave that all their infopads beep and vibrate at once. "Captain and Chief," some fast reader says, squinting at his pad, "it says here... Yun is back. Protector Yun. Alive."

~~~~~~~~

_{[Starring: Martina Ward and Jade]}

One Week Earlier

"Pound, pound, pound! That's how a bass line should go," asserts 'Kyle', who mimes playing it with his hands.

"No, no," corrects the woman calling herself 'Jade,' "it should go like womp-womp-womp!" She also mimes playing a bass guitar, and does it just a little better.

"You're both wrong," slurs in a third, this one a little drunk, "the bass just needs to be like, uh... what's the word they used to use? Funny? Yeah! We just need a funny bass!"

This makes Jade roll her eyes. "Funky," she corrects him. "The word is funky!" She's always had a pet peeve about anyone breaking character in a culture party. If you can't remember the correct word, just don't say it! Oh, what is the ECU coming to?

"Uh, thanks," he says, drink sloshing around in an all-too-small shot glass. "So what's your name? Mine is Viktor."

"Jade," she says, but with the same tone as if she were saying 'shut up.' Viktor is definitely not a 1960's British-American Rock Subculture style name. Did he forget to pick a new identity when he came in, too? That's one of the fundamental rules. Ugh.

She manages to slip away from Viktor and Kyle as a new debate about funny baselines begins, weaving her way through the thickening crowd of bushy hairstyles, vibrant tie-dyes and clashing outfits. There's a nasty rumor that Hollywoodites dress like clowns- they should have seen this.

The snack table is almost as colorful. Red jello, green jello, fruits suspended in jello, jello shots and carrots. Who brought carrots?

It was probably Viktor.

"Excuse me, Ma'am?" a voice interrupts her musings on the deficiencies of Viktor, "Do you have a moment to discuss something important?"

She turns to look, and her first thought is 'This one even forgot their costuming.' Her second thought is 'Oh no, it's one of them! And they forgot their costuming!'

Everyone in Neo London has heard of the new Mixtist missionaries. There's only a few of them, maybe two dozen at the most, but they're catching attention- massive, national attention that should be getting them beat into dust by protectors. Unfortunately, half of Neo London's protectors are busy getting slaughtered by Zetans at the moment, and that leaves these robe-wearing, pamphlet-carrying weirdos to roam the streets, trying to convert people to... to whatever it is they believe in. It's not even very clear.

"No, I don't," Jade answers, studiously diverting her gaze to the table. "I'm very busy with listening to this song." The singer on stage is a hologram, an older kind that always sounds a little distorted, but she isn't going to let a little thing like taste stand in the way of ignoring this woman.

"Ma'am," the missionary says with a soft voice of compassion, "that song is terrible."

Jade jerks her head back up in surprise, and then laughs. She didn't expect that.

"Okay, okay, maybe it is," she admits. The missionary is a tan-skinned, wild-haired woman, who does kind of make the robe work. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to stand here and listen to a bunch of- nonsense."

"No," the missionary answers. "You're just going to go and listen to a bunch of other nonsense, and eat nonsense food, and retire into a nonsense holo-suite that shows you pictures of Earth as it never was." She smiles. "This whole world is nonsensical, ma'am. Every bit, from top to bottom. But I think I have some nonsense here that will do you some good." She hold out a pamphlet, a weird thing in this day of infopads and holograms.

Jade doesn't take it. "No," she says. "I'm sorry."

"Alright." The missionary woman doesn't seem very upset at all. "Well then, will you at least say your real name? Not the fake one. We have to be real sometimes. I'm Martina."

The other one hesitates, and then answers: "Abadi." They part ways.

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

There have been some attempts to introduce Old Earth video games back into ECU society, with varied success. Mario games had a spike in popularity about 20 years ago, but soon fell away because- for some reason- protectors would go on rampages and smash the screens whenever they saw it being played. New Hollywood's psychologists are still uncertain as to why.

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

_{[Starring: Abadi]}

_{(Addressing: @Irredeemable)}

Abadi's eyes are rolling so far back in her head, she should be able to see herself think. "Never before has your sight been graced by our presence, and never onwards shall a brighter beacon shine!" That's la introducción you go for? Ego problems. It has to be ego problems.

She bets he's short.

But, while she's in the mood for it, Abadi also bets that's not going to be the real issue here. Shortly after the ECU sent out their first message, a second was detected- this time from the URC base. And then, with the guests arriving at the Meeting Place, it's not exactly clear where they're headed yet. To Abadi, or to the United Republic? The former makes her superiors happy, and the latter costs them their chance to sway early opinions. It's not really a choice- Abadi needs to get this Alfonso man here, now.

She could, she figures, just run down to where he's docked and greet him before anyone else can, then pressure him into coming along. But whatever his culture is, any human would read that as desperate. No, the better move is to get him to choose to come here, willingly... like maybe...

Ugh.

No matter her title or her job, Abadi just isn't a schemer. Where is Tanaka or Heralds when you need them?

~~~~~~~~

_{[Starring: Tanaka]}

_{(Addressing: @Taeryn)}

Tanaka is entering into the little Aurgian embassy, a nice place by his account. The plants remind him of "fresh land" back on New Hollywood, those places that have been terraformed since the start of the whole process. There's a smell and a feeling to new grasslands that doesn't exist anywhere else in the galaxy.

"Thank you most sincerely for you welcome," he makes a little nod with his head. It's not quite a bow, but just enough of one to pass if this is indeed a culture that bows at greetings. Can't be too careful at first contact. "I am Oliga- Liason Tanaka," he catches himself trying to use the old title. "I represent my people, the Earth Cultural Union, a league of mankind dedicated to preserving the ways and forms of Old Earth. And I already know who your people are: I was very pleased to hear Auriga's greeting to the galaxy. There can never be too many human nations." He hopes, if in vain, that she'll ask if there are any non-human ones. Can't miss a chance to throw the Zetans into bad lighting.

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

@Sigma
Kale mentioned in a status that he'll be gone until next Wednesday, so he's just kind of on hold for a little while

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

_{[Starring: Yun and Jo]}

_{(Addressing: @Irredeemable and @Sigma)}

There's a man in a room, but the man is real and the room isn't. In front of him is a box- a golden cube covered in gears and wires- and behind him is a voice speaking: "What's in the box? What's in the box? Open it."

There's something familiar about the voice that sends a chill down the man's spine- he hates it intimately, so much so that it propels him to try opening the golden box if only it means he won't have to turn around (and face the voice's owner.) The little thing opens up obediently at his touch, its gears turning in such a way that the four walls of the cube fall bang! on the floor. The voice asks again: "What's in the box?" Inside it, nuzzled between cogs, is...

...a puzzle. A regular jigsaw. Funny, the man remembers playing these as a kid, but he could never put them together. His brain didn't wanna do it. He'd get mad, smash the pieces, and throw the board across the room when the other kids finished first. They all started to be afraid of him- years spent as the scary one taught him how to be scary.

He tries solving this one now, this little plastic puzzle, but something is wrong. Reality bends in a way it shouldn't- the gears around it turn on their own, the puzzle is chewed up in their metal teeth, the box changes shape, stands up into-

Oh. That's whose voice it was.

He can only stop screaming when Eta-Theta, made now of perfect golden gears and cogs, crushes his throat like putty.

Protector Yun wakes up in a hot sweat, his sheets drenched through-and-through. His heart is hammering like a drum. Hands are shaking in rhythm on their own, and before he can take a single deep breath, he's fallen to the floor in panic, caught up in the wet sheets like a net.

They call it a Protector's Dream. It's not exactly a holo-program, but those are supposedly why they happen. All day spent in holo-training programs, the ones the Noocracy supplies to "keep the protectors focused", does weird things to your mind. It's like sleeping after too much coffee while you have a fever, and also you haven't slept in three weeks. Your mind fogs over into a kind of insanity that would make Freud giggle in glee.

There's no fix for it. Yun learned that a long, long time ago. Ten years now he's been in the service, and the only cure for a Protector's Dream he's ever found is just to carry on with your day like it didn't happen. And he's pretty sure he's not the only one who does this- not if the haunted looks in some of his fellow protector's eyes are any indication. They all feel it.

Today, his door slides open to find Jo's eyes to be staring right back at him, but she doesn't show any sign of nighttime terrors. She never has. In the time since they've been paired up, Yun doesn't think he's seen a single genuine feeling come from Jo for any reason. When they killed that toaste- Eta-Theta, she walked away from the airlock whistling.

"What's up, Jo?"

"Walk with me," she smiles, and he does. They head on through the cramped corridors of the Memory, one of the two ECU cruisers to survive the initial invasion of Zeta. Since that fateful day, they've been hovering over the surface of a terror planet that's killed almost every New Hollywoodite to set foot on it. Weather or ambush, something ends anyone who makes the mistake of going down to Zeta-5.

"You heard the news?" Jo asks him.

"That we're trapped with these cyborgs until the Oligarchs finally decide to bomb the place to dust?" Yun asks. "Yeah, Jo, I figured that one out."

They both slow down as they approach the launch bay. Their transport inside is being checked over by a team of engineers who use glimmering holographic displays.

"No, moron, I mean that they don't think we're good enough."

Yun's heavy eyebrows shoot up, waiting for explanation. Jo sighs like he's thick-headed and goes on:

"They've got some kind of mercenaries coming in. From the URC, if you can believe it." (Yun, who had not heard of the United Republic of Colombia, could.) "Apparently some of them don't like cyborgs either, and some 'volunteers' are coming over to help us. Which means replace us."

Yun wasn't sure about that. One mercenary group couldn't replace all the protectors. But he knows not to argue with Jo- she'd punish him with little verbal barbs and insults for a week. He just nods. "Sounds bad."

"Duh," she answers.

"S-sir and, uh, ma'am," a nervous scientist approaches, clearly afraid to be interrupting two protectors. People have gotten broken jaws for less. "Your transport is ready. To take you down to the Elysium-Alpha sector, that is." The ECU finally found out where it was.

Without any further words, Yun and Jo join the other six protectors, and head off for their scouting mission.

~~~~~~~~

_{[Starring: Abadi]}

_{(Addressing: @Irredeemable)}

The ECU has a brand new policy: be first for everything.

For all their talk about human superiority and destiny and reunification, it remains the opinion of Savant Heralds and a large council of Oligarchs that much of the ECU's success in their war against the Zetans is, really, simply because no strong nation chose to step to the defense of the cyborgs. And why is that? Of course, it is because the ECU got their story out first. Tanaka and Heralds told everyone about Bodi's "kidnapping" from the get-go, so that by the time Sigma-Devi thought to defend their reputation, the concept of Zetans as kidnappers was already sunken deep into the minds of the Galaxy's denizens. Whatever the robots say now, it seems a panicked defense against this accusation. If they fight it, they feed it.

First impression is everything.

It is with this in mind that Oligarch Abadi gets dressed, and rather quickly. There's a new ship on the horizon. Scans show it as something never seen before, something totally new to the Meeting Place. And news from back home says the Gateway Listening Post registers not one, but two new destinations opened up just recently. Looks like one of them has people headed this way.

She rushes out of her cramped, borrowed office space and into the neon hubbub of the ECU's segment. Three holograms have registered her heightened nerves and appeared to assist her before she finds someone who can really help. "You," she tells a new Diplomatic Adjacent, an older man with more brains than most Oligarchs, "Liason Tanaka is busy, so this is up to us..."

Within a quarter of an hour, a greeting message has been composed and sent to the unknown vessel. Rather hastily, it reads like so:

Welcome unknown vessel! Should you be unaware, the structure you are currently approaching is known as the Meeting Place, an international, diplomatic space station made from the cooperation of a variety of Earth's colonies. I, Oligarch Abadi, am a representative of the peoples known as the Earth Cultural Union, and would be pleased to invite you to join us for a discussion of the events which have transpired since the reopening of the Gateways.

Directions to the ECU station of the Meeting Place follow. Abadi knows she doesn't speak or write as well as Tanaka, but that's less important here. What matters is getting this new nation to see the ECU as a potential friend before anyone else can get their foot in the door. Especially, especially the Zetans.

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

_{Addressing: @Irredeemable and @Crusader Lord}

_{Starring: Kayla}

Kayla is strange for an Oligarch. Aside from the hyperactive attitude anyone notices, there's something more subtle about her; something different that only fellow Oligarchs tend to see.

Part of it is why she's sitting at this foreign bar in a Chinese-inspired dress. (That is, not a historical Chinese dress.) And another part is that she's speaking English, but not in a proper Old English accent, or an Old American one. Or not even an Australian, South African, Scottish, or Irish one either. What she is speaking is a form of English that developed only on New Hollywood, the New Beijing accent- which should be clearly understandable, but no other Oligarch would be seen publicly using.

It is, like her dress, not of Earth.

Kayla is a New Hollywoodite. There's no denying it. But the problem, from her peer's perspective, is that she's too much of a Hollywoodite. Is there anything left of Beautiful Mother Terra in her? That question has propelled her across the Gateway, to watch over this blockade in another corner of the galaxy, where her new-ness is safely contained from being spread to the others back home.

Kayla admits all of this to her bartender, in fact, at least in her own hyper-fast speech. Fortunate that he can't understand a word of it. Doesn't speak English, New Beijing or otherwise.

She laughs at a joke about Zetans that only she told and only she understood, and downs another drink.

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

<Snipped quote by Sigma>

Is anyone chilling at Earth? I just wanna know the lay of the land/who is where before I go anywhere.

I'm working on reading the IC but there's a lot.

@Sep

@Tortoise Done, I added a few things in the extra info though. If there's anything else that I need to add send me a message.

Also what exactly am I writing in the IC?

@Kale19

So, I'm gonna write a kind of synopsis for the OP eventually, but in the meantime here's what you both need to know.

The Gateways connect to every colony, from every colony, so each of us can travel to eachother at anytime. They also all connect to Earth, and there has been built a neutral station named the Meeting Place. It's modular, so every colony can add their own 'section' to it. The ECU has a section filled with fancy decorations and holographic servants, the Undefeated's segment mostly seems to house soldiers, etc. If you want (it's not required), you can say that your nations are building on to it as well, although it probably wouldn't be done right away.

Either way, the Meeting Place is where a lot of diplomacy happens. Earlier, nations were coming in to "introduce themselves." They would broadcast a message on the station that all other nations could hear, so that every Colony could be considered to know eachother with out us having to write out every single first contact

Like so:

There's a space up ahead, in this part of the Meeting Place largely constructed by the ECU. Holograms flicker in and out of being, appearing when needed, vanishing when not. And flying cameras hover around, eager to record the new Liason Tanaka's first words. New Hollywood is attending the Event, of course. Oligarchs never turn down an invitation.

"Humans of the Galaxy," the young man begins, finally actualizing the words he's practiced so many times. "I am here on behalf of the Earth Cultural Union. We are a league of mankind, dedicated to preserving the cultures, ways and forms of our great ancestors. We believe in the potential of humanity, but also in respect for our true nature. We believe in the ways of our lost home, and also in the reality of our present situation. If you will hear us, we will work with you, to revitalize all that has been forgotten. To keep the torch of Earth burning bright even through this long night. To stand against the darkness, and not forget who we are. Thank you."

That description will soon be recorded in the databanks of the Meeting Place, and sent out to all other nations who participate in this Event. Even now, the ECU is also hearing the introductions of other Colonies, both friends and strangers. And enemies. The time of first contacts is over. Even Tanaka realizes. It is time for the action to begin.

If you wanted to send a diplomat to the Meeting Place to do something like that, it would be a good way for your Colony to join the community we have going.

Speaking of, uh, community, there's a war going on. The ECU (my nation) and their allies the Undefeated (Raylah), verses Irredeemable's Zetans. The Zetan navy is currently destroyed, and their planet is under blockade by the ECU/Undefeated. Your Gateway will just now be opening up, so you're free to react, join in, play the neutral, or just ignore it completely. Everything here is pretty sandbox; it's all up to you what to do.

EDIT: By the way, Kale, you are approved!

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

@Kale19
I like that the Abberians have regressed so much technologically. I was hoping someone would go that kind of route. Is this complete or a work-in-progress?