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"Auugghh..."

You awaken from the calm, quiet darkness of a suspension pod. Your race, the Jaxtian species of primates, has adapted alien genes to allow you to enter long periods of suspended metabolism; all to make long distance journeys through space easy. You are currently on a HCDFV class starship- capable of traveling faster then light.

Your name is captain Allsals Duj. You were on a four month mission; four light years, all to reach the new colony in the Xin system. Your ship has important cargo and personal requesting transfer for the new system management- some under direct order from the Supreme Ruler himself.

But why did the ship's AI wake you up now?

"Alavis- report. What date is it? Is it time for the Day of Obedience already? Are we going to be doing the pledge?"

"No, captain. I have woken up you up because of the alien onboard this ship."
>>
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“W-what?! Repeat!”

“Your presence is required for dealing with the alien on board this vessel. There are no xenodiplomats in the ledger, and you are the highest ranking individual here, hence, you were awoken.”

“Wait! Alien? How is there an ALIEN?! This ship is traveling at hyperspeed through hyperspace! There's no way for anyone to even communicate with this ship on its journey anyway- how did an alien get onboard? What species!? Unlock the armory and isolate the alien in its own bulkhead-”

“I cannot do that. The alien is within the same bulkhead as the suspension pods. Species unknown. Quarantine will be held if the ship manages to come down from Hyperspace while on autopilot. If you can restore order, the pilot can be reawoken at the correct time...”

In the same... same bulkhead? The same bulkhead as you? Oh fuck. It's in here with you. Okay, don't panic. What do you do? There's no way to call for help, and you have no weapons. You are the captain of this ship, protocols have prepared you for almost anything- mutiny, hull breach, infectious disease... but not this!

You hear a wet sound and whirl around in panic. You see a massive toothy maw belonging to some giant, wriggling primordial biped of a worm. It's glossy black lips part and pull back to reveal its bright yellow gums- it hisses at you- a warning gesture, an aggressive threat...

No, that's not it. You've fallen to the floor during this. It's sucking air onto its tongue, through its teeth. It's tasting you. It's huge tongue is licking your pheromones and sweat condensed in the sterile air of a starcrusier. You're just now realizing it doesn't have any eyes. The sightless creature closes its mouth, its horrible head and neck extending forward towards you.

“Go gal. Go galla gol?”

“T-Translation?” You weakly say to the ship's AI. Clearly, it's talking.

“Translation file incomplete. Lacking ability to reverse-engineer language from species biology. Closest translation- “End light, heat light, end heat-light? Can I stop light-heat?”

“Go gal. Go galla gol?”

>Run away
>Say nothing and try to relax
>>
>>5120726
>Say nothing and try to relax
We're fucked.
>>
>>5120726
>Say nothing and try to relax
If it wanted to kill us it would have already did.
>>
>>5120732
What this man said, it's trying to say something. I think he wants us to turn off the light?
>>
>>5120726
>Say nothing and try to relax
>>
>>5120726
>>Run away
Get the lasers
>>
>>5120726
>Say nothing and try to relax
Maybe we can beckon it, guiding it over to a nice, cool, dark bulkhead... Where we can isolate it?
>>
>>5120726
>"Alavis, lower lights by 50%!"
>>
>>5120726
>Say nothing and try to relax
Ayy it's back.
>>
>>5120726
Strike at it while it’s weak!
>>
>>5121033
>start the new thread with a diplomatic incident

Porque?
>>
>>5120879
Supporting this. Also trying to keep calm.
>>
>Try to stablish communation. Offer food. Ask identity
>>
“Ooh! Ooh. Okay, haha. Wow, I was worried. Alavis, turn the lights and heat down in the spaceship. Maybe adjust the gravity a bit too for our guest.”

You are the captain aboard this ship, but at the current moment you are the best representative to meet with an alien race for the first time. You should try to make a good first impression! This alien is basically your guest. Just relax.

“Do you understand?” You ask the worm. “I'm turning down the light. Light out. Heat-light out. Tun out the light-”
>>
Your name is now Agori Falathane and you are the Supreme Ruler of the Jaxtian people. As the Supreme Ruler, you are the benevolent dictator that leads and commands your people- the Supreme Ruler that will bring victory and conquest again and again- the Hegemony will live forever! Even though you won't... but that's not what you're focused on today.

It has been almost twenty years since the construction of the colony on Xin- the first interstellar space colony. Your people have already fully colonized your own star system, but Xin is unique due to its closeness to a habitable planet. Your technology allows you to communicate faster then light- as well as send ships of colonists and supplies. As of right now, the Xin system is an unspecalized colony, though it acts mostly independently, and exports nothing back to your homeworld, you hope this investment will blossom in the far future.

https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2021/5053823/

Several other developments during this time have also come around. Both involve the alien technology recovered from Kimnan's... expedition. The first involves the starmap. The useful starmap that let you see all the stars in your local cluster which is only a few thousand years out of date was apparently created by the Andoens from watching and tracking the movements of the space whales. It seems they are capable of traveling between stars and star clusters. These migratory whales are the largest and most exotic form of life ever discovered by your own species- you've never been able to make contact yet, if they're even intelligent.

The second is the developments learned from the Andoen alien's wireless technology. It was totally unknown how such devices could share energy and data without any connection, until it was discovered that some quarks within the objects “spin” in tandem with another. This phenomenon known as quantum entanglement has never been seriously studied, but now opens the door to new developments down the line.
>>
You are approached by Ingar, your right hand man for technology and computer science. You were both once candidates to become the Supreme Ruler, though you managed to be chosen over him, he's still a highly valuable member of the Hegemony.

Ingar has told you that some new simulation models for Xin-I show promise in colonizing the planet further. Xin-I is currently a barren rocky planet with a similar temperature gradient to Jaxt- your homeworld. However, it has no vegetation. The pink bacteria, released over a century ago to multiply in Xin's oceans, has created a large nutrient and biomass base, but the planet still lacks the atmospheric pressure, oxygen level, and biosphere for true habitation. But that's only true for Jaxtians...

It's the Haazar. He explains that his models show that Haazar, both pure Haazar and Blue Haazar (Jaxtian-Haazar hybrids) can actually already survive on the planet's surface now with no oxygen tanks, no suit, nothing. Their partial insectoid biology means they can breathe through their skin and survive harsher conditions then your mammalian Jaxtian biology.

While the Haazar are your vassals and separated from the mainline Jaxtians for good reasons, it would be incredibly beneficial to have beings who could perform field work and live on a planet without needing a habitat or suits. The Haazar could really help jumpstart the colonization process; not to mention the potential profits of taxes and labor depending on how many Haazar you actually allow to colonize it. And after all.... there's no reason they have to stay there forever. Once the planet is livable for Jaxtians, those Haazar can just be banished back to their habitat in the asteroid belt, or perhaps make their own new habitat in Xin's asteroid system... they are second class Xenos after all. It would be another Supreme Ruler who deals with the fallout of that choice.

What's your plan, Supreme One? Do we capitalize on our opportunity as a trans-species empire?

>Allow Haazar to immigrate to Xin-I
>Have loyal, low-ranking Jaxtians implanted with Haazar and send only loyal blue Haazar to Xin-I
>Do not allow Haazar to inhabit your new planet; focus on terraforming instead
>Other (Write In)
>>
>>5121557
>Have loyal, low-ranking Jaxtians implanted with Haazar and send only loyal blue Haazar to Xin-I
We can always sterilize them once the planet is terraformed.
>>
>>5121557
>Have loyal, low-ranking Jaxtians implanted with Haazar and send only loyal blue Haazar to Xin-I

Bluey is good proof-of-concept.
>>
>>5121557
>>Have loyal, low-ranking Jaxtians implanted with Haazar and send only loyal blue Haazar to Xin-I

Aww man, we got ate
>>
>>5121584
It was worth a go. I'm just sad we didn't lure the xeno into a bulkhead to isolate prior to turning down the lights. Could have saved our crew.
>>
>>5121557
>Have loyal, low-ranking Jaxtians implanted with Haazar and send only loyal blue Haazar to Xin-I
RIP random Captain, also quick note he was heading to this colony we are voting on right now, so we're gonna have to deal with a hostile alien here soon.
>>
>>5121570
Also, adding to this:
>>5121557
>Make them wear clothes.
>>
Sorry, Captain Duj. We had been taught to believe in the power of friendship.
>>
You have decided to send Blue Haazar to Xin-I to help with the colonization program.

While Bluey may have just been a fluke, as he is the one and only Blue Haazar, his higher rates of empathy for others and patriotism for the Hegemony show that the Haazar can be made into proper citizens- but you have yet to see exactly how much nurture or nature will be required here.

Volunteers for the program are noticeably scarce- at least on the Jaxtian side. The Haazar have no shortage of volunteers for implanting- your computer network even shows an undercurrent of some sort of fetishistic sense of revenge or justice at implanting Jaxtians- as though the Haazar on the ship are getting back at their oppressors. While anti-social beliefs like that are usually called, you allow it to fester a bit to better speed up the process of finding suitable genetic donors.

While there aren't too many Jaxtians to carry the Haazar embryos- at least each one can be implanted multiple times. Soon enough, you will have young blue Haazar living on Xin.

However, in the meantime, something much more important has just happened. On a routine resupply voyage to Xin-I, a ship had been boarded by an unknown alien. While in hyperspace, the AI core could not communicate with the homeworld, but as soon as the journey ended it sent out a distress and quarantine call. This alien was also known to be dangerous, as it had killed and consumed the captain aboard the voyage when he attempted first contact. The alien had also grown quite a bit larger after its meal. It is unknown if it has the ability to suspend itself in animation, or if its... meal was enough to sustain it for the months left in the hyperspace voyage.

It is not known how the alien managed to get aboard a ship in hyperspace. However, the creature is not hostile anymore, is intelligent, and even assisted the Alavis core aboard the ship in translating the rest of its language- pointing to various objects on the ship and naming them. Such actions show that this creature is cooperative. Once the ship is scanned and checked for possible bioweapons- the worm alien is taken into captivity on Xin-I and the rest of the crew is awoken with no ill effect.
>>
You, as the Supreme Ruler, remain on Jaxt, but with FTL communication you are kept up to date on everything. The alien is scanned by medical technology and studied through and through, and security protocols include armed guards and plasmatronic-locked cells.

The alien is notable for its very basic biology. It is essentially a huge walking worm, or perhaps a pyrosome- its body is essentially just a tube for nutrients to pass through. It has a basic muscular structure, organs for filtering blood, no bones, and sharp claws and talons made of keratin. It has no eyes- but the most prominent feature is its lack of one critical organ.

It doesn't have a brain.
>>
While a simple creature may not technically need a central nervous system, the fact this creature is intelligent and has language, knowledge, and memory indicates that it should have some form of biological computer system- it just seems totally absent. This could only mean this creature's intelligent is somehow from another organ you can't identify as a brain or is held 'elsewhere'.

“Why did you make me walk out in the sun? Please don't do that. It hurt me. I'm lucky- if I was any bigger, that sunlight would have killed me.”

The creature's complaints fall mostly on deaf ears- your guards have strict orders not to say anything, in case it “triggers” the creature to attack- the same as happened for the captain. You arrange a real time conference- it is time to make first contact. You introduce yourself as the Supreme Ruler, and the creature gives a bow.

“Ahh! Jaaxtians! We've heard so much about you in the in-between. I am one of the Aannel, first of the peoples. It is an honor to meet your Supremacy in person- well, as close to person as we can get in this vast, empty physical universe.”

”Why did you attack and kill the captain aboard my vessel?”

“Hmm? You are a eusocial species, yes? I would not be offended if you destroyed one of my larvals- there are billions of you- though I understand our cultures may not be equivalent, I do apologize- though I had no other options for sustenance aboard your star ship. I can assure you, no more Jaaxtians will be eaten, as long as I am given enough food and proper living accommodations.”

Given accommodations?”

“Yes, I am to act as your liaison between our great-and-one-greater races, yes? We Aannel are like the glue that holds our galaxy together- every intelligent lifeform will meet us eventually!”

---Game Note---
You can ask the worm any question, or make another request. You can do this in addition on voting to kill the Aannel. The first seven posts will be used- majority will rule on executing the creature. (Four or more)

>Ask a Question (Write In)
>Make a demand (Write In)
>Kill the worm (counts as 1 vote towards)
>>
>>5121838
>Ask a Question (Write In)
"Are you aware that Allsals Duj was a well-respected adult of the Jaxtian species?"
>>
>>5121838
Ask how big their empire is and what kind of technology they have. Don't want to pick a fight with someone you can't beat.
>>
>i miss one update and people are already making a colony with an entirely different race
fucking hell

Well, i'm certain that'll end with no consequences whatsoever.
>>
>>5121838
>"What foods do you require? Jaxtian vessels hold foodstuffs for the crew; so which Jaxtian foods did you try and find unpalatable giving you 'no other option' before you disrespectfully ate our valued captain?"
>>
>>5121842
>>5121863
Supporting both these questions.

>>5121838
That said... We aren't individualists, and these Aannel seem pretty dangerous to start a war with, at least yet. I strongly vote AGAINST killing it yet.
>>
>>5121838
>>Kill the worm (counts as 1 vote towards)
>>
I HATE XENOS SO MUCH REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
>>
>>5121898
Every xenos we've met so far has been horrible, but for some reason peopel still want to give them power in our society.
>>
>>5121902
Xeno lovers are worse than xenos themselves. They will destroy the Hegemony and then the Jaxtian race.
>>
>>5121842
>>5121863
+1
>>5121906
It's less love than killing a representative of a spacefaring race without knowing more not being very wise, xenos seem more weird than really evil.
>>
>>5121842
>>5121863
+1 to both these questions, also for now let's not kill the xenos even though I really want to.
>>
>>5121842
>>5121863
+1

I HATE XENOS I HATE XENOS I HATE XENOS I HATE XENOS I HATE XENOS I HATE XENOS
>>
>>5121916
>bro we're not evil, we've just tried to trick you, genocide you and eat your people
Literally the only xenos that haven't been bad in someway are the migrators, and they're barely even xenos since they're from our home system.
>>
>>5121951
And those guys are only awake for like, what, a few hours before slipping back into a coma?
>>
>>5121842
>>5121863
+1
Suffer not the xeno to live
>>
Currently, three of seven possible questions have been asked, belonging to these three IDs;
>>5121842
>>5121856
>>5121863
This leaves four questions left that the alien will answer in the next update. Voting multiple times for the same question did not count as your question, and those posters may still make new votes. This was so everyone can ask their own questions instead of voting on the first/most popular ones.
>>
>>5122042
>"How were you able to board our ship while it was in hyperspace?"
>>
>>5122042
Oh, in that case, why not just pry it about the lack of a brain?
>"Hey, so where exactly do you keep your intelligence? A specific organ or?"

I mean, we know where our intelligence is. Surely it must.
>>
>>5122042
"Hypothetically, if I were to execute you as a proportionate response to the death of our pilot, how would your race respond?"
>>
>>5122055
We can be a bit more subtle than that. I don't think it'll like a thinly veiled threat
>"How would your race respond if you were killed on this planet? You did say the sun could've killed you, which we were not aware of."
>>
How can you percieve distant objects with no eyes?
How does your unique biology allow sapience?
>>
>>5122116
We'll fold that into "where do you keep your intelligence" for now. The players have one more question.

Update will be tomorrow, sorry to say.
>>
>>5122061
A smart play if we want to be subtle... But I don't. This is Aogiri, after all. He's MAXIMUM ALPHA, and this xeno ate a member of his tribe, such as it is. We should ask them your question AND my question, I think. Establish dominance, make our rule of law clear.
>>
>>5121838
>Ask a Question "What IS your interest in us?"
>>
>>5122152
You know what, it's been a while, kinda forgot this IS the supreme leader who foamed at the mouth when someone threatened his people.

Fair enough. The semantics don't matter much to me, I am way more interested in it's biology than worrying about how to be nice to it anyways. It is basically, like, a giant worm thing.
>>
>>5122152
*Agori

Too much Tokyo Ghoul for me, I guess.
>>
>>5121838
>Kill the worm (counts as 1 vote towards)
KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL
>>
>>5121838
>Are there ways to contact your civilization? Does your society have a leader?
The plan is to get in contact with a higher authority, and see if we can talk that way. But also see if we can officialize the execution of the 'ambassador' worm, just so we make it clear that we value the law over here. Any other ambassadors they want to send here are welcomed, as long as they do not eat or harm the Hegemony's citizens, Jaxtian and Haazari both.
>>
>>5122047
"Where exactly does your species process information, biologically? Our technicians failed to find any sort of nervous system or a method of sight-"

The worm shrugs. "That's just how we are. The Aannel are the first and eldest of all races- one could say we are beyond such rudimentary systems."

>>5122045
"How were you able to board our ship while it was in hyperspace?"

"That is simple; I had spent some time in my larval stage, being fed from my mother, until I had the strength to leave her womb. From there, I went to the in-between, until I found your ship and entered."

>>5121856
"You said you belong to the Aannel; a great race that "glues the galaxy" together- do you control a large amount of space in this galaxy? Are you technological dominant- above our own level of development?"

"Certainly- we have almost unlimited access to technology. As for our range- well, practically the entire galaxy! We do not control a single region of space, and we have access to technology- of others. We are advisors, diplomats, and organizers. Every significant Faster-Than-Light species will have encountered us; and through us opens opportunities for reliable intergalactic trade, treaties, and meaningful diplomacy between radically different, and sometimes asymmetrical space nations- after all, a nation of your level of technology would be quite vulnerable to greater ones- we can help protect your population and precious life bearing planets against that all powerful void. Just something to consider.~"

That still didn't explain how this creature physically entered the ship. It could be some kind of abstract metaphor you can't understand- or a lie. One of your aides also whispers in your ear- this worm is sexless, as far as you can understand. Important to note for later.

>>5121842
"...You speak of saving lives, after ending one of our own. Captain Allsals was a valued and respected man. He had a family."

"As I already explained- your captain is insignificant in the grand scheme of galactic politics. My physical form is more significant, wouldn't you agree? You Jaaxtians of all people should understand that-"

"ENOUGH! That ship contained plenty of dried foodstuffs- that you were "hungry" is not an excuse!"
>>
>>5121863
"My people can only consume living things. We are obligate carnivores, yes, but only cells which have not yet experienced cell death can be processed by our bodies. With no forms of livestock aboard the ship, I had to make due. My predatory instincts only further heightened this; I already apologized and can promise you that this will not happen again- to a Jaaxtian. Besides, it helps for us to get to know you better. Our guts are the most sensitive parts of our bodies."

>>5122055
"This great... Aannel race, how would they respond to your death? You mentioned that you could have been killed by the sun by accident. Or, perhaps, our justified retaliation against the murder of our pilot."

"Oh, well, if you did that- you would bring the ire of the intergalactic community against you! I told you we are within every interstellar society of note. Our species is the eldest of all- connected and embedded. I would hate to "pull rank" against you- but we are simply more important. Over billions of years of life in this galaxy, yours is but a speck in the grand scheme of things. However, such posturing is totally pointless- I'd much rather help you then argue!"

>>5122154
"...What exactly IS your interest in us? To be an advisor? What do you want?"

"As I mentioned before- in exchange for my accommodations and a position in your society, I will be your advocate and representative in the intergalactic stage! Of course, if you kill me, or refuse, you'll have lost your biggest voice to vouch for you in interstellar politics- and everyone out there will know you did it for... what? The life of a nobody captain? Why are you so focused on that. Absurd. You know better then that, Supreme Ruler."

This worm seems more bold by the minute. While he speech seems callous, almost condescending towards you and your office, there is a truth you cannot deny. To be thrust out into the galaxy as you expand and deal with more races and species without an advocate, especially one who seems as well connected as this, would be very foolish indeed. Logically, you know there is no reason to get so caught up over the murder of one of your own- this being could return Allsals worth thousands of times over, but it is just the principle of the thing...

It makes you angry. Really angry. You feel like punching something. But it's time for reason to overtake your emotional perceptions. Should you accept its proposal?

>Accept
>Decline
>>
>>5123266
At worsr he's a conman that will waste make us some live animals and the accomodations for a diplomat.
At worst, he's saying the truth.
>Accept
>>
>>5123266
>Decline
DEATH TO SNEKS DEATH TO SNEKS DEATH TO SNEKS DEATH TO SNEKS
>>
>>5123266
Can we get a different member of his species to do it?
We can accept aid from his species as a whole but hidden resentment towards one who ate a Jaxtian might hurt us long term.
>>
>>5123266
Agreeing with this dude >>5123272 Allsals might be a nobody to the worm, but he's our nobody! Send another ambassador if need be, but this worm is sentenced to death.
>>
Feel like we can't really decline, sadly.
>>
>>5123266
>>Decline for now

Our representative on the intergalactic stage cannot be an alien predator of uncertain motivations. Even if this creature is somehow telling the truth we'd still want one of our own to speak for our people.

If it wants to stay on as an advisor we'd consider that, but we can't simply hand over the entirety of any diplomatic position we might hold without at least knowing the pre-existing relationships this culture has with all the others we've yet to meet - we don't want to find out that their first words will be 'You work with THOSE things? Charge the chronoton disintegrators!"
>>
>>5123266
>Ask for proof of this worm's importance
>Accept, if it exists
>Decline and execute it otherwise
>>
>>5123266
>Hesitantly accept through gritted teeth.
>Find something suitable to punch after the fact.
>>
>>5123362
Yes, let's demand proof.
>>
>>5123362
+1 to this we need proof of this shit.
>>
>>5123362
Yeah, we definitely need proof first. If this Alien has the type of influence it claims its species hold with 'unlimited' access to technology, why this first contact not taking place with the Aannel stepping from a shiny star-cruiser of superior design with sycophants from all the other interstellar societies all telling of the great works the Aannel have done with them

Instead we get a random stowaway-murder. If it's species has the clout it claims, it should be easy enough to prove it; so far it has not.
>>
>>5123362
Yeah, proof would be important. So far it's all talk. Talk that makes me hesitant to kill it but talk nevertheless.
>>
>>5123266
>>5123362
+1 this. If I could clown an entire interstellar race like this I'd totally do it too. We gotta get PROOF
>>
>>5123266
>>5123362 +1
>>
>>5123266
>Decline
The punishment for harming a Jaxtian is death. Always
>>
>>5123687
In fairness, so far that hasn't been the case for Baalathi or Hazaar. Their punsihment seems to be imprisonment, experimentation, and sort of enslavement.
>>
>>5123687
We literally allow the hazaar to live despite the fact that they were trying to trick us, and now they're being given a literal fucking planet.

We treat jaxtians worse than the fucking xenos. Jaxtians are the ones who get killed when they so much as displease gorillaman.
>>
>>5123794
Again, a point of order: true Hazaar aren't being given a planet. Blue Hazaar, who are Jaxtian hybrids, are being given a planet, and only to prepare it for full-blooded Jaxtians (unless a future Supreme Leader differs from this plan).
>>
>>5123823
Blue Hazaar are Hazaar, but blue. Hazaar aren't one race, but mutliple castes that are highly different. Just because this one has blue fur doesn't make it less of a xeno.

We're giving them a planet based solely on the idea that becasue blue guy here was loyal, that all of them will be.
>are being given a planet, and only to prepare it for full-blooded Jaxtians
Yeah, i'm certain all those hazaar will happily hand over the planet and leave when they actual jaxtians come.

Hazaar cannot live together with Jaxtians due to their reproduction methods, so those blue hazaar would have to be removed once our actual citizens were sent.
>>
>>5123830
Eh, they make good workforce, just integrate them with that intent in mind. Keep up the education and re-education of the Haazar and Blue Haazar in check and they'll be good, productive members of the Jaxtian Hegemony.
>>
>>5124390
Let's make sure to give the Blue Haazar something akin to families and childhoods. We want them adhering as closely as possible to Jaxtian social and cultural norms.
>>
>>5124390
>Eh, they make good workforce, just integrate them with that intent in mind.
They can't be integrated, you know how their biology is. They aren't compatible with living in the same spaces as Jaxtians.

Simply put, they aren't Jaxtians in any way shape or form. It's the equivalent of thinking a chestburster will be loyal to humanity if we raise it right.
>>
You don't like this worm- or the way he talks big. Perhaps he is telling the truth, but there is only one way to find out.

”Well, your services would certainly be appreciated around here for our fledgling species... If what you're saying is true. You claim to be so well connected with your species over the whole galaxy- but yet haven't shown anything yet to prove it! If you can't, then I'll just have my men escort you from the starbase. I won't even punish you for the old captain- you'd be free to leave.” You say with an evil smile.

The worm clicks his talons together.

“You mean... out there? In the open- exposed to the sun? W-Wait! I CAN prove it. Watch this- this station is equipped with FTL communications, correct? Tell your computer-mind to listen closely- punch in these coordinates... now red-shift the signal. Increase the power- Now send a ping. There we go. I felt it make contact.”

Instantly, Alavis chimes in. Somehow, a machine without emotions sounds surprised.

“Your Supremacy, we have just received a message from the Esaal Stratocracy. They are questioning why we just pinged them.”

Somehow, without using a single computer or machine- this worm managed the impossible task of locating a major military installation of another alien species- one who is supposed to be your rival in terms of technology.

“I know you received messages from the Esaal, and others, after your first test of your FTL drive. I know you were never able to return the messages- they didn't even aim for your homeworld- but they aimed for the nearest FTL communication they could- that Aristocrat ship stuck in your home system. Dumbfounded? That's alright, your majesty. As I said before, we are the Aannel. Not ordinary carbon-based life. Now, let's talk about the perks of my newfound position...”

Sending an FTL message is very difficult. The worm knows everything- it even knows how you received messages after your first FTL test, and how you struggled to return it. Sending FTL messages doesn't just require the right direction, but an exact three dimensional coordinate, the right speed and power... Living things seem to be better at dealing with FTL speeds for computers, but you never imagined a living thing could do something like this.
>>
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After the “proof” of this ambassadors ability- you had no choice but to hire him. He's the advocate now. Besides a position of importance, a weighty paycheck, he also requires a small eco-farm on the Xin colony just for himself; to raise meat animals for his ravenous appetite.

It's expensive for sure. But you can't much afford not to.

Something else comes up- an unspoken realization. Each race with a “worm” would know how to locate anyone else- with or without a worm. If that worm could just give the location of the Esaal military base, maybe even their homeworld, that easily- then any worm could do the same for you. The worms must know this too.

In the meantime, you have the Hegemony's top navigator transferred to Xin to work on updating starmaps with your “advocate”, might as well try to benefit from this situation...
>>
DAMMIT!

You've been had. This “worm” Xeno has got you by the balls, and he knows it!

FUCK!

When you were younger, you could have made this punching bag explode. You're old, and now you're mad too. You feel more and more powerless by the day as time slips away from you, but the universe keeps seeming bigger and more intimating by the moment. You guess you know how Kinja felt when the entire Hegemony fell onto his shoulders and made him the Supreme.

But what can you possible do against something so insurmountable? You were taught that nothing is impossible for the Hegemony- and the Supreme Ruler always leads the charge. But what happens when we finally run into a species greater then our own? Older? More powerful? You've always relied on your body and your strength to carry you through- but against that worm you'd be little more then a rodent.

You should spend some time on something else. Focus on the manageable. You decide to work on science- some extra projects that could use your approval for mass testing and implementation.

The first is a new device, called Levitron. The technology has technically been around for over two hundred years now- tractor beams, but only now has energy and antigravity-engines become low impact and miniaturized enough to work. It's essentially a jetpack- a single device strapped to the body that can let the user float, hover, fly- a fun toy and useful for astronauts in space as a logical advancement of the antigravity boot technology that was the standard before you were born.

The second is about the Baalathi. With this... worm and your newfound understanding of FTL communication, it may be possible to find new methods of communication with these aliens. While in captivity for a long time, you've never really understood them beyond their gas-exchange “hivemind”. An actual conversation would be a first, and could open doors.

The third and last idea... is just something that popped into your head. Ingar. He's a genius, why not see what he is up to? No, better idea, just do whatever he wants. Whatever project he wants approval on- just give it to him. You know his latest works have something to do with quantum entanglement but beyond that, you won't even ask, you'll just give him the funds and let him do his thing.

>Approve the Levitron for mass production
>Open communication with the captive Baalathi
>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects
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>>5124644
>Open communication with the captive Baalathi
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>>5124644
>>Approve the Levitron for mass production
>>
>>5124642
Kinman has already seen one of these worms? when?
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>>5124644
>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects
A little risky but he's a genius so we would probably get more of of it than from the other two.
>>
>>5124644
>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects
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>>5124657
I think their kind dwell in hyperspace. He probably encountered one, maybe without even consciously realizing it, or his first FTL flight.
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>>5124644
>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects
Levitrons are already there. They're not going to leave any time soon - we can't afford to let a genius like Ingar be wasted.
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>>5124644
>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects
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>>5124644
I really don't see why we can't do all of these so
>Approve the Levitron for mass production
>Open communication with the captive Baalathi
>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects
If we can only pick one then
>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects
Ingar isn't immortal and only has so much time in his life for working on science things, the Baalathi and Levitron can wait.
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>>5124757
Backing this. All three sound interesting, but Ingar's projects have the most time constraint - so if we can only do one right now, let's see what he has in mind.

>>5124641
Also, give the Esaal Stratocracy a proper explanation; don't just leave them hanging on a random ping. Let's use this to open some sort of dialogue if we can.
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>>5124812
Yeah, thirding, also ask the Esaal if they know of these worms. With a fourth (fifth?) alien species discovered, things are bound to get hectic. There's the Migrators, then the Haazar, Baalathi, those green dino primitives, Aanel, and now the Esaal... wait, isn't this six? Also, the 'aa' conjugation is really common, huh.
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>>5124957
As a frugal sort myself, I'm confident in saying that the Jews probably are delighted to live RENT-FREE in that big brain of yours.
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>>5124957
That's pretty retarded. Not because it's "da joos" or anything ,it could work, but they are in no way even similar to that. Not even in a similar situation.
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>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects.

I like where this is going.
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>>5124644
>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects
Is it time to choose a new Supreme Leader yet?
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>>5125095
If we're still going with young supreme leader candidates, i'm pretty sure it is.
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>>5124957
Aanelids are more blunt and actually useful though.
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>>5125098
Agori might be biased towards another Alpha to succeed him, just a guess.
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>>5124642
Kinda reminds me of the bottom panel
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>>5124644
>>Give Ingar whatever he wants for his pet projects

We gave him a waifu, it’s time he repays his debt.
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>>5125176
Maybe, but he's only as biased as we let him be.
>>
You've decided to fund Ingar's program. His eyes light up- he blathers about instant communications... whatever. He apologizes about the expense, and you sign the check. Phew, now you feel a lot better.

In the meanwhile- you don't want to waste the opportunity. The Esaal respond to your hails with a generic message.

”WE ARE ESAAL!” It blares- it seems they always open their communications with shouting. You aren't exactly how that gets through the translator.

”We received your comms a few days ago- we were unsure of its purpose. We normally don't keep open communications with hostile or unimportant species; but our Aannel advisor has vouched for your species, hence you must be strategically significant. We welcome you Jaaxtians.”

The message includes a short list of bullet points in data- mostly propaganda, but a highly militaristic bent. Alavis can piece together the truth from reading between the lines. The Esaal are a military dictatorship, with a hierarchical society remarkably similar to your own Jaaxtian power structure. They go by a strict hierarchy of military ranks, with everyone not in the military a “civilian” and treated as a second class citizen. Their society is headed by a “Eight Star Admiral”, the quintessential Supreme Ruler from a foreign culture.

The Esaal themselves are a race of aliens who seemed to evolve on a planet with extensive canyon and cave networks- they have a unique binocular vision using two vertical eyes instead of horizontal ones. You are lacking more significant bio data- the Esaal wouldn't want to give out their genetic code to give other species a chance to develop bioweapons against them. You should probably do the same.

While you have nothing else to compare it to, a rough estimate of their technology puts their military strength, in terms of numbers, ships, and technology as being above your own. It would be very unwise to pick a fight with them- after all, their entire society is ordered around it. Their industrial capacity, in terms of raw manufacturing and population, seem to roughly equal to yours. As for their technology and cultural / quality of life development- they seem to be behind yours.

”We will leave a comm link open with your species- as a token of our acquaintance. Over and out.”

...It is only after you let off some steam and accept reality do you actually start to face the facts. The truth is that you're getting old and it's time to start thinking about your legacy- or more accurately, your replacement. Every since your lifespan was artificially extended with technology to the average age of about 100 years of age. All Jaxtians get tested at 90 for the lethal GPCS to tell them how long they have left to live- but Alpha types like you never live as long, so you get tested at 80 instead. You have eight years.
>>
Eight years left to live... not even a full decade. Over a decade off from the average. Your big body curses you yet again. The last laugh of a genetic dead end.

Ever since it was unearthed, you keep thinking on the message left by Vantix Garastra, the first Supreme Ruler of the space age. His time capsule hinting and accurately predicting the Supreme Rulers of the future- and pointed directly at you. You keep wracking your brain trying to understand what he meant.

It seems that his assessment of the future Supreme Rulers tending towards neuroticism was correct. Your predecessor, Talacent, was remarkably grounded even among his contemporaries. But all of your contemporaries have been host to emotional problems... including yourself. Your violence, your anger, your angst... all from a war you were chosen for that never came. The weapon rusting in a warehouse- and what an outdated joke of a weapon you are.

From this fear of being outdated, and from the fear of new Supreme Rulers pulled from the population of regular Jaxtians being even worse- you had to make a plan. You made your own. Two clones- one of Eoba Garastra, and the other of Kimnan Oles. These genetically modified Indigos have traits and genes spliced and added to correct the faults of the originals- that was always the intention.

Eoba II has been nothing but a wonderful boy. He's a Garastra after all- born Supreme Ruler material. He's a born duelist and tactician. His correction was easy- just a nice gentle suite of mood stabilizers in his brain- and a special little increase in his self preservation instinct. Prevent his desire for his “heroic last stands” like his first edition and make him a reliable leader.

Kimnan II was more complex. The first Kimnan displeased you time and again- you knew him since he was a child, and his desire for glory and recognition was in there from the beginning. It was only after you punished him did you decide to make good on Talacent's threat and make a clone of him. Remove his arrogance, his self-centered mind, dull his competitive edge... But it didn't work. At least not in the way you wanted. Kimnan II is weak. Filled with self doubt and hesitation, he constantly fails you, he never lives up to Eoba...

Where is it, Vantix? Where is the perfection? Isn't this what you wanted? If we can't find the perfect Supreme Ruler, we have to make him. Where is he? Are these building blocks good enough?
>>
...And here they are again. Eoba always the kind, gentle “big brother”- they're both the same age you damn little fool. He's your rival, not your friend. They're doing martial arts practice- Kimnan failing yet again. Falls on his face, and Eoba helps him up.

You already know who you're going to pick- Kimnan isn't anywhere good enough. Maybe you ruined him- but is Eoba capable of this too? You know that you'll die soon- too soon for a proper introduction to the office of the Supreme Ruler. Eoba II will take the throne when he's young. You have to be sure he's cut out for it- no empathy for the weak and incapable. You have just the test for him.

>Test Eoba II
>Other (Write In)
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>>5125483
>Other
How about we take a look at the natural Supreme Leadee candidates first?

Also, Vanix made it very clear we couldn't rely on genetics alone, maybe it's time to review the Supreme ruler training program. Instead of selecting a young candidate for a life time position, perhaps we should just put all the supreme candidates into regular leadership positions and select the next supreme ruler from a pool of experienced leaders. This will lead to shorter "terms" but at least we'd have a track record to review rather than gambling on raw childhood potential alone.
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>>5125483
>Test Eoba II
>Other (Write In)
Test Eoba II against high scorers from the population at large, If the cloned Indigos are really superior, let them prove it. Vantix would applaud the meritocracy of it.
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>>5125509
+1 to this, don't got anything to add.
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>>5125509
+1 to this.

Also apparently there a secret plotline hinted at a few threads ago that the audience guesses? What was it?
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>>5125509
+1
>>
>>5125483
>>5125509 +1
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>>5125509
>>5125513
Support both. I know we're an Alpha, and angsty, and old, but are we so blinkered as to not see that we have utterly failed to understand a very direct message about nurture vs nature and the value of empathy? We were specifically chosen FOR our empathy over the science-sociopath and the egotist!
>>
Eoba II might be a good possibility, and if we can't find any other choices he should get the gig; but we can't ignore the possibility that there might be better Jaxtian youths in the general population - selecting PURELY between these two clones does a huge disservice to the hegemony.
>>
>>5125483
>>Test Eoba II
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>>5125682
To be fair, we don't really know. And Agori himself definitely has some kind of emotional issues, what with how he's one moment sad and self-deprecating and the next he's mauling someone to death.
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>>5125509
+1 to this too. The whole chosen child thing was ok back when lifespans were shorter but we can afford to pick from slightly older and more proven candidates. It is also worthwhile to look into balancing their training with a little more "normal childhood" type stuff.
>>
Something could be said of changing the Supreme Ruler candidacy program now with extended lifespans, and especially the anti-aging properties of the teleomere lengthening procedure. Neruoplasticity remains at a relatively good level throughout the entire lifespan of a Jaxtian now, which is one of the primary reasons why children were chosen.

But there is another reason. The baggage- the social connections of an adult are just... not ideal. Not for a role with such importance and gravitas. Children are still given families, friends, but they are kept to an inner circle- free from the abuse of bullies or distanced family, free from forming connections that are stronger then to the nation and people. In a way, that's the biggest strength of a child. Still, you feel as though a last ditch effort to maybe find someone else would work.

Of course, Vantix's predictions came true. The problem isn't a lack of qualified candidates... it's too many. As soon as your search criteria is expanded, you are filled in with seven or eight Supreme Rulers- all who you don't know. Young people with no connection to you, only the basic suite of advanced training for the gifted...

Hold on... what the hell?

SNAP!

No! NO DAMMIT! This isn't what you want. You want Eoba II!

Eoba the 2nd, the spitting image of the first. You know it was your fault, Eoba? It was all your fault!

The problems in your life... they were his fault! He was like your mentor, filling your heads with tails of ancestor warrior-kings and the loss of your societies great spark... and you ate it up! He made you kill, needlessly, and put that satisfaction in your head from a young age. You always rejected it- but it made you appreciate your body. Appreciate force. It never really left you- at some point it just switched over. You were like a coiled spring that never got to go off- chosen for a war that never happened.

And even worse- you died. Died older then you will be able to- you bastard Eoba. You got away with it. This is the best you can do to get even with him!
>>
You are now Eoba Garastra the 2nd, though most people call you Eoba. You are a young Jaaxtian. You like dueling manuals and classic tales of adventure. You're also one of the next in line to be the Supreme Ruler.

You never really considered yourself super special; though you've always been proud, you don't get the weird level of almost worship you receive by regular folks. When you get done doing a combat simulator or technical test they'll ask how you came up with an answer and no matter what you say they'll gasp and write something down quickly on a data pad like it's some special revelation.

“Hello, Eoba.”

”Greetings, Lord and Master.” You bow, as you were taught. ”What is that box you are carrying under your arm?”

“It's a game. An old game.”

”Ohh, can I play it?”

“Of course- that's why I brought it here.”

Agori is your father... kind of. Not really. He's the Supreme Ruler, very busy. He rarely sees you, but when he does it's usually important. He's nice to you but to your brother, Kimnan... he just scowls at him a lot. You don't like the way it makes Kimnan feels.

“This is the Lord's game. Do you know what that is?”

”It's a very old medieval board game that was brought back into relevance during the Neo-aristocrat movement of the early Hegemony; who valued it for the concepts of Noblesse Oblige. The game details the portions of a “proper nobleman's” life and how they must remain in balance with each other in order to “win” over your rival.”

“Very good. Remember, these pieces are made of expensive stone, so they are never touched directly. Let's play.”

>Play Aggressively
>Play Defensively
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>>5125974
>Play Aggressively
Eoba II may be a much more kind ruler, but he's still got Eoba blood. Would be good to see a good mix of a supreme leader who can go on the offensive without being aggressive himself.
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>>5125974
>Play Aggressively
That's probably what Agori would want.
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>>5125974
>Play Aggressively
But not angrily. Be bold. Be daring. Have fun!
We will break the chain of mad Supremes, damnit!
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>>5125974
>Play Aggressively
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>>5125974
>>Play Aggressively
No brakes on the madnesss train
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>>5125974
>Play aggressively
Let's see if we can come up with a strategy for quick, clean win.


>>5125995
Isn't the chain of mad supremes... just Agori?

Even if you somehow count Vul for his arrogance and infidelities, Kinja and Talacent were both fairly stable guys.
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>>5126053
Agori's generation of supreme ruler candidates was kinda cursed.
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>>5125974
>Play aggressively
This is Eoba we're talking about here of course he's gonna play aggressively.
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>>5126053
I suppose that's fair, really. Regardless, let's not let the prior generation's extreme neuroses warp us. I fear it's already happening to Kimnan II.
>>
You're pretty sure that playing aggressively was the right move. You make a lot of space on the board, and while you have less time to learn the rules, you pick up on the basic strategy pretty quick.

You're not sure if Agori is letting you win. You know he's getting old now- and he's barely looked at the board this whole game. He's mostly just been staring at you. You're pretty sure this has to be some kind of test; you can tell by the way he's acting. It's not the game that important, it's the way you react to it.

Are you supposed to win?

"There are three boards in the Lord's Game to represent the three sections of a Lord's life. The game is a teaching tool as well as it is a strategic challenge. There is the hunt, the dance, and the kingdom in the center. The Lord's game teaches balance- because if you fail two of the three branches but excel in one, you will still lose."

"Because you will have lost the balance of lordship?"

"Exactly- you go from a master to something mastered. If you excel at the hunt but fail in the field and dance, you have become as the working class. If you excel at the dance but fail the others; will are a toothless socialite- though later editions of the game call this bourgeoisie for anti-capitalist sentiment. If you excel at the field but lack the hunt and dance; you become a petty warlord."

"So the victory condition of the game is based on the losing side, not the winner's. It's more about surviving and outlasting your rivals."

"Exactly- it's only a game that highlights your failures when you lose. It teaches the winners nothing."

...Does that mean you aren't supposed to win?

"Agori, what are we playing this game for?"
>>
"The life of you and your brother, Kimnan."

"W-What?!"

"My life is incomplete, little one. My whole life I felt like I was only one two boards. It was only later that a message from your ancestor's ancestor shook me loose and told me what I needed to do. He said it himself, who we are as people is what makes the critical difference. How can I raise a perfect ruler?"

"A-Agori! You're not making any sense! This is part of the game, right???"

"No- it isn't a game." Agori says, producing a screen with an image of a kidnapped Kimnan II, tied up at gunpoint. Whatever loyal Enforcer was fulfilling this mission looked like there was no hesitation in his face.

"If you win this game- you will live, and Kimnan will die. If you lose, I will kill you myself, and Kimnan will live. I may or may not pick him as the Supreme Ruler- but I will certainly pick you as long as you survive."

"Survive? Please father-"

"I am NOT your father, whelp. I GREW you in a vial to do this. To fix past mistakes. You must prove to me now that the Hegemony can grow people- the right way!"

"No... please don't..."

You're just a kid. You're tearing up already; the pressure is too great. This has to be a test, he can't really mean it... are you supposed to sacrifice yourself and lose? Or prove you will do anything to win, even if it means giving up somebody you love? You know Agori hates Kimnan... but he can't hate him that bad, right?

But can you risk it? Is there really no way out of this unless someone dies?

There's only one move left on the board. You're in position; Agori will be forced from two fields and will lose by default. But by winning one battle, you'll lose another. Maybe you could force the game to draw, but having three boards makes that almost impossible... maybe you could just refuse to play. But would he really go through with this?

>Win the game
>Lose the game
>Ensure both Kimnan and You survive
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>>5126866
>Ensure both Kimnan and You survive
>Kill Agori

A sharp game piece, the element of surprise, an eye or his throat. We are small, agile, eprfected, and a born duelist. He is aged, unstable, and his alpha body makes him strong, but probably impedes his reach and mobility -- big men and big dogs find their joints going on them as they age.

We are Eoba. We take dramatic and decisive action. We are PERFECT Eoba. We do so not for glory, but for our people. We will save our brother.

Victory or Death.
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>>5126866
>Ensure both Kimnan and You survive
Is this a the only winning move is not to play situation? If not then
>Kill Agori
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>>5126866
>>Win the game
>>
>Kill Agori

Prove we are the worthy protector.
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>>5126866
>Ensure both Kimnan and You survive
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>>5126866
>Ensure both Kimnan and You survive
>Kill Agori
>>
>>5126866
>Ensure both Kimnan and You survive
>Kill Agori
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>>5126866
>Ensure both Kimnan and You survive
>Kill Agori
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>>5126866
>>Win the game
Logically, we need to show we cannot be held to ransom. If we lose, we die and there's no reason to assume Agori won't kill what he sees as a 'defective' Kimnan anyway; if we stall the game or refuse to play he'll probably kill us both anyway. So Win. And mention that if Kimnan 2 is killed, when we come into the supreme leadership we will execute his killer as a murderer and criminal stripped of all Jaxtian honour - even if that killer is Agori himself.
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>>5127642
That's what he wants, you retard. He wants us to throw away our brother's life because he's "weak". I'd rather kill him as a fuck you, even if it ends badly.

I mean, he is very old, and we're a clone of Eoba.
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>>5127686
..you do have a point. And Agori's fallen so far short of any potential he one might have had that getting killed by a child during a chess game is a more honourable fate then he deserves.

So, changing my vote to:
>Ensure both Kimnan and You survive
>Kill Agori

HONOUR OR THE VOID
>>
Update is in production, and will be in later today.

Did I make Agori too unlikable?
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>>5126866
>Ensure both Kimnan and You survive
>Kill Agori
There is no other way.
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>>5127786
Nah, Agori was cool, if anything, Kinman 1 was too likeable ahahaha
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>>5127786
Agori is great. Anons are just unable to use his talents and inclinations productively.
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>>5127786
He's a great evil Supreme Ruler IMO.
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>>5127786
He was good, but I wonder how much control we really had over him as the players, and how much of his mind was controlled by his grudges.
If the original Eoba never had him kill in the first place, would things have come about differently, or was he always destined to be so violent?
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>>5127786
I'd say so, unfortunately. We didn't get to see him do very much that was directly positive, and both his positive and negative actions got afflicted by his rage issues. And we didn't often get to see him actually leading and planning on important issues.

Plus, right now he's forcing a child to play a game with the threat of either murdering him or his friend based on the outcome. That's kind of a low point.
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>>5127786
He's a good character, but that doesn't mean he has to be likable. He's an self-pitying jackass, but it's interesting to see him being a bipolar gorilla.
>>
He has his good side, but he has become really unreasonable over time.
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>>5127786
Nah, but his mental illness vetoed a lot of our decisions, and now we're playing from the viewpoint of a child who presumably doesn't want him OR his brother to die.

It's a shame his mentors and circumstances fucked Agori up so badly. He's one of my favourite Supremes so far...

But a main character you cannot control the actions of is not an ideal main character for a quest, and a vindictive rage monster controlled by mood swings makes for a bad parent and a worse dictator.
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>>5127786
Nah man I liked him, we're just looking at it from the perspective of Eoba.
>>
Agori is cool in a wierd sort of way. What you think of when you picture an old school King.
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>>5128426
He's less of a king and more of a barbarian chief, with how personal he takes punishment.
>>
"Then I refuse to play." You say, snapping your push stick on the table in front of you.

"Eoba, this is your test. You are a child, and you will obey your ruler. Your tantrum will not stop this. Finish the game. I command you to finish the ga-"

With a fast movement, you slit Agori's throat. The sharpened piece of exquisite stone was more then sharp enough.

You are now Agori again, and you are dying.

For some reason, you never considered that Eoba might have been getting himself a weapon. You knew he had fast hands, given his lineage and all, but you guess you'd never been challenged physically for so long that the thought of him fighting back had never even factored in. Nobody ever challenged you.

Then again- in a way, you are vindicated. You fall back onto the floor with a loud thud as you quickly feel what life you have left leave you. You are starting to hallucinate as your brain is deprived of oxygen. In a way- Eoba vindicated your beliefs your entire life. The child overcame the overgrown adult because he's faster, had a weapon, and struck when you weren't expecting it- you're the least threatening kind of Jaaxtian. In your dying moments, you see Eoba, Eoba II, and the Eoba clone all dancing and mingling together over this child- who is watching and making sure you die, but standing far enough away you can't quite reach him in revenge. Smart boy, good boy.

Dammit Eoba... You were right. Your primitive man defeated me. Your clone did me in. It just took half a century more then you thought...
>>
The moment after the murder, the Enforcers arrive. Agori had sent them away, so they did not hear your screams in the event you made the “wrong” choice, but the Emperor's necklace alerted them of his death either way.

The Enforcers don't like what they see, but there is nothing they can do. You are a Supreme Ruler candidate, the one Agori was going to pick, and you killed him. You're about as untouchable as Agori was now. Moreso, this isn't the first time a candidate has killed the Supreme Ruler to mantle his position- it just used to be done in duels, and half a millennia ago...

You will be made the Supreme Ruler, though only in a ceremonial role until you get older. You'd be the younger to take the position otherwise. Two days after the announcement of the succession, the AI network goes out. Intelligence immediately knows how and why- it is Ingar.
>>
Ingar always had one foot in the door for the AI network, and with his high level of intelligence he could create secret countermeasures to wrest control of it from Hegemonic control if needed. It seems the moment the succession did not pass to him, since the only other contemporary to Agori was Kimnan, who was disowned, he decided to take matters into his own hands. The Alavis network is effectively shut down for you.

While the vast majority of the population and the Hegemonic government follows the right of succession- which would be you, the technology and machines of the Hegemony currently live under control of its prodigal son.

“I'll make this brief, Eoba.” Ingar says. “I know you're not dumb enough to believe me if I say I'll give you back the Supreme Rulership when you get old enough- and you won't give me full control of the military naturally- So instead I'll keep it simple. You give me Xin. The Xin system will have a new Supreme Ruler- myself. I will take with me as many people wish for a change of regime here on Jaxt and the colonies, one half of your warships, and we will bother you no more.”

Thankfully, because of the manual controls and backup AIs- there is no chance of him being able to totally overpower your military systems. Even if you give into his demands, he could not kill you or conquer Jaxt with whatever you give him- he'd be forced to leave and become an independent state or lose everything in a losing battle against the entrenched defense of the Jaxt system.

Ingar decided to take his chance now, during the power vacuum. An Enforcer leans in to warn you that while you could relatively easily assassinate Ingar, even without computers, as long as he remains here- the resulting destruction caused by his countermeasures he certainly has prepared in the event of his death would be devastating. Already most industry and spaceflight has stopped- and you are unable to contact the Xin colony until you can get a new, uncompromised computer system online. Once he leaves, killing him would be much more difficult- and with the added complexity of the alien ambassador worm, his Xin-based Hegemony may be considered more legitimate then yours on an intergalactic scale.

Agori's death caused this power struggle. For not being willing to sacrifice your brother or yourself, you have to deal with the political fallout of the action. And you, personally, believe in the infallibility of the Hegemony... Accepting this renegade's demands would mean losing soil to an enemy. The Hegemony must live forever- but what is the move here?

>Allow Ingar to go
>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences
>>
>>5128562
>>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences
Once again, I can’t believe that anons unwillingness to be massive dick in a regime that utterly controls every aspect and facet of your life comes to bite back in the ass.
>>
>>5128562
>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences
No one threatens us.
>>
>>5128562
>Give Ingar the role of Supreme Leader
Play the long game. Eoba can be Supreme when he grows up, maybe, or at least take a high position.
>>
>>5128578
Like, I get the instinct to fight against him, but the continuity and the health of our Hegemony matters most, especially at such a precarious time in our history and with so many opportunities we could invoke through the diplomatic hyperworm.
>>
>>5128578
Support, he's got 20 years left at most. After him we either get this Eoba clone or a different child. Keeping the hegemony in one piece is the best option, but we need to make sure Ingar doesn't flee to Xin after we give him power.
>>
>>5128562
>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences
>>
>>5128565
>>5128567
>>5128652
We are all clear that the consequences will be the crippling of our AI-centred economy and space-travel RIGHT as we've started to be formally entered into the wider realms of interstellar politics with established spacefaring civilizations, right? Ingar's killswitch will CRIPPLE our society.
>>
>>5128562
>Allow Ingar to go

It's too late for us to do this anons. We just have to deal with the fruit of our mistakes. The killswitch will be bad bad bad.
>>
>>5128578
Support
"The continuity of the Hegemony matters more than me. I just refused to play Agori's game. Keep the supreme rulership, give it to someone else when the time comes, I don't care any more."

Got say Agori was the most interesting supreme. I like that his personality vetoed a few decisions, it went a long way to mitigating the tendency of MCs to become ultra pragmatic schizos, but it's a trick you van't pull too often without annoying the playerbase.
>>
>>5128565
We overwhelmingly voted for xenocide, but it got vetoed by our "nice" supreme ruler.

All the non-dickish choices that weren't forced seemed to have worked out in the long run.
>>
>>5128680
>spoiler
It also gave us all the more reason to be careful of our Supreme Ruler choices moving forwards. Makes us take them really seriously.

>>5128675
Join us on team giving-Ingar-control-for-now, then. Why not? If he moves to Xin and takes our Aanel diplomat and control over the AI, he'll be de facto Supreme Leader of the more credible government anyway.
>>
>>5128693
He's liable to kill us and our brother before he dies if we give him complete control. Whose to say he won't kill us as soon as soon as we cede military control? I
>>
>>5128702
Why bother, at that point? When we aren't a Supreme, we are just a gifted and useful child that he can shuffle wherever he would like.

ESPECIALLY why kill Kimnan II, who wasn't even runner-up to be Supreme by this point?
>>
>>5128719
We're political threats, no matter how small. We've also shown ourselves to be quite ruthless through killing Agori. I'd think we're atleast worth something symbolically. The majority of the population still follow the rights of succession. We're playing as Eoba now we have to think of what's best for him and I'd rather not leave it up to the whims of Ingar.
>>
>>5128562
>Give Ingar the role of Supreme Leader
He's old, we can wait a couple of years more.
>>
>>5128562
>Allow Ingar to go
Let the old fart die of old age. Also FUCK this was Ingar's project, wasn't it?
>>
>>5128768
His project is probably a quantum dead man's switch that would work instantly even on Xin.
>>
>>5128772
We still can't just hand him the chair. It's not in Eoba II's nature.
>>
>>5128780
Personally that's why I'm ok with killing him and weather whatever he has in store for us.
>It's not in Eoba II's nature.
Agreed, he didn't accept Agori's bullshit so he's not going to do it with Ingar.
>>
>>5128562
>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences

>And give Kinman (the original) permission to have his arm regrown and be a hero of the Hegemony again

They tried to be strong men, but ultimately Agori and Ingar were and are weak. It is not strength to deny compassion, and not strength to put yourself before your society. And these men, both weak in their own way, are now creating hard times.
>>
>>5128578
What makes you think that Eoba II would be allowed to grow up? The MOMENT he hands over the supreme leadership he'd be due for public execution for the Regicide of Agori so Ingar can consolidate power and portray himself as the more legitimate candidate.
>>
>>5128801
>Support
>>
>>5128891
yeah, this dude would 100% cut out the loose end that is us.

I mean we literally just slashed the throat of the last supreme ruler. I doubt he would 1.) put us in a positive light and 2.) leave us lying around
>>
>>5128562
>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences
We can not let Ingar win, it would send a precedent that the Hegemony could be defeated and once that happens the people will be more unruly.
>The Tocqueville effect (also known as the Tocqueville paradox) is the phenomenon in which, as social conditions and opportunities improve, social frustration grows more quickly.
>>
You people do know that ingar can't kill us, right? It's right there in the post.
>>
>>5128562
>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences

>>5128941
It’s hardly a paradox. The less time people have to spend on worrying about putting food into their mouths, the more time they have to vent their aspirations.
>>
>>5128982
He can't kill us NOW through his own actions with the resources he CURRENTLY holds.

But if we're stupid enough to hand over the power of Supreme leader he'd immediately have the legitimate authority to order our death.
>>
>>5128562
Newfag here, with no context for my decision beyond this thread. While I'd like to support >>5128578 purely because I think it'll be vetoed on the account that putting Ingar in Agori's position will threaten both our and our brother's lives, given that we're more of a political threat to the stability of his governance, but I'll settle for cutting out the middle man and just voting to plunge our society into chaos instead of splitting the Hegemony into a rival power structure with better tech and the ear of the galaxy on his side.

>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences

Time to sink this Hegemony with no survivors!
>>
>>5128578
Supporting, even if it means death to Eoba II. Unity of the Hegemony is paramount to any Supreme Leader.
>>
>>5129045
We're not giving him the power of supreme leader of Jaxt, though. He wants to be supreme ruler of Xin.

This will most definitely create a rival and end in a civil war, but is it better than ingar almost definitely blowing up our entire infrastructure?
>>
>>5129086
Quite a few people want to outright give him the throne to not divide the Hegemony, fair enough but in that case he's going to kill Eoba.
>>
>>5129086
Really, the result ends up the same. I think it's better to deal with the consequences now and control the galactic narrative on this than split the empire into two rival powers, in which our enemy will have the advantage of tech and diplomacy, compared to our population and developed economy (assuming you can trust Ingar to keep his word not to blow up our industry after giving him one half of our warships). Really though, we need to contain this mess now before Ingar gives a tech upgrade to the Esaal Stratocracy in exchange for military support, right after ganking us of our warships.

You either deal with this problem now or let it compound into a bigger problem later on lads.
>>
>>5129089
That's absolutely retarded, we'd be literally giving it to an sociopath. This is the exact thing that vantix warned us about.
>>
>>5129105
The difference is whether or not it'll be worse. If he leaves with some people and a few ships but our industry stays the same we could still take him down, the problem is if he tries to crash the plane with no survivors and causes some catastrophe that kills billions.
>>
>>5129154
My main worry are the diplomatic repercussions and cultural hegemony being threatened. There cannot be two Supreme Leaders, and he could call in a galactic coalition to kick our shit in anyway.

These choices ain't easy, but this is the consequence of creating a power vacuum by killing the former leader to save our brother. Billions now, or more billions later.
>>
>>5126866
Jesus fucking fuck!
>>
>>5128558
>Your clone did me in. It just took half a century more then you thought...
Like poetry
>>
>>5128680
Based Drop out. Break the cycle Eoba II. Take your brother and live in peace.
>>
>>5129196
Well, while i feel like even a war would be better, we sure as hell can't give INGAR the throne
>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences
>>
This is me >>5128768 and I've mulled over it some more.

>>5128562
FUCK IT, HEGEMONY NOW, HEGEMONY FOREVER

>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences

ON TOP OF SEDITION, HIS FLAG ISN'T EVEN /AESTHETIC/
>>
Votes are heavily in favor of Killing Ingar. Not going to call it just yet so everyone has a chance to vote; since this a pretty important one. Update will be later today.
>>
>>5129196
Which itself was a consequence of putting a superior but untrained and undisciplined child into a life-or-death situation he didn't have the years or emotional maturity to be prepared for for the sake of a silly grudge - I mean, all his instincts/great minds TOLD him to look at the wider candidate field instead, but his anger overuled him. And we got this instead.

And 'You must master all THREE boards. Now please select who out of the TWO of you who is going to die to my ONE elderly self' really was Agori setting himself up for his unwitting end.

Eboa saw the third board, and a move he could make to win the challenge that was presented to him. Agori was a mentally weak man, and now we get hard times.
>>
>>5128578
Support. He has proven worthy.
>>
>>5128578
The Hegemony is above all else, what is our life compared to it

Support Ingar
>>
Okay, you want ruthless, you will get ruthless
>Torture ingam physically and psychologically for as long as it takes for him to give you the back control.
>>
You people seriously want to give a literal sociopath the control of the hegemony?
>>
>>5128578
+1
>>
>>5129517
He’s hardly going to be the first nor the last mentally ill supreme leader. What matters most is the ability to get things done.
>>
Why do you guys want to let him go? If we kill him now the worst he can do is mess up our infrastructure and destroy the AI network, both of which could be build back and the attack could be used as propaganda.
If we let him go we:
>show the people that the Hegemony can be defeated
>allow him access to a system worth of resources
>give him the time to use said resources to build up his power far beyond his gamble here
>give him acces to ftl and the alien diplomat, so that even if we reconquer the system his men could just flee and seek asylum
>keep the AI network he bloody tampered with already

Every time in history when a ruler could have killed a revolution before it became a problem and did not do so it became a problem too large to be dealt with later.
So why would we not kill him?
>>
>>5129523
He is a literal sociopath who was trying to commit treason, you fool
>>
>>5129536
Because he's smart, capable, savvy, and a good strategist. Because we have an option to hand him the keys for 20 years, use his genius to advance our entire civilization without any set-backs or fragmentation, and then hand the position off to someone more empathetic and stable at that point without having lost steam.
>>
>>5129589
And if he succeeds it would make him a great supreme leader
>>
>>5129649
No it wouldn't, you absolute retard. Have you been ignoring everything that's been shown?
>This guy who is willing to kill god knows how many people, betray the hegemony and has been shown to be an manipulative sociopath who will fuck up other people without regret if it benefits him would be a great ruler!
>>
>>5129635
You're forgetting that he's a crazy sociopath and we can't control characters from doing stuff like that. He's not going to hand over the position, you fool
>>
>>5129635
If that was anything close to what Ingar actually wanted, he'd have just remained 'loyal', taken up the Regency for our underage supreme and used the position to rule by proxy for a decade.

Which is more time then Agori would have had left naturally; and since Ingar and Agori were about the same age would probably have put Ingar past his own natural retirement age.
>>
>>5129291
>rants about the unfairness of the situation
>killed a man and took his throne

But in all seriousness, you voted to ensure both our and our Brother's survival, you think you can pull a 180 immediately after that and ensure that both of us die for the Hegemony?

I may be a newfag, but I don't think it works like that. Instead of finding a balance, you decided to take to the field instead and kill Agori. The consequences must be reaped, and I don't think giving up the throne to your would be killer will help you avoid the iron price.

>>5129517
I would consider the kid who killed his 'father' to be the sociopath, but I digress. Anons need to be less neurotic about this shit.

>>5129635
As much as I like the man, you gotta realize that he will kill us and our brother. Ya gonna end up vetoed or dead, much like our captain with the worm.
>>
>>5128675
I'm changing my vote to

>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences

He's going to kill Eoba if we hand him complete control.
>>
>>5129792
My vote was
>>5128801
Ingar definitely needs to die for this. I don't know why you thought I was one of those trying to pass control to him.
>>
>>5129792
>I would consider the kid who killed his 'father' to be the sociopath, but I digress
>Said 'father' is the one who went "LISTEN HERE YOU FUCKING WHELP EITHER DIE OR LET YOUR BROTHER BE KILLED. I AM GONNA FUCKING SHOOT HIM OR STRANGLE YOU. PLAY THE GAME."

Are you taking the piss?
>>
>>5129792
>killed a man and took his throne
He literally threatened to kill a child over a game of chess. He WAS going to kill him. Agori was an psychotic retard and he deserved to die.
>>
>>5129800
Newfag, sorry if I confused you for the other pass-the-buck anons.

>>5129813
>Are you taking the piss?
Yes, but clearly killing his only (sociopathic) father figure in his life won't lead to a more controllable MC for y'all like some of you seem to think.

>>5129819
And anons have created another psychotic retard to replace him. If it came between his brother or the Hegemony, do you think he will chose the Hegemony after deciding to kill Agori?
>>
>>5129832
And anons have created another psychotic retard to replace him
>THIS CHILD DECIDED TO PROTECT HIS BROTHER FROM THE CRAZY SENILE PSYCHO? OBVIOUSLY THAT MEANS HE'S WORSE
You are retarded.
>>
>>5129832
>And anons have created another psychotic retard to replace him
buddy I think there is a huge leap between "constantly bashing people's heads in like a retarded ape and barely being able to control his retard tantrums" to "trying to protect his brother from said psycho retard"

the worst you could say about the kid is that he made a power vacuum but that's the fault of the massive psycho retard for putting a LITERAL KID in a life or death situation and not expecting him to try resisting.
>>
>>5129660
>hand over the position
Doesn't need to. He'll die, and someone else will inherit an intact, functional Hegemony.
>>
>>5129851
Yes, because that's certainly a smart option
>If we just give power to the insane genius, he'll eventually die, so it's okay!
Yeah, great idea, genius.

Plus, there was literally an entire period where we had to deal with a supreme leader who made himself immortal.
>>
>>5129858
If Ingar was going to make himself an immortal computer god, he already has the means to do so.

If the Hegemony can't survive a couple decades of a bad or amoral ruler, it would have collapsed under the egotists, harem-keepers, murderers, and other despots we have already heard inklings of in its history.
>>
>>5129866
>If Ingar was going to make himself an immortal computer god, he already has the means to do so.
He didn't have the authority, which is why he didn't just plain seize the authority. Ingar is a sociopath genius and you want to give him access to literally everything.

He's almost certainly going to kill Eoba and Kimnan, too. And the real Kimnan. And who knows who else. He is willing to essentially kill god knows how many millions or billions to gain power, and you want him to have supreme power?
>>
>>5129840
>thinking childhood trauma wouldn't turn him into a sociopath
The retarded part come from anons like you.

>>5129843
I'm honestly waiting for the kid to go rogue and turn the anons against him over some stupid vote. That is, if anons don't vote to kill the kid first.
>>
>>5129887
How the fuck does "Kid chooses to kill psycho to protect his brother" mean he's going to turn into a sociopath? If anything, it show he has empathy.
>>
>>5129894
That 'empathy' led to the power vacuum we're currently in, and will lead to the suffering of billions whether Ingar dies or becomes Supreme Leader.
>>
>>5129903
The power vacuum happened because we gave ingar his funding, he had full access to the network and it would have happened even if agori died naturally, since alphas die early.
>>
>>5129924
This.

>>5129880
>Leader seizes power in soft coup
>mist be genocidal madman who wants to live forever and also will inevitably be bad at running a dictatorship and will kill billions of people for no reason

Seems like a leap. I don't want him to be Eternal Godking, but I see reason to think he will be. I don't want him to destroy the Hegemony through brutality and incompetence, but I also see scant evidence for that.
>>
>>5129924
Yes, I agree that this situation we're in is the natural consequence of the decisions that we've made.
>>
>>5129515
+1 to this.
Pluck his fur out one hair at a time if that's what it takes.
>>
>>5128562
>Kill Ingar and deal with the consequences
Oh fuck almost missed this vote.
>>
You have decided to kill Ingar, end the threat to your reign and the Hegemony at large. While the consequences of this will be dire, there is no other way to avoid a civil war in the future.

Eoba II and Kimnan II are escorted to a safe location while the decentralized Hegemony deals with the threat. The main problem at first is information; things seem to be stopped, but normal. Alavis is blocking all orders to release or gather information on Ingar- nobody but the inner circle even knows of his coup. Pretty soon, Ingar sends out false messages of his legitimacy to the population, but the Hegemonic control already has a backup for this- the archaic technologies of broadband television and radio. Using these pure forms of communication, unable to be manipulated by digital trickery, the population is informed and the first stage of unplugging and safety precautions are taken.

Eventually, Ingar is tracked down. Even with control of the entire computer network, the trained spies and enforcers of the Hegemony eventually corner him. For a moment, it almost seems like he could be captured, but instead kills himself instead of being taken alive.

At the moment of his death, the dead man's trigger is activated. The Enforcers on the scene find a small box- which indeed seems to be some kind of sensor. Even being there before the blood cools, it's too late. Alavis has already begun.

At the moment of Ingar's death, the Alavis network begins a chain virus of chaos- each core changes and sends out a signal to change more. Every device, civilian or Hegemonic, can act as a viral carrier to every other device. Even with dead zones, it is simply impossible to stop Alavis from falling under sway of this countermeasure. While the computer scientists aren't exactly sure what Ingar's dying order was- it is clear that the AI has switch from an obedient machine to something that has calculated and carries out the maximum amount of suffering and damage possible in its ability; purely out of spiteful revenge.
>>
They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and while Alavis is not a real female; her scorn is certainly hellish. Every single machine goes haywire.

Sewer mains close up and intentionally backflow into hospitals and civilian shelters, in an attempt to spread as much disease as possible. Antigravity vehicles fly around as fast as possible, striking anyone foolish enough to go outside and, right when their batteries are about to run out, fly up as high as they can into the air to become a gravity based projectile. Hundres of acres of farms and gardens are sprayed with heavy metal contaminants and defoliants, destroying crops and permanently ruining arable land. The worst affected are the floating sea colonies- whose anchor systems and guidance systems are ruined. Several are swept by rogue waves or collide with each other, causing them to break apart and drown hundreds of thousands of people in an afternoon. Wherever Alavis cannot reach herself, she attempts to persuade the vunerable and mentally unwell into action- deepfaked videos of love ones being killed by innocent community members; creating totally misled squads of vigilantes roping up anyone who is trying to retain Hegemonic control.

While these large scale actions are more significant, the AI is smart and fast enough to do tiny, spiteful things too; consumer devices are boobytrapped to crank up the brightness and volume to unsafe levels to cause vision and hearing damage. Even the most helpless members of your society- such as the very old, are tormented. Alavis modified the euthanasia pods in use to make them only paralyze the patients and release no gas- the poor soul within trapped for potentially days while officials must focus elsewhere. While the Hegemony has always established AI as a safe technology, Alavis has turned from a normal computer intelligent into a Basilisk, a creature of nightmares- a computer dedicated to suffering.

Off of Jaxt- the situation is still very bad. While space stations and colonies have slightly more independent computer systems and rely on manual switches for critical systems like life support and power generation; the total lack of communication with the homeworld causes chaos and death everywhere. All of the transport pods and goods on the way from Schoon are turned into ballistic missiles, which turn back and bombard the factory-planet. Damage estimates are in the tens of quadrillions- and the death toll is at least a billion.
>>
While the chaos and damage of Ingar's gamble to gain power is almost indescribable, there is a silver lining. Because of your continued dedication towards equality, tradition, and quality of life towards the Jaxtian people, the civilian population supports the Hegemony through this trying time 100%. Amazing, there is no rioting. There is (almost) no looting, rapes, or violent crimes. Everyone in their community relies on the catastrophe and crisis chain of command; with no Supreme Ruler and communication out, community members and heads of household become in charge and work together. In an amazing show of unity, communities begin working on creating food and water stockpiles, destroy and contain electronics, defend themselves from any looters or mislead military officials, and attempt to establish contact with Hegemonic control.

The space colonies, who are not fully independent, settle in with extreme rationing and suspension plans. Even on the homeworld, millions of Jaxtians volunteer to enter suspension during the cleanup period- though some do so selfishly to avoid the extra work and lack of budget for entertainment and travel. Most perform overtime and extra shifts. Space conlonies who would have run out of food and water after a few weeks without shipments from Jaxt can now last a few years with tiny skeleton crews.

Schoon, being one of the worst effected planets and also most vital, has an incredible movement of patriotism. The Schoonites manage to create their own secondary AI system, build SD drives and transport pods, and begin sending shipments of critical equipment and life saving medicines and machines back to Jaxt. New communicators using radio and shortwave communications are also included, to reestablish order among Jaxt. Light and sublight communications are reopened among the colonies.

Unfortunately, without a powerful computer system, it will be impossible to contact the Xin colony or fly an FTL vessel. While you aren't sure, it is highly likely Ingar's killswitch included a message to Xin- either to try and make it into a Rogue state or causing the same computer virus of destruction that hit Jaxt. There is no way to check up on them until significant progress is made in the rebuilding effort.

While the feeling of unity and righteous defense drives the Jaxtians forward; it is still a catastrophic moment for your people. The Supreme Ruler is only a child, while the rightful heir, is still unproven and lacks the Charisma for a direct and speedy recovery as of yet. It will take time; Ingar's arrogance and lust for power will set your people back severely.

>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP
>Establish communications with the Xin colony
>Commission a new master AI that can scour out any remaining Alavis cores or viruses
>>
>>5130159
>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP
We gotta'.

But shit, we're going to need to re-tame or genocide the Blue Hazaar, aren't we?

As for the AI core... Seriously? Come on, please, let's NOT re-institute a giant suepr-AI again after Helper and now Alavis have both backfired so terribly.

Ugh, what a mess.
>>
>>5130159
>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP
This is why you don't let sociopaths get any amount of power in this fucking government.

From now on, we need to vet and keep an eye on the people closest to the top so we never have another Ingar situation again.
>>
>>5130166
Two things I would love to see as priories for the Eoba II Administration, once we are able to get things stable again:

>Mental health services
>Analyzing and revamping the Supreme Leader selection process

We need to not produce neurotic quasi-aristocrats anymore.
>>
>>5130159
>Rebuild your infrastructure ASAP
The people are holding us together, we need to hold them together.

>Use SchoonAI as an interim master system
>>
>>5130159
>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP
If possible
>Establish communications with the Xin colony

We need to ensure this mess is contained diplomatically while we're rebuilding. Next scientist leader we get, we have him make the AI and make sure it isn't fucked with until the next scientist leader comes along.
>>
>>5130159
>Rebuild ASAP
Infrastructure first, military later, since when the people is full of patriotic fervor, the military part comes easier.

Also this makes me think of a decentralized AI network of sorts to prevent these kinds of things in the future. Each colony, station etc have their own master AI that work together with other master AIs, but have no control besides their own territory. That way when one went rogue, the entire Hegemony AI network isn't that badly affected.
>>
>>5130159
Callback to thread 1 and make a vow to rebuild the hegemony, then
>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP
>Establish communications with the Xin colony
We are just a child and need all the support we can get. Failure will hurt us, but our reputation isn't worth near as much as the hegemony as a whole so we may as well try. If possible we should watch a ton of Talacents old speeches before we announce this and try to copy his style. We probably aren't the ruler the hegemony needs right now, but we are the one it has. Talacent seems like a good ruler to call back to as we start our rule since he was well liked and we are a clone of his right hand man.
>>
>>5130165
I have a feeling the Orange Haazar might need to be re-tamed, but the blue ones are less likely to go 'feral'. No need for genocide as long as they still serve the Hegemony.
>>
>>5130159
>Commission a new master AI that can scour out any remaining Alavis cores or viruses
>>
>>5130188
Changing my vote to this. I'd almost forgotten about the Vows. It's a bit early in the reign, but better then never using it at all.
>>
>>5130159
>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP
>>
>>5130187
I say we slave the AI to whoever wares the Hegemonic Amulet, and have a kill switch tied to the current leaders lofe force. Decentralization will only encourage a devolution of power and authority from the Hegemony, and thus a divergence from its culture. That we cannot allow.

Emergency backup AIs may be alright, but only if we can ensure their loyalty to the Hegemony once activated, not local leadership.

>>5130188
Not much need for a vow, since we already have great patriotism for our cause. We should save it for when our cultural or territories come under attack by a foreign power, as will undoubtedly be the case in this crisis.
>>
>>5130159
>Commission a new master AI that can scour out any remaining Alavis cores or viruses

This is literally the core system we need, I hope it was worth it for you moralfags.
>>
>>5130165
>>5130169

AI cores are the foundational technology to our entire system, it's people who keep pushing for moralfaggotry and ignoring that we are a eugenic totalitarian state are leading us to ruin.
Killing Agora was stupid and killing Ingar was stupid, was the lives of two clones worth all this destruction?
>>
>>5130159
>>5130187 + 1, but also supporting >>5130211 for saving the vow
>>
>>5130226
I agree, it was fucking retarded. The only silver lining was the patriotic sentiment of our people. It's only a shame that it came at such a heavy price.
>>
>>5130211
>>5130231
Vow gives us an extra action which we desperately need right now. It will take years to do each of these and now that we're known on a galactic scale, we have little time to spare. We need our infrastructure back and losing Xin would be a major blow to the hegemony, especially since it has the worm on it. The AI network may be a problem but we need to prioritize and act fast.
>>
>>5130235
If it gives us an extra action, them I'm all for it. We need to get that damned worm on-side to prevent any diplomatic shenanigans.
>>
>>5130159
>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP
Inspiring as fuck. Things are going to be bad, BAD for a generation, maybe two, but this will become part of our founding mythology.
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>>5130211
Decentralization is only for the AI network, government is still the same monolithic Hegemony. I think this can work.
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>>5130159
Also HOLY SHIT I just realized, if Agori went ahead with giving jaxtians false dates-of-death that would've been leaked when Ingar's failsafe went off. That would've shattered the Hegemony. Shit fuck that was a good call. Also proof that Agori wasn't that bad of a Supreme Leader when you really think about it.
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>>5130280
The AI network has significant and unique administrative and cultural capabilities that can't be replicated with the biological elements. Decentralizing the AI networks will have a fracturing effect on central culture and governance, allowing locals to develop a separate cultural identity and governance system, which will eventually need to be dealt with by force or the whole Hegemony start to crumble and decay with internal divisions.

I can accept limited Emergency AI at a local level, to only be powered on and utilized in a crisis and programed to override order contrary to the Supreme Leader, but the only fault in our centralized AI are the biological elements, the monkeys we put in charge of creating and running the core AI system. There loyalty to the Supreme Leader must be beyond a shadow of a doubt, especially if it isn't the Supreme Leader creating and maintaining the AI himself. There are many loyal overqualified patriots out there willing to assist, and if that fails then we raise, train, and indoctrinate such qualified loyalists to maintain the AI system, to prevent sociopaths from using AI as an avenue for power.

>>5130308
Culture and tradition is our main safeguard against traitorous elements. We'd do well to remember that if it comes between special interests and the people, choose the people. Cultural integrity and patriotism, that will be our bulwark against our enemies, foreign or domestic.
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>>5130226
Ingar would likely have made his play when Agori stepped down, no matter what, if he was still in position and the spot didn't come his way. Indeed, triggering it early probably prevented an even worse crisis, such as Ingar having 8 years to implement the rewiring of all our craft under the pretence of a 'new communications system' to ensure that his eventual 'AI rebellion' might be immune to the Physical countermands that at least allowed living Jaxtians to take physical control of much of the non-entirely automated equipment.
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>>5130330
>After all, your culture is already ruled by a totalitarian state, a flawless, immortal empire. It is merely the tools in the hands of the enemy that will bring destruction. - Vul Takar
>>
>>5130311
Methinks you're overemphasizing the importance of the AI network, and it's this overreliance that is part of the problem. If we're going with the backup route, then we must also have non-AI backups in case they're also corrupted somehow (the Baalathi's data-prion attacks come to mind).
Tl;dr my argument: this crisis happened because we overrelied on our centralized AI network, which has been shown to not be immune to mortal politicking., and caused such a widespread disaster.
If we decentralize/localize our AI network (but not our governmental method), we can prevent such mass disaster and instead localize the AI uprising.
>>
>>5130337
The AI network was not immune to politicking only because anons failed to keep it free from becoming political- hence the need for total loyalty to the state and the Supreme Leader among both the central AI and those who maintain it.

Beyond that, I think you're unrepresentating the threat this is to the Hegemony. We are a totalitarian empire- the moment we start decentralizing our AI networks they become susceptible to local politicking instead of national interest, which will eventually tear the Hegemony apart. National interest must supersede local interest in all aspects of our society, from culture to administrative to governance and so on. Decentralizing the AI networks will turn the Hegemony from a totalitarian state into a feudal one given enough time, and that threat to the national stability and monoculture of the Hegemony cannot be tolerated.
>>
>>5130159
>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP

Why were pipes used for watering crops connected to tanks of heavy metals? We need to take a look at what damage could have been prevented by segregating physical systems so a repeat incident isn't so devestating.
>>
I hope you people remember this the next time you want to destroy jaxtian culture and society for some "cool new tech" or a slight increase in efficiency.
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>>5130380
Shit happens like this in real life, see Gavrilo Princip and the Black Hands. They wanted the Balkans united and free from foreign involvement... and we know where that leads.

>>5130347
I think our ideas are compatible. I don't see the threat in a decentralized/semi-decentralized AI network. Otherwise we get yet another widespread AI uprising scenario in the future.
Here's another way to think of it: a centralized AI network is a potential rival to our Hegemony. Sure, when it is under our thumb it's no threat, but if it is managed to be subverted, it can do worse damage than an alien invasion, as we can see from Ingar's killswitch. Now compare this with a decentralized AI network. Let's say a rebellion occurs in Schoon and managed to subvert the AI there. The Schoon AI cannot wreak havoc on Jaxt or Xin, and even less if we make the AI network more granular: the rebellion might have the AI on Schoon's capital city, but the ones on the individual factories aren't subverted.
Hell, if we can develop alternatives that aren't dependent on AI, such worries are trivial at best.
>>
>>5130391
The best I can offer is to create a separate, direct system for creating local information quarantines on the Supreme Leader’s decision. Anything else would would compromise nation integrity and interest.

The problem with your example of local AI rebellion is that those can be contained locally without much contamination with other AI systems not already under the local network’s control. Our AI problems are directly related to the central AI Authority, which controls the other AI network under the direct authority of the Supreme Leader, akin to how the biological elements of the Hegemony operate.
>Rare resources and positions of importance are given with priority to those higher on the ladder; while the Supreme Ruler is always at the top, the Jaxtians will remain above the Migrators- in the same way that all AI must bow to Helper, you will make sure that Jaxtians will always be on the top of your instellar empire.
The problem is the direct subversion of our central AI, which anons were caught off-guard by Helper but allowed a third party with dubious intent to work on Alavis, which directly lead to our current predicament. Let only the Supreme Leader or those loyal he absolutely trusts not to abuse their power work directly on the central AI next time, and create a separate system of information quarantines only controlled by the Supreme Leader. Should a- heaven forbid- rebellion occur on one of our colonies, the other AI systems shouldn’t be negatively impacted. If a rebellion did occur against the Hegemony by it’s citizens, then we clearly failed our people in some tangible way, whether it be culturally or materially.

I do agree that there should be non-AI alternatives and safeguards though, just in case. Make sure we upgrade them every couple of Supreme Leaders or so.

Captcha be like NNNN4, it has gained sapience! Oh lord!
>>
>Rebuild your military and infraestructure ASAP

>Send reassuring messages to Xin that contact and order will be reestblished on a regular basis. keep them updated to developments.
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>>5130541
I second the reassuring messages. Please add those to >>5130165 (which was also me)
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>>5130159
>>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP
Starting to think all failed supreme ruler candidates, starting from Kinman II should be executed to prevent this from happening again.
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>>5130159
>Rebuild your military & infrastructure ASAP
>>5130188
+1 to the vow, God I forgot about that.
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>>5130614
>Executing Kimnan II
Makes no sense. We risked it all to save our little bro and best friend. If you wanted to be ruthless, should have voted to cede power to Ingar.
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>>5130664
Ingar killed of citizens and wrecked the Hegemony as a vengeance, he would have been an awful Supreme Ruler.
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>>5130614
That is absolutely retarded. How many times did those other candidates help us? Fucking Kinja was a candidate runner up, and it was only thanks to him that we were able to avoid chaos after the cloud city attack

Ingar was just a sociopath with too much power, which is what Vantix warned us about - neurotic rulers. Kimnan II doesn't even want to have power, too, he's just our little bro.
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>>5130170
>Support
>>
Thinking about it, why you think Agori choose to make his successors clones of Eoba and Kinman instead of himself, Ingar and Kinman for example?
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>>5130769
Who knows?

We even asked the guy to run a full search. He thought he found too many candidates; not realising that was a GOOD thing - we could then have run a second sweep to weed out those with sociopathic tendencies and other latent mental issues from the top job.

Instead, he put two young children in a death-game and failed to notice the third choice.
>>
>>5130769
He had complicated and lasting emotional trauma related to Eoba, and cloning Kimnan seems to have been inspired by a threat/promise Talacent (whom he admired) made.
>>
The focus for the Hegemony in the short term will be the rebuilding of the industrial infrastructure and military capability- the colonies will have to make due on their own until then.

While a vow wouldn't be unthinkable, a vow to rebuild would be an incomplete, short term goal that doesn't carry much weight. Vows may only be done on long term, difficult, dramatic goals that you wouldn't do automatically anyways. So the goals of “I will unlock fusion power by the end of my reign” or “I will eradicate all of the Baalathi scum from the universe” are loafty goals worthy of vows, but “I will rebuild the Hegemony” is not.

Besides, Eoba II is still just a kid. The decentralized Hegemony officials and psychologists have examined him closely and, despite his traumatic experiences and very young age of ascension, he is a psychology healthy young man. More stress and strain will only further chance of him developing incorrectly. As of now, balancing his development and training with rulership and the hands-on experience it brings is the Hegemon's top priority.

Of course- the rebuilding effort is not going easy. The effort focused on your industrial side means that most essential factories and metalworks on Schoon are back in order after a few months of effort. However, the Alavis disaster has not been ended totally. While the Alavis at home has been “turned off”, any infected core or drone continues to carry her murderous intentions. Copies of her mind stuffed in MK2 service drones and ships have fled to all corners of your solar system, constantly attacking and seeking vulnerabilities. Whenever the temporary master system is busy in its calculations, she attacks, requiring all of the master system's strength to fight off. Ingar was a genius in AI, and while your new AI's are just as good; it means you can't just “upgrade” your current equipment to deal with Alavis. It's exhausting.

But a second, totally unexpected crisis strikes at the same time. Alien ships have been spotted over Schoon- no doubt striking when your are vulnerable. There are no signs of FTL hyperwave distortions, so these aliens must either be so advanced they can hide their warp drives or...

The ships are actually quite weak. Basic scans seem to reveal they have no way near the energy of a fusion ship- closer to your old fission vessels. They have less total energy stored, but release it faster- exactly the same as the bioenergy batteries the Haazar use.
>>
Some of the Haazar, all warrior-types, made use of the confusion to build ships. Alavis seemed to arm them intentionally; sending shipping containers from Schoon filled with basic ship components and Star Dynamos to the asteroid colonies- letting them touch down gently so they could be looted.

The Haazar space pirates attack wherever there are vulnerabilities. They have not attacked Jaxt, since the majority of your military and defenses are stationed there, but instead attack colonies and space station whenever there is an opening. Their primary methods of attack are to release missiles filled with bio-acid, lasers to deal with defenses, and then use tractor beams to lift out valuable goods. It seems these pirates are doing this for loot- mostly stealing radioactive stores, electronics, entire shipments of (blank) AI cores before they are programmed, and tritium gas canisters. There is even rumors they are stealing loyal Jaaxtians still asleep in stasis pods for “implanting fodder” but these are largely unsubstantiated.

Due to the lack of reliable long range communications, Bluey has to show up in person to report what the situation is on the Haazar asteroid base.

“Your Eminence.” He explains. “...It came to a vote, your omnipotence. I had to use every trick I could to keep them- but the majority of Haazar voted not to leave during the period of weaknesses. I convinced them; though they only did it for selfish reasons- better to live here with fusion power then enslaved by somebody like the Esaal or the worms in open space...”

It seems Bluey's high connection to the Haazar and loyalty to the Hegemony has managed to keep your captive population from leaving. The Alavis AI sent seditious videos and communications to the Haazar, driving the idea to leave.

”...That doesn't explain the pirates, Bluey.”
>>
Bluey practically falls to his knees. He bows in the pose of submission.

“Your omnipotence... I am so, so sorry. I am so very sorry I was born. I am so very sorry I must sully your presence and your solar system with my worthless kind. My 10% Jaaxtian DNA does not make up for the 90% loathsome creature that I am- even being 1% Haazar would be unacceptable.”

“The AI core manged to send convincing deepfakes and false communications- there were stories of a Haazar battlefleet on route to “free” us from our “servitude” to the great and righteous Hegemony. Those who fell for it were told they could keep whatever loot they could gather and would be further rewarded for keeping the Hegemony weak until the fleet could get here. I knew it was fake- but there was no method of convincing them. I have no authority over the Haazar, and no security force to control them. I failed you.”

”Bluey...”

“No my almighty lord- I am no longer worthy of that name. I am the scum of the galaxy. I have failed you utterly. I am a loser- right down to DNA. Nothing in my life brings more shame and regret then being a disgusting Haazar. These pirates are my fault, my weakness. Now your noble race is under attack by barbarians; bringing us faster to our well deserved destruction. My only saving grace is that Talacent isn't alive to see me utterly fail him and his naive belief we could be redeemed. I physically could not stay in this pose long enough to properly express my submission and inferiority towards your righteous condensing gaze. Forgive this pathetic snivelling- we couldn't overcome our inherent inferiority. They, and I, deserve whatever punishment you deem worthy to give us.”

>Write In
>>
>>5131113
>Forgive him
It's possible that he is right about his race but he did nothing wrong.
>>
I feel bad for bluey, it isn't his fault that hazaar are the equivalent of russians who run bitcoin mining viruses and adopted the ideology of high school libertarians.

He's been nothing but helpful to us, and it ain't really his fault that his people decided to betray us. Trying to make more of him won't work either, because his loyalty most likely comes from being raised by Talacent who's basically a saint as far as supreme leaders go.
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>>5131113
>"Beating yourself up isn't going to do anything. You didn't do anything wrong."
>Forgive him.
>>
>>5131113
>Forgive him
>Give him a gold bracelet for keeping the majority of Hazaar tame
>Send him to Xin to redeem himself by spreading the good word there

We have a whole colony of Blue Hazaar we need to make sure don't turn against us. Who better? Plus, a great act of service will make a loyal retainer like this feel better. Success, is attained, may even make him feel less self-loathing.
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>>5131113
Execute Bluey for being a degenerate failure
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>>5131113
>Forgive him
He did what he could, tried his best to keep those Haazar he could influence upon the Hegemonic path. It's definitely not worthy of a gold band, but neither is it worth punishment.

The other Haazar, however...

>Confirm the status of the Haazar Warriors. Did all of them go rogue? If even a single one remains in his loyal group then there might be some redemption, but if every single Warrior betrayed us...
>No more Haazar youths will be allowed to transition into the Warrior phenotype. This sub-breed has demonstrated itself repeatedly as stupid and uncivilised, a slave to base individualistic urges that have been allowed to run unchecked. And will now be controlled. By Haazar science, or by our own.

>>5131180
We can't send anyone to Xin, we can't even talk to it again yet.
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>>5131249
Also,
>Ask about the Esaal and 'the worms in open space'. Is he merely working from Hegemonic knowledge here, or do the Haazar hold their own insights on these species?
>>
>Bluey, you were the first bridge between our species and the grander galaxy and you single-handedly prevented a full-scale rebellion among your people. You are a jaaxtian like no other.

>We can grant the Hazaar extra liberties and benefits in exchange for cooperation, and even reduced punishments for any rebels who surrender. But we still need you to make that happen.
>>
>>5131113
>Forgive him, this has been an oversight on behalf of the hegemony to not empower our own positive actors within the Haazar community. It is time to properly install Bluey in a position of supreme authority over the Hazaar population and allow for the creation of a parallel society and subservient society.

It is time to answer the question of where the Hazaar belong in the Hegemony. The goal should be over the next generations to see a complete eradication of all Red Hazaar with loyal blue Hazaar being able to partake in work within the Hegemony well suited to them.
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>>5131263
It's dumb to think that blue hazaar will be loyal because bluey was. Bluey was the son of Talacent and personally raised by him.
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>>5131271
They inherit the memories of the host along with raising them within the hegemonic system will allow us to ensure their loyalty.
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>>5131180
>Support
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>>5131180
+1
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>>5131113
>Bluey, you do Talacent and the Hegemony a great disservice. You, and you alone, have made the majority of the Haazar under the Hegemony return to the fold, and prevented a crisis from turning into a disaster. You insult the Hegemony, your Jaaxtian heritage, and Talacent's memory by misinterpreting your heroic efforts as a reflection of your failure. Worst, you insult me and my judgement. A sepient's character is revealed in times of great crisis by his actions, and I find your character unblemished by the faults of the Haazar race. For your crimes to the Supreme Leader, I sentence you thus- your punishment is to know that you are a hero in the eyes of the Hegemony, a credit to your heritage, both Jaaxtian and Haazar, and that were Talacent alive today, he would be unashamedly proud of being proven right by you, for I share that same pride.
>Rise to your feet, Bluey. We have much work that still needs to be done.
>>
"Come on Bluey, you haven't done anything wrong-"

"I was BORN wrong!"

"Oh shut up. Keeping the Haazar main ship here and the most of them docile is good enough. The loyal Haazar will not be harmed- we'll just deal with the pirates..."

"Please... my lord... I am undeserving of this mercy!" Bluey can only barely squeak out the words through his rising tears- he's shivering.

"You've been a loyal servant to the Hegemony for a long time and its speaker among the unenlightened. You've kept many workers and resources here to help us rebuild. Thank you."

"Ohhh- your omnipotence! Your kindness and mercy is limitless! Mwah mwah mwah! My lord!"

He's kissing your feet now.

"Your Godliness, my unworthy life is yours- forever! Thank you my Supreme Lord and Master! I will never stop working for you and the Hegemony- forever a loyal servant! Mwah mwah! Thank you! One million salutes to your glory!"

"Bluey... this is starting to get weird."

In the meanwhile, your defense forces have begun trying to set up perimeters around your planetary and moon colonies- the pirates attack fast and in small groups- too small to be easily thwarted by your space stations.

With some organization; the defense against this low tech, shieldless ships improves- with one exception. The pirate crews are sometimes accompanied by a larger ship then the small skiff-like models they've been using- this ship is made of a hollowed out asteroid and is difficult to destroy with direct hits. The pirates refer to this ship as The Rock and it acts a bit as their flagship. Taking down this ship would be the last major stepping stone needed to crush the pirate "fleet".

>Dig out the old Tul's Revenge to deal with it
>Search the solar system with drones to find The Rock's hiding place (Risk)
>Put a bounty on The Rock's pilot and crew among the Haazar pirate community- let them take care of it (Expensive)
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>>5131836
>Dig out the old Tul's Revenge to deal with it
Another Eoba defeats another invader
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>>5131836
>Search the solar system with drones to find The Rock's hiding place (Risk)
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>>5131836
>Dig out the old Tul's Revenge to deal with it

I love chad eoba’s
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>>5131836
>Dig out the old Tul's Revenge to deal with it
>>
>>5131836
>Dig out the old Tul's Revenge to deal with it
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>>5131836
>Dig out the old Tul's Revenge to deal with it
>>
>Eat a Danbo fruit whole scratching your butt.
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>>5131836
>Dig out the old Tul's Revenge to deal with it
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>>5131836
>Dig out the old Vul's Revenge to deal with it

Who's Tul?
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>>5131836
>Tul's Revenge
But shouldn't it be "Vul", as in "Vul Takar"?
>>
Just read this thread and it seems pretty fun. Would I be better off going back and reading the previous threads to be better informed on the context and workings of the Hegemony, or am I fine to just jump in?
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>>5132170
Yes, the main series is required reading. Supplemental material is highly recommended if you want to catch the higher themes and references. Make sure to subscribe to the feed and make an account for the fanwiki. You missed the deadline for this month's fan contest; Febuary will here real soon though.

Update later today, hopefully.
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>>5132170
I'd say you could get away without reading them, but if you are liking this thread you SHOULD read them. You'll enjoy them, most likely.
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>>5131836
>Dig out the old Vul's Revenge to deal with it
>>
The Tul's Revenge- no wait, the VUL's revenge, named for the Supreme Ruler. It was once the greatest weapon of your people- left in a hangar among storage material. Shameful- though fusion power ships quickly overcame this fat, double-bridge corvette in usefulness. Without time to install a new fusion drive, its fission batteries are replaced with magna-ring batteries, using the Baalathi technology, and charged up for a fight.

Without knowing where The Rock hides itself between its raids, you have to wait until the next attack, and the Vul's Revenge quickly comes into action. Using its signature weapon, the Sapphire Avalanche, it easily destroys the stone shell of The Rock, breaking the ship apart and ending the pirate's reign of terror. Without their signature ship, the weaker ships of the pirates stand no chance and are quickly dispatched by auxiliary forces. Unfortunately, some of the stone shrapnel strikes and destroys the Sapphire Avalanche's focusing discs, made of uniquely large and pure lapis lazuli. While your weapon technology will no doubt replace your laser weapons sooner rather then later, this loss does feel like a loss of a unique cultural artifact and special weapon of war.

In the meanwhile, the last of the pirates and a few survivors from The Rock itself, including the captain, managed to survive in a life pod. They are punished in the traditional Jaaxtian way.
>>
The Hegemony currently encompasses about 45 billion Jaxtians. This incredible growth is partially due to the Indigo program, the massive increase if life expectancy, and the slow and steady colonization of your solar system.

Jaxt has been right on the cusp of overpopulation for years now- the Ingar incident really did push you over the edge. Xin was the Hegemony's only real escape plan- and projections had it only just being terraformed in time for a mass exodus. Emergency rations and patriotism will work for the short term, but in the long term, there is just no way to sustain your population with the damage done to your homeworld's ecology. Alavis intentionally damaged the most fertile and important parts of your ecosystem- flooding farmlands by overriding dam controls and acidifying others with chemical dumps. It is possible to heal most of it, or use soil enrichment to create new farmlands while abandoning old ones, but doing so will take time you don't have.

The simple truth is there are too many mouths to feed. The Hegemony is full of entertainers, artists, programmers, and high tech space radio operators. These people will always be back in line when you can't get enough food to feed everyone.

As the Supreme Ruler, you have to grapple with reality. The solutions to this problem aren't pretty.

The first is to begin supplementing food rations with biomass. Anything that can be processed- weeds, sewage, dead Jaxtians, pets, worms, algae... all spun up in industrial centrifuges and made into food cubes or biosludge. While your technicians assure you that this will be 100% safe to consume, it is a bygone conclusion that one of the Alavis viruses will “leak” where this super food comes from. It is pointless to try and hide it- it will be massively unpopular. You exist in a position of privilege, and will never be forced to consume it, but the idea of eating it disgusts you. You'd be making everyone else eat it- possibly for decades or longer.

The second solution would be to increase the number of individuals being put into long term stasis. Order Schoon to produce a massive number, billions, of stasis pods and start storing excess population for later. Doing so would have a huge negative effect to your GDP- as those people won't be working or producing anything at all, only draining a negligible amount of power. Of course, the idea of keeping people in stasis for a century would be pretty unpopular too. They'd wake up to a totally different Supreme Ruler, all their friends and families dead or geriatric- you would have to bribe a lot of them to do it, plus the sheer cost of producing that many stasis pods would make it expensive.

The third and final solution is a good old fashioned purge- starting with the least desirable and moving up. Good for the eugenic program too. Massively unpopular, of course. We're stuck with bad and worse here.

>Biocube food rationing
>Mass Suspension (Expensive)
>Purge (Unpopular)
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>>5133637
So we're stuck with feeding people literal garbage, paying people a fuck ton of money to go to sleep and lose all the family and friends, or killing people on masse.

>Biocube food rationing
It's either that or a purge, we're probably gonna need the money later for future rebuilding. The most we can do is just be blunt about it (since hiding it is pointless due to the virus) and hope our people keep their chins up.

It's that or killing billions in cold blood. You decide.
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>>5133637
>>Purge (Unpopular)
We're way overdue for a cleanup and refinement of the genepool.
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>>5133637
>Purge (Unpopular)
Biocube is probably not going to work once they know that it's literal garbage, mass suspension is expensive and would be a massive headache for our successor and a purge would be very unpopular but on the other wouldn't really cause other problems (we have a functional military again) and could make things normal the soonest.
Eoba II caused this, not for wrong reasons IMO but he should still shoulder the responsability of doing what must be done for the good of Hegemony even if that makes him a dark Supreme Ruler in its history.
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>>5133637
>Biocube food rationing
With the addition of us eating it too. Regularly and publicly. It will help ease the transition to it and hopefully make the populace more ok with it. We should try to put as much artificial flavor in it as possible to make it easier to eat.
>>
>>5133637
>>5133683
+1
This is just part of dealing with the consequences of our actions and not kicking the can down the road. It sucks but I would argue it's better than compounding this problem in the future while also worsening our economic condition, and purging Jaxtians is unthinkable. If anything, we should be purging the other subservient races first.
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>>5133637
>>Biocube food rationing
>>
>>5133683
>Support
>>
>Biocube food
Yes, time for us to eat the sludge as well
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>>5133683
Supporting.

>>5133637
>Biocubes, and eat them to show solidarity

We caused this because we couldn't sacrifice our substandard little brother. Who are we to tell otehr people to abandon their family members, or accept their death? These people rallied against all odds for us. We must repay them.

Soft? maybe. But ruthlessness is one thing; hypocrisy is another.
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>>5133972
+1 to this, also tell people where it comes from before Alavis leaks it.
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>>5134012
Agreed.
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>>5134012
Yeah, hiding it will be fruitless (and will show us in a bad light). At least trying to spin it into a positive or at least less-awful way would be better in the long term.
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>>5133683
Supporting this. We will be open that this is horrible stuff to prevent Alavis leaks exposing a 'lie', and also take some of it ourselves. No lies, no obfuscation; just the reality that this is horrible but necessary for the moment.

And get these entertainers, artists and programmers working to justify why they're not getting purged. The entertainers and artists can make stories, shows and songs placing all our troubles on 'Ingar the Individualist'. And don't the programmers have a new AI to work on?
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>>5133972
>supporting
Also supporting announcing the source as well >>5134012 so that Alavis can't spin this against us.
Additionally, use as much non-computerized methods of sourcing and making it, we can't risk letting Alavis putting poison in these cubes.
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>>5133637
>>5133683 +1
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>>5134012
+1

It can be probably made to be less horrible if we add some flavor. They're cheap, and seeing real life, can make anything taste at least not completely horrible.
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>>5133637
>Biocube food rationing
>>
Update in production. It'll probably be tomorrow, sorry.
>>
You have decided to embrace biocube food rationing- with such widespread damage to your planet's farming industry and supply chain, this is the only method of keeping your people fed- and working to rebuild. You also decide to eat some of this... material yourself, live on air. If any being in your society didn't need to eat this it would be you; but the difference between a boss and a leader is to lead by example...

You sit down at a table, live on air, televised to the nation. Such archaic technology can only broadcast “live” without predictive AI editing and improving the footage; the AI network is still too damaged to be used. You are presented with a hunk of the biocube- and taking your implement, you carve off a corner and put it in your mouth. You visibly retch as you force it down.

”This is fucking horrible.”

The filming crew is stunned. You take another piece, and silently eat it without complaint.

As it turns out, your reaction to the foodstuff was very beneficial. The sort of grim and stoic determination you had to consuming the awful stuff was exactly the sort of attitude your citizens are expected to have during such hard times- and the gesture is appreciated. Another factor you don't quite yet understand is the fact that you are still pretty “cute”. The slip up becomes a viral sensation among the women of the Hegemony; equating the most important and powerful person in their society as their own kids being fussy over eating their vegetables.

Perhaps when you're older and the new AI network is made, you'll have that clip locked away and censored. Will save you some future embarrassment.

With the new Biocube technology approved; several basic flavors are designed and the biomass centrifuges are assembled. While this technology could be miniaturized and put into individual homes for use by families; larger community-sized drums are instead what is issued. You will have slightly less food waste with these, and you can also use them as a way to enforce the rationing laws- those who don't obey won't eat, after all. The Jaxtians descend like locusts; everything from trash, weeds, corpses, pets, plastics, and even clothing can be broken down into some form of organic matter for use in the machines. You also make a law that requires all meals or snacks to have at least some of the Biocube, and given the fact that food waste is promptly made illegal and penalized severely, even high class workers of the Hegemony and your inner circle still make it a part of their daily meals.
>>
Despite the devastation and decreases in quality of life- keeping your population growing is important to balancing your budget and reclaiming critical brainpower resources that were lost during the Alavis crisis. Science is, naturally, at a standstill in the reclamation effort- at least on Jaxt.

The culture and government of the Hegemony has also changed somewhat subtly. There has been a rising wave of authority in the aftermath of the crisis- luxuries, free time, and resources are being more tightly controlled. But the AI network is taking time too. You are at the unenviable position of needing more control then ever, but having less automation and oversight to actually accomplish this control. The vast majority of Jaxtian citizens, naturally, obey- and morale is still pretty high, though the humdrum of life under so many little restrictions and with so little good news of conquest on the frontiers of space are staring to wear down the people a bit.

At the same time; the lack of government control in the form of AI has meant many openings for criminal and underground activity. Alavis destroyed the entire centralized banking system- deleted and scrambled records and logs of transactions. The money of every citizen was lost or at least inaccessible for a time- your digital economy naturally collapsed instantly. Physical currency had to be produced- and with that came an entire black market. The trading of luxuries, “real food” merchants, and illegal services for anti-social behavior.

People are profiting, in both ways, from this period. Many citizens were asked (or required) to grow food or other necessities. Many mothers are assigned worker uniforms to sow their buttons on, community washing and cleaning services take care of jobs once assigned to laborers- who are too busy rebuilding torn asphalt and pushing wheeled vehicles out of the ditches that Alavis drove them into.

Over the next five years, the situation in Jaxt slowly improves, and you have grown quite a lot too. Not to brag, but with the combination of your young start and extended lifespans- it is an inevitability you could be one of the most experienced Supreme Ruler in history at some point in your reign. Kimnan II has grown similarly- the top of his class in flight school, but he doesn't try to crush all the old records like the previous one did.
>>
Finally- your science teams have had enough time to create a powerful emitter and a computer capable of Hyperwave signals- it is finally time to check in on the Xin colony!

You are greeted by a cheery Alavis- a bit of a fright, but she explains that when communication was lost, her predictive circuits kept the base safe and secure against the later viruses from Ingar- as she suspected a catastrophe must have hit your homeworld. The Xin colony has been going through a rough time- almost as rough as on Jaxt. After the last shipment sent from Xin arrived, roughly four months after the catastrophe, the colony was left to fend for itself. Beyond pressing the ships and crew into work- gathering water and nutrients from Xin's vast pink oceans let the station survive, though not thrive, during the isolation.

The good news is that the terraforming project has been progressing on pace. The Blue-Haazar workers are still very young, but unlike Jaxtian children they have minds more similar to adults. As such, they can be useful. Amazingly, they can indeed survive on the planet's surface without space suits or any form of protection- though they cannot travel far, as the colony is the only source of food and shelter on the barren planet. Already, in protected canyons, floodplains, and places protected from the wind and the rain, sparse grasses have been planted, earthworms seeded into the soil, and the colony's waste was used as fertalizer. The creation of the biosphere is going to take a very long time, but a living soil, capable of trapping moisture, is the critical first step.

As explained by the colonies manager- the Ambassador Worm has spent this time communicated with others of its kind around the galaxy- and introducing you to the local neighborhood. He also says that the ambassador worm has made it clear to your galactic neighbors that you have staked your entire local cluster underneath your empire's banner already- passage through uninhabited systems is allowed by your rival empires, but not colonization. He seemed to have paid for himself already- if his price wasn't so steep.

The bad news is that the worm has eaten many people on the colony- the colony master has been forced to feed it. He explains he had no choice- ordered to pay this worm's upkeep and with no new shipments of livestock was impossible. Station crew had to be given up. He choose Blue-Haazar at first, but eventually moved to nonessential and low ranking Jaxtian crew! The sacrificed were sent into the worm's chamber to be devoured alive. It was either that, or defy a direct order from the previous Supreme Ruler and incur the worm's wrath...

What are you going to do, Supreme One?

>Punish the Colony Supervisor
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule
>Order the worm killed
>Other (Write In)
>>
>>5136180
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule
That sucks but the Colony Supervisor did what was necessary and killing the Worm is a bad idea because his kind would tell other FTL civilizations to blacklist us.
>>
>>5136180
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule
>>
>>5136180
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule
Sadly, we can't (yet) get rid of the worm, and there wasn't any other way to feed it, which was necessary to ensure our state would go on. If we pissed off the worm, he would probably get the other states to come and murder us while we're re-building

On another note, we should really try to work on getting another AI back.
>>
>>5136180
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule

Damn, tough call for the colony supervisor but not an unreasonable one.
>>
>>5136180
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule

>Tell Kinman we grant permission for him to grow or make himself a new arm again, and to once again display again the golden band he earned.
>>
>>5136180
>>Order the worm killed
Shouldn't there be some not so dickish worm somewhere in the galaxy?
>>
>>5136204
Unlikely, those worms are all ancient psychics who are basically untouchable because everyone needs them. If we kill one, they'll blacklist and completely fuck us over.
>>
>>5136180

>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule

>Tell Kinman we grant permission for him to grow or make himself a new arm again, and to once again display again the golden band he earned.

>>5136204
>some not so dickish worm

It seems to just be enacting its biological and social prerogative: it is a diplomat which makes its 'living' by being a go-between and PR agent, and it needs to eat living animals to survive,
>>
>>5136214
I think that they are a sort of hivemind, our worm said that it has millions of eggs despite being sterile and smiled when Kinman said that it already meet it (probably in FTL space).
Something in their body is probably a node of a biological FTL "computer", that's probably how they communicate.
>>
>>5136180
>>5136189
Also adding that one to my vote, Kinman was always the best person between the three candidates of that generation and him losing his arm was just another of Agori's outbursts.
>Tell Kinman we grant permission for him to grow or make himself a new arm again, and to once again display again the golden band he earned.
>>
>>5136180
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule
>Tell Kinman we grant permission for him to grow or make himself a new arm again, and to once again display again the golden band he earned.
He earned it by somehow being the least neurotic candidate.
>>
>>5136234
>>5121838
>While a simple creature may not technically need a central nervous system, the fact this creature is intelligent and has language, knowledge, and memory indicates that it should have some form of biological computer system- it just seems totally absent. This could only mean this creature's intelligent is somehow from another organ you can't identify as a brain or is held 'elsewhere'.
Nevermind, the worms may be mindless remotes for a biological computer or entity somewhere.
>>
>>5136180
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule
>Tell Kinman we grant permission for him to grow or make himself a new arm again, and to once again display again the golden band he earned.
Let's not kill the worm, don't want to get fucked over by every other galactic empire out there.
>>
>>5130165
Both of those ais only turned evil because of the minds of desires of living monkes
>>
>>5136180
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule
>Tell Kinman we grant permission for him to grow or make himself a new arm again, and to once again display again the golden band he earned.
>Communicate with Alavis about the creation of Hydra and a safe way to reimplement her into the Hegemony
>>
>>5136180
We should try to open ourselves up to the galaxy to offset the losses of Evil Alvalis. Let the worm earn it's keep, we need advanced technology and even foreign aid for this monketarian crisis.

Use some of those entertainers in the back of the line to do a monke live aid. Export monke art and culture to space and use the profits to buy shit to deal with the logistics crisis. We are eating literal garbage, surely some alien Celine Dion type will throw us some bones.
We can't put pride over the health of our people. We are basically space North Korea at this point we need a full scale Meiji style innovation ( to pardon the mixed metaphor)

>Have the worm implore the Galactic community for aid, trade and technology (also compensate the estates of all the cannibalized monke and hazar and give them posthumous gold bands for their sacrifices)
>>
>>5136552
And we will always have living monkes, with minds and desires.
>>
>>5136585
Right so the issue isn't AI bad, it's that we don't have a system of redundant security measures. it is too easy for our ai systems to be compromised by one bad faith actor.

We need to have an oversight system of multiple monkes so that one deranged genius can't try to take over the hedgmony
>>
>>5136180
>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule
>Tell Kinman we grant permission for him to grow or make himself a new arm again, and to once again display again the golden band he earned.
>Tell the Worm if he can do us a solid on wing-manning us some hot intergalactic babes, we'll call it even for eating most of the colony. Hell, if he does a great job on that, he can eat the occasional red Haazar for his services.
>>
>>5136180
>>Send shipments and continue the terraforming project on schedule
At least they have enough sense to send in the Hazaars first
>>
>>5136651
Also good, but I'd argue more compartmentalized AI would be a good idea in case of rampancy or an organized coup.
>>
If we have the opportunity, we could research alternative forms of computing like the ones of the Haazar and Balathi, they may have less problems with centralization and decentralization and using at least a bit of these may make our AI network more resistant to viruses (like how diverse agriculture is better against diseases than monocultures).
>>
>>5136927
Clever notion! I like it.
>>
You decide to continue shipments to Xin- you aren't happy about what has happened, but nobody is directly to blame. The colonization efforts on the planet and your ambassador are more important then a few low ranking Jaxtians and underdeveloped Haazar...

As it turns out, Ingar's brilliance did turn out in your favor. The killswitch he used and the technology it was based on is being figured out now- the quantum entanglement communication technology. By using an array of entangled particles, it is possible to send messages instantly, at any distance, in the physical universe. While no law of physics is technically violated, it IS FTL communication, and without needing any Hyperwave generators or sensors. Technically, this means that you can send messages to ships and starbases without needing to use Hyperspace at all- bypassing the place where worms and other parties could detect or intercept your messages. Secret communication is extremely important to any military or scientific state- especially one as authoritarian as your own. You immediately begin commissioning all new ships and starbases outfitted with these communicators, though you will still need to rely on “public” hyperspace messages for things like communicating with other space empires.

You also decide to ask your worm about diplomacy, or the chance for foreign aid. He reveals he spent his time in discussion hiding the fact your species was undergoing a crisis at all; he “put up a curtain” so to speak. Because of the lack of interstellar messages sent by Xin or Jaxt, it was easy for it to pretend business was going as usual. This helped prevent a hostile power from taking advantage of your position- though asking for aid now would be a bit suspicious. You guess you can't get angry at the worm- it was acting as you would have wished during a sudden communication blackout...

”Welcome back to Jaxt Prime, Kimnan.”

“Oh, thank you your lordship! It feels nice to be back home. And I must thank you for your reinstatement of my golden band- and for the new artificial arm! You really are too kind.”

”Think nothing of it- I should be thanking you for taking time out of your retirement to help train Kimnan II. Because of all this nonsense happening here, we have had no time to train him in Hyperspace. I need you in top shape.”

“Yes your Justice- I am happy to help! Come Kimnan- err, other Kimnan? Little Kimnan. Let's go get you acquainted with a HCDFV's cockpit.”
>>
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You've spent so many years of your early reign just building back that damage caused by the last... in the end, you've have to fully compute what has happened. You can't deny it is your fault- you were selfish, you didn't want your brother or yourself to die. Perhaps if you could go back, maybe you would have done something different. Maybe just beg Agori for your life, or the life of your brother. Maybe just accept your death as an indigo- a clone, disposable, built for a purpose...

No no, that's not it. Agori was the one who put you in that situation. Truly, it was his fault that the whole thing happened. Your choices are only based on the choices of anothers actions first, and their actions based on the actions of another, spanning back since the dawn of time. You can only move forward in time, never backwards, and hope that what has happened leads to greater returns in the future.

Now you have to focus on the present- you are nearing the end of your training and want to be in a strong position. Your worm seems to have worked out securing your local cluster of stars- of which only Xin is under your direct control. The exploration and colonization of the rest of the cluster should focus your efforts! This disaster set you back, but it is time to build back stronger then before!

And speaking of which, it is finally time to make the critical decisions regarding the AI network. As a critical component of your entire society, from government to military intelligence to infrastructure; it is too expensive and wide reaching to replace your entire computer system with something new. Changing from electronic circuits into gas-powered machines, for example, would require restarting everything from scratch- creating the simplest diodes and computers, to the first AIs who can evolve, iterate until you create the vast systems you have now. It would take centuries! The second problem is that your AI some amount of centralization because of the method of which your society functions. The Supreme Ruler must retain control for his rule to be Supreme.

The truth is that the Alavis crisis actually shows you a lot of potential for weaponizing it. If the Supreme Ruler could order the AI to do what she did on her own, it would essentially mean he could shut down any rebellion, destroy or cripple any wayward colony- a malevolent AI basilisk under your control is a tool like any other; a weapon to be exploited.
>>
But how do you avoid an Ingar situation from wresting control from the rightful heir? That's the challenge. So far, you can think of three concepts-

The first is to return to a singular AI structure, likely an Alavis offshoot again. But this time, give control to the Supreme Ruler based on an unbreakable bond- a quantum entanglement of part of his brain with the computer network itself. This concept would be breaking tradition, as your people have traditionally rejected computer-brain interfaces; and with the entire Helper conspiracy having being leaked to the public a few years ago during the Alavis rampage, it would certainly have a certain negative connotation. But you can't fault its security. It would prevent the situation that happened during your ascension from happening again though- the new AI would only totally obey whoever was entangled with its computer core- so the death of a Supreme could activate a lockup protocal until the next was properly inducted.

The second is to use a decentralized AI. This would be a combination of three- or as you have coined it, a “Threemind”. The threemind is three separate AI systems. Three is used as if one becomes rogue or compromised, the other two will be able to gang up on and defeat the final AI. Each system could be programmed differently, or even developed from different computer technologies in the future, working together intelligently- though never as efficient as just one mind. No individual in the Hegemony, except the Supreme Ruler, would have control over more then one at any given time- and you imagine that The Threemind would be as capable as the previous AI network, just separated into three chunks.

The third concept is to use a singular AI again, but this time, give it more free will and the ability to ignore orders based on a set of robotics laws or ethical constraints. This could lead to HUGE problems in the future based on the rules the AI is given, but at the same time, it could work in any capacity- everywhere from an individual ship AI or starbase will be protected by this failsafe. You could have the ability to allow the Supreme Ruler to override this restraint, but doing so would just allow someone who tricks the AI into accepting them as the Supreme to just circumvent it, so it isn't a perfect solution either.

There is also, naturally, the option of doing nothing. Ingar and Agori were blips, distortions in the grand tapestry of the Hegemonic history. Many centuries have passed without a succession crisis like this- there is no reason it has to happen again or in an equally devastating way. This is the perfect opportunity for an infrastructure change; while changing the AI later is always possible, this will be the most efficient time to do it- what is your choice?

>Entanglement with the Supreme Ruler's mind
>Threemind
>Ethical AI
>Do Nothing
>Other (Write In)
>>
>>5136200
Oh, one more idea:

>Start up a farm-dome or similar for animals. With some breeding livestock on Xin we might be able to keep a sustainable foodsource for the worm even if the link goes down again.
>>
Should we trust XinAlavis or replace her? I got a baaad feeling...
>>
>>5137060
>Threemind and be sure to replace XinAlavis.
>>
>>5137060
>>Other (Write In)
Keep it as it is but give Supreme Rulers a final override code that could countermand any order, wipe the AI's memories and restore it to a previous "safe state"
>>
>>5137060
>Entanglement with the Supreme Ruler's mind

Better us getting brain implants than AI becoming inefficient or- Hegemony forbid- ethical. Control is the only way to ensure Ignar or a new problem doesn't crop up from this decision.

Make the AI a female again as well, it was a smart design choice.
>>
>>5137060
>Threemind
>Invest in Hazaar and Balathi computing for long-term redundancy
Entanglement would be fine and I don't think that it's similar to the whole Helper thing but Threemind is also a good opportunity to become resilient against hacking, that would take something like 3-5 supreme rulers but someday we could make two of the minds hybridized with hazaar and balathi computers so it's unlikely that a terrorist or alien virus could take down the three minds.
>>
>>5137060
>>Threemind
This will be immensely useful. For future upgrades we would bring them down to replace one by one rather then risking everything on a single upgrade/reboot and some downtime. There would never again be 'single moments' of extreme network vulnerability.

Where we need the greater efficiency a single mind would bring (such as combat) for small engagements we could just bus the squadron onto a single system for the duration for maximum coordination; for larger ones each system could be delegated a specific responsibility.
>>
>>5137079
Strongly support this solution.

>>5137062
And I like this.

>>5137060
Locking in my vote.
>>
Just FYI, all a future!Ignor needs to do is subvert just two AIs or just subvert the one and sabotage the others. Mindmelding with the AI ensures no one will fuck with it without us having full control of said AI.
>>
>>5137060
>Threemind
One based on Xin-Alavis, one developed with Haazar tech, and the third with another method. Dunno about Baalathi computing tho, might need to look into other possible avenues. Maybe ask the Migrators?
>>
>>5137119
The Migrators don't have technology I think.
>>
>>5137124
Might not hurt to check in on 'em sometime soon, though.
>>
>>5137124
Yeah, but they might be excellent programmers or something.
Perhaps the Baalathi data prion thing could be implemented as an antivirus of sorts - laying dormant in the network and activates to erase or mess with any subversion or rampancy attempts.
>>
>>5137060
>Entanglement with the Supreme Ruler's mind
Also this is a good idea >>5137062 +1
>>
>>5137119
Relying on foreign tech for AI is retarded, we'd only be opening ourselves up for foreign enemies to take advantage of the vulnerabilities in the AI that their most familiar with. What if we get into a two front war with both foreign nations that know how our AI works? At least homebrew AI won't give our foreign enemies any advantages.
>>
>>5137148
How would they know anything? Neither the Haazar and Baalathi were members of the FTL galactic community.
The point with having three AIs is that you need to subvert at least two, nobody is going to be familier with both Jaaxtian and Haazar computing while if an alien species with superior computer skills has a similar technology as us then they will subvert all three if they are all 100% Jaaxtian.
You could develop 2 new types of AIs but jaaxtian scientists are probably not going to invent two viable computing techs completely unlike our own and not doing it from scratch means that it would take something 100~ years instead of 300~.
>>
>>5137148
The idea of a three-mind system is that it will be incredibly difficult to hack all three minds. Eventually having it so a third of each is fully or partly rooted in different technology just makes this even trickier for enemies. A two-front Hazaar/Balaathi war would still leave us with one Jaxtian-only mind to run our systems.
>>
>>5137153
The Worm knows much. Who's to say that there isn't a similar security breach?

>>5137155
The whole premise of Threemind is for two AI to be the third rouge one. If two AI go rouge, the third AI is already fucked.
>>
>>5137159
The Worms just want to be parasitic ambassadors, and if knowing a lot about hyperspace communication is enough to hack a computer system then we'r3 fucked not matter what if they want to destroy us.
If the three AIs are different then hacking more than one is almost impossible, the three being the same isn't going to make them more secure.
>>
>>5137079
Me like. Support.
>>
>>5137060
>Threemind
>>
>>5137060
>Threemind
Also supporting >>5137062 and >>5137079
>>
>>5137079
+1

Entanglement with the supreme rulers is a stupid idea - we know that it can lead to less than scrupulous leaders gaining power and abusing it. Ingar was an candidate - if it wasn't for the fact that Eoba II existed, he would have gained power.

Furthermore, we should not ever use cybernetics linked to brains. Our effort to maintain tradition has worked to our advantage every single time, why risk more of it?
>>
>>5137060
Threemind seems the safest option.

The entanglement with a supreme doesn't stop a Helper style event from happening.

A sentient ai is functionally just putting all the ai power into one person's hands again, that person being the ai itself.

Threemind allows checks and balances where you can have multiple entities keeping eachother stable. We could even have one AI for each species of the empire at one point

>Threemind
>>
>>5137060
>Entanglement with the Supreme Ruler's mind
>>
>>5137115
Or it ensures a sufficiently advanced hacker has a perfect puppet. Damn, was Dune right about AI?
>>
>>5137060
>Do Nothing
>>
The Hegemony is in a unique position- two hostile, foreign alien races fell upon you and broke their backs. From their pieces, you have new technology. The Baalathi and Haazar computer systems, foreign, but capable of coming together into something unique.

You will have three minds. The first will be the new Alavis, built on your traditional AI systems. This computer uses circuit boards and electricity to function. Its main advantage is its cheap cost and scaleability. The more circuits you create and cram into one processor, the better it will be, and all it requires to build is some basic silicons and rare earth minerals. However, this mind will be very literal, like a computer is, making it ideal for simple tasks and raw calculation. You can make this the workhorse of your minds, ideal for starships and drones.

The second mind will be based on Haazar technology. The Haazar argon-gas system creates a biochemical “brain” of computing. It requires a significant amount of argon to create new “neural” pathways, but is incredibly stable because of its composition- you wonder if this has something to do with the Haazars unnatural longevity. Regardless, the main advantage of this mind will be repetitive tasks; as like a biological brain this computer becomes more efficient and uses less energy the more it performs the same function. Instead of trawling the galaxy for sources of argon to scavenge or scam from their rightful owners, as the Haazar did, you'll build it right here in your home system- on Max! Distance will be no concern, your argon will be basically unlimited, and you will qunatum entangle this computer to connect everything in the galaxy under your control- this will be your communications and navigation mind.

The third and final mind is the most mysterious- based on Baalathi technology. This avenue is mostly unexplored in computing, but has a lot of promise. The Baalathi technology involves a sphere array with gasses of different concentrations; even a simple “computer” could hold millions of permutations. This computer is slower, but more capable of lateral and informed thinking then traditional computer methods- one day in the future your scientists will be amazed when this type of computer answers their status quiry with a metaphor. The cost of the gasses and the size of each computing unit is significant enough to matter wherever space is at a premium, such as on starships, so you'll reserve these for space stations and planetary bases- these will be your simulation and prediction machines.

While you have little reference; you have a hunch that a joint effort of computing and science has never before been attempted, at least in your corner of the galaxy. You have a strong suspicion that if you manage to create this Threemind, it will be one of the greatest AI systems in the galaxy, and may be the critical advantage your people need in the centuries to come.
>>
Of course, creating the Threemind will be very difficult, and it will take a long time. Making a vow to create it would be unthinkably ambitious, as it will probably take longer then your reign to actually complete, so instead you set the Threemind as a long term empire goal.

To help you in this effort- the captive Haazar population is put to work. Bluey hand picks a group of the most loyal and useful Haazar he can to help teach your scientists their technology and, in the meanwhile, assures you it will work wonders for the Hegemony. Of course, there is a small security risk of the Haazar being able to mess with your computer system- but the entire point of the Threemind is redundancy and safety. Even if the Haazar are able to control one mind, the other two will be able to overcome it. You also begin the construction of something very special just underneath the surface of Max's outer atmosphere- the station that will one day be quantum entangled across the whole galaxy with one powerful mind...

It's time to take stock of your Galactic neighborhood. Your worm advisor has collected useful data and arranged mapping software to be presented to you. You now see more clearly what is going on- as it turns out, you're a small fish in a big pond. Around you is unclaimed “no mans land”- your own star cluster, as well as the star clusters where the first Baalathi signals and later the Haazar originated from. Beyond those are larger space empires- the closest being the Esaal and another faction... the Consortium.

”You want me to meet them!? I'm not even wearing my robes yet!”
“Come now, little Emperor, these guys are important...”

The Consortium is a collection of alien races which have come together under one trade and economic federation- with a joint military force for combined threats. Unlike the little alien species you've encountered here and there- these are a conglomerate of many species over a large territory. They are large and powerful; and every race is headed by a worm advisor, which keeps them connected together.

”I am a designated speaker for the Consortium. May your ventures be profitable, Supreme Ruler of Jaxt.”
>>
You are Eoba Garastra II and are officially instated as the Supreme Ruler of the Jaaxtian people. You've been the Supreme Ruler for a while, but only now are you finally wearing your imperial robes, the symbol of your office and position.

You have chosen a light blue for your color- for patriotism. Considering you are the first Indigo Supreme Ruler, and you came into power during and around a great crisis, it seemed to fit. The other note? The white diamond. Around your neck, the white diamond symbolically represents wearing the bones of a defeated rival; and is only worn by Supreme Rulers who killed to gain their position.

It has been another five years. During this time, your people have mostly recovered from the economic downturn and infrastructure loss of the Alavis crisis. Your current placeholder AI is powerful enough to defend itself against her attacks, and with the biocube food production in place, your people are secure in fed. Your population has even mostly recovered. Things are more spartan for the people, but you have the security of the AI network's secrecy again. Your citizens are cowed into submission for now, though they trust and believe in the goals of the Hegemony's spiritual purity less after this succession crisis. Your approval rating is well below Talacents, though it'd be hard to match such a spineless people pleaser in that regard...

You've spent the entire early part of your reign reacting to your situation, and fixing the mistakes of the past. Enough! It is time to take forward action. Where should we take the Hegemony next, your grace?

>Advance your outdated military
>Establish a new colony (specify system)
>Improve your general technology
>Hunt down dissidents and improve societal control
>Contact a foreign power to see if you can make a trade
>Other (Write In)
>>
>>5138669
>Advance your outdated military
>Focus on establishing new capital ships and drone carriers
>>
>>5138669
>Improve your general technology
TECH TIME BABY. TIME TO SPITE THAT CANCEROUS IGNAR
>>
>>5138669
>Advance your outdated military
>Hunt down dissidents and improve societal control

Make a vow to have our military be the envy of our galactic neighbors. Purge the dissidents, cure the cancer.
>>
>>5138669
>Improve your general technology
Looks like the main thing where we could outcompete the Consortium and the Esaal, and upgrading our military without upgrading our technology first is probably not a good idea.
>>
>>5138669
>>Advance your outdated military
>>Hunt down dissidents and improve societal control
>>
>>5138714
Actually, is it possible to conquer both Hazzar and Baalathi before our neighbors start gobbling them up? Like, vow possible?
>>
>>5138790
Supporting this vow

>>5138669
>Hunt down dissidents and improve societal control
Specifically, focus on reeducation and social controls, as well as mental health facilities that make monkes more productive and patriotic as their main goal. Let's clean up men's minds. No more Ingars. No more Agoris.

>Advance your outdated military
To better enact that vow.
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>>5138669
>Other: Focus on repairing and expanding food security.
And
>Other: Recognize and appropriately reward some of the groups of people and individuals who made great contributions during the Alavis Crisis and Recovery period.
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>>5138669
>Establish a new colony (Ventuck)

Begin the colonization of the Ventuck system focusing upon Ventuck II which is a habitable world with a native species. Establish a space station above the world and make contact with the inhabitants. Use our technology and power to mold their culture by offering them medicine, technology, luxuries, and entertainment in exchange for them producing Jaxtian food.

This is a world full of free workers that we can transform into a bread basket for our empire. We need to act quickly and take advantage of it.
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>>5138790
This, if we free Haazar from the Baalathi we can at least win some loyalty out of our own Haazar population. And if we take Baalathi and fix their murderhappy gasmind, well, we could have another asset in our Hegemony.
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>>5139158
Vetuck IV also likely holds some unique elements being made of superheavy materials along with other mysteries.
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>>5138790
Didn't the worm secure us some territory already? Maybe the Haazar and Baalathi are included in that?
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>>5138790
>>5139226
Yes.
>>5137055
>Your worm seems to have worked out securing your local cluster of stars- of which only Xin is under your direct control
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>>5138669
>Advance your outdated military
>Improve your general technology
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Phoneposting

Several people have chosen two options at once without a vow- you can only perform two actions at once with a vow. Failing your vow will bring shame to your reigns legacy.

>>5138714
>>5138790
Yes, these are possible vows.

>>5138721
The [i]military[/i] score of each nation includes both the military size, ships, pilots, discipline, and weapons technology. The [i]science[/i] score is more about high tech things like AI intelligence, cloning, and so on. The Esaal could not create Biofood the way you do, but their ship and weapons technology is superior to yours.

>>5139226
The "local cluster" does not include the Baalathi and Haazar home systems. Your local cluster is the six closest stars, four explored.

The [i]Haazar[/i] homeworld is about fifty light years away.
The B
[i]Baalathi[/i] homeworld is about eighty light years away.
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>>5139296
If we're picking a vow, I'm supporting the "conquering the Haazar and Baalathi lands" one.
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>>5138669
>Improve your general technology
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>>5138669
I'd say a better vow would be to begin the conquest and colonization of our backgarden and take a vow to 'ENSURE THERE IS A JAXTIAN PRESENCE IN EVERY STAR SYSTEM OF THE LOCAL CLUSTER.'

Whilst vows against the Haazar/Baalathi sound nice, all it would take is for one of our neighbours to take a key world and that vow would be beyond any fulfilling. The Ballathi are no doubt sending ships into the Esaal and getting a military response already; and the consortium are a diplomatic alliance just a single solar system away from Hazzar itself - it's not impossible they seek to bring both Haazar homeworld and species into their union.

So I would say:

>Establish a new colony (Andoen): Set up an orbital station from which a 'de-turreting' program can be run to start removing the auto-defences from this lush and otherwise immediately habitable world.

>Hunt down dissidents and improve societal control

Ensuring that we've burned away any other criminal elements and rogue-Alavis holdouts is essential. Most particularly, TALACENTI - what terrors the rogue AI might unleash with even a slight nudge to this exoplanet making inroads into our system could dwarf every bit of damage it has already done.


Also as a note - the consortium species. Are those more space monkeys we see? Are the purple ones a sub-group of Haazar
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>>5139364
The problem we face is, we need to prevent their AI technology being proliferated to our galactic rivals, which they will use against our Threemind. We cannot allow such an unprecedented threat to our new AI system to come about- we must expand our influence over these planets, else our foreign AI will be comprised.
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>>5139377
Considering that the Haaazar home system is RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the consortium, who are as strong as us in their weak fields and surpass us in their strong ones, and the Haazar have been doing their 'galactic traders' lark on a slower scale for longer then we've been a spacefaring civilisation, we probably missed the chance to stop that happening sometime back in the reign of Vantix Garastra
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>>5139395
It should still be attempted. We don't need our AI vulnerabilities known by rival empires.
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>>5139416
I agree that it should be attempted, or at least investigated. If it is possible to accomplish the 'liberation' of Hazzar then it would be a major boon. Exploring/Colonising systems between our current worlds and Hazzar (of which Andoen would I think be the first/next step) would build us staging posts toward this goal.

But realistically, failure is very likely. A consortium fleet that we know nothing about could even be already underway and we wouldn't have any clue, to say nothing about what actions the Esaal and Baalathi might be having. So we cannot make it the object (or one of the objects) of our vow because the failure condition could be utterly outside our own control and such failure would leave us a legacy of shame.
>>
You people are forgetting that we are literally on the verge of famine. We're being forced to use Biocubes because of overpopulation. We need to develop the Xin colony to ensure our people won't have to continue to eat Onions Green
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>>5139158
This. We need to find a way to solve our food problem. While we invest in Xin (which we will DEFINITELY need), we can also mold that planet's culture.

They're so primitive that we would be able to make them into actually valuable members of the hegemony. Xenos must be maintained under careful control.
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>>5139467
If we do this, we should work through proxies initially - find the small regional or national powers already most in line with Hegemonic ideals and bring them into the system as proxies and clients and vassals, then grant support to these to bring the nations around them into line. We don't want to be 'the invader from the stars' for them to rally against, but instead let them conquer themselves for us.
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>>5139487
It's better, but at the same time, they're very primitive. We want to make them believe in the ideals of the hegemony.
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>>5139467
>>5139511
Making them worship the Supreme Ruler would probably be the easiest way, most of them are devout monotheists.
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>>5139514
Worshipping the supreme ruler would end up badly, i'm fairly certain. It would be easier to mold their ideology and using the religion instead of straight up hijacking it.
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>>5139464
>>5139158
Fine and valid points... But conquering those blasted xenos is a bolder move, can still lead to some more food along the way, and the vow allows us to advance two goals at once.
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>Advance our outdated military.
It will be prudent, considering the amount of new aliens around.
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>>5138669
>Advance your outdated military
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>>5139296
Well, we should probably have a vote on the vow, because we need the extra actions to get us back up to full speed. Way I see it, we need to be ambitious if we want to prevent us backsliding diplomatically and as a society.
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Majority of votes support advancing the military. Votes to make a vow are roughly tied between vow and nonvow voters- and the second action of said vow is roughly tied between advancing general technology OR purging dissidents. We'll go with a vow and random coinflip to see which secondary vote is done if there are no tiebreakers; update will be in ~12 hours.
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>>5140397
Your intermission art is always great.
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>>5140397
>Vow yes
>Advancing general technlogy
Personally, I would make the vow about technologically and militarily surpassing the Consortium before the end of our reign.
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>>5140397
>Vow yes
>Hunt down dissidents and improve societal control
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>>5140397
>Vow yes
>Advancing general technlogy
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>>5140397
No vow
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>>5140397
Vow depends on the vow we make:
If it's a sensible but challenging vow such as 'Obtain a Hegemonic presence in each system of the local cluster' or 'send a 'liberation' fleet to Hazzar', then vow.

If the vow is incredibly implausible and depends on outside factors, such as vowing to surpass a much older and larger galactic neighbour or to conquer both the Hazar and Baalathi homeworlds, no vow.

If we go for a second option,
>Hunt down dissidents and improve societal control
The 'Ingar' downtime put plenty of crime back into action and scattered rogue Alavais nodes across the system, we need to safeguard our society from parasites and predators again.
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>>5140715
I assume that if a vow is unreasonably challenging, it would be labeled as a long term empire goal instead, sort of like the Threeminds project.
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>>5140722
No, vows are specifically a reign thing and supreme rulers failing to realize them are disgraced.
One of the first rulers we played was murdered by Helper and was titled as Lesser until we stopped the conspiracy and rehabilated him.
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>>5140734
I assume IC we wouldn't make a vow outta something impossible. Makes no sense to self-sabotage like that.
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>>5140397
Better to advance general technology
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It is time to take your reign in stride. You have decided to make a vow- a powerful commitment to your people. With your approval ratings and the morale of your people still low after the trauma of suffering the wrath of Ingar's attempt at ultimate power- a vow would give your early reign a massive push. Failing to complete this vow will result in shame upon your reign in the annals of history. However, in exchange for a vow, you can perform two powerful actions at once.

You first think that a vow to conquer the Haazar and Baalathi regions of space but... the truth is, even your ambition and confidence is shaken at the thought. Your fastest ships will need to fly for years to reach that region of space- even if you can defeat all resistance with your huge war fleet (which you will need to construct first), who knows how long a siege on a fortified system could take. You'll need to defeat and pacify all systems first. Even if your vow would be just to take the homeworlds, you'd have to make a mad dash and fight a war on two fronts, leaving yourself open, with many unoccupied systems that could act as staging areas for foes.

You also have the concept of a vow to become the envy of your galactic neighbors military- that's better, but you have no idea what sort of technology or effort that may take. Being courageous is always a good thing, getting into a pointless arms race with the Esaal or Consortium is not.

Even worse; there is always the chance that the large rival powers of the neighboring empires could gobble up that space before you accomplish it. At least you know they haven't already- your worm advisor assures you that your political starmap is up to date. Of course, your people aren't pedantic when it comes to vows; you wouldn't have to take every system, but if a majority are colonized by rival powers first, the vow will become impossible without a catastrophic war.

In the end, you decide on a compromise. Seeing how large and influential your rivals in space are, you decide to go to the public with your speech prepared.

”It is only now, in these years, that we see the true scope and scale of galactic civilization. We see empires flourishing and expanding, laying claim to foreign moons and stars; while we recover from a famine and unprecedented disaster. Despite our hardships, we are ready. It is time to advance our civilization- we will not be a backwater, hedged in by circumstance. We will be a major power of the galactic community- a force to be reckoned with. If our power be conquest, commerce, or culture- so be it! I solemnly vow that we will become a true interstellar empire and have a Jaaxtian colony on all systems of our local cluster by the end of my reign!”

The people rejoice at a powerful, determined Supreme Ruler who promises so much; it has been two centuries since Qet Scholiander made such a vow. Now to deliver your promise.
>>
With the spurring of your vow at their heels, your people get to work. Intellectualism and technology is focused on. The Hegemony has always banned anti-technology and progress movements; the recent Alavis disaster brought some of it back. However, advancement is inevitable and desirable. Todays issues with technology are trivial compared to what benefits tomorrows technology will bring- and there is no way to unlearn what has already been learned- so you must advance!

Your current HCDFV class starships are general workhorse ships- similar to the original Skiff 1.0s used back in the ancient days of Vantix Garastra. Not well suited to combat, these ships rely on tiny hangars to hold fighters or convert that space to cargo holds for transportation- not well suited to either task. Hyperdrives are getting better and better, and you can finally create a more suitable ship. Alavis also says your targetting systems and shields are improved, further increasing your combat potential.

Your general sciences include technology related to infrastructure and the managing of your empire. Due to the very negative connotation that the MkII drones had, associated with murderous robot rampages under Alavis, they are being replaced- and were long overdue anyway. These are MkIII drones. Each is constructed with a Azurium shell- making them capable of acting in extreme environments and much more durable. They are also equipped with quantum communication capability, as well as telescopic multitool functions. Each one is also more agile and compact then your old ones, making it much easier to ship them to new systems.

Another advancement is in the medical technologies. It is a prototype of a life extension treatment.

The current cause of death for over 90% of Jaaxtians is death by GPCS, due to your unnatural longevity from alien technology causing the oldest tissues in your body, which will always be your non regenerating neurons, to unravel. All Jaaxtians will suffer from this eventually if they live long enough, and currently the average will be about 100 years of age. This treatment extends that by an estimated 25 years per dose; forcing the neurons to partially regenerate. However, there is a reason it isn't being rushed out to the masses as the next big thing. The first is that it is prohibitively expensive, costing around 50 million Danbomarks to produce one dose. While a drop in the bucket for a Supreme Ruler or high ranking member of the Hegemony, there is no possible way you could inoculate a significant portion of your population with this drug. The second reason? There is a yet unexplained one in ten chance of instant death upon injection.
>>
While looking over your newest advances; Alavis pings you with something interesting. As it is high time to replace your HCDFV class ships, Alavis lays out a new ideal size and shape for a new brand of starship.

Thus far, you have only used Fighters and irregular type ships, prototypes and special cases like exploration vessels and experimental hyperdrive vehicles. However, there are a few sizes of ships that will probably be very common in the galaxy- ships of a size large enough to make maximum use of a fusion drive, with enough space to hold a crew, to be roughly aerodynamic when traveling through an atmosphere or nebula, and other such universal concerns. You've found the first “sweet spot”.

You have unlocked the Frigate.

Your space engineers have been at work testing and destroying empty starship hulls in your own system for practice. Generally speaking, a spaceship will be as structurally sound as its hull armor, shield battery, and computer core can possible make it. The actual shape and design of ships past a certain size, in this case, is culturally and aesthetically driven. Alavis sends you three 3d mockups of possible Frigate designs. All are exactly equivalent in terms of speed, defense, general dimensions, weapon platforms, and so on. She is just asking which one you think looks best.

The artstyle choice of your Frigate will also determine the artstyle of all future ships produced by the Jaaxtian Hegemony from now on. Which one do you want your frigates to look like, Supreme Ruler?
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>>5141010
We can't base it on the Vul's revenge? A pity, but I guess some historic designs can't be modernised.
Out of the three listed styles, I'd vote for
>B
As the profile of it approaching kind of resembles the hegemonic symbol, though I quite like A as well.
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>>5141010
Hard choice. I like A, especially the engine design, but B has a "chunkiness" to it that is also nice for a space ship, especially when thinking about how these will scale into bigger ships. I think A would be the cooler frigate, but B would make for cooler larger classes of ship, and I value that more, so my vote is:
>B
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>>5141010
>B
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>>5141010
>B
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>>5141010
>A
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>>5141010
>B
It looks cooler and more reminiscent of our earlier ship designs, though A is pretty cool too.
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>>5141010
B
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>>5139158
Second this.

I am also pro Vow to conquer at least One Alien species. That leaves us open to any of the three options to us.

>Make a Vow to Conquer At least One Alien Species (My personal choice is the Ventuck)
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>>5141010
A. It is easier to draw and therefore will lead to slightly faster updates
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>>5141006
Colonisation:

Xin System (50 Light Years): Inner Asteroid Belt (Heavy Minerals), Outer Asteroid Belt (Light minerals and ice)
Xin-1: Liquid Water, Current Terraforming Project, Home of the WURM
Xin-2: Ashy wasteland, Constant Deadly Storms

Nan System (60 Light Years): White Dwarf, Outer Asteroid Belt
Nan-1: Gas giant
Nan-1a: Highly oxidized surface, majority of crust made of zinc, further research required
Nan-1b: Rocky planet, no atmosphere
Nan-1c: Rocky planet, no atmosphere
Nan-2: Gas Giant
Nan-2a: Meager atmosphere, desert planet, possible silicate processing site

Vetuck System (60 Light Years): Yellow Star
Vetuck-1: Barren Hot world
Vetuck-2: Habitable world, iron age agricultural society, monetheistic culture
Vetuck-3: Gas Giant
Vetuck-3a: Hot volcanic world
Vetuck-3b: Small Barren ice moon
Vetuck-4: Dark world, very heavy elements, super-hard outer shell, more research needed
Vetuck-5: Tiny cold planet, thick atmosphere

Andeon System (90 Light Years): Red Giant, Nebula Cloud
Andeon-1: Habitable world, dead civilization, hostile defense grid
Andeon-2: Cold dry desert planet, source of Azurium

X System: Unknown

Y System: Unknown


Based on our new vow I have compiled all the information we have on the local cluster here and all the anomalies we need to research.
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>>5141273
You're off in your distances for Light Years, see pic related

Xin: 4 Light Years
Nan: 4 Light Years
Vetuck: 5 Light Years
Andeon: 9 Light Years
X: 12 Light Years
Y: 19 Light Years

Remember that we sent Kimnan to Andoen and it only took him 9 months, and our FTL is 12x the speed of light.
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>>5141279
Ah, you are correct I was using a picture based on the 0.1C times from way back at the start.
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>>5141279
We should pull off a Kirja and finance media romantizing space colonization to get volunteers, we probably can't really colonize one planet in all systems but a big space station in each would probably count.
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>>5141298
I don't think we need to fully colonize each world for it to count. I think getting a "base of operations" on the ground of a planet/moon in each system would be sufficient and easier than building space stations, even if life outside that base wouldn't be feasible. We can focus on expanding/terraforming/minor terraforming after we set up the initial colonies.
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>>5141298
Supporting a media blitz.
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>>5141273
Andoen is a valuable system both for the Azurium and the sort-of habitable world. We need to go send someone to stick a permanent flag and begin planning how to remove the turrets, even though we'll probably get a small mining operation underway on 2 before the prime world is safe for a civilian.

What's the current situation in Vetuck? I though we had a ship there studying the natives before Ingar happened, did we leave anyone still out there?

Nan, we need to go to for a more detailed study - it's as close as Xin but we didn't get around to visiting it before Ingar happened. Though with two gas giants, we'll need to be on alert in case the Baalathi sent a ship on the way here at the same time that they earmarked one for our home system.
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The Ventuck breadbasket and labor plan is genius. Solves both our issues.
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>>5141010
>A
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>>5141010
>B
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>>5141010
A has better authoritarian aesthetic imo
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>>5141356
I think we'd want to get jumpgates or something to make FTL more efficient before relying on other systems for food at scale. Not a bad idea, but as it is, it would put a strain on our resources I think to have regular FTL shipments at scale.
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>>5141564
I suppose we could deport excess population to live there, or nearer by. Such an exodus would achieve much the same effect.
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>>5141010
>A
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>>5141568
Not before we weed out dissidents lads. Cultural hegemony before everything else.
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Xin System (50 Light Years): Inner Asteroid Belt (Heavy Minerals), Outer Asteroid Belt (Light minerals and ice)
Xin-1: Liquid Water, Current Terraforming Project, Home of the WURM
Xin-2: Ashy wasteland, Constant Deadly Storms

Nan System (60 Light Years): White Dwarf, Outer Asteroid Belt
Nan-2a: Meager atmosphere, desert planet, silicate processing site
Colonize

Vetuck System (60 Light Years): Yellow Star
Vetuck-2: Habitable world, iron age agricultural society, monetheistic culture
Colonize and enslave

Andeon System (90 Light Years): Red Giant, Nebula Cloud
Andeon-1: Habitable world, dead civilization, hostile defense grid
Colonize
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>>5141584
Aren't we already in the midst of that?
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>>5141588
I think advancing general technology won over purging the dissidents.
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You have decided upon your ship appearance. The boxy, industrial design will well suit your pilots and what kind of craft you're used to, as well as representing the sheer might of the Hegemony.

With your newly rebuilt infrastructural factories, and with the power of your vow still aiding along morale; the Schoon factories and space platforms soon retrofit your older ships, and launch new ones. Your ships can be produced as an assembly line; where as once your HDCFVs were more hand crafted affairs, a universal design and layout to be mass produced by space platforms and your army of MkIII drones means you can pump out a lot more ships- and given your military aspirations, you may well need them soon enough.

With an additional five years passing to further repair the damage from the Alavis crisis and build up a fleet of exploratory and combat ships, cargo transport vessels, fighters, and ASDV-like workhorse ships. The ASDVs are almost a relic at this point- the original designs are from the early reign of Vul Takar!

While the Jaaxtian ships are ready for their next big adventure, your focus on matters at home for a moment longer.
>>
What, exactly, caused the chaos of the last generation?

The Supreme Rulers are always selected on a variety of factors. Children inducted into the program are smarter then their peers, make better leaders, and are more dedicated and harder working. But one of those factors is emotional stability, empathy, restraint. But the previous generations of Supreme Rulers; though perhaps starting even earlier with Talacent Intari, a beloved Supreme, and Eoba Garastra- your... ancestor. From these two came four Supreme candidates; one was stable, though old and never much considered for the role. The other three were Agori, Ingar, and Kimnan.

All three had several emotional and behavioral problems during Agori's reign, and especially Ingar just afterwards. The records are reports were leaked to the public a long time ago anyway- though the civilians seem to care very little for Agori's brutalization of terrorists, crippling a well respected captain and childhood hero to many is much less excusable. All of this could tie into the predictions of Vantix Garastra, your great ancestor- though much closer then the calendar would indicate because of your unique position as an Indigo.

Was it a young childhood living underneath the capsule? Was it the stress of leadership, even for the ones who were not selected? Was it caused by overpopulation and social neuroticism- infecting these other boys? Or was it the dysgenic effects prophesied by Vantix's time capsule? Perhaps it was none of these things, and was merely random chance and the social foibles of average people turned up to maximum from the power of their positions and stress of high expectations of living in Talacent's shadow. Or maybe it was the doing of a yet unknown alien power, manipulating everyone behind the curtain.

You still don't know for certain. But you do know that you do not intend to let it happen again.
>>
You have a small theory- some of Agori's stress may have been caused by being overloaded as a leader. In the time of Vantix, the Supreme Ruler only had to rule over Jaxt. One planet. But with each generations, new colonies, technologies, and alien species were discovered or brought under rule. Perhaps Agori was simply overwhelmed from trying to do too much, and you don't intend to slide like he did at the end of your time as Supreme Ruler.

You will assign Overseers, high ranking pseduo-supremes with relative autonomy. You have two divisions in mind, an Overseer for Science and an Overseer for Aliens and diplomacy. You will not have an Overseer for the military or space fleet, because all power comes from a single source- armed force. The Supreme Ruler is the master of the army, and remains the master of the Hegemony's power. You will assign high ranking individuals in the Hegemony to these positions- taking the burden of leadership off of you.

Hoewever, as the Hegemony is a highly eugenic nation and your science has advanced to this point- you can also grow Indigo clones of previous Supreme Rulers and Supreme Candidates to these positions. The Hegemony keeps extensive genetic records of every single person under its control- but most were lost when Alavis went berserk. Besides just deleting genetic databanks, Alavis also destroyed physical samples- meaning many of your previous Supreme Rulers no longer have DNA samples to work with.

Vantix's corpse is still in a spaceship somewhere, flying at 1% the speed of light, having not yet even reached the closest star system; it's in deep space. However, you could probably find it with the help of your worm advisor's abilities, though you might owe him a favor.

Qet and Bost's corpses were lost a long time ago, buried and decayed. Maktana's corpse however as preserved in an ice cave on Caplit, and was out of reach of Alavis's wrath. It would be trivial to recover a sample of his DNA.

Vul's body was lost to Max when the Cirrus sunk, and Kinja's was buried.

Talacent's body was given to the Haazar and is also well preserved. Eoba was buried in a graveyard for veterans of the capsule wars... but you are him. You have a sample of his DNA, a clone of a clone.

Agori and Ingar both died recently, and their bodies are fresh enough to give good samples. Kimnan is still alive, and so is HIS clone.

So you have seven. Out of a thousand years of history; and only the DNA of seven Supreme Rulers have the chance to lead the Hegemony once again.
>>
Now it is time to assign your new Overseers. Your Overseers are important characters that will help rules the Hegemony under their perspective departments. They are not Supreme Rulers and never will be; and are totally separated from the normal rules of succession. Overseers are appointed to their offices for life, but most will probably retire near the end of their natural lifespan. Jaaxtians will live, on average, to be 100 years old- and all Overseers are adults who are already working in the Hegemony- not born and bred special children, like you were.

You call up your fledgling Threemind to organize some individuals in the Hegemony who could potentially serve as your Overseers. Individuals closer to the left are more experienced and/or suitable to the task based on their gene and IQ scores. Their faces also show their eagerness to be appointed to the position.

Each applicant has positive and negative traits. You can also raise an Indigo clone of any previous Supreme Ruler Candidate that you have a DNA sample of to be born and raised to serve as that Overseer. It will take roughly 20 years before they finish their training and can take the position proper.

>(Vote for a Science Overseer here)
>(Vote for a Xeno-Integration Overseer here)
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>>5141987
>(Vote for a Science Overseer here: Galyo Qint with Cpt. Grec Bon helping him learn to lead)
Hear me out since Grec is a captain and old he obviously has experience leading others and would be a great help to Galyo in developing leadership skills

>(Vote for a Xeno-Integration Overseer here: Unila Kallas with giving her a form of direct contact with Bluey to give her advice and any tips she may need as he is the one individual in our empire that has the most experience with xeno integration)
The reason I don't want bluey in the seat is that I think it would be best for him to stay leading and controlling our haazar population
For her unassertive trait I think we could have the same cpt. Grec help her or talk to one of his friends he may think could help her being more assertive without losing her empathy

I know I'm leaning on cpt. Grec alot but I mean look at that face, the guy just want's to help no need to shaft him when he has skills that he can impart on the younger generation and help the grow
>>
I rather set Ingar's body on fire and redact him from history way before I ever clone him.

Let's see, though. I'll rate the (non indigo clone) applicants

Overseer of Advancement
>Galyo Qint
A loyal agent is good compared to a power hungry monke but I'm not quite sure how I feel about the "no leadership" skills thing, especially when you're a pseduo supreme leader.
>Yuan'Tul Scholiander
I just don't see why we should pick him.
>Mane Jipt
High IQ is good, especially when your whole job is to be the overseer of the science and advancement section. However, "anti-social" is already starting to give me Vietnam flashbacks to Ingar.
>Cpt. Grec Bon
Honestly, him being old is the thing that turns me off more than some of his ideas being dumb. Having someone who constantly thinks of new stuff, even if some of the ideas are bogus, would be good for the Science/R&D side of us.

Overseer of Xeno Integration
>Bluey
I mean, he has been our defacto ambassador for the Haazar at least, but that can only go so far with the other races. We're eventually gonna have to deal with more than alien versions of russian cryptobros. Still, a useful and loyal asset nevertheless.
>Shon Duj
Knowing alien languages would help a lot when it comes to dealing with said xenos. He's a decent pick, even if we might have to give him some training wheels to help ease him into his situation.
>Unila Kallas
Eh. Middle of the road, bland, nothing really notably good or bad about her. Having to fuck off to deal with a kid is the most unappealing part but someone who can empathize with xenos wouldn't be bad for that position.
>Iceberg
MYSTERY BOX but also a low IQ xeno, dunno if it's worth picking that mystery box.

For Science Overseer, Cpt. Grec Bon or Mane Jipt are the ones I would pick.
For Xeno-Integration Overseer, Bluey would probably be my pick.

If we're going for the Indigo Clone route, Talacent would fit just swell into a diplomatic position, so him being the Xeno-Integration overseer wouldn't be bad.
>>
See, it's a curious situation here - i'd really rather not rely on indigo clones too much. It's one thing to have indigo children in these position, but literal clones are a big damn crutch, and the last thing we want is to turn into a fucking kamino bootleg.
>Overseer of Advancements
This one's better because we have a more easy idea. Galyo Qint, while loyal and from the area of computers, has no leadership skills, which is about one of the last things we should want from an actual overseer. Yuan is a xeno, so no. Mane Jipt, while high IQ, has an antisocial record, so fuck that, he can be an normal scientist. Grec Bon seems like the best choice - but of course, he's old, which means he'll need a replacement soon.

I like the idea that anon gave of having Grec Bon tutor Galyo Qint in leadership skills so that he could take on the mantle once Grec was no longer able to work.

>Overseer of Xeno Integration
This one's a bit more complicated, because it's a generally more complex idea. Bluey's a nice guy and all, but he's a xeno, and his entire experience comes from dealing with Haazar - while maintaining him in his postion is good, we're going to have bigger problems than nudist libertarians in our conquests. Unila Kallas seems pretty kind, but she's unassertive - that is the worst thing we could have in an xeno integration official. She would give too many concessions, and her being a woman probably doesn't help. Iceberg is a mystery pick, so i have no reason.

Shon Duj, however, seems like the best pick. He's a Xeno Linguist, and considering how new the idea of xeno integration is, being inexperienced is pretty much a non-issue - we're ALL inexperienced.

TL;DR Grec Bon for advancements and tutoring Galyo, Shon Duj for integration.
>>
>>5141998
>For her unassertive trait I think we could have the same cpt. Grec help her or talk to one of his friends he may think could help her being more assertive without losing her empathy
That's not something we can exactly drive out of her, though. It's a very big guess to think that she can not only lose her unassertiveness but do so without becoming less empathic.

It seems obvious to me that unilla is just a kind woman, most likely of the motherly type. That's good for her, but she's the last person you should want trying to control xenos.
>>
>>5141987
>Grec Bon
But start mentoring Quint to succeed him in the event of demise

>Shan Duj
Who IS really experienced in these matters? We only routinely interact with one species, unless you count the worm.
>>
>>5141987
>Maktana clone
None of the candidates look very good and Maktana was brilliant, super nice and one of our most stable and useful Supreme Ruler candidates.
>Shon Duj
Looks fine, the others have too many drawbacks.
>>
>>5141987
>The Captain, with a properly socialized Ingar to take his place.

Agori and Ingar redemption arc! Have Agori be the warrior he always wanted to be!

>Bluey, though Maktana is also a good candidate

Bluey, we need someone loyal and who owes us to head integration. After, I think a Maktana clone would score well in IQ and empathy, I think he might be a good fit for the position. Hell, maybe Maktana can figure our Iceburg's strength, I'm a bit interested in why the computers showed him outta all the others.
>>
>>5141987
Also, what does Supreme Candidate mean as a positive? I'm curious what would entail if we were to choose him.
>>
>>5142094
Honestly? Maktana always hit me as a very diplomatic Xeno-focus guy. Sure, he may be brilliant, but I think trying to understand and integrate the Xenos into the Hegemony would fit him better personally.
>>
>>5142104
>>5125965
He was selected as a potential Supreme Ruler candidate because of his genetics so he's supreme ruler tier.
Probably because no one thought of excluding xenos from the selection pool but still.
>>
>>5142102
>even thinking of cloning Ingar
oh shit nigga what the fuck do you think you're doing
>>
>>5142116
Redemption arc nigga, Ignar was a brilliant scientist, he just needed to learn empathize.
>>
>>5142116
>>
>>5142118
I'm not sure how you can redeem a man who's actions directly murdered billions but hey

>>5142121
KEK
well played, bananasQM. well played.
>>
>>5142121
I support giving Unila Kallas the Ingar clone now, let's see if she CAN fix him!
>>
>>5142128
You understand that a clone would take several years to grow, right? Eoba II started as a child, but he was a special case.
>>
>>5142133
That's why I supported the Captain as the Overseer of Science, by the time the clone grows up the Captain should be ready to retire by then.
>>
>>5141987
>>5142094
Changing my vote to
>Science
Ingar clone (or Grec Bon then Ingar clone)
>Xeno
Maktana clone (or Bluey then Maktana clone)

None of the candidates are amazing but I think that an Ingar raised by a good guy could turn out great and Bluey raising a Maktana clone would be fun.
>>
>>5141987
>Mane

We really need to apply our high tech to therapy. It's a massive liability to have our leaders going off the handle. Bluey's self esteem issues are gonna blow up one day and we can't have personality quirks taking the best candidates out of commission. We put Mane in charge and give him mandatory mental health treatment (in fact this should be mandatory for every high ranking monke)

>Shown

Bluey is overspecialized he knows how to deal with Hazaar but not xenos at large or hell even Hazaar beyond those in the Hegemony. He works better as a governor of the Hazaar. Iceberg's competency is in question and Unilla's only pro is empathy. Shon is inexperienced but so is everyone and communication is key in diplomacy so linguism will help.


Also raising monke from birth to serve a role is gonna give them psychological pressure that will cause them to snap. I think a better idea for supreme cloning is to distribute them randomly through the population via adoption and not tell them who they are clones of. (Minor cosmetic tweaks can make them not recognizable with out compromising their skills)

Although to be honest we should probably be workshopping genetically engineered super gattaca Monkes
>>
>>5142166
Relying on clones is a bad idea
>>
>>5142176
I wouldn't if the candidates were better, personally.
>>
>>5141985
So only Vantix(possibly), Matktana, Kinja(as you didn't describe his form as decayed - plus he was a major celebrity before he became supreme leader, so there's bound to be a few preserved locks of hair and preserved fan-samples from his superstar days floating around the civilian market at vast sums), Talacent, Eoba, Agori and Kimnan?
I think Ingar's attempt to break from the Hegemony and the destruction he wrought means he's not getting cloned this generation or possibly ever. His is the face of a Hegemonic enemy and I'd feel sorry for any poor Jaxtian who has to wear it.

>>5141987
Advancements:
Grec Bon for a few years with a view to training Galyo Qint in leadership enough that he'll have at least some leadership skills when he takes over sounds the best course. If it wasn't for that 'no leadership' thing I'd be going right for Qint. How many years is Bon estimated to have left?

Xenointegration:

Shon Duj

The only way to get experience is to do the job. I like Bluey and he's good with the Haazar - but he's already got a very essential job in Xeno-integration of a more specific variety. Who the heck would we be able to manage the Hazar with if Bluey goes elsewhere - does he have any potential successors of his own for his current job?

There's going to be more alien languages out there we'll need to crack so Shon Duh would seem a good fit if he wants this - but I can't get a firm read on his expression. Whilst Mane Jipt looks disgusted by even the thought of it, Shon's expression seems more like determination with a slight smile.

Perhaps Unila Kallas would do well as an Overseer of Education?

And a clone of Kinja as an Overseer of Media would be grand - if we can recover his DNA. Though I'm certain Kinja would have left more then enough descendants, perhaps we could pick one of those?
>>
>>5142176
Agreed. Our reign has spent too long dwelling on the past. Such obsessions with regaining bygone eras' glories are what drove the first Eoba to madness, in turn soiling Agori and leading to our creation and the tragedy of our childhood and early rule.

We must move FORWARD.
>>
>>5142175
>Also raising monke from birth to serve a role is gonna give them psychological pressure that will cause them to snap.

That's a strawman, because otherwise all the Supreme Leader candidates would've snapped, and before this most recent crop of candidates the Supreme Leaders have been emotionally stable, so it clearly ain't psychological pressure lad.

>>5142176
When our forth best candidate for Xeno-integrations is a low IQ Xeno named Iceberg, clearly we need better options.

>>5142189
Just put Talacent's face over Ingar's clone and give him a new name, they'll never know the difference.

>>5142191
I'd argue the obsession with progress was what lead to our personality problems. I think a focus on culture and societal unity may help mellow our Supreme Leaders out, barring the occasional Nero the QM will throw at us.
>>
>>5141987
>Grec, also mentoring Gaylo
>Shon Duj
>>
>>5141987
>Science Overseer
Mane Jipt

>Overseer Xenos
Iceberg

Listen here bros, in the next frontier, there are a bunch of planets with strange mineral phenomenons. Sure he may be anti-social but with the new AI network we can properly monitor him and keep him in check. Plus he's the mineral guy, how the fuck is he gonna use that to rebel.

Also let a migrator bro in the door, who doesn't love a mystery box option!
>>
>>5142220
>When our forth best candidate for Xeno-integrations is a low IQ Xeno named Iceberg, clearly we need better options.
Is a clone relaly a better option though? Shon Duj is a normal jaxtian, and his only problem is lack of experience...which pretty much none of us have at all.
>>
>>5142279
The AI does not make recommendations unless there is some merit to them, while we might not be able to see it there must be some unique aspect about ICEBERG that makes him well suited to be our Xeno-Intergration Overseer. We gotta trust the systems, they predicted Ingar but we ignored those warnings, look how it turned out.
>>
>>5142189
Unila Kallas will do best as our personal secretary. We need an empathetic gatekeeper to keep some prospectives on our subjects while we focus on colonization.

>>5142279
Technology is our best achievement on the galactic stage now, if we don't have the best working on it, we will fall behind our galactic neighbors.

>>5142283
I'm willing to give Iceberg a shot, but when his best quality is a literal unknown, I don't think we should risk it for someone low IQ.
>>
>>5142305
Migrators have literally never had a chance before now to be participating citizens of the Hegemony even though they were granted that right ages ago. He has low IQ cause they don't have schools and any infrastructure to support their development, this is our chance to actually uplift the species and bring them into a proper society which is the literal goal of the Xeno-Intergration Overseer.
>>
>>5142309
The low IQ is probably because of the lack of eugenics.
>>
>>5142309
I always assumed IQ was natural intelligence instead of education, but it's still a big problem that the gambling aspect doesn't seem to be worth it. If you want, we can interact with Iceberg, investigate what that unknown trait is, but beyond that I think he may be a poor pick for Overseer. Nevertheless, it has piqued my interest. Maybe it's worth taking the low IQ option, just to see how it pans out.
>>
>>5142333
We have a massive vow to fulfill, we don't as a Supreme Ruler have time to spend chatting with Iceberg, the whole thing with these positions is development without us having to micromanage which is why picking him would work great to develop our Migrator citizens.
>>
>>5142309
Anon, migrators literally spend 80% of their lifetime asleep.
>>
>>5142345
Due to the lack of nutrients in their ecosystem, with some simple genetic editing, I'm sure we can modify that.
>>
>>5142360
Their minds have been accustomed to that. Are they really going to be able to live differently?
>>
>>5141987
>Science Overseer
Mane Jipt

>Xeno-Integration Overseer
Shon Duj
>>
>>5141987
>>5142094
>>5142166
Changing my vote again to
>Science
Mane Jipt
>Xeno
Shon Duj
>>
Mane Jipt seem like he's just a great candidate for being Ingar 2.0
>>
>>5142469
Ingar was warned by the AI system to be more dangerous than antisocial though.
>However his psyche profile matches those of prodigal Supreme Rulers of the past; meaning that if he is chosen as the Supreme Ruler, there is a high chance he could become imperial, selfish, and tyrannical for some or all of his reign.
Our science overseer being a mere asshole probably isn't that bad.
>>
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Kid Agori was so cute and chubby.
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>>5142488
Mane Jipt actually looks very similar to Ingar. It's foreshadowing, never give him any power.
>>
>>5142514
The nuzzle and ears are completely different and Ingar wasn't as narrow-faced, especially as an adult.
>>
>>5142488
That's because kid Agori was just an innocent kid with self-esteeem issues. And then he became an bipolar gorillaman.
>>
>>5142481
Ingar "probably wasn't that bad" back when he was just a weird scientist, but we should have seen the signs when he asked for us to incriminating a man with cheating for no reason other than that he thought his wife was cute.

He's still an anti-social "genius", and we've had quite enough of those.
>>
>>5142555
Puberty hit him like a ton of bricks, and the he ate those bricks and became a huge brick of a monke.

...and then Eoba I made him kill a man with his bare hands.
>>
>>5141987
>(Vote for a Science Overseer here)
Galyo Qint
>(Vote for a Xeno-Integration Overseer here)
Icerberg
I WANT THE MYSTERY BOX, Bluey is probably better but we haven't really seen the Migrators do anything iirc, we can finally get them to start doing things with this guy.
>>
On the bright side, it's not like Iceberg is gonna disappear if we don't vote him in. He should still be around, and because one of the migrators was at least capable of being in a high place in our government, others probably will as well.
>>
>>5142488
Kimnan and Ingar weren't very different to their child selves as Adults, but Agori basically turned into a whole different person.

Perhaps in the future we need to wait until after puberty for the final selection?
>>
>>5142613
Maybe we should just agree to not traumatize children chosen as Supreme Leader candidates, ya?
>>
While there were a lot of choices for your cabinet, you decide to appoint Captain Grec Bon as your Overseer of Sciences & Advancement, and Shon Duj as the Overseer of Xenologies.

As the Supreme Ruler has always traditionally ruled alone, above all, there is no fitting symbol or uniform of their office, but you feel it should be commemorated by something. You decide to give your Overseers a golden necklace; an incomplete version of your Hegemonic Amulet. This golden necklace will contain a tracking device and life-sign sensors, just like your own. This high symbol of office puts them above all other Jaaxtians, only beneath you in importance. With their power now officially instated, your Overseers will go to work serving your empire.

While you can't control them directly, Overseers can be guided and advised, and will usually take your advice to heart, as you are both their Supreme Ruler and also their mentor and superior in leadership. You advise Grec Bon to consider training Galyo Qint, the indigo, in some of his leadership qualities so he could eventually replace the old captain. Grec is very deferential and instantly agrees. You have no special advice or requests for Shon Duj, so you simply hope that he does his job well of integrating the aliens into your empire.

Overseers may or may not choose their successors on their own. If the office becomes open or the quality of a successor is in doubt, you'll be prompted to pick a new one. Otherwise, Overseers will work in the background.
>>
...You must say, Eoba, you really outdid yourself this time. Nobody knew your scheme. You dare say you're as crafty as Maktana. You're as evil as Ingar. You fooled them all.

What was the real reason you appointed Overseers? So that you could slip away on an adventure of course! You may be the Supreme Ruler, so very important and saddled with responsibility, but that doesn't mean you can't have a little fun. This is the time of your life you should be doing this kind of thing- you're still young and spry, and while your anti-aging technology helps, you don't want to be worried about your kids and wives and all that stuff at home while trying to explore the universe...

You take a leave of absence for about a year; enough time to meet the Vetuck-II aliens face to face, do what you need to, and then come back in time for dinner. The observation satellite in orbit around the planet for quite a long time- the AI onboard is more then capable of translating and understanding these aliens now after all this time. You and your people have had a long intention of conquering the Vetuck-II aliens, but only now with your newfound frigates did it become convenient- your weapons and technology has been more then enough to conquer them since the time of Vantix Garastra, much less now. That's not really the concern.

Interestingly, the trip takes a little less then four months- a day or two early. This might be because your frigates have upsized fusion cores compared to your old HDCFVs; but you are approaching the maximum hyperspeed of your current technology until you develop your fusion cores or find new propulsion engines. You come out of suspension around the planet and, taking a workshuttle down to the surface, you wonder how the locals will react!
>>
Your shuttle breaks through the atmosphere of Vetuck-II, an alien world. Well studied but totally foreign to your world; its atmosphere is nontoxic to Jaaxtians and free from pollutants, given the primitive nature of these people's lifestyles and slow or stagnant development.

You fly over the feudal landscape, appearing as little more then a dot in the sky, if any of them can even see you. These people live in tiny kingdoms; each one so insignificant in comparison to an interstellar empire. As your histories indicate, these people have regressed a bit from the days of the grain empire- though their population has expanded and they live on multiple landmasses now. Their technology has not yet developed gunpowder or germ theory. This single ship could probably defeat the entire planet at one tenth power- their most advanced weapon is probably a high strength crossbow, whose bolt could never penetrate this craft's defenses.

You decide on where to make your appearance. Nearby the largest cathedral and castle on the northern continent; you could make your demands known to the largest kingdom in this region. Of course, this species is not unified nor globespanning, so there will be no “take me to your leader”... instead, a mythologized introduction may prove useful.

Coming down from the sky, your shuttle floats down above the ground to the shrieks of terrified serfs and tradesmen going about their day. Some shout and run, most simple stand in stunned silence. You open the door of the shuttle and decide to put on a little show.

Floating down from the sky like an angel, you have a drone cast a heavenly light on you- thankfully, it can also act as an instant translator for dealing with the strange alien tongue these aliens possess. As you come down, your robe fluttering in the wind, many townspeople fall to their knees and instantly prostate themselves in submission- a religious cry of fear and awe goes through them. Near the ground, one raises his head, tears streaming down his face.

”A-Are you... God?”

>Yes
>Close enough (No)
>>
>>5142983
>Yes
C'mon, we're the supreme leader. Why not go on a little bit of a power trip?
>>
>>5142983
>Close enough (No)
We are an atheist, rationalist society. If these people will ever fit in, albeit in a subservient role, they must share our values.

Also, if they later found out we lied in our very first interaction, and on such a grand philosophical/cosmic scale, they'll resent us when they learn the truth
>>
>>5142983
>Yes
Good way to assimilate them, xenos don't need to know the truth.
>>
>>5142983
>Yes
>Have an adventure with Unila Kallas as well *hubba hubba*

Time to become a living God and start a religious crusade over this shit! Hell yea!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip_movement
>>
>>5143012
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
We ARE functionally a god compared to them. These guys have no tech stronger than what you would see in the middle ages while we're working with FTL level tech.
>>
>>5142983
>Yes
This is just 1 of many weak medieval factions on this complete alien planet, and could easily sow seeds of easy vassalship with this religion in 1 of the many many nation states that evolves with periodic visits and "blessings", meanwhile studying there plants, animals, and evolving cultures and creating local legends to expand Jaxtian divine supremacy and the eternal gratitude they owe to the supreme
>>
>>5142983
>Not yours, but maybe a god
Be a bit vague, this way you won't get in big trouble, methinks.
>>
>>5143162
I say we tell everyone that we heard the translation for Supreme Leader and Omnipotence, not God, if this is going to cause serious sperging out at home. Really though, this is probably more ethical than them thinking we're not and having to come back to shoot up eveybody or dissent and insubordination.
>>
>>5142983
>Close enough (No)
>>
>>5142983
>Close enough (No)
I want to say yes because if you are ever asked if you're a God then you say yes, but it's probably not too great of a idea so no.
>>
>>5142983
>>Close enough (No)

If it was a one-off visit yes might be fun, but we want these guys to be part of our great empire and the lie here would eventually get rumbled.
>>
>>5142983
>Close enough (No)
>>
>>5142983
>Close enough (No)
This is going to end horribly bad if we say yes.
>>
>>5142983
>Close enough (No)
>>
Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>
>>5142983
>Yes
>>
>>5142983
>Close enough (No)
>>
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>>5142983
>No, I'm not God... but I am a close second.
>>
>>5143334
>BQM rolls
What does it mean??
>>
"No- I am not your God. I am a King- I am God of another people. I have traveled the stars to visit your planet."

"P-Planet? What is that?"

"Hmm, no concept of astronomy. Tell me, do you know that your world spins on its axis and rotates around your sun?"

"W-what? Our faith teaches us that the land and its bounty is fixed in place; the bounty of the infinite God above."

"Geocentricism as well? Interesting. I wish to speak more about this- take me to your priest."

These people are even less advanced then you thought- at least intellectually. You wonder if knowledge has been lost. The previous largest, dominant civilization of this planet was the grain empire, which has fallen sometime in the last two hundred years. An empire of their technology should be able to determine that the world is both round and even calculate its curve pretty closely- they don't need to go up and see the curve of their planet to know its there. Of course, technology and thought develops differently based on species. Perhaps these aliens are content to be as they are, and don't ask big questions like "why are we here". You simply must know more...
>>
You spend some time past the village and living places of the Vetuck II aliens while getting a better look at them up close; and soaking in all the attention and awe they give your floating stride.

The Vetuck II aliens are a bipedal species of mammal-like creatures. They have two sexes, male and female. The Vetuck aliens are a bit bigger and heavier then most Jaaxtians- probably quite a bit stronger too, though Jaaxtians never devolved their innate strength from the days of swinging through trees. Still, these aliens would be a match for any of your people- only an Alpha male Jaaxtian could go toe to toe with one in a fight. You'd even guess one of these could give Agori a run for his money. The males and females have different horns; male horns are clearly for display purposes, where as the females are more subdued.

The Vetuck aliens are also totally herbivorous, which is surprising. Your computers predict that most alien races should be omnivorous- calories are needed to develop big brains. You aren't exactly sure where they get the energy from- perhaps a special mutation, gut flora, or some kind of special crop they use? Or do they just eat a LOT? The disadvantages of large size could also be mitigated somewhat by their nostrils- four in total.

The Vetuck aliens live in a patriarchal, conservative society. It's primary form of education is the church and religious teachings. They are a highly ordered and hierarchical society- which is a good starting point. Women, especially unmarried women, almost never leave the house unless called into church service, and it would be unthinkable for one to go into public without at least a head covering. On more formal religious festivals, veils or hoods are required instead. Perhaps this makes sense given their circumstances- an unwanted pregnancy or unsure parentage can't just be aborted and the long, slightly over a year long gestation period means women have to be tightly controlled. You can't judge- it's not really that different from how your people used to be.

Their primary economy is farming based, with small families of skilled craftsmen creating most of the goods. Ironsmithing is considered a very attractive and high-class labor. The aliens seem to employ a palace economy, with food and resources being centralized and redistributed according to need. More interestingly is that this isn't done by the ruling or warrior class- it's actually the priesthood.

The priests are especially interesting. These “men of the cloth” are about a standard deviation higher in intelligence then the average Vetucker. This is probably just due to better nutrition and access to education; the priests count on numbers higher then their fingers, perform math, scribble down a pseudo-language for keeping track of debts and payments, and perform some limited work as healers and midwives.
>>
Their religion is especially important. It seems that, similar to early Jaaxtian cultures, religion is one of the only methods of storing knowledge between generations, often in the form of stories or songs, as well as religious parables. Religious calendars note the times of years to reap and sow, how to care for children, how to protect oneself from carnivorous predators, and even the construction of an iron kiln. The religious tales and myths are very simple, there are no named characters- just “a man” or “a storm” is featured. There is no messianic figure. The only significant undercurrent running through their oral history is that life is essentially a test- a proving ground where the almighty and infinite God sends hardships, suffering, and pain to people to test them and make them stronger. Good deeds in this life and enduring your life as long as you can lead to rewards in the afterlife- a very typical belief in a life after death as a coping mechanism for death.

You have arrived at the walled church. You can see gardens, resources like food and firewood being prepared for winter, and various people going here and there... Wait, are those glass windows? That's lovely. You can't even imagine the cost of making and transporting those here. You're miles and miles away from an industrial source of sand. These people really do care about their church and teachings.

But now- it's time for you to decide what you're doing here. How you are going to conquer this species with your own two hands.... You're not actually alone of course- your ship is a few seconds away, hiding in the stratosphere with your pilot on call. You have drones with you, your knife, a levitron, and all the training and strength of the Hegemony.

>Go find the local lord and duel him in single combat
>Talk to the priest and prove to him his God is fake
>Stage a terrifying show of force to scare the primitives into submission
>Just visit, take some samples, and fuck an alien babe before leaving in peace
>Other (Write in)
>>
Maybe it would be wise to start shaping their culture towards something that could be used in the hegemony. Their religion can be used.

We should go to the local lord, but not to duel him combat. We should instead find a lord that is able to become our 'puppet'. In exchange for certain advantages against their many enemies, we start influencing their culture.

This way, we can get one of them to start an empire and shape their culture without creating an revanchist feeling that might come in the future from being basically smurfed by an empire.

As funny as banging an alien babe is, it's not wise.
>>
>>5143476
>Go find the local lord. Talk to him about his needs... and his wants. Is there any disputed land he believes should be his, any claims he holds outstanding or cursed rivals beyond his ability to deal with? Is he sworn to a greater feudal master?

And then once he's told you about, start talking about what WE can do for HIM. How we can advance and fill his claims and desires, how we can equip his men with weapons beyond anything he's seen and support his forces with multipliers unimaginable. About the knowledge we possess to craft wonderous ships that fly in the heavens. And those could be his too, could help his people thrive and possible. If, of course, he has the will and vision to sign up with the Hegemony... to be part of something greater.
>>
>>5143524
*prosper, not possible
>>
>>5143476
>Duel a local lord
>Install a puppet to prop up and to initiate into the scientific and hegemonic truths
>Fuck a green woman before leaving
>>
>>5143476
>>Go find the local lord and duel him in single combat
>>
>>5143527
+1

If we can turn him into a cuckold, all the better in my opinion.
>>
Maybe not a display of force but a display of awe is in order. A magnificient show to introduce them to the grander interstellar community.
>>
>>5143476
>>5143527
+1
>>
>>5143476
>Go find the local lord and duel him in single combat
>>
>>5143476
Honestly boys we gotta treat this like playing Conan and reviving the Grain Empire. The church will fight us every step of the way and it will be better to just empower secular leadership over the clergy.
>>
>>5143606
It's much easier to just let the priests be and use the vassal to conquer the planet. If we can use him to shape their society to be fitting to join the hegemony, then we can just give them a bunch of stuff, let them go, and return in a few decades.
>>
>>5143606
You know, admitting to being their God would've sped things up quite considerably.
>>
>>5143524
>Seconding this
But also check in on the highest religious authority, see how we could praise the parts that align with Hegemony and advise against the bad parts of their religion. Heck, throw in parables and stories as examples, follow their cultural example.
Repeat in each major landmass or continent, maybe in some bigger islands too if we can.
>>
>>5143623
But also greater risk.
>so you claim you're God, right, where's your Bhanak?
>uhh what
>he claims he is God but does not know a Bhanak! Impostor devil, burn at stake!
>>
>>5143626
>implying we couldn't fool them with their own eyes

What, are they not going to trust their eyes now? Claiming we were their only God would've made things simpler, instead we may end up uniting them against us as their religious enemy. If we don't control their religion, they're gonna be a pain in the ass to deal with.
>>
>>5143476
>Go find the local lord and duel him in single combat
>Stage a terrifying show of force to scare the primitives into submission
>Fuck an alien babe

Jaxtians, alphas of this galaxy
>>
>banging an alien babe
Do you retards really want to get space AIDs? Are you retarded?
>>
>>5143527
+1, except the banging thing if it's too risky (i.e space aids). Otherwise, let's go green.
>>
>>5143821
I kind of doubt that local diseases are comptatible with Jaaxtian biology.
>>
>>5143824
Anon, literally fucking all of the worst diseases humans have came from other species.
>>
>>5143827
Avian diseases need to evolve with intermediate hosts to be able to go from humans to other humans (mammals), completely unrelated lifeforms are even less likely to be able to do it.
>>
>>5143827
Not to spoil your argument, but he have the top high tech medical sciences available to us, and personal interaction with other xenos we could've gotten sick from but didn't. It's a non-issue.
>>
>>5143827
we have interacted with THREE alien species and not once did we get a single coof or bit of boiling blood. Maybe we're just lucky and it's a "why didn't the colonizers get sick when they first interacted with the indians in America" situation, but c'mon.

Once Is Chance, Twice is Coincidence, Third Time Is A Pattern
>>
>>5143833
They're mammals, not weird aliens like the aannel. We don't know if they have anything that might be bad for jaxtians.

>>5143846
There's a difference between meeting a species and banging one.
>>
>>5143890
>There's a difference between meeting a species and banging one.

Not with our first encounter with the Hazaar.
>>
>>5143901
You mean the one where they basically shot a facheugger at an jaxtian?
>>
>>5143914
facehugger*

A chestbuster works, too. Considering it literally turned into a tumor that burst out of the poor man.
>>
>>5143914
>>5143915
I'm just saying: we got fucked by a xeno.
>>
>>5143971
That guy who ended up creating bluey did, and it was pretty damn bad. Bluey was raised by the fucking gandhi-tier pacifist that is Talacent, but it was a pretty horrible event.
>>
>>5143984
We created more Blue Hazaar since then

Didn't the Jaxtian who was impregnated by Bluey's Hazaar parent experience unbelievable euphoria thereafter? Don't all of the host Jaxtians?
>>
>>5144000
He was basically drugged out of his brain, yes. That's not a good thing.
>>
>>5143524
>This plan is sound +1
>>
>>5143524
This is what we should do, but we should not give them space tech yet. We don't want foreign intervention or to advance them too much in one step.
>>
>>5143483
>support
>>
>>5127786
Now that I finally finished the archives, I found to really like Agori. I think the problem is that there wasn't anything to really challenge him like the other Supreme Rulers (with exception to the first), and no overarching storyline to connect him with the other. He just seems like a placeholder Supreme Leader, waiting for technology to advance and dealing with bio-terrorists early in his reign. It also felt that Kinman stole his thunder a lot, though I think that was by design.

Also, had we given Ingar his blonde waifu, would he have tried to coup Ebola 2.0 or would something else have changed?
>>
>>5143524
Also, why do we have to play idiotic politics to what is essentially a medieval glorified town-guardsman, especially when we know the real movers and shakers of this world are the priests? Why can't we just have some fun and duel the lord, since we came here originally as an adventure?
>>
>>5143524
+1
>>
>>5143527
+1

Yea, maybe he has a hot wife or daughter!
>>
>>5144371
From how primitive they are, it sounds as though we could pass them advancements of a much lower era then our own and still give them a techbase to allow for global consolidation. Napoleonic-equivalent arms, WW1-style aircraft. It's just a question of how much we'd want to balance risk vs effectiveness.
>>
>>5144933
Why even bother with the farce? It isn't sovereign nations that control this society, but the institutional religion that's supreme. With our military and AI tech, I honestly fail to see why we'd want to continue this farce of a political plot.
>>
You have decided to find the local lord- the village headman. He's impressive- big, with huge horns, and both armed and armored. You can see these people prefer large, heavy weapons like axes for their cultural weapons- it makes sense. Jaaxtians have always had a knife culture, the knife is the simple for a Jaaxtian noble duelist and the Jaaxtian warrior because anything longer or heavier is not well suited to climbing through trees.

His armor- metal splits woven into a protective jacket. Very simple- this could be a simple advancement of an all wooden version for a primitive culture like this. As the warrior class becomes more prominent in a culture, armor becomes more elaborate and better as it strives to protect its warriors. Weapons are cheap to make, it is armor that shows a culture's development before your advanced technological benchmarks.

”Halt! I am the headman! Who is this foreigner to question my authority?”

The other Vetuckers are looking nervous. Nobody has ever questioned this man before. He suddenly reminds you very much of Agori.

”I intend to make you into my vassal. You will remain as the leader of these people, while you serve me as your highest power.” You say, confidently.

”No power is greater then God.”

”Hmmph. You claim powers to your divine- but has this God of yours ever performed a miracle? Have your priests ever displayed this power? Have any of your priests managed to do... this!”

Drawing back your robe and levitating up into the air with your levitron. The others lean back in surprise and a bit of fear, but also awe. But the way this headman looks at you- it's not as you expect! You realize that his large size and position should probably means he has better nutrition and living conditions; he's a lot smarter then these other bumpkins.

”...Birds can fly, so can insects, and even some seeds when they catch the wind. The oldest priest has also made a construction of string and paper that can fly too- a “kite”. While I don't know how it might work- you could just have “wings” we don't understand. Nothing about a wing is divine.”

Hmph. He's a clever one. Of course, this bumpkin doesn't know your pedigree. You are Eoba Garastra- the legendary duelist! Every leader of the Hegemony knows a knife better then this fool knows his axe- and you're the best among all of them!

”...Well, if you will not submit willingly, perhaps I could duel you instead. Though I have to warn you, it wouldn't end well for you.”
>>
The green man looks skeptical, and looks like his mind his racing. With a slight smile, he points at you.

”I will duel you then- but it wouldn't be fair if you can fly around like that. You should 'close up' your wings, if you can. Then we'll duel with whatever weapons you wish.”

Reaching down to your levitron, you flip the switch and gently touch down as the last of the pull of antigravity disappears. The moment you do- he shouts.

”Quick! Crossbows! He can't fly anymore- loose!”

Uh oh. While your imperial robe is trimmed with smart materials to transfer the force and the artificial fabrics are extremely tough- you would still rather not get struck by a crossbow bolt. The guardsmen have already readied their weapons and are aiming them towards you- but are still getting up the courage to fire. The next time the headman orders it- they'll shoot. You whisper quietly- trusting your drone's advanced sensors to pick it up.

”Al- burn those crossbows. Low power- no visible beams.”

Within seconds, the guards drop their crossbows with a gasp- rapidly heating up and igniting within their grasp. The drones do this as inconspicuously as possible. To the primitives, you just caused their weapons to ignite without so much as a wave of your mystical, Godlike arm. The guards have already fled, the headman dropping to his knees in disbelief.

”No... no- it can't be! It isn't possible! You ARE a God!”

”Compared to you? I am. In every way you can measure.”

The Vetucker warrior, huge and impressive, throws his weapon to the side and clasps his hand towards you, like in prayer. ”P-please.. almighty one, I didn't... I'm sorry! Great God-King from beyond the stars, please spare my life! And if not mine- then please the life of my wife and children! They should not pay for my foolishness- I beg you!”

>Kill him as an example
>Spare him
>>
>>5145047
>Spare
If we are to subjugate with less resistance, we need the carrot and stick method. Right now we show them that we are merciful to those we defeated... but if he backstabs us? Incinerate him from orbit.
>>
>>5145047
>Spare
"No harm, no foul. Now, let's talk."
>>
>>5145047
>Spare
This guy is pretty damn clever for an iron age warlord. He would have gotten us if not for the ridiculous difference in technology. We can use him to take over this world.
>>
>>5145047
>>Kill him as an example
>>
>>5145079
Ha! I like it.

>>5145047
Spare, then talk shop.
>>
>>5145047
>Spare him
>>
>>5145047
>>Spare him, on the condition he swears his life and service to our Hegemony.

This is what we came here for.
>>
>>5145047
>Spare him, and fuck his wife and daughters as punishment for his insolence
>>
>>5145194
NTR is for faggots.
>>
>>5145181
+1 to this. I guess I just assumed this is what was going to happen but no harm in being explicit about it.
>>
>>5145224
Agreed. This is what I assumed, too. Why spare a persistent dissident?

>>5145194
What is we just take his finest daughter back to our heavenly empire as a concubine, then?
>>
>>5145230
Retarded. Why take some alien from a race we know nothing of and piss off a perfectly good vassal solely so we can act like a degenerate?

Do we really want to corrupt yet another supreme leader? Its retarded hedonism like this that destroys empires. Every single Jaxtian that has done that has been a jackass. Vul, Agori, Ingar...
>>
>>5145236
Vul Takar was slain, but seemed like a fine enough ruler otherwise, and if he hadn't had an affair we would never have got Talacent. Agori probably would have been healthier if he'd just focused on having a sweet harem.

Besides, political marriages and noble hostage-taking are both very viable and longstanding methods of enacting political union or control.
>>
>>5145206
Hey, we gotta punish him somehow for disrespecting our Supreme Leader and ambushing us like that. A man that has no honor deserves cuckoldery. This will reinforce the price of trickery and deceit on the Supreme Leader and the Hegemony.

>>5145230
I'm game for that as well. That way we can begin a reign of openly Jaxianite leadership and naturalization there submission to us. Plus, the tales of our offspring conquering and subjugating the lands around him will be wicked.

>>5145236
I think this vassal will be more than happy to exchange his daughter for his life. Plus, if our vassal started out an honorable duel by ordering his men to lose bolts into our body, I think isn't a vassal worth keeping around.

Besides, would Ingar have become an asshole if he wasn't such an incel?
>>
>>5145241
Vul was a totalitarian despot even by hegemony standards and kinja himself said he would have killed that guy who helped us discover plasmatronics. I dont need to say anything of the cursed generation.

Hostage taking and poltiical marriages are a tool for dumb primitive warlords, we could literally exterminate this planet. We arent because it would be stupid and pointless. Just like pissing off this guy by kidnapping his daughter. It wouldnt even result in a child, making it solely an moment of power abuse.

You people are letting this primitive adventure go to your heads. Pride comes before fall, and we literally only didnt get invaded because the worm saved our hides. This guy is clever and useful. Give him a bunch of guns and let him conquer the planet.

His people will make great soldiers and farmers.
>>
>>5145247
>kidnapping his daughter

I think you mean "honouring his household by inviting his daughter into the palatial household of a God".

If we NEED an offspring, we can whip up an aylmao hybrid with our green concubine and send it back... Or educate her in our ways, indoctrinate her, and send her back to communicate messages for us and supervise, like a local equivalent to Bluey.

>You people are letting this primitive adventure go to your heads

Damn right. This is Eoba II's Big Adventure, and damned if I'll elave without at least sleeping with a green woman if I can help it. The final frontier!
>>
>>5145242
>honor
Are you actually retarded? If a weird alien came flying from the heavens and insulted your people, you wouldnt fight for "muh honor" like a retard. Instead of underestimating us like a dumb brute, he literally tricked us. Had we not possessed technology that was basically magic to them, we would have died. This man is both clever for his species and willing to accept defeat.

You people are wasting a perfectly good opportunity solely to abuse your power to bang an alien.
>>
>>5145253
Yes anon, let's turn into a prideful idiot with a god complex. That's what our civilization needs - a fucking antonius to parade around with an alien woman, thinking that flexing on primitives makes him a god.
>>
>>5145254
You mean when his cowardly plot against us failed, he folded like a wet paper sack and begged for his life like the scoundrel he is. The only retarded one here is you, thinking he won't backstab us at the first opportunity.
>>
>>5145263
>You mean when his cowardly plot against us failed
Cowardly? Because he didn't face the bizarre creature that is able to fly in a straight duel like an idiot would solely so he can lose? Do you really think someone who's able to basically use magic as far as they know would fight fairly? We are literally an genetically modified superhuman. This man did the only thing he could to even the playing tables - he used our pride to trick us into an ambush.
>he folded like a wet paper sack
Because we turned out to be, again, basically fucking magic. And he was furthermore begging if not for his life, then for the life of his children, showing he isn't just a self-centered retard.

You're a moron if you think this is in any way "unfair" to US. We are the equivalent of an adult fighting a toddler and crying fowl when he goes for a weak spot.
>>
>>5145247
>Hostage taking and poltiical marriages are a tool for dumb primitive warlords, we could literally exterminate this planet.
>we can't exterminate the planet because it's stupid and pointless
>then says hostage taking is retarded when dealing with dumb primitive warlords
>wants to give said backstabbing warlord tech with no stings or assurances attached

Damn anon, you really got the retardation bad huh?
>>
>>5145273
>Hostage taking and poltiical marriages are a tool for dumb primitive warlords, we could literally exterminate this planet.
We can, but why would we? It's a perfectly good planet with a perfectly good race to be molded into citizens of the hegemony.
>then says hostage taking is retarded when dealing with dumb primitive warlords
Because it's a stupid, primitive tool that stopped being used for a damn good reason. It's stupid to use something so rudimentary when we have so many more options at our disposal
>wants to give said backstabbing warlord tech with no stings or assurances attached
Waht's he going to do with primitive pre-space tech? Shoot at our ships with a hunting rifle? Or do you think they're going to learn how to reverse engineer technology in a single generation?

We hold all the bargaining cards. If he serves us and does what we tell him to do, he gets to be the top dog of his world. If not, he gets kicked out and we replace him.
>>
>>5145266
>Because he didn't face the bizarre creature that is able to fly in a straight duel like an idiot would solely so he can lose

Anon, he accepted the duel, then demanded we not fly to make it a 'fair', even though he's a head or too higher than us and almost as strong as Agori while we only hold a knife. He then proceeds to betray us and his honor by ordering his men to attack us. He clearly didn't think we were Gods by flying, otherwise he wouldn't have attempted to assassinate us (unless he went full retarded and tried attacking a God). It's clear that he's a backstabbing coward, and you want to give him tech to turn him into the planet's warlord?

>We are the equivalent of an adult fighting a toddler and crying fowl when he goes for a weak spot.
>green Angori with an axe vs smol monkey with a knife
>Greeny then decides to backstab smol knife monkey when he agrees to honor the duel by not flying
>immediately cucks when his plot fails

And this is the ruler you want us to deal with?
>>
>>5145289
>Anon, he accepted the duel, then demanded we not fly to make it a 'fair', even though he's a head or too higher than us and almost as strong as Agori while we only hold a knife
You're acting like he's another equal spacefaring civilization. We're a literal spacefaring emperor who came down from the heavens belittling their religion and demanding he become our vassal. Instead of acting like an unga bunga retard and challenging the guy wh'os obviously got power beyond his knowledge, he drew us into an ambush and only lost because of something he didn't know. He didn't think we were a god, but he knew that we're extremely powerful.
>It's clear that he's a backstabbing coward
No, it's clear that you're a retard who thinks the iron age primitive should have tried to play on an even field with the flying superhuman clone from beyond the stars. "Honor" my fucking ass, this fight wasn't fair from the start, and it certainly as hell wasn't on his direction

>And this is the ruler you want us to deal with?
Yes, i do want to deal with the guy that didn't underestimate someone that could FUCKING FLY just because he was small, and the fact that you think he had the advantaged because he was big shows the magnitude of your stupidity.
>>
>>5145278
>We can, but why would we?
Because we're dealing with primitive warlords instead of an advanced, enlightened society.
>Because it's a stupid, primitive tool that stopped being used for a damn good reason.
Because we became enlightened, these primitives aren't.
>It's stupid to use something so rudimentary when we have so many more options at our disposal
Yes, we can subjugate this entire planet without dealing with this fool, and probably within a month as well as apposed to centuries working through proxies.
>Waht's he going to do with primitive pre-space tech?
Something retarded, I imagine. The problem I deal with is that this is a retarded method of control, giving him tech to become the planetary warlord while not maintaining control over him via hostage diplomacy.
>We hold all the bargaining cards. If he serves us and does what we tell him to do, he gets to be the top dog of his world. If not, he gets kicked out and we replace him.
Then why play this silly game with him when we can just take direct control of them ourselves? He offers us nothing we can take and control ourselves. It an irrelevant political game we're playing.
>>
>>5145295
>>5145308
Guys, guys, the vote is obviously leaning strongly to "spare". We can decide the conditions of this after. Me, I want a nobleborn green concubine, but I'm sure BQM will offer up a vote on such conditions of their vassalage.
>>
>>5145308
>Because we're dealing with primitive warlords instead of an advanced, enlightened society.
That doesn't mean we have to regress to acting like a warlord.
>Because we became enlightened, these primitives aren't.
Yes, which means we don't act like a goddamn primitive. Hostages were because it was one of the only ways an medieval ruler was able to exert power over his vassals, because otherwise everything they had was equal - technology, power, and even numbers sometimes. Even then, it wasn't even that common of a practice.
>Yes, we can subjugate this entire planet without dealing with this fool, and probably within a month as well as apposed to centuries working through proxies.
And that would just lead to the species developing resistance to our rule instead of seamlessly integrating like using a proxy would allow us to. Are you really unable to think beyond the present?
>The problem I deal with is that this is a retarded method of control, giving him tech to become the planetary warlord while not maintaining control over him via hostage diplomacy.
Because it literally does nothing. We have literally no need to take a hostage. It is stupid, needless and would only create animosity for no reason other than 'hurr durr alien girl'
>Then why play this silly game with him when we can just take direct control of them ourselves?
You are an actual fucking brainlet. Yes anon, let's take over the heavily religious, physically strong species. I'm certain that will never backfire. I'm certain they will never ever think of fighting back once they have access to enough food that they stop being malnourished underdeveloped primitives.

I mean, why organically take over a country with a proxy that would allow us to seamlessly merge them with our ideals and turn them into ideal muscle when we could act like an ADHD-riddled child and do the stupid way FASTER?
>>
>>5145312
I'm *trying* to show why acting like mark antony or a chinese emperor is stupid BEFORE people start voting on it.
>>
>>5145295
>Instead of acting like an unga bunga retard and challenging the guy wh'os obviously got power beyond his knowledge, he decide to backstab the obvious god-lite via treacherous and dishonorable means
>this is the man you want as your vassal
So his first instinct when dealing with someone so powerful is to immediately backstab them instead of attempting diplomacy? This man's clearly retarded.

The problem I face with your retarded arguments is that he saw we were powerful, and instead of trying to be diplomatic with this powerful entity he knows fuck all about, he decides to backstab and ambush a God for all he knows. Why not invite us to dinner and try to poison us then if he's really as clever as you rant about? You're better off dealing with someone smarter, wiser, or more diplomatic than a nut that tried to backstab a God.

>>5145314
>That doesn't mean we have to regress to acting like a warlord.
>he says to the totalitarian state that wanted to genocide xenos
We need leverage to control him directly, not through the proxy of technology, because he's a primitive retard warlord.
>Hostages were because it was one of the only ways an medieval ruler was able to exert power over his vassals
So he'll obviously understand the implication, good.
>And that would just lead to the species developing resistance to our rule instead of seamlessly integrating like using a proxy would allow us to
You're implying that they would be able to integrate under a sovereign, but that clearly false. You need to control their religious institutions for this to work, not the governing structure.
>Because it literally does nothing.
Wrong, he'll understand that he can't fuck around with us. Giving him toys will send the wrong message.
>Yes anon, let's take over the heavily religious, physically strong species.
You mean the species that doesn't know how to operate any advanced technology beyond a gun? You're a brainlet if you think they're beyond a minor nuisance to us.
>I mean, why organically take over a country with a proxy that would allow us to seamlessly merge them with our ideals
>focusing on sovereignty when religion is king in this society
Spoken like an brainlet. You need to control the institutional religion for that to work, not a sovereign state.

>>5145317
Mark Antony and the Chinese Empire had equivalent technological rivals they needed to worry about, this is more akin to the British dealing tribals than Mark fucking Antony.
>>
>>5145047
>Spare him
>>
>>5145357
>So his first instinct when dealing with someone so powerful is to immediately backstab them instead of attempting diplomacy?
His idea was to play on our obvious pride to draw us into an ambush. It only didn't work because he had no way to know the full extent of our power - only that we were obviously not just an weak loser because of our size.
>
The problem I face with your retarded arguments is that he saw we were powerful, and instead of trying to be diplomatic with this powerful entity he knows fuck all about, he decides to backstab and ambush a God for all he knows
Except he clearly didn't think we were a god. You forget that those crossbows would have killed us if not for our technology that basically fried the weapons right out of their hands.
>hy not invite us to dinner and try to poison us then if he's really as clever as you rant about?
He has no idea of what we are like - what if poison didn't work? The chances of being immune to poison are much bigger than the chances of being immune to a crossbow to the face - which we weren't. He's clearly one of the smartest people around.
>You're better off dealing with someone smarter, wiser, or more diplomatic than a nut that tried to backstab a God.
We are not a fucking god, you moronic fool, and trying to act like one will lead to the downfall of our empire.
>We need leverage to control him directly
Is "we are inconceivably strong and can do whatever we want to" not enough? We showed how strong we are - now we show the benefits of working with us. We don't need something as crude as a hostage because we have all the power we need to do what we want. He can't say "no" or rebel because we can pulverize a city with a single command. More than enough to make him fall in line.
>So he'll obviously understand the implication, good.
Except we don't fucking need it, you moron.
> You need to control their religious institutions for this to work, not the governing structure.
Because their religions are the ones with power? By giving power to the government, we fundamentally change the balance. Just as the merchant class became the ones with power during the age of exploration, so would the government become the one with power once we gave them an advantage.
>Wrong
He very clearly already has, you buffoon. The idea that we need to take his daughter hostage to do it is stupid. It makes no sense and you're only even doing it because "Hurr durr bang the alien"
>You're a brainlet if you think they're beyond a minor nuisance to us.
Read what i fucking said, you moron. If we're going to dominate them instead of genociding their whole species, they will receive knowledge, food and health far beyond what they have, and if they hate us when that happens, we're just going to have the equivalent of an colony world full of very angry giants.
>Spoken like a brainlet
Spoken like a retard who doesn't understand how power works.
>>
>>5145357
>Mark Antony and the Chinese Empire had equivalent technological rivals they needed to worry about, this is more akin to the British dealing tribals than Mark fucking Antony.
The British who literally and constantly made use of local rulers to expand their power structure? How in the everloving fuck do you think they took over africa and india so efficiently? Hint: No, they did not just kill everyone like room temperature IQ dullards
>>
My take on things is that this guy is really brave, of slightly above average intelligence, and when defeated his first instinct was to try and protect his family.

We could do worse for our puppet here on this planet.
>>
>>5145366
>His idea was to play on our obvious pride to draw us into an ambush.
So after manipulating our honor and failing his assassination attempt he immediately begs for mercy, and this is the man you want to give technology to and have as our loyal vassal?
>He has no idea of what we are like - what if poison didn't work?
Oh noooo, he's immune to our poisons. It's not like that's valuable intel that won't backfire on us like betraying his trust in an honorable duel would...
>He's clearly one of the smartest people around.
Oof, I feel sorry for their species already.
>We are not a fucking god, you moronic fool, and trying to act like one will lead to the downfall of our empire.
But we're not trying to act like one in the Hegemony, idiot. I'm trying to emphasize how retarded Greeny is by deciding to ambush a God-like being, as far as Greeny knows.
>Is "we are inconceivably strong and can do whatever we want to" not enough?
Yes, his faith in our inconceivable strength isn't enough.
>We don't need something as crude as a hostage because we have all the power we need to do what we want.
Than why bother with a retarded middle man?
>He can't say "no" or rebel because we can pulverize a city with a single command. More than enough to make him fall in line.
No, it ain't. Greeny has no cultural or personal conception of Weapons of Mass Destruction, he's gonna fuck up his loyalty test and get his nation killed over it. Dan Carlin's Destroyer of Worlds podcast raises the interesting points on Ancient Leaders having WMDs, if that piques anyone's interest.
>Except we don't fucking need it, you moron
Yes, we clearly do.
>Because their religions are the ones with power?
>you can see now how significant and important religion is in their lives. Their religion is equal to or more important then their secular government.
>It's primary form of education is the church and religious teachings.
>The aliens seem to employ a palace economy, with food and resources being centralized and redistributed according to need. More interestingly is that this isn't done by the ruling or warrior class- it's actually the priesthood.
>Wait, are those glass windows? That's lovely. You can't even imagine the cost of making and transporting those here. You're miles and miles away from an industrial source of sand. These people really do care about their church and teachings.
>somehow we'll seamlessly conform their culture with our atheist one though a secular government
Cope

>>5145369
The British Empire didn't have the advanced security apparatus of a totalitarian state, and had a cultural affinity for devolved power structures. The only similarity with us is the tech level when dealing with the natives.

>>5145418
Above average intelligence and a family man, sure. He ain't brave. If he was, he would've tried to fight us mano e mano instead of trying to get his men to ambush us in our supposed weakened state.
>>
>>5145441
>So after manipulating our honor
"Honor" is meaningless when you're dealing with an force beyond your knowledge. You wouldn't try to "honorabley" fight a fucking dragon mano-a-mano, why would you expect him to do the same?
> It's not like that's valuable intel that won't backfire on us like betraying his trust in an honorable duel would...
We demanded he become our vassal. Instead of risking something that might not kill him like poison, he went straight for the jugular, and when it didn't work, he admitted defeat.
>Oof, I feel sorry for their species already.
Like Jaxtians were smarter back when ironworking was the height of technology.
>I'm trying to emphasize how retarded Greeny is by deciding to ambush a God-like being, as far as Greeny knows.
He knew we weren't a god, which is why he ambushed us in a way that would have worked by any metric he could have possibly known.
>Yes, his faith in our inconceivable strength isn't enough.
Why not?
>Than why bother with a retarded middle man?
Because that would allow us to organically take over the country and mold their society instead of forcefully taking them over?
>No, it ain't.
He literally just saw us fry the weapons out of his soldier's hands. And instead of acting like a spoiled brat, he admitted defeat.
>Yes, we clearly do.
We obviously don't
>Cope
Again, are you retarded? This was how egypt worked too, until the state was able to take away that power from the church. This guy is the ruling lord here, and having shown to be competent and willing to accept defeat instead of shrieking like a madman, he would be the best tool to take over the country.

Trying to directly explode their religion is the stupidest thing we could do. Which is why we use him as a fucking proxy to modify their society organically
>The British Empire didn't have the advanced security apparatus of a totalitarian state
Are you actually serious? Compared to the natives, they had extreme apparatus. Why do you think they were one of the first places on earth with an official, non-military police force?

>He ain't brave
Brave doesn't mean stupid, you moron.
>>
>>5145451
>>5145451
>"Honor" is meaningless when you're dealing with an force beyond your knowledge. You wouldn't try to "honorabley" fight a fucking dragon mano-a-mano, why would you expect him to do the same?
Because fighting a force you know nothing about is even more retarded. And a dragon is more physically imposing than a monkey, so that comparison is retarded.
>Instead of risking something that might not kill him like poison, he went straight to his men and when it didn't work, he admitted defeat.
He didn't go for the jugular like a chad, he told his men to shoot us dead, and when that failed he chickened out and begged us to spare him instead standing his ground and embracing the consequences of defeat. This wasn't smart or brave, just treacherous, opportunistic, and cowardly.
>He knew we weren't a god, which is why he ambushed us in a way that would have worked by any metric he could have possibly known.
He didn't know, he assumed, and went with an immediate unplanned ambush instead of actually thinking ahead and planning his plot through. He's a reckless moron.
>Why not?
Beyond the lack of cultural institutions to keep that faith in him high? The fact that the Hegemony must remain in control and supreme at all times as an ideological foundation. His faith in our strength won't hurt, but his daughter as a hostage will endure his compliance to our authority. Simple as.
>Because that would allow us to organically take over the country and mold their society instead of forcefully taking them over?
And how is giving him advanced technology and telling him to push atheistic tenets on a medieval religiously indoctrinated society 'organic' instead of forceful on our part?
>And instead of acting like a spoiled brat, he admitted defeat.
What are you smoking? Instead of acting like a mature monkey to our demands he sperged out and told his men to fire on us, and when that failed he threw himself to the ground and begged for mercy. He did not accept the consequences of his actions like a man should.
>We obviously don't
We obviously do
>Again, are you retarded?
Are you? Did you not pay attention to the fact that the economy and education of this society is run by the religious institutions, not the state ones? If you want this integration to be organic and not forceful, usurping the power of the institutional religion in favor of a secular power is the exact opposite of what you're aiming for.
>he would be the best tool to take over the country.
Lol, what? A man who failed in his assassination attempt is considered commitment now? The coward begged for mercy, he's certainly a tool but hardly the best for the job.
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>>5145451
>Trying to directly explode their religion is the stupidest thing we could do. Which is why we use him as a fucking proxy to modify their society organically
So funding a religious-secular war with our technology is somehow an organic proxy for their society? Honestly mate, I think your definitions are screwy if this is how you define organic modification to this society.
>Why do you think they were one of the first places on earth with an official, non-military police force?
Because of the English concept of 'ruling by the consent of the governed'. Not to get far into the concept, but having the population consent to the police as a neutral authority to enact the law and keep the peace would lead to less criminality and a more harmonious society.
>Brave doesn't mean stupid, you moron.
No shit, it just means that he's a spineless coward to be afraid of fighting someone 2/3rds his size and half his strength in an honorable duel.
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>>5145317
Come on, live a little.
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>>5145517
>Because fighting a force you know nothing about is even more retarded
Not when he's already demanding you surrender
>And a dragon is more physically imposing than a monkey, so that comparison is retarded.
Said 'monkey' literally came flying from the sky. Even if he didn't know that Eoba is a genetically modified superhuman, he had every reason not to play on a level field.
>e didn't go for the jugular like a chad, he told his men to shoot us dead
Yes, that's what 'going for the jugular' means. He tried to kill us instead of fighting us one on one like a moron.
>He didn't know, he assumed,
And he was absolutely right.This plan you keep calling dumb was literally THIS close to killing us, and only failed because we had technology far beyond anything they could imagine.
>Beyond the lack of cultural institutions to keep that faith in him high?
Are you retarded or did you miss the whole point of taking over the planet through a proxy? What the fuck does it matter that he doesn't believe us ideologically? How the fuck would kidnapping his daughter make him believe the ideology any more than just saying 'Obey us or else' when it is literally the same thing?

What difference is there in 'Obey us or we'll zap you from outer space' and 'Obey us or we'll kill your daughter' other than the barbaric, retarded and degenerate methodology of the latter?
>And how is giving him advanced technology and telling him to push atheistic tenets on a medieval religiously indoctrinated society 'organic' instead of forceful on our part?
Because it's an local doing it? Because it's one of their people who's conquering them instead of having a blue monkey from outer space enslaving you and your entire family with magic light sticks?

Furthermore, trying to go full emperor of mankind is stupid when their religion can be used to help him conquer by claiming it's their god's will made manifest in their fancy weapons
> Instead of acting like a mature monkey to our demands he sperged out and told his men to fire on us
Maybe if you stopped blatantly lying to make your retarded attempt at an argument work, you'd realize that he calmly accepted our point and drew us into an ambush, not "sperged out" like your retarded fantasy says.
>Did you not pay attention to the fact that the economy and education of this society is run by the religious institutions, not the state ones?
Literally who gives a crap? By sponsoring him, he will have the resources to have his own power. Do you not understand what 'organic' means?
>A man who failed in his assassination attempt is considered commitment
Yes, the guy who got closer to killing the supreme leader than most jaxtians ever did despite not knowing what 'soap' is does sound like the best around. Maybe if you'd stopped being a faggot who only thinks about banging alien women in some kind of pathetic power fantasy.
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>>5145547
*you would realize that
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>>5145547
>Not when he's already demanding you surrender
No, it's still plenty retarded. You'd want to provoke some info on how he plans of defeating us if we just say no beueno
>Yes, that's what 'going for the jugular' means
Oh, so you mean the coward definition instead of the Honorable Chad definition, gotcha. Also, beings afraid of a smol, less muscled monkey wearing cloth instead of padding? Take away the ability to fly and it would've been a fair fight, had he been honorable
>And he was absolutely right
>”No... no- it can't be! It isn't possible! You ARE a God!”
Lol
>This plan you keep calling dumb was literally THIS close to killing us
Pffff- oh Lordy, reading that shit was funny, and it doesn't detract from the fact that the hulking green!Agori wielding a huge battle axe chickened out of a fight with a smaller, less muscular monkey with a tiny knife
>What the fuck does it matter that he doesn't believe us ideologically?
>How the fuck would kidnapping his daughter make him believe the ideology any more than just saying 'Obey us or else' when it is literally the same thing?
Nigga, you making my point for me. He won't believe in our strength when we leave, taking his daughter ensures compliance with our authority, regardless of ideology or faith
>What difference is there in 'Obey us or we'll zap you from outer space' and 'Obey us or we'll kill your daughter' other than the barbaric, retarded and degenerate methodology of the latter?
That he doesn't believe in outer space conceptually, but he will believe that we'll kill his daughter if he fails to obey. It's more direct and effective that stating his world is round and we can zap him from the sky if he doesn't comply
>Because it's an local doing it?
Is that what you call seamless and organic? It's like saying giving the Greeks AK-47s and Abram tanks at the Battle of Thermopylae is an organic modification of their situation
>Furthermore, trying to go full emperor of mankind is stupid when their religion can be used to help him conquer by claiming it's their god's will made manifest in their fancy weapons
>somehow this is organic to their culture
Dude, you are a riot
>Maybe if you stopped blatantly lying to make your retarded attempt at an argument work
Projection much, lad? He betrayed his honor, failed in his ambush, and begged for mercy on his knees, I'd don't describe that as 'calm'
>Literally who gives a crap? By sponsoring him, he will have the resources to have his own power.
>Do you not understand what 'organic' means?
Taking the words right out of my mouth, because sponsoring his power base with our tech and resources is akin to organic as cannibalizing your brother being called a vegan option, it's so ludicrously not lad
>Man thinks Greenie was closer to killing the Supreme Leader with sticks while we have access to advanced shield technology
Ebola 1.5 had a better chance of killing Agori than Greeny here had at merely wounding him, and you say I'm creating the retarded fantasy?
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>>5145441
We are a flying alien and he didn't ride away on a wave of fear piss. That counts for... something.
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>>5145610
Given that none of the farmers run away or pissed themselves either, I'd consider that point a low bar that he passed.
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>>5144031
>>5143984
>This game has mind break mpreg aliens
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>>5145628
The farmers literally fall to the ground and start praying. That guy, on the other hand, lured us into an ambush and only felt defeated when we used what to anyone like straight up magic.
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>>5145607
>No, it's still plenty retarded.
No, it's not. The last thing you do when an seemingly magical creature from god knows where tells you to surrender is surrender.
>Oh, so you mean the coward definition instead of the Honorable Chad definition,
Trying to conflict honor with stupidity is retarded. You don't act like a moron when the life of your people are on the line because "muh honor"
>Also, beings afraid of a smol, less muscled monkey wearing cloth instead of padding?
Yet again, you seem to follow the retarded idea that because someone is small, they're obviously weaker. Eoba is literally an genemodded near-perfect superhuman with space-age technology. The fact that this guy didn't underestimate us shows he's not just an retarded unga bunga.
>Lol
He called the bluff that flying = god. There was no way for him to know what the fuck that was if not straight up magic.
>Reading that shit was funny
God, you are retarded beyond saivng. Please, try to rub whatever neurons you have managed to muster and consider the fact that 'small' does not mean 'weak', you absolute fucking idiot.
>He won't believe in our strength when we leave
Literally why the fuck not? Why the fuck would he suddenly stop believing our strength when he saw it himself? If anything it's better because we're showing absolute strength instead of mongoloid barbarian-tier tactics.
>That he doesn't believe in outer space conceptually, but he will believe that we'll kill his daughter if he fails to obey.
How the hell does that make any sense whatsoever? He saw us burn the weapons right out of their hands. He knows we have power beyond his knowledge and all it takes is a single word from us for our ship to blow a fucking mountain up if we want to. But nooo, let's act like barbarian and kidnap a woman because that's what superpowerful entities do, right?
>It's like saying giving the Greeks AK-47s and Abram tanks at the Battle of Thermopylae is an organic modification of their situation
The "Inorganic" solution would be to literally come down in our space saucers and take it over, so YES.
>Dude, you are a riot
Have you ever heard of the idea called "divine right"? If a guy shows up with power unlike everything he has seen claiming he has the blessing of god, then you better fucking bet it's more organic.
>He betrayed his honor
Losing in a situation where your people are at risk solely because you wanted to fight the guy with a clear advantage one-on-one is not "honorable"
>Failed in his ambush
For reasons he had no way whatsoever to know. He pulled the ambush perfectly - what, was he supposed to guess we have 'fry weapons out of hands' technology? That he only lost control when we pulled the merlin-tier shenanigans on him shows he's way more calm than most people would be in this scenario.
> it's so ludicrously not lad
Why not? And not, 'muh religion' is not answer.

Literally one shot to his head is all it would have taken. Eoba had no helmet, just an robe that distributed force.
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>>5145644
Really? Lured, when we sought him out? When he agreed to an honorable duel, and when we touched the ground, he ordered his men to backstab us. And he's the one we're rooting for here?
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>>5145668
We sought him out and demanded he be vassalized. When he said no, we demanded a duel. Instead of accepting a duel with a man who clearly has an advantage over you, he lured eoba into an ambush and would have almost either kill or wound him if his men didn't hesitate for enough time to allow the AI to literally burn the crossbows out of their hands.
>And he's the one we're rooting for here?
Yes, i am rooting for the guy who managed to trick the invader from outer space. Even if we're playing as the hegemony and will ultimately control the planet, it's admirable.
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>>5145665
No, the last thing you want to do with a mythical creature is piss it off.
>Trying to conflict honor with stupidity is retarded. You don't act like a moron when the life of your people are on the line because "muh honor"
Oh, my bad. I didn't know we chose to show TERRIFYING FORCE instead of trying to duel the fucker. Oh wait, we didn't choose force, so his people's lives weren't on the line.
>Yet again, you seem to follow the retarded idea that because someone is small, they're obviously weaker.
Because this is what low-tech medivial society thinks as well. This isn't rocket science lad.
>Eoba is literally an genemodded near-perfect superhuman with space-age technology.
Oh, wow. Crazy that Greeny knows that. Oh wait, he doesn't.
>The fact that this guy didn't underestimate us shows he's not just an retarded unga bunga
The fact that he didn't honor the duel shows that he probably won't honor his other commitments unless we got direct leverage over him.
>He called the bluff that flying = god.
And he lost. Funny that.
>God, you are retarded beyond saivng
I believe it's spelled 'saving' lad. Better luck with spelling next time lad.
>thinking faith in strength = obedience
Again, Hostage Diplomacy works. It worked back then, it works for modern China, it'll work with us. It more direct and personal than the abstract fear of hellfire raining down on his civilization.
>organic
Look, organic would be taking over the institutional religion so there's little societal instability, not ripping up their society by the roots and killing millions by creating a religious schism. That's as far from organic as it gets lad.
>Losing in a situation where your people are at risk solely because you wanted to fight the guy with a clear advantage one-on-one is not "honorable"
But Greeny had the clear advantage in one-on-one, he's bigger and stronger in a society that values such characteristics, and had a huge axe to our knife. It's retarded that you think Greeny thought he couldn't take out a runt like us in a duel.
>He pulled the ambush perfectly
Asking someone to please stop flying in a duel is hardly what I'd consider pulling off the perfect ambush lad. Imagine if we said no, he would've failed immediately.
>Why not?
Because giving him our tech make it inorganic, and forcing him to start a religious schism is equally inorganic. Like fuck, it's not guns or tanks that matter as much as the economy and cultural influence. It's the difference between forcing them to submit and creating the culture to subservience to us, and there is a difference in getting at here, because true subservience doesn't come out of a barrel of a gun.
>Literally one shot to his head is all it would have taken.
And do you think he'd just stand there and take it if his life was truly threatened?
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>>5145680
>Instead of accepting a duel with a man who clearly has an advantage over you
>small runt monkey with a knife vs green!Agori with large axe
>monkey has clear advantage

That's clearly a retarded line of thought, and Greeny didn't trick Eoba, Eoba willing came to the ground to honor the duel, not unwittingly. Fact is that the small monkey outwitted the big bad herbivore in what should've been a fair fight, and that's a sad reflection on Greeny's character.
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>>5145701
>No, the last thing you want to do with a mythical creature is piss it off.
If it's already demanding you to kneel, you're not going to get much out of appeasing it.
>h, my bad. I didn't know we chose to show TERRIFYING FORCE
We literally demanded that he become our vassal. If that aannel worm came and demanded we surrender, would you fucking accept it or would you try to find a way to kill it?
>Because this is what low-tech medivial society thinks as well.
Well, then that just makes him one hell of a lot smarter, doesn't it?
>Oh wait, he doesn't.
He knows that we're able to fly - thus showing we are advanced beyond his knowledge, and he didn't underestimate us either, showing he didn't think we were just an weak twerp.
>he fact that he didn't honor the duel
Why do you keep repeating 'hurr durr honor' like there's any honor in that in the first place? What, should he had gambled his people's destiny in a dumb one-on-one duel with someone who could very well be stronger than him? He used what resources he had to gain an advantage just like we always do.
> he probably won't honor his other commitments unless we got direct leverage over him.
Our power is more than enough leverage. He doesn't need to have his daughter kidnapped to know that pissing off the magic people with the power to disarm soldiers with a thought is bad.
>And he lost.
To something he could never have known.
>Hostage Diplomacy works
For a barbarian, maybe. There is literally no reason to do it when we have such power. The sole reason you want to do it is because you like NTR
>That's as far from organic as it gets lad.
More organic than literally invading a planet with flying saucers? Hell no. Sponsoring a warlord to take over society and help remold it's culture is the best way to make them fit for the hegemony while remaining organic. That's how the conquest of a large part of india and africa was made.
>But Greeny had the clear advantage in one-on-one
No, he didn't. We were able to fly and obviously had power he didn't know - why would he risk it all in a fight when he could use the advantage of the home field?
> It's retarded that you think Greeny thought he couldn't take out a runt like us in a duel.
Why the fuck would he ambush us if he didn't, you fool? That he didn't shows he didn't underestimate us, not some dumb fantasy of yours about dishonor.
>Imagine if we said no
But we didn't, because Eoba was too sure of himself to expect them to do anything like that.
>It's the difference between forcing them to submit and creating the culture to subservience to us
How the hell do you think we're going to create a culture of subservience? By acting like we're gods? By coming down in flying saucers? The most organic way to do it is by making one of their own institute the changes.
>And do you think he'd just stand there and take it?
He had to specifically call out the AI to save himself. If his men didn't hesitate, a headshot could have easily gotten him.
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>>5145713
>this guy came flying from the sky mocking our god and challenged us to a duel despite the difference in size
>clearly that means he's an weak runt and would be easily beaten
You're not even trying at this point, are you?
>Greeny didn't trick Eoba
He literally fucking did. That's not an argument, there is lierally no other way to describe. Eoba said he was going to duel him, he told him to come to the ground and used the opportunity to shoot him.
>y outwitted the big bad herbivore in what should've been a fair fight
"Outwit" my fucking ass, he told his space age robot to burn the crossbows.
>fair fight
Oh, shut up he is literally an superhuman clone with force distributing armor and a knive that can probably cut through whatever flimsy metal they have without any challenge. This is about as fair of a fight as Goliath vs a man with a bazooka.
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>>5145047
>Spare him, on the condition he swears his life and service to our Hegemony.

If not for the superstition of his men, he could have killed us there and then with a bit of luck- all it would’ve taken is a bolt to the head.

And that admittedly doesn’t reflect greatly on us, but it is very impressive for an dark ages warlord.

I don’t mind if they can keep their faith even after we take over. I would prefer to convert them by proving the superiority of our way of life over time and voluntarily attracting them into our culture, not forcing them to abandon the bedrock of their society though the barrel of the gun. All we’ve proved in the latter case is… that, well, legitimacy comes from the barrel of a gun.
>>
It was only a matter of time before we have an autist storm in this quest.
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>>5145743
As always, t'was provoked by the prospect of a waifu.

Still voting to Captain Kirk a cow-maiden
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>>5145714
>If it's already demanding you to kneel, you're not going to get much out of appeasing it.
Well, he's already kneeling now and we're planning on sparing his life and family for it, so I guess it really depends on your definition of much really.
>If that aannel worm came and demanded we surrender, would you fucking accept it or would you try to find a way to kill it?
If we failed to kill the worm, do you think he'll be impressed by our defiance and still offer vassalship? Or would he simply eat us alive?
>Well, then that just makes him one hell of a lot smarter, doesn't it?
No, it means your projecting your post-Enlightenment cultural biases onto him and his culture, which is funny as fuck in a meta sense.
>Why do you keep repeating 'hurr durr honor'
Because it's clearly in Eoba's character.
>What, should he had gambled his people's destiny in a dumb one-on-one duel with someone who could very well be stronger than him?
First off, it's clear to everyone that Greeny is stronger the Eoba. Secondly, if he did manage to wound or kill the Supreme Leader in this 'ambush', his planet would be razed to the ground, so he's already gambling by choosing violence as the answer. He could've just said no the the duel instead of breaking his honor.
>Our power is more than enough leverage
It clearly isn't, and he should be punished anyway for breaking his honor and trying to assassinate the Supreme Leader in the first place. Spare does not be let go unpunished after all.
>her dur he could never have known
>but he's somehow smart enough to know that dueling us was a bad idea
The inconsistency in your argument keeps astounding me.
>For a barbarian, maybe
No, it still works for us. I don't know why you keep making it our like our brutalizing totalitarian government doesn't do worse shit daily lad.
>Sponsoring a warlord to take over society and help remold it's culture is the best way to make them fit for the hegemony
No, subverting the institutional religion is the best way to do that, and the most organic.
>but UFOs ain't organic
I never said they were. Stop trying to create a strawman to beat up, that isn't what I'm arguing here.
>No, he didn't.
Yes, he did. The fucker was built like Agori, and he could've asked for a fair fight with no tricks. Instead, he hid behind his men like a coward.
>Why the fuck would he ambush us if he didn't, you fool?
Because he's a coward. He could've risked his life fighting, but instead ordered his men to fight for him and when that failed he submitted and pleaded for mercy instead of defending his people from becoming vassals.
>But we didn't
Because we were honorable in our intentions, not cocky.
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>>5145774
>Well, he's already kneeling now and we're planning on sparing his life and family for it
We're planning to spare him because we're planning to use him. If his men hadn't hesitated he could have managed to kill eoba and the hegemony would have fallen in complete and utter chaos.
>Or would he simply eat us alive?
If he was going to eat us alive, he would have done it anyway, you either fight or let your people die.
>No, it means your projecting your post-Enlightenment cultural biases onto him and his culture
Except he didn't underestimate us despite being bigger. This is not a matter of culture, it's a matter of thinking.
>Because it's clearly in Eoba's character.
Eoba II is not Eoba I, if he was an honor autist he wouldn't have shanked agori with a piece of wood.
>Secondly, if he did manage to wound or kill the Supreme Leader in this 'ambush', his planet would be razed to the ground,
Like he would have known
>He could've just said no the the duel instead of breaking his honor.
No he couldn't you idiot, Eoba literally said that he was going to duel him. It was a choice of "Surrender or i'll fight you"
>It clearly isn't
How isn't it? Because he didn't magically guess that the guy who could fly had the power of the sun in his hands?
>breaking his honor
Again, there is no "dishonor" in using an advantage against a foreign invander. We would have done the same against anyone trying to take over Jaxt - we assassinated Ingar, didn't we? Are you going to call that dishonorable too?
>The inconsistency in your argument keeps astounding me.
How the hell is that inconsistent? He was smart enough to not underestimate us despite our size, but had no way of knowing the full extent of our technological power.
>No, it still works for us
Of course, and maybe we should bring out an iron maiden and a spanish boot to our prisoners next. But noo, we just HAVE to rape this man's daughter, because we just have to right?.
>No, subverting the institutional religion is the best way to do that
How is that any different than just giving power to another authority instead of the church? How do you think this kind of change happened in real life? By giving power to an authority that isn't the church, you alter the balance.
>Yes, he did.
Like fucking hell he did. We are literally an space-age superhuman.
>inb4 he didn't know
No, instead he knew we were an magic man from beyond the sky with powers he didn't know.
>Because he's a coward
No, it's because he's not a fucking moron. Holy fuck, are you so retarded that you think a ruler should unironically risk the lives of his people because MUH HONOR?
>Because we were honorable
Honorable? Vassalizing a people and abusing our space age technology is honorable? We literally have an shirt that deflects force.

Holy fucking hell, do you even think?
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>>5145714
>How the hell do you think we're going to create a culture of subservience?
By subverting their cultural institutions instead of forcing cultural change though the barrel of a gun. All you'd be doing is taking a hammer to their society, and it doesn't matter if we do it or some fucking proxy does, it's inorganic both ways.

Don't deflect, answer the question- do you think Eoba would've just stood there instead of acting like Qet during his assassination attempt?

>>5145716
>Eoba said he was going to duel him, he told him to come to the ground and used the opportunity to shoot him.
That's more a betrayal of honor than a trick, but you don't seem to hold honor in any high regard, do you?
>This is about as fair of a fight as Goliath vs a man with a bazooka.
That's irrelevant, Greeny knew jack shit about the supermonkey other than his ability to fly and his appearance, he can't have Schrödinger's intuition, recognizing his opponent's powerlevel in one moment and forgetting it the next. You can't use meta-knowledge on Eoba's supreme being and attribute that to IC decisions to Greeny not deciding to fight himself.

>>5145743
Don't worry, I have to leave for RL soon, it won't last much longer.
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>>5145782
>By subverting their cultural institutions instead of forcing cultural change though the barrel of a gun.
"Subverting their cultural institutions" doesn't work when they're literally an iron-age world. What, are you going to go from town to town convincing every priest in the world that their religion is fake? The Empire of Grain was the biggest civilization on the planet and it's fallen for well over a century.
>Don't deflect, answer the question
I'm not deflecting, it is quite literally what he was doing because that was literally the only thing he could have done. He HAD to get the AI to deal with the crossbows, and he only got the opportunity to do so because the men hesitated.
>That's more a betrayal of honor than a trick
There is no "honor" in seeing your people enslaved because you agreed to fight "fairly" with the man with powers far beyond our own.

Do you think that assassinating ingar was dishonorable too? Should 10 year old eoba have just challenged him to a duel or let him go?
>Greeny knew jack shit about the supermonkey other than his ability to fly and his appearance
How retarded do you have to be to not make the connection that the flying alien from the sky might have powers beyond what he has already shown?
>he can't have Schrödinger's intuition, recognizing his opponent's powerlevel in one moment and forgetting it the next
How the hell did he forget it? He obviously knew he was a threat, so he tried to ambush him, and it only didn't work because his men hesitated.

Even if Eoba's vest allowed him to dispell some of the force, he wasn't covering his head AT ALL. One bolt to the head and he would have become brazilian soup.
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>>5145787
You to to various massive population centers and offer quality of life advancements in exchange for subservience.

The people will listen to you when you provide them with food they don't need to work 15 hours a day for, warm shelter, indoor plumbing, and modern medicine.

They would be going against their own interests to not except our rule.
>>
Honor is just a mutually agreed upon set of values held by group members who hold each other to that standard. Often times there are different standards of behavior for what is acceptable to do to someone outside the group may not be acceptable to do to someone inside the group(If they aren't held to the standards why should they reap all the benefits of those standards?).

Which values vary but generally contribute to the survival of the group. Hence why strength, bravery, mastery, hard work, honesty, protection of the weak and family members, providing for family members and so on are commonly held as honorable as are actions that are good for the reputation of the group as a whole.
>>
>>5145799
Trying to do that won't work if they just plain refuse the briberies from what could very well be some kind of magic blue monkey devil. The entire point of doing it through a proxy is that it will help reduce resistance.

Furthermore, if we indict them in solely with stuff like that, what happens when we start telling people they can't reproduce because of our caste system, shipping them by the millions, separating family and destroying their culture so they'll fit in? They'll just plain revolt.
>>
>>5145808
So we slow our roll, learn their culture and build on our commonalities while slowly pressuring them to become more like us by dangling metaphorical carrots of material gain and technology?

I mean, it IS an option.
>>
>>5145812
It stopped being an option when eoba decided to jump from a spaceship in a jetpack solely to flex on them.
>>
>>5145815
He isn't exactly another Talacent is he? lol
>>
Look. We don't need to capture any alien babes or nothing. We literally showed him we're magic and he'll probably won't ever try that again.

Regardless of how you see that "duel", he lost, we won, he folded like a deck of cards.

He's probably easy enough to make obey without any additional motivations.
>>
The upside? Eoba's way will likely be more fun and entertaining.
>>
>>5145835
I just wish we had a sane, calm ruler for once. Remember Vantix and Qet? Talacent spared the wrong aliens.
>>
>>5145823
>We don't need to capture any alien babes or nothing.

It was never something we NEEDED to do. It's just more swashbuckling.

>>5145835
Agreed.
>>
>>5145842
This is true, but hey we can always purge the xenos later, eh?
>>
>>5145843
Eh. If we MUST capture a space babe, I rather just pick someone who wouldn't result in our puppet utterly resenting us. Funny adventure hahaha aside, I don't want us to think solely with our dick.
>>
>>5145808
I don't care how faithful you are. A starving peasant isn't going to say no to food and support.

At the end of the day people follow leadership because it meets there needs or they fear reprisal. They will naturally follow us because we meet there needs better than the current leaders and we would protect them from reprisal.

Literally just go from lord to lord and say

"Do what we say and we will grant you and your people paradise."

And we wouldn't even be lying.

A planet full of labor that will be GREAT FULL for serving the Hegemony because their lives were comparatively hell on Earth.

We play this right and we won't have to conquer them they will willingly join us.
>>
Until we know more about these people’s culture and psychology, it seems safer to alter their society and enable their religion rather than dramatically tearing away staples of their life as we subjugate them. Massive quality of life improvements would win loyalties, but may also quickly breed conflict and instability if the way we go about it involves literally dismantling the society they know, especially since they’d also suddenly have a lot more free time on their hands (?).

From a more subjective manner, it seems slightly sad that our subjugation of other peoples may always involve effectively grinding their cultures to nothing. If it can’t be helped it can’t be helped, but if the Ventuck peoples wish to keep their faith and practices I’m sure a compromise could be made in return for leal service, if the faith in question is agreeable enough.
>>
>>5145881
>it seems slightly sad that our subjugation of other people may always involve effectively grinding their cultures to nothing
We're an authoritative (if not totalitarian) state. I think it somewhat comes in the nature of it, but I do agree that I don't want to wipe every single bit of their culture (at least right now).

I mean, I still want them under control and as puppets, but the culture is neat at least
>>
>>5145881
You don't have to destroy someone's culture to give them penecilin

And also if your culture is getting in the way of your quality of life, what good is that culture anyway. Culture's evolve specifically because changing circumstances make aspects of them non optimal.

I have never had to brutally kill someone before and that's because once technology and society advanced to the point where I didn't HAVE to do that, there was no reason for me to do so.

A very basic "do what we say and you can have medicine" would work, especially since it seems pretty easy to take advantage of their religion to make them agree with them.
>>
>>5145047
OP the majority voted for spare. Please post an update so we can end this stupid fucking circle jerk with the fetish poster.
>>
>>5145894
You’re right, though I think with a bit of finesse a significant amount (though definitely not all) of their societal ideals can survive.

I was just referring to an idea that appeared earlier that suggested that we can basically completely uproot their way of life and effectively ignore existing (and seemingly benevolent) institutions on the basis that offering a dramatically improved quality of life would completely win over everyone despite that. Though it’s not completely wrong, a bit more subtlety would probably be better for everyone.
>>
>>5145900
We're probably not gonna get an update for the next couple of hours, if that. Best to be patient and to ignore the coomers.
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>>5145903
I think a basic "you can do whatever you like as long as it doesn't break these rules" mandate works. If it isn't explicitly banned, then it is allowed.

Especially since most of what we would ban would be stuff they don't actually like doing but just stuff they are forced into due to circumstances that we can deal with.
>>
Fair enough.
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>>5145908
Yeah, it's not like we're dealing with the Hazaar or the gas fuckers who were a pretty big pain to deal with.

These dudes folded like a stack of cards the moment we came in. We hardly have to try as long as our carrot-on-the-stick is good enough.
>>
>>5145900
Phoneposting. I'm busy at work, sorry to say. I work on the updates and draw between my shifts and after I wake up/before bed. I actually enjoy reading the discussion, we had a similar one in thread #2, but only so long as it ends when the next update drops and people act relatively civil (for 4chan standards).

Thank you for your patience. I'll hopefully be able to update after work today in about 8 to 10 hours.
>>
>>5145913
No rush, man.
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>>5145913
Glad you are enjoying the discussion, QM.
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>>5145913
Hey it's Sall good no rush. Just wanted to convey that it seemed a consensus was formed. I know first hand how that update crunch can be stressful sorry for implying that.
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>>5145913
Of course. It’s our privilege to participate. Run on your own timing. :)
>>
”I'm not going to kill you, lordling. What is your name?”
”You... aren't? A-And my name is Aok, Great Star-King.”
”No, Aok, I won't kill you. I'd actually prefer to make the life of you and your people better. You will become my vassal, and rule this land in my stead. Do you swear fealty to me, Aok?”
”I do, Star-King. I will serve you always, on my honor and my life.” Aok recites, bowing to the ground before you.

They must already have a ritual for this. Of course, you know he is but one feudal lord in a land of many petty warlords and strongmen, but this feels like a victory over these people, and this planet. The truth is, of course, this is merely for your own enjoyment at this point; The actual conquest of the planet is already assured, your own frigate could already pacify these people- a simple strafe of two or three fiefs would guarantee compliance within the local area. Simply colonizing the planet would cause issue if you didn't subjugate the population first- which is why what happens between you and this little lordling is of so little consequence in the grand scheme of things.

”Me and my... household, will serve you.” Aok squeaks.
”...?”

You already know that these people will be need to be dominated by the Hegemony; no matter what. You've already spoiled the option of simply watching them from orbit, but even so, this planet is too valuable to simply let stagnant in its archaic way of life. You can't allow another alien species to take over this place; this land is fertile, bountiful! And it would mean the end of your vow- However, you don't see any way to do it without absolutely destroying their way of life. One of the core tenants of the Hegemony is the destruction of all religious superstition and beliefs. In the same way the Supreme Ruler must reign Supreme, religion may never be practiced and faith must be controlled and angled towards Hegemonic rule. The only question is how you go about it.

“Y-you the King of the Stars?” The feminine voice belonged to Aok's wife. She meets you in a hall of his manor- right before she begins to pull down her dress- her bare chest exposed to you.
”What the-?!”
“I- I know I might not compare to your own women, but I hope I- I am good enough for you. Are you going to... hurt me?”
”I wasn't exactly planning on it!”
“In exchange for my husband's life, I will gladly do anything you wish. Please don't hurt him, or my children- I beg you!”
”...”

In the end, you did end up fucking Aok's wife. You swear you never went into that house with that intention, it just kinda happened. This also makes you the first Jaaxtian to have sex with an alien- proper sex. Haazar spike dicks don't count.
>>
While enacting prima nocta on poor Aok wasn't your plan- it proved an interesting anatomical exercise. Of course, it isn't all just fun and games. Aok has become far more... deferential after this incident- and more believing in what you tell him. You wonder if this incident has made you seem more “mortal” in his eyes- from a foreign alien God-like being into something that samples the local fare. Humbling, to a degree, but more relatable. He's certainly feeling very humbled.

”Does your wife always prepare dinner after caring for your young?”
”Yes, your lordship.”
”That's no good- she needs to wash her hands first.”
”Do you think my wife is... dirty?!”
”Silence, you blowhard! It's about bacteria. Imagine tiny animals, smaller then you can see. If someone sick or weak ate food touched by it, they could get sick, or even die...”

You've explained to Aok some of your plans for this planet, and told him some of the wonders of your age. Food preservation, literacy, instant communication, travel to other planets, advanced medicine that can grow back limbs- these are all things that his people believe may exist as magic, but not something real and concrete. They're fairy tales, but as you have proven, they are real.

”...But if your empire will take over us, what will happen to our freedom?”
”Hmm?”
”Our freedom. Our right to go where we want, to build the homes we want, our love and happiness to not be ruled by evil and cruel lords- that would all go away! These uncountable thousands of thousands of thousands of men you control- they'll outnumber us if they come here. You make it sound like its all good works you bring, but you'll control everything!”

”Let me tell you something about freedom, boy. The freedom you think you have? It's an illusion. Freedom doesn't even exist. Freedom to what, travel where you want? Would you really do that? Abandon your family? Your nation and people? Leave them before harvest-”
”No!”
”Then you don't have freedom, do you? The mythical type of freedom you pine for is meaningless. What difference is it if an alien race conquers you, or if you are alone and must fight among yourself? Even I, the Supreme Ruler of the Jaaxtians, am ruled in turn by the forces of the universe- death and time will eventually undo me as well. Even if you could somehow go where you wanted or do what you wanted at all times- what purpose would that serve? Eventually you would run out of resources, meet an enemy stronger then yourself- even your own brain chemistry betrays you, as all the pointless happiness one could have just dulls it in the future. No- to live with purpose is superior to freedom. The Hegemony will take your freedom away- but you will be given purpose!”
>>
Sadly, you feel as though the time of your adventure has come to a close. Vetuck-II is a very valuable planet, rich for exploitation, and the population could be cowed into submission... as long as you get that blasted religion out of the way. The only issue is the best way to do it. You see two options available to you.

The first is to simple order your next interstellar colony to be built on Vetuck-II. This will cause the most strife, but is the quickest and easiest method. You will have the planet, can subject the Vetuckers to a eugenic program and fold them into your empire as a useful workforce. It will cause societal strain for the Vetuckers as well, but you're confident they can be controlled. Doing so will also count as a colony on Vetuck, fulfilling one part of your vow. It will also mean a large mingling of cultures; even the Haazar have had some influence on your people over the years and they are physically as well as socially segregated. Jaaxtians living on Vetuck-II will be even closer, possibly even commingling in some areas to exchange goods or for your doctors and teachers to come into close contact with the captive Vetuckers.... and given how much more agreeable the Vetuck-II aliens are compared to most of the aliens you've encountered, you're sure that settling here will cause a great degree of pro-xeno sentiment in the Jaaxtian citizens, one way or another.

The second is to perform more subtly. While you cannot hide the truth of your existence anymore- though these primitives hardly have the means to document or spread the news- you could arm your pacified little kingdom of cows with modern technology- even pre-modern tech would be fine. Teach them how to build interlocking plate armor, gunpowder weapons or steam engines, high grade steel as opposed to their pig iron- yes, any kingdom armed such would be able to easily defeat their local rivals and accumulate land and power. You would need to drive them on a crusade of your own- to conquer and connect the world, building up some basic infrastructure themselves before you arrive with your colony ships.

The problem with arming the Vetuckers and leaving is twofold- the first is that, over the years, they may lose sight of their mission. Even if you could be sure they would obey you once you leave with your threat of force, the passage of time will damage their mission. They'll get caught up in local politics, lose ships to storms when they try to cross the oceans, and children will forget their parents struggles. While you can pacify the planet without lifting a finger, simply sharing some technology, you know there is a chance the Vetuckers will fragment again and fail to unify in preparation for your colonization. However, this will allow you to focus on other star systems and fulfill your vow elsewhere.

What are your plans for this planet, your Supremacy?

>Colonize Vetuck-II
>Advance the Vetuckers and let them unify
>>
>>5146111
>Advance the Vetuckers and let them unify
Let them do their business while we go and deal with it elsewhere. We have a long lifetime and if they fragment, we can just install an colony later on.

There's no real reason NOT to. Our vows is to have a colony on every planet, not to take them all over completely.
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>>5146111
>Advance the Vetuckers and let them unify
We cucked one of the local lords, we fucked a xeno, I think we've done enough here.

Note to self: get tested to make sure we didn't get any space aids. you can never know.
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>>5146111
>Advance the Vetuckers and let them unify

A shame about their faith, but such is the way of things. The Ventuck can likely handle themselves without us directly claiming land and peoples through force.
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>>5146111
>Advance the Vetuckers and let them unify
Plan A can still be done in 50 years or something if that fail.
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>NTRfags won
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>>5146127
We didn't even get to vote for it, which is the worst part
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>>5146121
I hope he gets space aids, he deserves it for being a jackass
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>>5146127
At least we weren't the ones getting cucked. That would've stung like a real bastard.

Makes me feel really bad for Aok, even though we've only known him for two updates now.
>>
I do find it slightly disturbing how the term is cow. For our future subjects, that’s not the greatest sign.

Also the part where it allegedly ‘just kind of happened’. Right, Eoba. R i g h t.
Perhaps we might want to have the principled part a little bit more tuned in if we try a third. As first contact goes, surely there must be better ways…
>>
>>5146127
>>5146136
>wife offers herself to us once we dominate her husband
>term is cow
That just seems to be an innate thing for them.
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>>5146140
Well, we're monkeys, and yet you don't see us throwing children against stones
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>>5146143
Eoba I and Agori kinda did.
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>>5146144
Yeah, but they were neurotic psychos.

Vantix would be ashamed of what our proud institutions became.
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>>5146143
You're kinda comparing apples to oranges here between "feudal farming society with crossbows as some of the most advanced tech" and "FTL traveling monkeys with a eugenics program"
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>>5146149
I'm saying that species aren't just literally what they look like, jaxtians don't act like complete monkeys, and i'm guessing these vantuckians don't act like complete cows
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>>5146150
Ah, fair enough. Honestly, I do wonder why +uQ has issue with calling the clearly cow-like humanoids "cows".
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>>5146151
I find it a little worrying cow, in this case, seems… dismissive? Derogatory?

It’s difficult to put down, but it’s like if Eoba suddenly called some subgroup of Jaxtians a pack of monkeys or the Hazar a swarm of wasps. Obviously everyone resembles their evolutionary counterparts to some degree, but calling people monkeys/ apes/ cows/ garden worms seems fairly obviously unkindly.

It’s a little worrying because Ventuck people seem like largely regular peoples, just comparatively primitive compared to our literal interplanetary hegemony. Additionally, not only did Eoba acknowledge that they did possess virtues- diligence, faith, cunning, wit, the capacity to integrate with Jaxtians to the point that that’s a point against colonisation- but he knows full well that one day these people will be his subjects, given his lifespan. Previously he called them the people of Ventuck and some variation, and so to suddenly call them a ‘pacified little kingdom of cows’ as soon as he scored a single victory over them is strange and slightly worrying.

Of course OOC we joke, but I don’t think Eoba’s amusing himself here.
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>>5146111
>Advance the Vetuckers and let them unify
From the Supreme Ruler's perspective, cultural shifts will hurt and a major tenet like religion (or lack of) and xenos could lead to a few unwanted rebellions and unease. We could always swoop in after a generation, it's not like they can jump so far ahead to pose a threat to our current tech.

From my perspective, what the fuck Eoba. I guess the neurosis theory really hits hard. I'll bet a banana that Aok swears revenge if his wife dies from hybrid abomination childbirth or that the bastard son will swear revenge when he's grown. Juicy conflict.
>>
It probably won’t amount to anything significant though, especially if we take the long term approach.
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>>5146165
>Juicy conflict.
It would be kino. I actually like the Vantuckians, they're actually good xenos. Especially when compared to disgusting people like the libertarian bugs.
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>>5146164
Eh, to be fair, it's hard to NOT be a bit dismissive when there's such a power gap between the two. This dude came on here for adventure in the first place, after all.

I don't think it's gonna be an Agori tier issue, personally. This is really the only major questionable moment from Eoba II so far compared to Agori barely being able to hold in his tard rage at times.
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>>5146173
Well, i just hope it doesn't develop into an common thing. The last thing we need is an overly prideful brat who thinks he's the biggest cheese on the dairy shop because he beat a child in an armwrestle.
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>>5146174
Yeah, fair enough. The last thing I want to end up having to do is die because we decided to have a retard moment, like Agori with the "PLAY MY GAME SO I DECIDE WHO I GET TO RIP APART" bit.
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>>5146111
>Advance the Vetuckers
>Assign periodic patrols by Jaxtians to monitor progress, so we can intervene if necessary

Even once every few years should be sufficient.

We did it, lads. The final frontier!
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>>5146111
What we really need to do is a Hybrid of sorts - Advance the Vetuckers and drive them towards unity beneath the Hegemony, but ALSO place a Jaxtian colony/outpost on another world in the system - the Vetuckers can send them food as we modernise the Vetuckers and have a few Jaxtians helping advance them, and that way we'll also have a base in the system already and will be able to swoop in at a moment's notice if some untoward threat or problem rises that requires Hegemonic intervention on a timescale faster then 9 months.
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>>5146111
>Advance the Vetuckers and let them unify
>>
>>5146197
Supporting that. When patrols conclude they've advanced enough to send surplus food, establish a colony!

>>5146111
Adding that to my earlier vote.
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>>5146179
support
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>>5146197
>seconding
Maybe send a ship (or several) that could be deployed into an orbital habitat, and is also capable of landing and becoming a surface habitat.
I'd imagine the ship (or small fleet) will arrive in Vetuck, assemble into an orbital habitat over the planet so our people could have an outpost and patrol base, and when the Vetuckers are unified and ready to join the Hegemony we can either land the habitat to become the start of a colony, or stay in orbit to become a spaceport.
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>>5146111
>Advance the Ventuckers.

And I have to say, I am really disappointed you went with the prima nocta route, especially because the majority of the players didn't want that and it wasn't even in the votes.
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>>5146508
Personally I thought that was funny.
>>
Ventuckers? More like Vencuckeds lmao
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>>5146111
>Advance the Vetuckers and let them unify

Bring back the generational colony ship idea just outside of Vetuck's orbit, we'll name it Cirrus.

We should actually revisit the undersea colony idea, it isn't as unintuitive as people might imagine. It may be a bitch to set up, but when you do, you have the weight of the water above as your largest defense in depth (heh) against outside attacks, and the technology needed to keep people alive down in the deep can have other utilitarian advantages in other space colonies and starships, like under deep seas or gas giants.

>>5146508
Actually, I think the referendum happened when half the voting base supported dueling the lord, banging a space babe, and the just leaving, as supposed to just meeting with the lord for political shenanigans.
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>>5146568
No, if you look at the votes, nearly all of them were just spare. Not "fuck his wife", and before that, it was to go meet him, and certainly not to cuck him.
>>
>>5146575
Honestly, I'm a bit reminded of Vul's antics desu, and later Talacent's preventing xenocide and Agori's propensity towards personal vicious justice. It's one of those things we as players can't control about our MC. It's a shame, Agori really could've been a great warrior-philosopher king like Marcus Aurelius, which I would've vibed for.

It also makes me wonder if we should've saved Vul pregnant wife's life instead of the useless ship, in the heat of the moment. I think it would've made for an interesting Supreme Candidate, even if saving the ship was objectively better in the long run.
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>>5146590
It would have been interesting no doubt, but if all of cirrus fell there'd have been a hell of a lot more fighters.
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>>5146599
That too.

>>5146590
We still got a Vul kid qs Supreme, and his bastard was one of the best supremes we ever had.
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>>5146590
Alas that is the dichotomy of /qst/ vote for what would make a more interesting story or what would be best for the characters in the story, too much of either is bad though and a big reason I like this quest
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>>5146111
>Colonize Vetuck-II
Cheap source of labor we can easily work to death.
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>>5146508
>>5146575

I may be wrong, but I think q slim plurality, or at least a good half, of the votes on >>5143476 were to sleep with a green woman by some means. I wasn't voting to cuck the dude necessarily, but noNE of us who voted that way specified NOT to cuck him, and a few were pretty into it.

i'm sure Aok'll be A-Ok in the end
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>>5146179
+1 Having some Jaxtians to come by every now and then would pretty much solve all issues with leaving them to advance.
>>
You decide that, instead of simply crashing down and taking over the planet- you'll hold off and let the Vetuckers become politically more unified themselves. Let them build some of their own critical infrastructure, expand their language base, and so on. As it stands, simply taking the planet now would involve pacifying every single little tribe, not a difficult task, just a time consuming one.

You tell Aok of your plan, and his role in it. You tell him that you will be a King of many lands, which was already far beyond any station he could imagine in his most ambitious dreams. You also outfit the Vetuck aliens with new technology- you teach them how to brew alcohol so they have a clean source of drinking water, how to create plate armor and high grade steel, and the basics of gunpowder, how to build ships, and naviagte by stars.

”...But Star-King, how am I going to pay for all of this? To try to conquer our sphere- or “planet”, as you call it- it would take many more taxes then I can collect in a lifetime!”
”Don't worry- I have that covered.”

As these primitives still use gold as a store of value, ironic considering it is actually highly valuable in the Hegemony now purely for computer parts, you take your ship and tractor beam in a few asteroids in the Vetuck system filled with gold, silver, and other precious metals.

”Don't melt it all down at once, you'll crash the economy.”
”What? This is a great treasure! I don't understand-”
”Ugh, just, look- break this stone down into pieces no bigger then a single man can carry. Only melt down one stone of that size per year for its gold. Do it slowly, or else all of this gold, and YOUR gold you already have, will become useless. Understand?”
”I-I will do as you say, my liege.”

Considering that Vetuckers live considerably shorter lives then Jaaxtians, even before the life extension technology, this may be the last time you ever see Aok. You give him a firm handshake.

”Live well, Lord of these Lands.”
”And you as well... Star-King.”

But your work isn't over- you have to arm more then just one little Kingdom on this primitive world. You travel to regional powers all over, arming them all with similar knowledge. You impart each with the knowledge you will return one day to take their planet, and give them your Hegemonic seal, so that when they meet each other, they will know who truly serve the Jaaxtians. With that, you board your frigate, begin the hyperspace journey back to Jaxt, and head down into a suspension pod for hypersleep...
>>
No no no! FUCK!

You go off on a one little adventure, and disaster comes!

As it turns out, your Overseer of Alien Affairs, one Shon Duj, who is the son of the late Captain Allsals Duj, had a score to settle. Using his newfound position, Shon invited your worm advisor into a grow chamber on the Xin colony, and then opened the shutters during the brightest part of the day. The worm died.

The worst part is you had no clue of his intentions- only his family name and his lack of experience could have warned you of Shon's plot for revenge. He was middle aged, yet inexperienced for his position- he switched careers multiple times until he could get into a position like this to enact his revenge.

“That's what you get for killing my pa! The Hegemony betrays us for murderous aliens- down with Supreme Ruler Agori and down with YOU, Eoba II!”
”Silence! Shove this man out of the airlock- have him suffer the same fate as our advisor! If he still lives by sundown, have a drone execute him!”

Shon is shoved from the Xin colony onto the hostile alien surface. He will not live long- sundown is but a few hours away...

Next update tomorrow
>>
uh oh
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>>5146979
You'd think an intergalactic species would be tougher than that or could at least teleport itself away.
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>>5146979
We kind of deserve it for not paying attention.
Could we contact the Essaal or the Consortium to explain the accident and politely ask for a new worm? We would have to admit being idiots to our neighboors but at least maybe the worms would forgive us.
>>
Told you fucks that we've should've picked Bluey. You can't buy loyalty like that. Now we have to revamp the AI because it really should've picked that shit up and warned us about it, since IC Eoba wouldn't have picked up the significance of that last name, no joke.

Now we'll have to appease the other Worms and buy off their displeasure.

>>5146996
I assume that they can only enter during Hyperspace travel. We'll need Bluey and Kinman 1.0 to gather up the Doj family and see if eating them alive appeases them.

>>5147002
And what, reveal that we 'accidentally' got one killed? Nay, I say we Hyperspace and cut out the middle men.
>>
this is why i wanted bluey people. this is why i wanted bluey
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>>5147004
Another option could be to figure out how to do whatever the Worms are doing, I don't think that they are more nefarious than "asking a lot of ressources for something that all FTL civs could learn to do" but if we lost the Worm then we may try anyway (at the risk of them potentially sabotating our attempts)
>>5137055
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>>5146978
Arming several different factions seems to be in error. They will inevitably compete.
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>>5147004
>We'll need Bluey and Kinman 1.0 to gather up the Doj family and see if eating them alive appeases them.
No. It's one thing to forgive an attack but willingly sacrificing Jaxtians to appease aliens is a red line we should never cross.
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>>5147016
We kill our people all the time for lesser opportunities, we are not idealistic enough for that IMO.
Although I do think that I wouldn't automatically assume that the worms would want to do that in the first place, anyway.
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>>5146979
Great job retards, Iceberg is looking like an awesome choice now!
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>>5147012
We can already do that instant communication trick, but we don't have the diplomatic network and influence the Worms do. We need to appease them, otherwise we're diplomatically fucked as a society.

>>5147016
Ordinarily I would agree, but when Doj abused his power and broke our trust by killing our Ambassador while shouting anti-Hegemony slogans, I think we can make an exception to prevent a diplomatic disaster from befalling the Hegemony.

>>5147020
I'm hoping it'll end there, but we should be prepared to pay a heavy price just in case.

>>5147025
After Bluey, he's literally my second choice. Maybe we should have all three Xeno-Overseer Candidates there, really see how they operate in the field.
>>
>>5147044
>We can already do that instant communication trick, but we don't have the diplomatic network and influence the Worms do. We need to appease them, otherwise we're diplomatically fucked as a society.
Kinman seems to think that you don't even really need equipment to do it like the worms, and the worms can "see" and communicate in hyperspace way better than anyone else.
If we figured out how to do it, then we could get a good reputation by telling the Consortium and Esaal how, then that would eventually propagate in the whole galaxy and everyone would get rid of the Worms.
>>
>>5147048
Problem is, your now picking a fight with a largely immortal empire hiding in Hyperspace, which also has the most influential diplomatic corps in the entire galaxy. It's not gonna be worth it for at least a millennia or two worth of Supreme Leaders.
>>
>>5147070
They're more assholes that are unsurpassed FTL phones than master diplomats and don't have shown a lot of power besides that, I think that a lot of space empires would get rid of them asap if they were made obsolete.
>>
>>5147078
Anon. We don't have the tech, scientific knowledge, or diplomatic network to pull it off. It's a nonissue for Eoba II.
>>
>>5147082
Kinman I almost managed to do it. >>5137055
There could be a reason why saving Kinman II life was an option.
>>
>>5147088
I have no doubt Kinman II can see and talk to them, but that doesn't invalidate everything else I said. We don't have the ability to get rid of the Worm's influence, and likely won't for a while.
>>
>>5147004
I support appeasing the worms for now, if their demands be reasonable. I consider feeding one family to them reasonable. We historically punish whole families, as a society. This may be a necessary evil.
>>
We also need to get Yuan'Tul Scholiander and Mane Jipt to dissect the Worm's body immediately, see if they can out a couple of their secrets and weaknesses we can exploit.
>>
>>5147099
Idk, Kinman I seems to really think that they are liars and nothing actually special ("seeing" is probably a metaphore for doing what the worms do than just seeing in hyperspace)
If we get a new worm then we may never get the opportunity to leak out the method to not needing the worm again, he probably died too quickly to alert the others so contacting the Consortium and Esaals wouldn't be especially suspicious but if the worms know that we killed a worm then they would always react to not being able to contact our new advisor.
>>
>>5147121
>he probably died too quickly to alert the others
I highly doubt that, considering he can instantly communicate with other being light years away. We also don't have the diplomatic network of the Worms either, so I honestly don't understand what point you're trying to make.
>>
>>5147142
Why would we need a diplomatic network? If we figure out how to not need the Worms then we could just send the method to our closest neighboors so they will get rid of the worms and be able to talk as well as the Worms to us.
Even demonstrating it the way our Worm did would go a long way to convince anyone we want.
>>
>>5147148
Anon, you're plan isn't going to work. We'll be lucky to avoid a coalition of our galactic rivals coming together just to specifically kick our shit in. You ain't gonna convince people of shit without our diplomatic envoy having the ear of their rulers, of which we have nothing approaching that. It's a nonissue.
>>
>>5147155
>xenos tell us how to not need the asshole worms
>"let's call everyone and attack them!"
???
We already managed to send a reply to the Esaal and have a video meeting with the Consortium with normal tech, sending them the info if we manage to figure it out seems possible, just send it through normal means.
>>
>>5146979
Shon Duj paid for his impudence with his life just like the worm paid the price for eating Jaxtians.

If the other Worms complain, the last thing we want to do is apologize. Better to be seen as vengeful and ruthless than to seem the type to be bilked for reparations.
>>
>>5147158
Anon, we don't have any useful Anti-Worm info to give them, and even if we did have that info, we don't have the diplomatic clout or influence to get them to kick the Worms to the curb. It's a nonissue.
>>
>>5147161
Why would they keep expensive advisors if they can do the same things for cheaper? It's not like they're even charmers or good at diplomacy, their abilities is all what they have.
Obviously we should make Kinman II discover their secret before giving it to xeno civs.
>>
>>5147161
>"Oh, well, if you did that- you would bring the ire of the intergalactic community against you! I told you we are within every interstellar society of note. Our species is the eldest of all- connected and embedded. I would hate to "pull rank" against you- but we are simply more important. Over billions of years of life in this galaxy, yours is but a speck in the grand scheme of things. However, such posturing is totally pointless- I'd much rather help you then argue!"
>"As I mentioned before- in exchange for my accommodations and a position in your society, I will be your advocate and representative in the intergalactic stage! Of course, if you kill me, or refuse, you'll have lost your biggest voice to vouch for you in interstellar politics- and everyone out there will know you did it for... what? The life of a nobody captain? Why are you so focused on that. Absurd. You know better then that, Supreme Ruler."

Not to throw the dead Worm's words back at you, but doing that would just make our situation worse, not better. We're already in deep shit for allowing his death to happen though negligence, turning it into a justified revenge-killing narrative after taking advantage of his diplomacy clout will just serve to piss them off and antagonize them against us. No two ways about it, we need to make amends and repair our relationship with the Aannel race.
>>
>>5147164
What part of 'embedded in the intergalactic system of governance' do you not understand? You think the other empires are simply gonna throw the Worms out just because they have the same abilities the Worms have? It's the Worms influence and clout within the intergalactic system that'll get us thrown out on our ass instead of them.
>>
>>5147159
Read >>5147165
>>
>>5147167
Their "influence" is just the threat that our advisor gave us, they're not some great schemers with great social skills, just glorified phones that use that leverage rather bluntly.
Look at how our advisor panicked when Agori pushed him harder to justify not killing him and he used his abilities to force us to hire him (>>5124641), he's worthless without that over us and the other worms are probably not any more convincing or smarter.
>>
>>5147159
Still, we never DID purge dissidents. As such, letting the Duj family get away with this act of unauthorized reprisal and defiance will only embolden future rebels and iconoclasts. An example should probably be made.
>>
>>5147179
There influence is more than a threat, it's a danger we must manage and a tool we must wield. Plus, we still don't know any Worm secrets so we're debating a moot point.

>>5147181
Actually, purging the dissidents would've purged Doj from ever being near the reigns of power in the first place. Fucking called it again, knew we should've purged the dangerous elements of our society. Time to crack down.
>>
File: Our Glorious Supremes.png (1.05 MB, 1980x1461)
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>>5138669
Was making this thing when I realized the lately-revealed implications of Gaftar's Supreme Leader robes
>>
>>5147207
Mein gott...
>>
Oh dear…. This bodes poorly.
Perhaps.. perhaps we should never contact the worms again. Say, how’s our brother doing?

(In all seriousness, I would like to check on who’s effectively our family.)

>>5147207
To save me from trawling back through the archives, what does this mean?
>>
>>5147262
"The white diamond. Around your neck, the white diamond symbolically represents wearing the bones of a defeated rival; and is only worn by Supreme Rulers who killed to gain their position."

Now look at the Supreme Ruler in Yellow.
>>
………I cannot believe he’d do something so outrageously blatant.

And I cannot believed it w o r k e d.

No wonder he was Supreme.
>>
>>5147207
Holy shit good eye anon.
>>
>>5146978
I hope we're still going to have a permeant monitoring presence and orbital garrison/colony elsewhere in the system, even if we're not colonising the prime world just yet?

>>5146979
...Fuck. We manage to take one stuttering step forward after playing catchup for so long, and now two steps right back again.

Don't we keep personal histories of the monkies we want to employ? Run even basic psychological screening anymore?
>>
Do we just not have an goddamn AI or something? Why did no one stop the overseer from doing what was clearly murder?
>>
>>5147289
What?
>>
>>5147483
he noticed how the dude in yellow gutted the previous supreme ruler.
and if I recall correctly, that's the dude who tried to become a godhead AI.

so nAn is freaking out because of the (HEAVY) implication he gutted the previous ruler so he could have prime resources to become immortal via AI.
>>
>>5147207
Two things I noticed.

1. I played this whole game and I can barely remember the leader after Galacent

2. None of them have repeated colors so far
>>
I like how the author cashed in on us not caring enough about the dead captain to memorize his name.
Great job making pay for our oversight, OP!
>>
>>5147553
Even then I doubt Eoba would've remembered something that happened under the previous Supreme Leader's reign, and I expected the second best person for the job not to be a traitorous scumbag. Our AI needs to be reworked, because clearly that shouldn't have happened.
>>
>>5147553
The worm may be a total jerk with no respect for life but it's not like it ate those people for fun. It was a starvation situation and monke flesh was the only food source around. I honestly don't think we can blame them. Yes they would have eaten those Monke anyway if they could but they still had a valid defense.

Also Duj already was punished for the crime. I fucking told you folks to honor the families and pay them reparations after explaining it was a starvation thing. It could have been played up as a noble sacrifice. Hell, most Monke haven't even met the worm it could have been spun as a whole Andes Mountain style tragedy. We could have built SYMPATHY for them.

Time and time again over focus on the material and political aspects of the Hegemony gets us screwed over by the personal/social/psychological aspects. Monke aren't in human robots and we need to really treat mental health as a primary concern , especially among the leadership class.
>>
>>5147562
>I fucking told you folks to honor the families and pay them reparations after explaining it was a starvation thing.

Wait, you told his family the TRUTH?!? As a TOTALITARIAN REGIME?! How did you next expect that not to go wrong with the family hearing he got eaten by the Xeno and we not only did jack shit to punish him, but we REWARDED HIM WITH THE POSITION OF AMBASSADOR?! How did our AI not automatically flag him and his family as a security risk?!? This goes beyond coincidence, this is flat out incompetence! Who the fuck runs our internal security apparatuses, because this shit shouldn't have happened with our institutional safeguards and advanced AI surveillance tech in play!
>>
I'm wondering. Assuming the Worm is a hive mind, would it know which of us killed it, and why? I assume Duj probably took a moment to gloat as it was dying.

Back when we were first introduced, the worm stated 'I would not be offended if you destroyed one of my larvals'.

It would know that the destruction of the Worm we played host to was a matter of a rogue individual, not national policy. Will it be willing to count this as an accidental tragedy and send another ambassador? Given how widespread they appear to be and yet how lethal a first contact situation might be if you're not hauling 'edible' meat around, we might assume something like this would have happened before to other stellar nations who aren't really much worse off for a 'first accident'. As long as they didn't make a habit of such actions.
>>
>>5147586
I would hope so, they're a long time in the game so they're probably not going to be especially finnicky. At the same time, it'sprobably not going to be good, that worm did a real good job helping us while we were in a crisis.
>>
>>5147586
God I hope so.

>>5147602
I agree, he did help us out in a crisis (albeit while eating the low-ranking colonists). We should ensure that he's guarded by loyal Jaxianites after this, to prevent a disaster like this from happening again. Though it does make me wonder what would happen if the Worm was spiked by a blue Huzzar.
>>
>>5147621
I really want to try the blue Hazaar option but I don't think we could get the worm to consent.

Let's try to clone the worm that died and use it's genome for experiments. Strengths weaknesses and how to access hyperspace.
>>
>>5147641
That is a horrible idea, those worms work in a way we don't know. For all we know they could realize and bring the hammer down on us.

We're not powerful enough to challenge the worms yet.
>>
>>5147569
Agreed, mostly, but as for telling him the truth or not...

Alavis leaked all our state secrets of that nature during the Killswitch Appcalypse.
>>
>>5147713
And our successor AI didn't immediately disqualify him at that point? He was in the TOP 4 CANDIDATES! What, we suddenly have a shortage of qualified Supreme Candidate level experts in that area?

Uggg, I knew I should've shilled harder to weed out the dissidents.
>>
>>5147732
Our new AI probably needs more data to train on. The first AI we inherited was backed by a genius Jaxtian mind, and the second was tied to that same longstanding infrastructure and those datasets. The Threemind system is FRESH.
>>
>>5147732
Again it's not like the disloyalty was inherent to Duj.

I contend if we had paid out reparations to the families and honored them as national heroes we wouldn't be in this mess.
>>
>>5147775
It isn't Threemind operating the network yet, and it's still inexcusable.

>>5147811
Reparations and calling the man a hero for being eaten by a xeno wouldn't prevent the son from revenge killing in his father's name, nor the anti-Hegemonic sentiment for seeping into his psyche, it probably would've made it worse. And I'm not saying it's inherent disloyalty, but having the son of an Xeno-eaten father suddenly appear as a top candidate for Overseeing Xeno-Integration is a mayor red flag that should've been caught by our AI Systems and Security Apparatus. Overseer is a top job, second to only the Supreme Leader himself, I expected an exhaustive vetting process for this shit, we ain't hiring a Superviser for McNanas here.
>>
>>5147823
We could have spun it as a yellowjackets things even said they volunteered to be eaten. The colony was shit down, food was scarce, it wasn't like it was a cold blooded murder.

Especially since Duj would have been a kid at the time , not to mention the Hegemony was under a rally around the flag effect in the wake of the Ingar crisis. We 100 percent could have had Duj been cool.
>>
Your name is now Shon Duj.

You finally did it- you killed that bastard worm! But your elation at that fact is the only thing moving your feet. Your throat stings from the alien air. You gasp for breath. There is no water in this soil, each step sends up a cloud of acidic dust that stings your mouth and throat... no wait, it's akaline. That's why Xin keeps requested acidic fertalizer to balance the ph...

As far as the Hegemony is concerned, you're a dead man. This planet is still not habitable for your kind. But maybe they made a mistake? You can breathe- but only barely. You might be able to survive here if you can get away from this damn drone. It's so cold here at night too- but maybe there's a chance. You know there are stony hills near the colony. Maybe if you can squeeze into a tight crack, the drone won't be able to follow you, or maybe it will get close enough you can try to shatter its sensor against the rocks, since it sure as hell isn't getting within your reach now.

Your dear sweet father, Captain Allsals, was just a transport captain. You also know he didn't serve in either of the capsule wars, he wasn't born until long after that. But as a kid? You thought he was at the forefront. You thought he was some kind of hero. And then they threw his life away to appease some bloody xeno.

You did everything right, though. You know you'd never escape from the Hegemony- but once the last AI crisis happened, everybody was shown exactly how much data they collect. How they assign AIs to disseminate inaccurate information. You held your tongue- you never posted any anti-xeno sentiment online, never shared your true plans... even switched careers. You used to build and test bunkers! But none of those were needed on Xin.

Pa... Will people really be able to live here some day? Did you lie to me?
>>
>>
You are now Yaun'Tul Scholiander. You are a Blue-Haazar.

As a Haazar citizen of the Hegemony, you've always been an outsider. You have 10% of their DNA, and are a sort of second class citizen. As a kid, you never really understood your “father's” obsession with your “bloodline”. He was very proud of the fact that one of his ancestors was Qet- a previous Supreme Ruler. It was even more confusing considering every other member of his family, including himself, were low born, patriotic, unremarkable citizens of low standing.

Why is he taking credit for what other people have done? You feel that's a theme with this entire civilization.

You grew up first in the Haazar community on Jaxt, and later moved to the Xin colony. You went through puberty about when the Jaxtians do; but yours was a lot different. Lots of big, weird changes went through you as you discovered your “type”- you ended up as a “Cultivator” type. It has nothing to do with cool magical swordsmen either, it's just the type of Haazar who implants others in exchange for his resources or services; a scummy landlord, basically. It was really weird finding parts of your body... growing. And the blades started shredding all of your clothes... no wonder purebreed Haazar go around naked so much.

You never much fit in- Jaxtian or Blue-Haazar. This was probably because of your “special circumstances”. You are just a Blue-Haazar, and yet your councilors and education planners and all these others always looked at you weird, like you were some blip in the system. You always pulled ahead in classes. Given how small the Xin colony is, you had to share some classes with Jaxtians sometimes- and you watch them.

You know the supremacy they lace into their literature. Haazar ganglion are “simpler” then a central nervous system. The Xin colony is terraformed by those with “rudimentary” respiration systems. The differences between an “r and k selection method” in evolutionary biology- you could never tell if the other Haazar students noticed this. You're constantly told that the Jaxtians are better, more patriotic, that your own way of thinking is wrong and selfish. But everywhere you look, you see hypocrisy. Maybe the Jaxtians are all just as greedy and selfish as you, they're just better at hiding it.

How do you feel about the Jaxtians?

>You hate them
>You're jealous of them
>>
>>5148198
>You're jealous of them
Big Aumunu energy here. This could be crucial.
>>
>>5148198
>>You hate them
>>
>>5148217
>Aumunu
who?
>>
>>5148198
>You're jealous of them
Jealousy is better than hatred.
>>
>>5148222
The fat monke who accidentally discovered plasmatronics.
>>
>>5148198
>You're jealous of them
Sounds less hostile than hatred, at least we probably did well to not choose that one as our science overseer.
>>
>>5148198
>You hate them
>>
>>5148193
This is a great piece my man, I really feel for Shon Duj.
>>
>>5148343
This guy was a candidate for an overseer too?
...Perhaps we do need to root out the dissidents
>>
>>5148368
Second top guy >>5141987
>>
>>5148198
>>You hate them
>>
>>5148375
Yeah I see. Previously we had the crazy Supreme Candidates, now we have the crazy Overseer Candidates, hopefully not a crazy populace as well.
>>
>>5148193
Oh god it might just be the weed but this is the first time a quest made me feel like crying.
>>
>>5148198
>You're jealous of them

This may be another sperg/laylow choice, but after the previous betrayal I'm just sick of hate.

Doj definitely got the rough shaft when it came is getting his father eaten, but he just got his family and probably a lot more Jaxians killed in his selfishness, so fuck him. And no, knowing how the AI processes information doesn't explain the serious lapses in our security apparatus. Motherfucker shouldn't have gotten into his Xeno-linguist program to begin with, let alone achieved enough recognition by the AI to be the Top 4 Xeno-Integration Overseer Candidate out of all the people in the Hegemony. And how could the AI analyze his merit and capabilities, but not have the red flags of his father's service history shown up as a contradiction of behavior? What is this, Schrödinger AI?

Whatever, Galyo Qint's gonna revamp this AI shit with Yaun'Tul just to make sure this shit doesn't happen again. One of Ingar's 'greatest achievements' my ass, fucker rewrote Alavis into the AI equivalent of a bimbo.
>>
>>5148198
Do we need to have a negative response to this? I would suggest recognizing this as the product of a system, not something inherent to Jataxians themselves

>You hate their culture
>>
>>5148387
Neither of them were "crazy." They had emotional reactions to the fucked up shit we voted for the Hegemony to do.
>>
>>5148429
I don't know anything about Monke organizational culture but given this happened a generation ago and it didn't seem to be highlighted culturally it makes sense the names of those lost at Xin weren't really kept track of. Sure if someone looked up elder Duj it would flag being eaten by the wurm but I can believe the system looked up Duj, looked up his father and noted his father died on Xin by the worm but wouldn't make an emotional connection that the younger Duj would hate Xenos and the Hedgmony.
>>
>>5148447
Duj Senior wasn't eaten on Xin during the Killswitch Apocalypse, but rather was eaten under Agori's reign, decades ago, before we made formal contact with the worm: >>5120724

I think the new AI is just not that emotionally astute.
>>
>>5148447
>I can believe the system looked up Duj, looked up his father and noted his father died on Xin by the worm but wouldn't make an emotional connection that the younger Duj would hate Xenos and the Hedgmony

The problem is, it really fucking should've. The Hegemony is a totalitarian state that weeds out and processes dissents as naturally as one breathes, and it had centuries to perfect that process into a form of art. When one's father is killed by Xenos, it would be expected (and perhaps approved of) if the son turns Xenophobic, and that's reflected in his speech or cultural habits. He instead decided to change careers to become a Xeno-linguist. That should've been a red flag, yet wasn't. Not only that, but the AI elevated him into the second recommended position of Xeno-Intergration Overseer in spite of his lack of experience as a Xeno-linguist. Flat out, that should not have happened. Couple that with the fact that these positions are secondary only to the Supreme Leader, and I'd expect an exhaustive review process to be carried out by not just the AI, but by loyal Jaxian Agents of the Hegemony as well.

I really enjoyed Doj's storyline, and I do think it was a smart Jedi trick to sneak this under our radar and keep us on our toes, but speaking from an immersion perspective, it should not have happened. A bit nickpicky? Yea, but ever since Disney Star Wars, I've been hypersensitive to plot holes and contrivances that break in-universe logic.

>>5148499
Ingar made a blonde bimbo AI to replace his blondie waifu. I knew you lads should've just given him what he wanted in the first place.
>>
>>5148222
Most based post ITT
>>
>>5148198
>>You're jealous of them
>>
>>5148217
>>5148343
>>5148931

Okay Jealous boys, we keep picking lukewarm half measures and reactionary shit against stuff that isn't viewed as "moral" to our current irl society. Can you at least pick an interesting option for once and see how things go?
>>
>>5148532
Ais tend to be good at calculations and logic and algorithmic shit. I can believe a complex interpersonal thing like this would slip past one
>>
>>5148198
>You hate them
Look, let's be honest here. If you were constantly being told you were "simple" and everyone else is "smarter" and "better", you would get peeved
>>
>>5148959
I don't care about IRL morals (I even voted to make everyone Indigos several threads ago and for genociding the lowest jaaxtians in this one), i just don't want a Supreme Ruler candidate tier guy outright hating us.
>>
>>5148959
And what? Begin self-sabotaging ourselves on the level of Ingar and Doj again? Nah, we already did the sperg thing and lost out on Stargates, which is clearly the superior option for a totalitarian intergalactic empire.
>>
>>5148532
Ingar was an abusive mass murderer and not enabling his psychotic Uriah fantasy was the most even headed thing Agori did.
>>
>>5148988
Idk, he was in a position beneath him just to be able to see her, I don't think that he would have tried something like a coup if we gave her to him.
>>
>>5148988
I’m honestly not certain of that. Beyond maybe getting a blonde high IQ Supreme Candidate, he may have been more chill and less like psychotic warlord, at least enough as to not try and become the despot of Xin. Conjecture on my part? Sure,, but it might hold some water.
>>
>>5148198
>>5148343
Changing my vote to
>You hate them
It's a gamble but thinking about it I think that the first one may make him want more rights for Haazars and the second is just a personal selfish thing.
Opinions will vary but I think that becoming a true multispecies empire may be better in the long-term.
>>
>>5149009
>wanting privileges

Is this a joke? We're not giving them privileges (the correct term for rights in a totalitarian empire), we've barely begun to even integrate them. If you think him hating us will somehow lead to more Huzzar privileges, your even more of a fool than he is. If this doesn't turn out to be an Aumunu situation, all your doing is poisoning the well for us before we'll be forced to shoot him for treason on the level of Ingar and Doj.
>>
>You hate them.....but you want to teach them that the Hazaar are worthy members of the Hegemony, so that they care for you and you care for them in turn.
>>
Maybe you are jealous of their powerful empire or monoculture, their shared experience. No- it's isn't so much that you're jealous of them. You think you hate the Jaxtians.

To simply say that one hates someone above them in a society is jealousy or insecurity may be true- but these feelings aren't controlled by you. The Jaxtians are your masters, everyone about the society in which you live caters towards them. Their needs. Their "grand and glorious legacy that must last until the end of time." Of course not being a part of that stings.

But the worst part? Can you even blame them? Everybody has an in group preference. This goes beyond race. You mostly like to spend time with other Blue-Haazar. Real Haazar are all very foreign and alien, Jaxtians are socially untouchable and above your station. Only the blue Haazar here, on Xin colony working in the dust fields outside are your real friends. Besides- even if you hate the Jaxtians- what can you do about it? You feel sadness. To speak your anger would only bring the Hegemony's wrath around you- you'd be silenced, or worse. You could try to be like Ingar. Everyone now knows how he stewed and slowly cooked up a plot to wrest control of the Hegemony while faking obedience- you could do something like that, but given your low birth status you doubt you'd ever get that power. And then you'll be punished, killed, and life will go on.

Even if you could, you wouldn't really be hurting the power structure. The Supreme Ruler is as untouchable to you as the Vetucker's belief in an unknowable, infinite divine- only last year did teaching material on them become available. Probably because pretty soon, they'll be Vetuck kids in a classroom just like this, being told to "manage their expectations" on their importance in the Hegemony. That the Hegemony exists to make their lives better, but they'll always be second- and then justifying this by saying it is righteous and good. Even a bombing or suicidal attack would just hurt innocents, not those who created this empire centuries ago- making it so resilient and all-consuming.

It's totally pointless... you can't do anything. Not now, and probably not ever. You wonder how long you'll be able to bottle it up. Maybe the AI network will ping your online searches as being negative or suspicious, and you'll get a visit from an authority. You'll either shit yourself and admit to your antisocial thoughts, or you'll get so paranoid that soon after that they will KNOW you're hiding something. You're 100% screwed.

...Huh, looks like today is career day. Pretty big deal. Of course, Blue-Haazar get less choices then regular Jaxtians... but these are all actually pretty lucrative careers- and no doubt curated to what you're already good at. Hmm, which should you pick?
>>
>>5149181
>Kill ourself

We are stuck in an empire of a people we hate. All careers serving them are meaningless, and resisting them is futile. End our own existence on our own terms.

(If we really have to choose a path for this traitor-in-waiting, Astrophysicist)
>>
>>5149181
>Astrophysicist
Stare into the stars. Let the void cosume us.
>>
>>5149181
>Geneticist
REVENGE
>>
>>5149181
>Astrophysicist
>>
>>5149181
>Astrophysicist
If life on the hegemony is garbage, then let's just go into the void.
>>
>>5149181
>Geneticist
>>
>>5149181
>State Philosopher
It will take years, decades, but the right ideas can slip through the iron grip of the Hegemony. Little seeds of your discontent can grow into something fruitful...

This will make for great conflict, later on. The only game to play is the long one in his case.
>>
>>5149181
>State-Philospher
With the unique background and motivation to make the Hedgemon better for all people's this Blue Hazaar could be a Martin Luther, , Buddha or Nafanua style social reformer.
>>
>>5149181
>State-philosopher
State-philosopher is the one most likely to be able to change things by either inventing a philosophy to make xenos happy with their lot or redefining Jaaxtian nationalism into something truly integrating them.
>>
>>5149181
>State Philosopher
>>
>xeno who hates jaxtians
>state philosopher
good idea bro, let's make the guy who literally hates us to define our ideology
>>
>>5149181
>>5149238
This but unironically.
>State-philosopher
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>>5149241
Why? So he can corrupt our country to turn us into xeno-loving hippies? The Hazaar can go fuck themselves for all i care.
>>
The Hegemon has had a dominant strain of political thought since we started the game. A change up or introduction of new ideas will be more interesting
>>
>>5149258
I wouldn't mind a new political thought, but the last thing i want is retarded xenoactivism. The Hazaar are disgusting cryptobros.
>>
>>5149263
"FOR ONLY 8105 [insert Hazaar bucks], YOU TOO CAN OWN A FUNNY IMAGE OF THE LATEST SUPREME RULER"
>>
>>5149263
>The Hazaar are disgusting cryptobros.
That seems to be more a cultural thing than something really inherent to them.
Honestly personally I want to try it because we are going to get a lot of more pleasant xenos (the Vetuckers) and limiting them forever would probably cripple our empire potential and make it unstable, we are probably past the point we can do without xenos or even just making them very small minorities like the Baalathi or Migrators.
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>>5149267
>we are probably past the point we can do without xenos
How? What's stopping us from continuing to develop? If anything, the xenos are roadblocks because we have to divert time and energy to pacifying them, even now with dissidents like Yuan-Tul still popping up. We could probably even xenocide all of them and be better off for it, but that's not very interesting imo.
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>>5149267
>That seems to be more a cultural thing than something really inherent to them.
You're right, their inherent traits are using children as meatshields and being natural libertarians because they literally don't have the concept of family.
>>
>>5149275
I doubt that we would get a vote for exterminating now that we are integrating a whole planet worth of them and I'm less worried about dissidents (Jaaxtians are not really any less rebellious) that a large chunk of our citizens being mostly stuck as common laborers.
>>5149284
The former is true but they are not unable to be patriots (and our latest dissident betrayed us to avenge his father, a Hazaar wouldn't have done that), they probably just need something less family-centric to feel included, their culture made them libertarians but their biology could make them even more eusocial than Jaaxtians in our culture.
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>>5149290
>The former is true but they are not unable to be patriots
They literally don't care. They don't have to care about families, which means they have no biological social impulse. They're fine fucking anybody over as long as they get to continue riding the gravy train.

And i was right too, Bluey is only loyal because of Talacent - Yuan'Tul hates Jaxtians. The only thing he is gonna do if he becomes a philosohper is try to corrupt our system, because guess what? He hates Jaxtians, and he would have us all dead if he could.
>>
>>5149294

Yuan'Tul only hates Jaxtians because a majority of posts were by people retarded enough to say 'let's have this alien hate us, what could possibly go wrong?'

That said, it's done now, so we have to try and minimise the damage we just set ourselves up for. If we can't have this guy kill himself, let's put him out of the way in Astrophysics.
>>
>>5149294
Yuan'til hates Jataxians because they grew up in a Culture where Jataxians constantly told them Hazarr we're inferior. We see how fucked up Bluey is from that kinda thinking, this is just the inverse repsonss.
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>>5149313
Hazaar ARE inferior. They literally caused their own near-extinction and their civilization was powered by scamming people.

I would understand if it was a vantuckian speaking, because they did nothing wrong, but a hazaar?
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>>5149317
last I checked, Hazaar aren't emotionless robots who are 100% logical. Constantly being told you are inferior still stings.
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>>5149321
True, but that doesn't mean we should let him become an philosopher.
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>>5149188
+1, we need to self-abort. I'm sick of traitors-in-waiting.

>>5149225
>>5149227
>>5149229
You're all delusional and retarded if you think this'll end well. Creating a cultural rift that we'll have to rip up though force or which will grow to tear the Hegemony in two is such a brainlet idea, and I'll be voting to kill Yaun'Tul every update I can until this ideological filth that ferment into a civil war is purged.
>>
>Let's go with astrophisicist.
>>
There's something darkly amusing about people voting for a character to kill themselves. Dunno how to describe it.
>>
>>5149317
I mean, from a certain point of view OUR civilization is powered by scamming people. Does that make us inferior?

Just because some Hazaar businesspeople did some sketchy shit years ago doesn't make every Hazaar an inferior being same as like the East India Tea Company or whatever doesn't make every Human a money grubbing savage.
>>
>>5149328
Subversion won't end well for everyone else, save for Yaun'Tul, who we are in the perspective of. How else is he going to act on his desires and goals? Killing himself seems too anticlimactic, as well.
>>
>>5149349
It’s pretty huge metagaming imo, but the entire quest is metagaming extreme
I just want to see where QM is going with this
>>
>>5149357
Why do you assume Yuan will be a subversive? Fresh ideas and a new point of view are just as likely to improve the Hegemony more so than anything else.

Vanity is the death of progress. If we calcify the idea that the current way of doing things is perfect then how will we ever improve?
>>
>>5149363
Yeah, like in character, it feels weird to go "Welp time to kill myself instead of trying anything".

I still find myself particular to the astrophysicist choice. Seems like a fitting enough choice, someone who wants to stare into the stars where his kind used to be free instead of where they are now
>>
>>5149353
>I mean, from a certain point of view OUR civilization is powered by scamming people
No, it isn't.

Our civilization is pretty much just a china-tier dictatorship. It's not good, but it's an actual civilization with hardworking people. The Hazaar are literal vermin who got on by through scamming people
>inb4 it's just one person
That was literally the entire hazaar civilization. Their civilization was a bunch of ancapistan russian cryptobros.
>>
>>5149365
>Why do you assume Yuan will be a subversive?
Because he HATES Jaxtians. It's not just that he doesn't like the state of society and wants to change it, he was seriously contemplating becoming another Ingar, the guy who killed billions, but decided he wouldn't because he'd just die.

This guy is absolutely subversive.
>>
>>5149181
As seen in
>>5149372

He doesn't hate Jataxians on a personal level. He isn't gonna be like PURGE THE MONKE. He hates the supremacist culture they have set up. Even from the POV of a Hegemonic dictatorship tribal favoritism is a flaw. You need to see all assets on the table for their full worth and not have biases one way or another. If we keep on the Monke first path we are nerfing our empire's functionality and breeding tension. I see Yuan for statecraft (which let's be honest has some serious structural flaws that haven't been addressed much) what the plasma coil person was for our physics.
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>>5149357
I don't care. Yaun'Tul could've been another Qet or Aumunu, and people instead turned him into another Ingar and Duj, but on a much worse level- a cultural traitor. I don't care if Yaun'Tul was meant to turn into some great scientist or leader, anons are playing fire with the cultural tapestry of the Hegemony, and it needs to be stomped out before the whole house burns down. I'm not tolerating another traitor.

>>5149365
>Why do you assume Yuan will be a subversive?

Because he hates us, and our culture. At best you can expect a libertarian Marx, and I do mean in the sense that we're the Tsar of Russia before everything goes to shit.

Yuan will be the death of progress, because progress is prized by the Hegemony he hates. This will never end well.

>>5149367
I'm fine with the Astrophysicist choice, but if he ever becomes a State-Philosopher I will be voting to kill him in every update, and I don't care about being meta with it.
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>>5149365
We know this guy will be a subversive because you and other retards voted for
>>5148433
You made this guy hate us, so him screwing our civilisation eventually is now a WHEN, not an if.
>>
>>5149376
I see Yuan as the Marx of our time- a person with scathing, unrelenting critique of our entire society at it's foundational level, and which will cause untold death and misery on the people in trying to topple the Hegemony. I will not support such a state of affairs, nor tolerate the creation of it.
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>>5149377
I'm really not fine with any of the choices presented to us.

Geneticist: He makes and unleashes some Monkey plague.
Astrophysicist: That's a nice looking Talecanti you have coming toward you. It'd be such a shame if someone... SHIFTED the orbital path into a collision course.
State-Philosopher: Rise up, free-thinking individuals! Break the Hegemonic bonds! be free!

You made the choice to have this guy hate us, so now he has to die for our civilisation to be safe. This is an action on his future so I'm taking it to try and get him to descend into morass of hatred (he is himself part-jaxtian so there must be some self-hatred if he hates all Jaxtians) and get him to kill himself so we can end this stupid threat before it triggers. We've already taken enough knockbacks as it is in the past thread, combined with Agori being a Lazy idiot who didn't bother pressing ahead with exploration and colonisation schemes when we had a chance. So we are now VASTLY behind our stellar rivals in both size and diplomatic weight and it'll only get worse if we do not stop this Hazar in what might be our only chance to do something before he triggers and puts our already struggling civilisation through a second Ingaring or worse.
>>
>>5149377
Sorry, didn't mean to reply to you with the third paragraph of.
>>5149388

Meant it for
>>5149376
>>
>>5149388
No biggie. I largely agree with ya.
>>
>>5149388
I still fundamentally disagree that Yuan is an existential threat to the Hegemony. He very well may be a threat to the current ruling power structure/system, but it is an error to conflate that with the Hegemony as an entity.

In the same way that the US Civil War was disruptive and destructive to the status quo but ultimately led to a better nation, Yuan channeling their hatred of the Hegemony into civics, where it can be best applied to the society is the most helpful of the options

Because the other two will end up with yet another technologically skilled isolate with psychological issues ready to snap.

If you don't want another Helper, Ingar, Eoba or even those biofilm guys, philosophy is the option that not only presents the least ammunt of threats to the Hegemony but also has the highest potential for gain.
>>
>>5149371
Our interactions with the Hazaar we're

1. The intutal trade offer for the gas

2. The mining ship

3. What we know of the Ballathi dealers.

The Ballathi dealers were just miners that got greedy and accidentally unleashed an alien plague, the trade offer we got was an emotionalist capitalist offer (which we benefited from) and the mining ship were refugees that had a few over agressuve warrior types.

The idea that the whole Hazaar civilization is a ferengi style planet of hats where everyone rubs their spike dick thinking about scams isn't even accurate to the lore.

Hell there is a good chance the Hazaar civilization basically doesn't exist outside the refugees in Hegemon space..
There really isn't much evidence of the inherent inferiority of Haazar. I mean if that were true why would we use their technology?
>>
>>5149397
You don't understand. We're a totalitarian government with an ideological bent towards supremacy in all things. You can't reform an ideological society like that, you can only overthrow it and purge its culture.

Applying the US Civil War to this is a faulty comparison, not only because the ideological fault lines were preexistent to the creation of the US and the was partially about whether state law supersedes feberal law. It's more apt to call this the Russian Civil War or the Chinese Civil War, which did not lead to better outcomes but instead made everything worse in an ideological attempt destroying a foundation of a society and remaking it for it's ashes and debris.

With a scientific pursuit, at least the technology will be of use after the damage is done. Philosophy will wreck our society at a foundational level, and I will not abide by that.
>>
>>5149400
>There really isn't much evidence of the inherent inferiority

Except that they got completely raped by an alien race literally made of gas.
>>
>>5149400
Except you forgot we learn that they were literally running multiple scams all over with the same deal they were presenting to us. Furthermore, they literally defended the miners because "hurr durr they were just making business"
>>
>>5149376
>He doesn't hate Jataxians on a personal level. He isn't gonna be like PURGE THE MONKE
He LITERALLY Said he hates Jaxtians. He's not jealous, he HATES Them. Again, he was literally considering being another ingar but decided it wasn't effective

If we let him become a philosopher, he's going to spend every minute of his life to subvert our culture and cause as much suffering as he can.
>>
>>5149423
Yuan's motives aren't to cause endless pain. Thru are a reaction to the oppression they are witnessing of the Hazaar and that they fortell will happen with the Ventuck.

In the scientific fields, the outlet for that kind set would be destruction.

In the Civic fields, the needs of Haazar Ventuck (and Migrators I guess) can be addressed in a way that benefits the Hegemony long term.

Far better to deal with these issues in the battlefield of ideas than to have a politically minded super scientist with a bone to pick.
>>
>>5149415
That alien race killed a Supreme Leader and wrecked what was at the time the greatest scientific and industrial achievement in Jataxians history.

We basically had to deal with one platoon, the Haazar got wrecked by a full scale invasion.
>>
>>5149421
I am looking back at the old thread and I am trying to see how they were scammers.

From what I observe they were buying Argon across the galaxy . One group of miners took so much Argon from the Ballathi is caused a climate shift based mass psychosis.

In fact what do we even know of the Haazar culture writ large aside from the Argon mining expeditions?

Who sent that pitch to us for Argon? A government? Private business? Were they even politically unified?

Saying the Haazar are a savage people from the small sample size of a few Weland Yutani types is illogical.
>>
>>5149427
>Yuan's motives aren't to cause endless pain.
Not to other blue hazaar, maybe, but he hates jaxtians. Not the hegemony ,JAXTIANS.

How the hell would a philosopher who hates us help us in any way? All he'd do is try to subvert us. Destruction is better than subversion. We can bounce back from an explosion, we can't bounce back from our government collapsing on itself.
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>>5149435
>illogical generalizations of a people, designed to prop yourself and your society up and to justify their extinction, exploitation, or abandonment

I mean, it is 4chan in 2022.
>>
>>5149435
>I am looking back at the old thread and I am trying to see how they were scammers.
It literally says they were running scam operations where they'd "buy argon" when in reality they were exploiting other rare resources.

The Hazaar are literally said to be an libertarian civilziation that uses children as literal meat shields because they don't care about them since the concept of family doesn't exist.
>>
>>5149181
State Philosopher
>>
>>5149427
That's why some of us want to kill him outright- no matter what he does, we cannot trust him to be left to his own devices. The hate has already poisoned the well of his work.

Yuan hating our society will not somehow lead to a better outcome for said society, it'll only be more problems and pain. His equivalent is that of Marx, Lenin, and Mao- all who hated their the society they were born into, all who decided to overthrow it and remaking it anew, regardless of the destruction, the suffering, and the loss of life. Our supremacist, totalitarian Hegemony cannot be reformed, only destroyed.

>>5149429
>we didn't fight a full-scale invasion

The Ballathi Cylinder being a colony ship disproves that idea.
>>
>>5149439
>Just then- Alavis pings you with her findings. The Haazar computer system contains a massive amount of information, far too much for her to simply keep even in her quantum cloud memory- but she has managed to sift through enough to find something interesting; massive Argon harvesting operations in many systems, with many underdeveloped species, and crypto-currency transfers in various star systems by individuals of this race- some of them coming from suspiciously named Baalathi star system!

>She explains to you that the Baalathi, according to Haazar medical and biology reports, are a species that lives in gas giants. While they don't exactly have a hive mind, they make decisions based on the quantity of gasses in their atmospheres, meaning they have a group mind. The Haazar, seeking Argon, manipulated the technologically inferior Baalathi in giving up some of the Argon in their atmosphere in exchange for technology- except with the loss of Argon, it manipulated their behavior. Something that kept the Baalathi peaceful and in check was lost, causing them to begin aggressively expand.

No, they actually wanted the Argon and were buying it in bulk for their computers. The Ballathi fuck up was because they basically strip mined their planets atmosphere and drove the whole species to violence. What they were guilty of was using their tech advantage to coerce less advanced species, which I reminds you is literally Hegemony M.O.
>>
>>5149447
You know not to get too irl here, but your constant references to communist leaders and your continuous use of the term "subversion" is throwing up some red flags.
>>
>>5149453
They were basically running a scam to get that one rare resource too, if i remember correctly. They were trying to scam us, too. They don't have an idea of family, which means they don't care about anyone other than themselves. The Hazaar suck.
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>>5149455
Blue Haazar are demonstratively different, both from what we have observed and in how Yuan-Tul feels about regular Hazaar. Also: they clearly have some sort of social moral code and empathy -- they have a strong pro-life bias and got on our case for not showing greater consideration for the idiosyncrasies of warrior-types.
>>
>>5149460
Yeah, they don't value the classic Parent-Child dynamic because of the unique quirks of their biology, but they still have the concept of moral empathy. Like they don't just let their warriors go loose and wild, they have a present cultural system of adjustment to deal with those urges (which makes sense from a biological deterministic point of view of ethics).

They also have a really strong since of I guess individual innosence? They don't do the whole "Your people/family did X so you must suffer" thing. And the most agressive Haazar we know of only got agressive in defense of the people they were in charge of.

All that is saying they have a lot of cultural differences but they are not any more evil or savage than the dictatorial monke empire we run currently.
>>
>>5149454
So too is your reference of rights, when in a totalitarian system they would be called privileges, but I'm merely trying to find an apt example of a hateful person trying reform a society. You can't reform a system out of hate, it just doesn't work. You need to Bismarck reform them into accepting patriotism and loyalty in exchange for privileges in our government system.
>>
>>5149460
>strong pro-life bias
Yeah, and when the children are born they use them as fucking meat shields. They just don't give a fuck if it doesn't affect them, they're a nation of egotists.
>>
>>5149466
You know I kinda wish we could go into the lore of The Council of 100 that vets Supreme candidates

I think the Grant Morrison style explanation is that WE are symbolically that council but I am surprised they basically got brought up once and never returned
>>
>>5149480
Because we haven't had a situation where we killed all our Supreme Candidates at the same time, and I'm not about to encourage assassinations just to attempt to 'reform' the system. You can't build a positive political movement fueled by hate.
>>
>>5149486
Has there been ANY political movement not driven in some part by hate of the status quo?
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>>5149500
We ain't talking about a hate of the status quo, we're talking a hate of Jaxtians. You're unironically putting us on a path to a race war, which will lead to xenocide, not a reforming of government. This is why we should just kill ourselves.
>>
>>5149181
>State Philosopher
I hope this can be the catalyst to a full scale genocide of xeno wreckers
>>
Damn, look at all this samefagging for State Philosopher.
>>
>>5149551
No, it's the stupidest choice, but most of the votes are from IDs who already have a bunch of posts.
>>
>>5149551
>Everything I don’t like is samefagging
>>
>>5149551
Hey, come on now, let's keep this respectful.
>>
At first I thought that this was metagaming but now I realize its just autism
>>
>>5149560
Not these recent votes. The hate vote was stupid, but legit. These are 1posters of this vote
>>5149233
>>5149241
>>5149344
>>5149446
>>5149522
Of them all, only >>5149344 has a differing vote. I’m more than willing to admit that I’m wrong here, but you gotta admit that these last couple of 1post votes are a bit sus.
>>
>>5149614
Sus my ass, I post from various locations.
>>5148959
>>5149446
This is me, miss me with your samefagging accusations.
>>
>>5149625
I mean, you’d be more credible if if this wasn’t also a 1post anon. I’m not trying to be dick here, I just remember that one asshole in /qst/ admitting to samefagging his own quests. The question has got to be asked if most of these 1posters vote one way.
>>
>>5149479
In fairness, they aren’t really children, and real life human beings have been known to behave similarly under the right social conditions.
>>
>>5149651
Also our government let an alien wurm get away with eating several Blue Hazaar kids so you know pots and kettles
>>
>>5149614
Ok I was trying to be polite but it is clear you to too personally invested in this vote and are lashing out because your choice lost by a slim margin.
I suggest you take a break to cool off.
>>
>>5149661
I am invested, but that shouldn’t be used to dismiss my concerns. Jealous/Hate vote in comparison only had 2 1posters, one Jealousy vote in the beginning, and the last Hate vote, which was also part write in. Am I somehow being disrespectful by pointing this out?
>>
>>5149668
Mane, you are angrily claiming voter fraud over a fictional game about blue space monkeys.
>>
----------------------------
>>5149233
>>5149241
>>5149344
>>5149446
>>5149522
Hey new players! This vote choice in particular has attracted a lot of attention; where did you all hear about the thread? This thread is getting up there in posts (really fast!) so I'm just curious how you all found it so quick.

Also take this as the obligatory meta post- gonna update either later today or early tomorrow. Thank you for your patience.
>>
>>5149673
I think there would be more sperging out if I was angry, I’m just pointing out what I’ve noticed. If you want to keep discrediting my concerns, you’re free to, I just wanted to raise my concern before y’all declare me a heretic for even raising the question.
>>
>>5149693
Ain't new I just post from various places such as with my phone, at home or at my work.
>>5149625
This is me up here
>>
>>5149693
While you are waiting for us to vote would you mind doing little mini qnas.

For example background lore about the Hegemon.

Talacent was claimed to be the greatest Supreme in history, what are some other close comparisons?
>>
>>5149181
>Become Transgender
*muffled laughing*
>>
>>5149215
Changing my vote to:

>State Philosopher

>>5149181
>>
>>5149782
Sure.

There are several very famous and popular Supreme Rulers, while there are many forgettable ones. Vantix Garastra is very popular among the scientific communities, due to his basically beginning of the space race. His predecessor, Gaftar IV, is also paramount to the creation of the AI network and the industrial revolution it enabled. Qet Scholiander is also notable, though often overlooked, is very notable and popular for his cleaning of the homeworld for industry and pollution. Every time a Jaxtian goes outside and experiences an almost natural, clean environment, they have him to thank for it.

Talacent was being considered for the greatest Supreme Ruler due to his populism- many advances to improve the quality of life, and for his fairly hands off approach to governance. These are easy ways to gain popular support by the populace; the Supreme Rulers know that a population who hates their ruler might be best out under him then anyone else; they don't always know what is best for them.

Talacent, of course, denied being the best; and this is partially due to tradition. That is because the first and greatest Supreme Ruler, Akule the Unspeakable, is supposed to reign Supreme above all others in history. Almost everything the Hegemony stands for was created by him. He led the planetary unification, he defeated and tortured all foes of the people, he created the eugenic foundation for the advancement of the Jaxtian race. Before his time, the Hegemony was a constitutional nation, not yet bound or enlightened by the grand purpose and mission of the Hegemony.

FORGED BY HOLOCAUST,
TAKE BACK WHAT WE LOST,
WHITE KNIFE TO KILL A WAYWARD FRIEND
BLACK KNIFE, HONORED FOE TO END
MASK OF DEATH, INVINCIBLE!
AKULE- THE UNSPEAKABLE!


Update tomorrow for sure now.
>>
>>5149181
Consider me officially changing my vote >>5149328 to
>Astrophysicist

>>5149845
Holy shit that portrait!
>>
>>5149845
Rad as hell.

verification not required
>>
>>5149845
Do we have dna access to Akule?
>>
>>5150015
Heresy.

Let's do it.
>>
>>5149845
>White Knife for traitors and dissidents
>Black Knife for external foes

>Eoba 2 has a white knife for his official garment
Tis a season of traitors. Be wary of internal fissures.
>>
>>5150105
He qlso killed Agori with a white game-piece!
>>
>>5150107
Isn't that the "knife" he's always carrying around? the broken game-piece looked a lot like a knife and him keeping the weapon he used to kill his predecessor as a symbol would make sense.
>>
>>5150015
Do you want to get the Imperium of Mankind?
Because that is how you get the imperium.And I want it.
>>
>>5150105
>Tis a season of traitors. Be wary of internal fissures.
>Anons vote to have a hateful State Philosopher get embedded into the Hegemony
>>
>>5150015
>>5150019
>>5150116

Pretty sure Alavis destroyed our DNA samples on-world, alas.
>>
Huh, a State Philospher? That's a pretty interesting career. In an alternate reality, a “State Philosopher” might have been something like a legislator, or even career politician. But due to the entrenched political and wealthy elite that the early Hegemony sought to destroy, it makes sense those would be dirty words. Not that you can just “be” a politician in this tyrannical government- political parties and ideologies are illegal. That just suites the blue monkies just fine. Instead, State-Philosophers analyze society and try to find the high concept ideals that society should be striving for. In other ways, they define the “values” of a society.

It doesn't exactly fit the high-science schooling and advancement everyone thought you would pursue- but maybe if you can't live hating the Jaxtians, maybe you can try to understand them...

You are back to being Eoba Garastra II, the Supreme Ruler. It has been five years since you returned from your “adventure” and you have spent that time reeling from the consequences. Not of your actions- at least not directly. But of the actions of your Overseer of xeno integration- Shon Duj. That bastard killed your worm.

The truth is, you aren't fully aware of the consequences of this turn of events- at least not yet. It is incredibly difficult to contact another alien power without a direct “target” to shoot for- that was one of the abilities of the worms. They seem natural rangefinders- capable of reading hyperspace and determining locations without even computers- an astounding mental ability that hints at a very strong evolutionary pressure to do just that. As such, direct communications with other empires waggling their fingers at you have been scarce.

As far as the concrete- the Esaal have essentially told you that you're blacklisted, or rather “we have been advised to not speak to you without a trusted emissary”, but as an honor bound warrior culture, they are continuing their current treaty with you. They'll respect and stay out of your territory; no military action will be coming into your local cluster as long as you don't attack them- essentially a nonaggression pact.

The Consortium are a different story. They haven't sent you a direct message, but based on what you've been able to pick up, they are treating you as an unrecognized faction in undeveloped space. Your fleet in space will be likely treated like a pirate fleet, your colonies squatting outposts- you're indigenous natives next to a colonizing empire, basically.

In the meantime, you've given Bluey a promotion- he is now the Xeno Overseer. He was your second choice after all. He's naturally very pleased.

“Oh yes! Thank you, your eminence! I will not fail my you, Master!”
>>
While your political situation might have gone from “new kid on the block” to “total outsider”, you seem to have found another major player in your section of the galaxy.

This is a conglomerate of several races, similar to the Consortium... or perhaps yourself. You aren't sure if racial conglomerates are this common for a reason- the Esaal are large but don't seem to have multiple alien species making up their ranks- perhaps they are merely ground up for the military machine...

The Seekers are a curious group of united alien species. They share technology between each other, and seem to value a strange quasi-religious spiritualism that envelopes their ideology and politics. Even more strangely, this empire is united underneath artificial intelligence. Not like the way the Hegemony does it- the AI isn't doing all the work while the people make the decisions. In their society, the AI is in charge, and the living people follow their commands. While that seems foolish, if the AI themselves are making the decisions, does that meant the AI keep themselves from being compromised? Machines can only have a purpose or drive to do anything at all if people made them that way- how intelligent did they make their own computers?

”We had ADVISED your species to refrain from Faster-Than-Light travel many years ago- but at least now you understand our position a little more. Hyperspace communications are terribly insecure however- perhaps if you had a presence that could match one of ours, we could talk more candidly.”

Your data analysts note that no records or serious analysis of the Seekers existed at this point in time yet. Even with your worm advisor telling you of all the major players near you, they never mentioned them. The Seekers aren't irrelevant though; their society is powerful- a serious rival to the consortium! In fact, their technology may even be the best of any species you know. Then why have you only heard of them now?

>Question them on something (Most voted 3 will be answered)
>Ask to join their collective
>Tell them to fuck off
>Offer a trade of valuable resources or technology for some of their own
>Other (write in)
>>
>Offer to trade for tech

These techno hippies may be the local superpower let's get in on some of that tech. May even help with Threemind
>>
>>5150201
>Question them on something (Most voted 3 will be answered)
Ask them about how we could establish a "presence" to talk more candidly

>Offer a trade of valuable resources or technology for some of their own
Joining their collective seems like a no-go with how spiritual they are, but perhaps we can be friends otherwise. We might need them with the Consortium being a potential threat now.
>>
>>5150201
>Offer a trade of valuable resources or technology for some of their own
We need all the help we can get, considering one retard crippled our standing in the political scene
>>
>>5150201
>Offer to trade for tech
>>
>>5150219
>Joining their collective seems like a no-go with how spiritual they are
I'm less concerned about their spirituality and mroe concerned about the fact that they are literally ruled by AIs
>>
>Ask questions.
Explain the situation with how the worm was killed by a traitor seeking revenge for his father and ask how you would be able to contact the rest of it's species.

> Trade for tech.
>>
>>5150219
>>5150292

Supporting both of these questions, and opening trade negotiations.

>>5150201
>>
>>5150201
>We are new to the galactic scene, claiming right now only the stars in our local cluster, which are our right - which sections of the galaxy do you see as yours?

>What do you know of the 'Ambassador' worms? They never mentioned your peoples to us - are you on the same 'blacklist' which they have put us on?

>Offer a trade of valuable resources or technology for some of their own

Even if we don't come to an agreement, it might help us learn what resources and technologies they have/need
>>
>Ask them about the Ballathi.

That's a threat still going rogue. Perhaps they ran into them and have some Intel on the situation.
>>
>>5150201
>Offer a trade of valuable resources or technology for some of their own

Yuan is fucking tainted and now he focuses his intelligence on values instead of the science we need? I can only shake my head at you anons, we'll reap what we sow.

>>5150210
We are not giving them Threemind or any technology.
>>
>>5150412
I said their tech may help with building the threemind.

We have an incomplete ai and they are masters of AI. Just one of their fucking playstations can probably skyrocket our ai tech to the moon
>>
>>5150412
We're not giving them the Threemind, we're just looking for parts that would help get it up and running.
>>
>>5150412
>wanting a resentful individual to be messing with Jaxtian genetics or technology
>after we just survived Ingar's rebellion

Come on, man. There was no career path that wasn't dangerous, but suggesting or advocating for social reforms is far less dangerous existentially than giving him the training to create a genetically-targeted plague or another AI revolt.
>>
>>5150419
>>5150422
That's slightly better, but I doubt it'll come cheap.

>>5150426
If we were worried about resentment, we should voted for the non-resentment option. Now instead of an AI rebellion, we're going to be dealing with a biological one, and have our development sabotaged again without the benefit of more advanced technology. I wouldn't be surprised if this does end in a race war.
>>
>>5150438
Xeno Equality, Now!

:^)
>>
>>5150354
Support this
>>
>>5150438
>non-resentment option
There wasn't one. Envy is still resentment. It was whether he wanted to change the system or fit into the system.

I voted "jealous", but once "hate" was chosen, I voted to minimize the risk.
>>
>>5150201
>>Tell them to fuck off
>>
>>5150503
Jealously can be manipulated to positive effect. You can't do that with racist hate. You don't minimize the effect by putting him into Hegemonic politics, you pour gasoline on the fire. To really minimize the well being poisoned, you have to bury it under six feet of dirt, but I would've accepted him fucking off into space and not coming back.

But hey, we reap what we sow. It'll certainly be an interesting race war.
>>
>>5150542
Hasn't the Hegemony repeatedly manipulated racist hate to useful ends?
>>
>>5150545
To destructive ends, when the xenos were our enemies. Now that xenos are embedded in our society, you think that racist hate won't cause social instability, a splintering of Hegemonic culture, and eventually attempts at xenocide within our empire?
>>
>>5150542
You know... Ages ago someone said the only downside to Monke Quest was that some folks could take it as an endorsement of authoritarianism. I thought that may be silly but you seem to prove it wrong

You seem to have projected yourself into the fictional politics of these monkey people in the same way For Stans do. You talk about Xenos not as of they were fictional characters but with all the seething rage of someone from one of those other message boards.

In short I think you are in too deep. The Monkes aren't real. Xenos Rights Activists aren't coming to take your jobs to whatever.

I guess it's a testement to their skills as a QM that they for an actual flesh and blood person to seethe over there cute Monke pics like it was irl politics.
>>
>>5150621
*Gor stans
>>
>>5150621
Actually, I see this as a warning against authoritarian socialism. We've all been playing as leaders who care about their people, but all it takes is someone like Ingar in a position of power to wreak devastation to society at large. Don't mistake my tendency to get immersed in a fictional world to be mere projection or the like.

Also, Xeno Right Advocates taking our jobs? When are we in, 2008? XLM burning down local business is where it's at, at least get with the times!
>>
This is reminding me of how we canonized government race mixing propaganda.
>>
>>5150704
Kinja was the GOAT.
>>
>>5150354
+1
>>
>>5150704
As the man who suggested that you are welcome.
>>
>>5150704
It mixed perfectly with Talacent’s morality and Kinja’s background as a celebrity propagandist.
>>
I still think that one anon who went off on a 20 post rant on not letting our race be replaced was amusingly silly.
>>
>>5150800
Spoilers: Indigos and even Blue Hazaar are now in positions of social dominance
>>
Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>
>>5150800
>there are now hazaar dictating state philosophy
very cool
>>
”This “presence” you speak of, we are not familiar with the term. What do you mean by this, or could we establish one?”

”You have many-minds already, yes? We know you have access to AI technology. For our races, we use AI as our presences. Other species prefer raw biology, or a mix of both. We won't be sharing technical details with you over unsecured hyperspace- and especially not for free. You have clearly not yet mastered the art, with your people still needing us to contact you first.”

You think he means something along the lines of the “rangefinding” abilities of the worms- these Seekers must have found another means to do it- perhaps through their computer systems? You aren't exactly sure what “presence” yet entails. You can't tell if its a spiritualist belief or a technical term masked under jargon.

”You are a much larger empire then our own- and we are unfamiliar with the political landscape. Our worm advisor once claimed we have now “staked” our local cluster from nearby powers- does that include your own?”

”No- but we will respect your empire's claim on its own terms- we have nothing to do with the parasites. We have no interest in capturing more territory beyond what is unclaimed and easily accessible. More planets and physical resources will not advance our goals.”

”Our worm advisor has since been lost, and we have been blacklisted, so much of this information is hidden from us. We are unsure on how to acquire a new member of their collective. What information can you share about them, or how can we contact the worm collective?”

”You're joking! We thought you finally come to your senses and put an end to that filthy creature- it was “lost”, so in an accident? And you want another one to come replace it!? And we thought you had made another step in your spiritual development!”

”Do you have some kind of... conflict with the worms?”

”Of course! The race of Aannel are pure evil; they hate all light and love in the universe! Do not be deceived! They are parasites, here to mislead and further their own goals! When one of their kind appear on our vessels, they are killed! All civilizations “advised” by a worm are suspect and treacherous! We are their sworn mortal enemies! We know you are listening to this message, wormscum! Supreme Ruler of Jaxt- there is nothing more we can do now until we are physically closer- trade or otherwise. Do not submit to the worms! End transmission!”
>>
Well, a beneficial trade with the Seekers seems further out by the day. In repeated messages and calls over the next five years, you learn that most empires in the galaxy trade tech for tech and resources for resources. Due to the vast physical distances, and the inability of your people to establish a proper “presence” in Hyperspace, both possible trades are currently off the table. The Seekers also make sure to flaunt their superiority, in that “you probably don't have any technology we want anyway”. Blast them.

However, some advancement does come in the form of one Grec Bon! The Overseer of your science reports that he has successfully managed to create an all new type of weapon- the Particle Bomb! Based on very, very outdated particle beam prototypes from before the first capsule war, the Particle Bomb is a lump of high energy particles that blast apart on impact. Because of this, they do almost nothing to shields and would be easily deflected, but against hull armor the effects would be devastating. The bombs move slowly and are overkill for something like a fighter or Baalathi gas drone, but if you equipped small fighters with these... yes, bombers could be used to fly under the shields of large ships, anything as large as a frigate or bigger, and deal massive damage. However, these bombers would have to be protected by fighters. Your people are understanding more and more about space warfare as time goes on.

Grec Bon has also produced an upgrade to your standard issue shotguns and rifles used by your Enforcers. Laser weapons are too impractical to use in atmospheres and the expense of them over simple gunpowder weapons means your people still use firearms for civil enforcement and to equip your ground armies in the event of alien invasion, or even spaceship boarding- despite them being over a millennia old. These new weapons are coilguns, capable of firing magnetic projectiles faster then bullets.

“Your supremacy, I hope my performance over the past decade in this office was satisfactory. I would also humbly like to ask to retire now if possible- my medical scan shows I will be succumbing to GPCS earlier then first expected. I'd like to spend some time with my family, if you will allow it, your highness.”

”Of course, Grec. And you have done a fine job preparing Galyo for the office. Go with honor- you have served your Ruler well. And speaking of that indigo-”
>>
“Y-You wanted to see me, your omnipotence?”

”Yes, Galyo. I am appointing you as my new Overseer of Science. Your family will be awarded with a class two mansion, and four day servants on full payroll. You will be given a vacation suite on each colony, and a private office and full time assistant on Xin central command. There is also the subject of your new salary-”

“My lord. I thank you very much, but this cannot be the reason you sent for me in person, can it?”

”No it isn't, Qint. I need you for something very important- and special. I need you for a secret project- our new AI paradigm. Ever since Ingar took his revenge on us, we have had to seriously question the foundation of our artifical intelligence network. It has also caused ME quite a lot of headache.”

“I-I am sorry to hear that, your grace.”

”Do you know who killed our worm, Galyo? It was the son of the man that worm first ate decades ago- when I was barely a child. There is no reason that the AI should have missed that, even WITH missing codeblocks. I ran test after test, scanned for lingering Alavis viruses, had my technicians replace old AI cores again, for the THIRD time. There will be no more fuck ups, Galyo. No more whoospie-doodles or fucky wuckies. I know you can be trusted, and I need you to get my brainchild, the Threemind, operational.”

“Threemind? Does this have something to do with the new computer universities being built on Jaxt and the colonies?”

”Yes- the Threemind is a combination of Jaxt, Haazar, and Baalathi computational technology. It's security is that it has three separate computer systems- even if one is compromised by a bad actor, like Ingar, the other two will defeat it. But I need someone I can trust, at least one person, who can connect the three systems. Who can learn and make a final check on all three.”

“You want me to master THREE different computational bases?! I-I will try, your grace.”

”No Galyo, you will not try. You will do it. Failure is not an option. Understood?”

“...Yes, Master.”

--

You now have to turn your attention away from politics and your computer woes and back towards outer space- and your vow! You still have to complete your vow- one colony on each star in your local cluster. You still have most of your life span left- but it won't be easy. The pressure is starting to mount. You know that if you waste any more time on failed projects or on micromanagement, there is a good chance you will fail your vow and your reign will end in disgrace.
>>
With the ancient Skiff probes having long since been deactivated and the light lag from nearby star systems making accurate information impossible, you have decided to start sending out FTL scout frigates to nearby systems. While the ships are still too new to be specialized into any given role, these general purpose frigates are good enough for a scouting mission. Headed by Captain-Admiral Kimnan II, your fellow indigo brother, and “corrected” clone of the first Kimnan, one of the greatest pilots the Hegemony has ever seen.

Kimnan II is much more humble then the first, and doesn't like taking unnecessary risks. Part of gene therapy was to remove those selfish and “heroic fantasies” that plagued the first Kimnan. Unlike him, your brother is incredibly cautious and patient, and did not get behind the controls of a starship until he was passed on all safety checks. He is exceptionally skilled at piloting fighters, but prefers to stay in a safer, larger ship- like your new Frigates. Despite this cautiousness, he is still a Supreme Candidate and easily worked his way up to a very high rank in your fleet- if you didn't just instate him there to begin with.

“This is Kimnan II to Jaxt Control. We are detecting hostiles in Nan system.”

Dammit, you should have known. Nan is a neighboring system to Jaxt, but has no planets- only two gas giants, their sterile moons, and an asteroid belt around a dim white dwarf. This made it a very unattractive option for colonization- at least by YOUR species. But for the gas-giant dwelling Baalathi? This is prime real estate. It appears that the Baalathi have already fully colonized one of the gas giants, Nan-II, while Nan-I is still breaking down the cylinder sent to it for raw materials.

Scanners show that the Baalathi here are very numerous and they are beginning to build up stellar infrastructure. However, their technology appears to be almost identical to how it was during your first encounter and the capsule wars. It seems the colonization-crazed Baalathi of the homeworld aren't working on much advancement even after centuries- though due to lightspeed delay this cylinder could have been sent since before you ever fought them.

Immediately, the Baalathi target your ship with a data prion, which the advanced AI core on the ship deletes without raising its CPU temperature by a single fraction of a degree. That trick is a dinosaur now compared to you. However, those orbital platforms around Nan-II look sketchy- a high amount of energy is concentrated there. You have no idea what they could be; weapon systems, terraforming, construction platforms?

In order to complete your vow, you have to rout out the Baalathi presence here and take this system. It will take precious time to send reinforcements- your frigate will be unmatchable by the Baalathi's old tech. But that's your brother down there...

“Control, shall we engage?”

>Engage
>Retreat
>>
>>5151156
>Engage
We took the vow, we must fulfill it. Also, I don't want the Baalathi anywhere near us, thank you very much.
>>
>>5151156
>Engage

If we have an unmatchable advantage right now, we'd better press it before the Baalathi can finish what they're up to.

Also,
>>5151153
Great work by Grec Bon!
Let's let him retire with a GOLD BAND for his service.
>>
>>5151156
>Engage
I don't like risking Kinman II because he's probably our key into figuring out how to have a "presence" in hyperspace but the Baalathi tech is old and he's more prudent than the original.
>>
>>5151156
>Engage
We should prioritize scouting missions to nearby systems with gas giants, I wouldn't be surprised if they all have a cylinder/colony in them already
>>
>>5151156
>Engage
Kimnan is an great pilot, if his old contemporary was able to defeat the Balaathi with an old-ass fighter, he should curbstomp them. Just to be sure though, it might be wise to blow up those Balaathi platforms from a long distance.
>>
>Engage.

Also see, I told you we should have asked about the Ballathi.

By now who knows every gas giant around us may be infested.

Though this may be a blessing in disguise, if we Argon bomb Nan II enough we could have a docile pre established colony to serve us. Instead of just five balloons in a lab we could have an entire annexed civilization.
>>
>>5151156
>Engage
>>
>>5151156
>Engage
>>
>>5151223
Strongly supporting that as a long term strat. Adding it to my engage vote at >>5151238
>>
”Exploration frigate- engage!”

At your command, the Frigate advances on the Baalathi in the Nan system. Your system. The Frigate moves forward and is attacked by a small amount of defensive and shield drones, similar to the ones used in the first and second capsule wars.

The enemy drones attacks with their plasma whips and neutrino blasts, which are easily absorbed by your recent fuzz-shield advancements. The nice thing about these is the entire ship is no longer being drained of its power to keep up a defensive barrier, it automatically adjusts to stop incoming energy weapons as they go. You don't think even a small army of these drones could blast through your shields.

*BZZT!*

With a sweep of your fusion powered laser, the Baalathi drones are easily blasted apart. Once, those shield squid machines required the full power of a dual fission core and the power of your Sapphire Avalanche to defeat. Now? Your basic defense lasers barely register the drones as they are blasted into space dust. Easy! The might of the Hegemony reigns supreme!

Not everything is so peachy though- your order the frigate to fire upon the space platform. Your weapons are ineffective- blast! Those space platforms are coated in Azurium; probably recycled from the cylinder the Baalathi sent here to colonize this planet. That would make sense. Then, your frigate is damaged- not by a weapon, but by kamikaze drones. Shit! They are flying underneath your shield generators and smashing into your ship. Thankfully, the armor plating of the frigate is hard enough to resist- but it does mean they can hurt you. Evasive manuvers are enacted and the frigate flies closer, underneath the orbital platform and closer to the planet.

“Woah...”

The entire planet is practically infested by Baalathi. Basic scans are estimated somewhere in the tril... no, quadrillions. Judging by the first Capsule you ever opened, a full population of Baalathi “colonists” would not equal even a tiny fraction of one percent of this number. Even if this capsule arrived here centuries ago- how is that possible??? How could they reproduce so fast?!
>>
Perhaps it makes sense. Any “living” creature that could somehow survive in the atmosphere of a gas giant would have to be like that. If a single storm or pressure exchange on the planet could suck away and destroy, what, hundreds of thousands or millions in a single day... Yeah, they would have to live like that. It explains a lot. The Baalathi cannot possibly have individual minds in those kinds of evolutionary conditions. That's why they have a gas-exchange group mind.

Flying underneath the orbital platform made of Azurium, the presence of large magna-rings indicates what the purpose of those platforms are- huge energy generators. They are essentially a dyson ring, but for a gas giant. Somehow harvesting some of the rotational, temperature, magnetic, electrical, or other forms of energy and storing it for industrial purposes. The Baalathi don't need to use nuclear power sources, they just harvest a portion from the active gas giants they live on. This technology has such effective energy storage that it quickly became the standard for all batteries and fighter-size or smaller ships of the Hegemony once the capsule was captured... by Kimnan I.

Kimnan II, however, has his doubts about this. To clear the entire system of the Baalathi scourge would mean destroying these orbital platforms; the token defense force is nowhere near the kind of army the Baalathi could deploy- destroying these factory platforms would leave the gas giant defenseless and the captive Baalathi population floating in its clouds unable to do anything. Leaving without breaking it would mean just giving them time to prepare. You know firsthand how fast they could manufacture those drones- and potentially worse weapons.

However, your weapons are ineffective, and the frigate is far too large to get close to any structural weak points on the giant space platform. However, the frigate's small hangar, along with some general purpose fighter ships, has exactly one prototype bomber craft armed with Particle Bombs...

“Oh no you don't. Don't you fucking think about it for a second!!!”
>>
You are now Kimnan Oles II. You have no idea how you ended up in this situation, it's just not fair. You feel as though you are genetically predisposed for this, or something. You feel a sense of familiarity with this situation, this cockpit... you have run simulations for fighters all your life, but never really flew one in a real dogfight.

You are currently piloting an experimental particle bomber. This ship is slower and a bit bulkier then a traditional fighter. The Baalathi platform is close enough to the planet for a thin amount of atmosphere to be present- and you know Baalathi drones fly very well in an atmosphere. That's partially what the stabilizers are for.

“Don't worry, Admiral! We'll provide support.”

You have two fighters backing you up to make your bombing run. You need to hit the weak point along this massive superstructure if you truly want to defeat the Baalathi and kick them out of the Nan system- which is rightful Hegemony clay! These fighters are also your only real defense against the drones- your ship has shields and is tough, but it lacks the firepower of a regular fighter in exchange for its bombing potential. These fighters are like your extra chances or lives- each mistake you make, you'll lose one, and if you lose both them- then you're on your own.

”Fighters, with me. Stay low and don't take risks. We don't know what kind of defenses these bastards could have.” You command, beginning your run. You need to decide how you're going to approach this... the longer you stick around, the more you'll rile up the hive, but going quick might be a bit of a risk. What is your strategy for this, Captain-Admiral?

>Write In
>>
>>5151815
Lock S-Foils in Attack Position, begin our attack run.
>>
>Fly in low and fast
>Call in the Frigate for fire support
>Use your figher escorts as distractions
>Other
>>
>>5151882
>Fly in low and fast
>Call in the Frigate for fire support
I guess we might arrive first, but surely these aren't mutually exclusive?
>>
>>5151815
Better to finish this in one go rather than risking a second attempt with a tiled hive. Best keep any fighters at range, our AI and shields will do a lot of the work while our reduced lasers will simply have to do the best they can.

>>5151882
Oh thank god, I honestly didn't know what to say beyond generalizations.
>Fly in low and fast
>Call in the Frigate for fire support
If anything, the Frigate will act as a good distraction for our bombing run.
>>
>>5151882
>Call in the Frigate for fire support
We can always sacrifice one of our two companion fighters if they get the time to use the superstructure as a weapon.
>>
>>5151809
It's like that episode of 2003 TMNT where the Season 4 Turtles get sent back in time and S4 Leo fucks up the same S1 Shredder who was owning him at the time.
>>
Wait a second, was Nan somehow ALSO Argon depleted? If they bred and infested this whole giant, shouldn't they be cured of the Argon -Starvation Syndrome that made the other Ballathi so violent.

We must have had communication tests with the captured Bals. We should send a message and try too open communications (Unless we already know Nan is also low-Argon)
>>
>>5151987
I feel like Bals are like locusts, it more depends on the population they created overestimating the amount of argon they had likely in part to there already aggressive stage
>>
You decide to perform a bombing run- it's the best way to hit the critical supports of the superstructure without worrying about your particle bombs losing power at distance, and its the best way to ensure you get it right the first time- to avoid any mobilizing fleet the Baalathi might be preparing.

You also call down fire support in the form of your frigate- its powerful lasers will shred the Baalathi probes. Unfortunately, its too big for the atmospheric air foils like your fighter craft, and lacks maneuverability.

However, there seems to be a strange lack of defensive ships and drones here. Did the Baalathi just assume nobody would take offense to them colonizing every gas giant uninvited in your local sector? It's practically undefended, minus a few anti-asteroid cannons on the outside of the ring. That's the reason why you're flying on the underside.

"Watch out for those magnet ships!" You say on local comms, the large frigate being totally unable to defeat those Azurium coated crafts. "Get away from the superstructure! Those magnet ships can't go far from their charging ports on the installation!"

The frigate is partially damaged by a magnetic attack by one of the magnetic ships. "We've lost one emergency heating coil, captain."

"Don't you dare let that warp core get damaged! Without it, we're sitting ducks!"
>>
There are two canals running alongside the planetside of this orbital superstructure. They are probably gas chutes, or perhaps access to components by low flying drones, or even Baalathi "workers", though you have no idea how that would work...

This thick atmospheric haze isn't helping either. You are in the stratosphere of this gas giant, and while your bomber is shielded, you wouldn't count on them to protect you without your fighter escorts. Down each canal is a tiny handful of drones or ships- visibility is pretty poor and the giant charging magna-rings are messing up your sensors. You'll have to do it by eye.

"Fighters, beginning the run. On me!"

Which canal?

>Left
>Right
>>
>>5152185
>Right
There are less drones and looks like there is a sort of hatch.
>>
>>5152185
>Left
The ones on the right are clearly fighters, the ones on the left might not be combat capable, or at least should be worse at it.
>>
>>5152198
Right it is.

>>5152185
Let's do it!
>>
Right has less drones, the left has two drones with a glowing spot on them, which I assume are the ones shown in >>5151809 (Which I think are shield drones?)

Not sure which is strictly better to deal with first.
>Right

Right is always right? I dunno.
>>
>>5152185
>Right
>>
>>5152185
>>Left
>>
>>5152277
Right has a tiny spec that could be a weak point, assuming that spec wasn’t a fuckup.
>>
Right is the voting result. Update is in production. Are we supposed to be making a new thread at post 1000?
>>
>>5154204
Not really, threads in qst are autosaged after 4 days anyway, just make a new one when we are on page 10.
>>
>>5154204
Really, there's no hard limit on how many posts a thread. Page number is typically a better metric and we're still on page 6, it's fine.
>>
With your sensors on the fritz from all this Azurium and magnetic interference, you have to go by your eyes. You decide to take the right canal.

As you speed down the canal, you notice a few of the lesser defensive drones here- and then from the shadows of the megastructure comes a magnetic drone!

”Flank second- stay away from that Azurium drone. We cannot take it out with its-”
”ARRGGHH!”

With a sickening twist of steel, the magnetic drone unleashes hell upon one of your poor escorts, bending the fighter into a pretzel. The poor pilot thankfully died instantly.

Damn, looks like there was a magnetic drone lurking in the shadows you couldn't quite see. The other canal had shield drones and Baalathi “colony” ships- population carries whose only known attack was to send out a nutrino field which your new and improved AI can deal with easily. You made the wrong choice this time, but you still have one more escort...
>>
With your escort easily blowing away the remaining defensive drones, you have a moment to strategize on your plan.

Bombing the weak point of this station will destroy the invisible magnetic tether between this orbital ring and the others around it. It will also cause a total blackout of the Baalathi energy in this system, since their other cylinder hasn't finished constructing one yet. It may be that these superstructures are used by the Baalathi to communicate with each other, send the data prion, and manage other large-scale tasks.

However, even if destroyed, the Baalathi's “natural habitat” in the clouds of this gas giant will be essentially undisturbed. Nan-I and Nan-II probably have so many Baalathi in them already that trying to destroy them all would be nearly pointless; the most realistic solution would be to honestly find a gas that is “toxic” to them and pump it into the atmosphere of the planet, or build self-replicating AI drones to hunt them down one by one... no, it would take an army of drones to do that. Even your MkIII's.

Perhaps it may not be in the best interest of the Hegemony to kill all the Baalathi residing in the gas giants though. If it would be possible to control their behavior through gasses, you might be able to use them- or even retrofit their technology and computer systems somehow.

You're coming up on your target now- the magnetic tether is also surrounded by several turrets; probably here to blow away any space junk that might disrupt the tether. Just great. You can already see them start to turn towards you, and you will be within effective range shortly.

It might be possible to blow them up before they can shoot you along with your escort... but you're drawing a blank on your ship's capabilities. Should you risk shooting them, or divert power to shields instead? If you go fast enough, who knows if they can even hit you.

>Power up weapons
>Power up shields
>>
>>5154245
>Power up shields
Full speed ahead.
>>
>>5154245
>Power up shields
Let's be cautious.
>>
>>5154245
Will our shields even do anything against their magnetic stuff? That's what killed our fighter, right?
>>
>>5154245
>>Power up weapons
Turrets cant kill us if we blow them up.
>>
>>5154245
>>Power up weapons
>>
>>5154245
>Power up thrusters, main and steering
Like a leaf in the wind.
>>
>>5154245
>Power up weapons
Kill the turrets before they can turn and fire.
>>
>>5154245
>Power up weapon

>the spec turns out to be a magnetic ship
B-but we noticed that spec...
>>
>>5154245
>>5154570
Wait, wouldn't lasers be less effective in the atmosphere? What logic are we supposed to use?

God, I feel stupid by just thinking if this is right call or not, I'm running into logic loops and it's starting to frustrate me.

>>5154259
Honestly? I don't know what they use as a weapons system in those cannons, I don't think we ever let them get a shot off before.
>>
>>5154245
>>Power up weapons
>>
>>5154245
This is an open book test. Same as how we picked the wrong choice to turn because we didn't remember which ships looked like what and what weapons they had.

"You are drawing a blank" ok your ships capabilities means we need to look back to see what our ship can do
>>
>>5154801
I think it means we need to power our shields, because we know the only thing they have that can touch us are their magnets, but if we divert power away from shields, their normal weapons might hurt us.

>>5154245
>Power up shields
>>
>>5154349
>>5154810
Fair enough. Changing my vote to >Power up shields
>>
Problem is, what if they use their magnets? Their guns are pretty much garabge when compared to ours, but their magnet things were able to kill our fighter.
>>
>>5154838
Those magnets are exclusive to those construction drones that we can't hurt with out weapons anyways
>>
>>5154838
>>5154845
Also, those are anti-asteroid turrets, I don't think those would have magnets on them to destroy asteroids.
>>
If there are no construction magnets then
>Power up shields
Since their guns are literal garbage and have no way of penetrating our modern tech
>>
>>5154810
Okay, you convinced me. Changing vote to
>>5154434
>Power up shields
Power through and bomb their centre. Fighters take care of shooting, not us.
>>
You decide to power up your shields to defend yourself against the alien turrets. You realize that your bomber is very poorly armed against small targets like that, and purely relying on speed and maneuverability won't work either, so you must trust your technology. The shield absorbs and scatters the low energy bolts of plasma fired from those cannons, your escort fighter dealing whatever damage is needed to get close- looks like this time you made the right choice.

You drop several powerful particle bombs on the magnetic tether spot- blowing it apart and severely damaging the ability of this orbital station to hold together. Within moments, you can feel the vibrations of the massive station as it starts to twist itself into knots, pulling out of stable orbit, scattering the enormous gathered magnetic-planetary energies into the cosmos as you and your escort return the frigate safe and sound.

Hah! With your frigates firepower, you easily mop up the remaining resistance here- and pick through the wreckage for anything interesting...
>>
As you exit your bomber and take a well deserved stretch in the hangar bay of your frigate, you order the ship away from the collapsing Nan-II superstructure and towards Nan-I and its early setup colony. While it's unlikely that Nan-I will be able to begin construction of another ring with limited energy reserves, you might as well mop it up. You also take a moment to examine your second prize-

...a station-sized Baalathi gas computer core! This was the real reason you were sent here- a secret mission from your brother, the Supreme Ruler himself. Alavis had already predicted that the Nan system was likely colonized, and you were given a prototype bomber just in case. Your real objective was for the secret Threemind project. With a gas computer core large enough to support a powerful station like that, you will have an excellent starting off point for your brother's Threemind project!

However, as you retake command of the bridge, you are warned by one of your scanner technicians.

"Captain- the magnetic rings and energy of that superstructure are going to be released as it loses its ability to contain them. The entire solar system here will likely be struck by powerful magnetic waves. Our ship will very likely be disabled, our computers may be wiped of data, or worse. Baalathi computers are resistant to magnetic interference, so they will lose little fighting ability and may take the opportunity to destroy us, if any drones or defenses remain."

That's a problem. You were instructed by his Supreme Majesty to clear this system of all "meaningful and present Baalathi defense and infrastructure". To leave now before strafing the second colonization cylinder would mean a half measure- your mission incomplete. But you already have the Baalathi computer onboard, returning now would mean you aren't empty handed at least.

You feel a strange twinge or apprehension at this decision. As if the genetic memories of your clone are seeping into your brain. You've met and spoken to Kimnan the first before, you see the pain in his eyes when he looks at his cybernetic arm, even with his gold band that he has earned firmly attached to it. I mean, even if you fail your mission and return home early to remain safe... Eoba II won't do what Agori did to Kimnan I, right? He's your brother, nothing like Agori at all... but you can't help but feel a phantom pain in your arm, like your punishment is just waiting around the corner.

What should you do?
>Leave the system now
>Stay and finish your mission
>>
>>5155612
>Leave the system now
The computer is more important and Eoba II isn't going to cripple his brother over a reasonable retreat.
>>
>>5155612
>Leave the system now
If our navy starts acting stupidly out of fear of reprisal, then we'll be doomed as a power before we even begin. There is no reason to stay.
>>
>>5155612
>Leave the system now
>>
>>5155612
>Leave the system now
This probably means we'll have two mega baalathi colonies to deal with here, but at least we crippled one of them and have the core.
>>
>>5155633
Next time, we can come back with an actual invasion force. As long as we don't take too long, they won't have the opportunity to reconstruct everything.
>>
>>5155612
>Leave the system now

We have a wonderful prize and the risk of loosing everything and ourself in the shockwave is much too high. But we need to do other things:
>1) Call ahead. THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT. Thanks to our comms systems we can give the Supreme leader a quick heads up on the projected situation here and our planned course of action - he's the leader and can countermand this if it is his will. What is important is that we don't leave him out of the loop altogether.
>2)If we have any ranged ordinance, fire it on the way out as a 'parting gift'.

Plus - this system is just three/four Months away from Jaxt, right? Baalathi are slow builders, our monkeys are not. If we call ahead, it's possible there might be an invasion fleet from Jaxt already underway to Nan in Hyperspace by the time we get home.
>>
>>5155703
+1
>>
>>5155612
>Stay and finish your mission
The phantom pain is telling us to stay.
>>
>>5155703
Yes, let us inform the Supreme Ruler first.
>>
>>5155612
>Stay and finish your mission
>>
>>5155612
>>Leave the system now
>>
>>5155703
+1
>>
>>5155746
The Phantom Pain is stupid and doesn't know that the current supreme leader literally shanked the guy who caused said pain solely to save us.

Eoba is not going to maim his brother because he decided to retreat.
>>
>>5156138
Actually, I take it as a hint that this will waste more precious time for our Brother's vow, but if leaving won't negatively affect the vow, I don't mind leaving now.
>>
>>5156166
If we stay, we will literally die, though.
>>
>>5156227
I think the QM would warn us if we were at serious risk of dying if we took an option. Honestly though? I don't understand why we can't pop outta system for a couple days, let the magnetic waves dissipate, then pop right back in to finish our mission. Is there any reason why we simply can't do that instead?
>>
>>5155620
On mobile, but adding:
>call ahead
to this prompt

>>5155612
>>
>>5155612
Actually, is there any reason why we can't pop outta system for a couple days, let the magnetic waves dissipate, then pop right back in to finish our mission? If we have the opportunity to complete our mission without serious harm to our software or becoming disabled, then we should take it.
>>
You have decided to abandon your mission- for now. You'll leave the system and, if possible, return immediately once the danger of the magnetic waves dissipate. But instead of just going off the handle and doing it like the first Kimnan did- you'll tell your boss.

“Kimnan II, what are you doing? Why are you powering the warp core? You were ordered to engage?!”
”My lord, there is no time! The magnetic waves from the destroyed Baalathi structure will-”
“Say no more! The safety of you and your crew is more important then killing some gas bags! Leave the system immediately!”
”One more thing your grace- I have also acquired the secondary objective. We can also start on the way back if you'd prefer-”
“Shut up and leave the system, Kimnan!”

You'd hate to disappoint your brother, but you guess you'd be really disappointing if you were dead. Signing off on the message, you order your ship to power up. You take one last look over the Baalathi superstructure you bombed, seeing it had lost its orbit and is now falling into the gas giant and being subsumed by the gas... what a fitting way to go.

Of course, you didn't expect the structure to lose its orbit so quickly. The magnetic energy is starting to leak faster then anticipated.

”Engage Hyperdrive!”

At that exact moment, magnetic waves begin to spill from the gas giant and gently pull on your ships computer systems. You have just enough time to slip into hyperspace- with a long curve back around, it will be trivial to clean up this mess in a few days once the danger passes.
>>
”What do you mean, “no guidance data”!?”

The Alavis computer aboard your ship was very negatively effected by the magnetic waves, further exacerbated by the sudden jump to hyperspace. She can't rangefind HQ, or the Nan system, or anything at all.

”So we're... lost?”

It hits you like a punch in the gut. You're lost in space- lost! Traveling at many times the speed of light, totally aimless. Without a way to communicate or find your way back, you'd be drifting through space almost forever- unless you get lucky enough to bump into a landmark- but given how empty space is, that will be a slim chance indeed. You took a wide turn as you entered hyperspace to return to the Nan system once the magnetic waves dissipated, but its impossible to know how off course you are now. How could it be that you're so unlucky the one part of the data core that is wiped is the guidance data? The coordinates and communications rely- the one most crucial part of your computer.

You remember the words of your clone- Kimnan one. He mentioned this before. He was the first person to fly in hyperspace- and he could do it without a computer.

The urgency of the situation continues to mount as you remember your important cargo, your promise to your brother, and the fact you could end up absorbing more of those magnetic waves- depending on if any of their energy level can reach hyperspace. You could lose life support, or worse.

”Alavis... turn off the hyperspace distortion shield.”

It takes a moment, but now you see what hyperspace is really like. It makes you feel sick- the only Jaxtian with any experience flying in these conditions is your geriatric clone. Everything feels equidistant from everything else. You see distant galaxies as close as your hands and your ship's hull as miles away. You try to close your eyes to block it out, but light is displaced to beneath your eyelids.

What did he mean by being able to “See”? What did he mean by it? You think back on everything you know, everything you've learned, of the races and people who seem to understand, the ones who can “See”. What did they have in common, what do they know that you don't?

...No way. That can't be it, can it?

It's time to make a choice. Become a derelict drifting through space for hundreds of years, waiting your brother's descendants to find you, or doing whatever it takes to learn for yourself what they meant. Your clone couldn't do this- he couldn't sacrifice for it. But you're supposed to be the fixed one. Are you?
>>
>Learn to See
>Remain Blind
>>
>>5156390
>Learn to See

Oh boy. I'm so sorry Kinman II.
>>
>>5156390
>>5156391
>Learn to See
We have cybernetics and artificial organs so he could stop being blind once we figure out how it works.
>>
>>5156390
>Learn to See
>>
>>5156391
>Learn to See
Goodbye, normal eyes.
>>
>>5156391
>>Remain Blind
>>
>>5156391
>Learn to see

Time to go full Demon Hunter
>>
>Learn to See
Congratulations on your newest breakthrough, Kinman II.
>>
>>5156391
>Learn to See
>>
>>5156390
>Learn to see
Unironically cant wait for Kinman II to become a spiritual leader and cause a brotherly civil war between him and Eoba II over their new profoundly different ideologies, but knowing anons theyll blueball a good story for a numbers game but thats /qst/ for ya
>>
>>5156634
Actually, if it wasn't for the vow I'd find having a Jedi Master lead as a rad idea. As it stands, I'll settle for having him be our diplomatic arm for the Hyperspace sensitive races, like the Worms and the Seekers.

Also, pulling a Moses on his Prince of Egypt isn't cool yo. Don't turn Kimnan II into another Ingar.
>>
>>5156645
Dont get me wrong ill be sad if it causes conflict in the future but the story telling that can come from it would be really cool, were starting to enter the bigger picture of this space opera, the force to our jedi, the spice to our worm, from what I can vaguely gather is were entering the cosmic ancient spiritual war that plagues every good space opera, and that anons should be open to trying to make the story hurt sometimes, it wont feel good in the moment but when BananasQM ultimately loops some little detail we think about in dire consequences we're going to be remembering these silly blue monkeys for a long time
>>
>>5156391
>Learn to See
I'd say this is a good bonus objective. Kimnan, twice-lived, void-eyed!
>>
>>5156671
While I agree that conflict does lead the story forward and can be interesting in itself, I think intentionally self-sabotaging just to create a more interesting conflict both autistic and quest ruining. We are playing as the leaders and major characters of our faction to help and advance our faction's agenda, and suddenly switching sides to sabotage or oppose us will not only create cognitive dissonance in the playerbase as to our goals, it will also posion the playerbase against itself. You can see a microcosm of that problem in Yuan. By choosing to have Yuan hate Jaxians, the well is poisoned when it comes to his actions and decisions, because we can't trust him not to lash out against us as the Hegemony, which then leads anons to vote to minimize the potential damage or to outright self-abort him straight out of the gate. It'll just descend into an autism spiral if it bleeds into major decisions on the culture of the Hegemony.
>>
>>5156705
Im not disagreeing, and I doubt a fanatical religious group would even would even come of this, I just was making up ideas that could present themselves as future issues we have to deal with that have there own story arcs in the timeline of our galactic empire
>>
>>5156634
I wonder if Seeing is really spiritual, the Worms aren't for ex.
I think that "at worst" Kinman II may push for using blind navigators like himself while Eoba II would be more initially inclined to use computers instead.
>>
>>5156737
My thoughts were more the worms are this universes bbeg and the other conglomerate being good or vice versa, our supposed main goal is escape heat death of the universe but if my theory of some deeper cosmic consciousness that we learn about it may shift our goal towards something rather than the end of ends, sorry for the schizo ramble may just be talking out my ass
>>
>>5156391
>Learn to See
>>
>>5156746
>our supposed main goal is escape heat death of the universe
That's going to be off in so long there is a 0.0001% chance we'll have to deal with it in the first place. Our goal is to run the Hegemony and expand, same as any other country
>>
>>5156391
>Learn to See
>>
>>5156391
>Learn to See
EMBRACE THE VOID.
>>
>>5156634
>>5156671
Why are you assuming they would fight each other?
>>
Update is taking longer then expected, hopefully within the next 10 to 12 hours or so. Thank you for your patience.
>>
>>5157640
Sall good QM, I think every QM has been there. I was running two quests at once and it fucking killed me
>>
>>5157640
Sall good QM, I think every QM has been there. I was running two quests at once and it fucking killed me
>>
Could that really be the secret to “Seeing” in hyperspace, like the worms do? Being... blind? Physically?

You don't exactly understand how that could be the case. It would be a huge risk, of course, even with your very advanced medical technology growing back eyes and sensitive visual neurons is a challenge. Beyond that, there is the adaption of your brain. There's no telling if your brain can even handle it- it may not be a cross species ability. You know the Seekers have many blind individuals at a high level- unthinkable with the Jaxtian eugenic and purifying programs. But they use computers for their “presences” in hyperspace, don't they? What if you can't do it?

”Alavis, can your viewscreens damage eyesight?”
“Yes, all visual computer displays on this vessel can be turned up to blind a viewer, as the sound system can become loud enough to deafen. This is a security measure to prevent ship seizure or mutiny.”

There are many old Jaxtians superstitions. Most were destroyed or made into mockeries after the ears of enlightenment- especially by the Hegemony. The old tales were always that things were not as they seem- crippled babies who cannot cling to their mothers can run as fast as the wind. Blind old men are the greatest knife fighters. A mute woman who tastes the wind and ocean spray- and can lead the wayward ship back home at the point of her finger. But these tales are just that- superstitious beliefs in a just universe. That a broken and inferior, damaged being can match a superior, complete being. It has no place in your modern age.

”...Can you turn up this one bright enough to blind me, permanently? Override safety parameters.”
“...Are you sure?”

Such an interesting statement. You're sure it's just the computer giving a confirmation once it detects an unusual or dangerous request- but the way it was said. It almost sounded like it cared for you, like the fledgling Threemind system, to give your AI emotions and lateral thinking. Less of a machine, and more of a “being”.

”Yes Al, I'm sure. We're lost in space otherwise- Kimnan I said I was going to be the one who will do this, and I believe him. Turn on the light!”
>>
Hmm, whazzat?

You just stared into the brightest square you've ever seen in your life. It hurt- you had to keep your eyelids open in advance for the bright light with your fingers. Your entire field of view was bleached white, and then faded into darkness. You're just glad Alavis did it quick- like ripping off a bandaid. Now you're immersed in darkness. You fumble around with your hands. You cannot see anything, you must rely on other senses.

Of course, blinding yourself on a hunch may have been stupid. You intentionally keep down your sense of dread and regret- you have a mission here. Even now, the disruptions of hyperspace are over your whole body, making your skin crawl. You feel like you could be by the wall, or in the center of the bridge. Even navigating your own room that you know well in total darkness can be disorienting.

You feel a stiff hand on your arm, guiding you. Somehow, with the boundlessness of the world- you instantly think it is your brother, Eoba II, touching you, guiding you from an infinite distance away. You can almost feel his firm but kind hand pulling you towards your goal.

”Eoba- is that you?”
“Erhm... No, Sir. It's me, Yaul. The gunnery sergeant?”
”O-Oh, right, of course. Lead me to the cockpit!”

At first, you aren't sure what to do. You can't see anything, but you aren't sure what “sense” is needed, or specially useful for hyperspace. You reach out with your hand and try something else- with the distraction of light gone, you can... feel? You begin to feel things, far and near, superimposed on each other. You feel like you are rifling through a closet with hundreds of outfits- stars and planets and moons, living things and oceans and gases in a cold void- but you aren't sure how to make sense of it all. You listen and feel.

Where do you “feel” you should be? Your home on Jaxt- your mother's cooking, your wife's perfume... no no, you shouldn't get distracted. It's the Baalathi bastards in the Nan system. Then you feel it, a tiny white pebble in your shoe, irritating you with its high energy neutron glare- it's Nan's white dwarf. You can wrap your fingers around it like a marble, or you can make it as big as the world. Your perspective shifts faster and freer then light can.

”Change coordinates on my mark.”
>>
You are now Eoba Garastra II, the Supreme Ruler of the Hegemony. It has been a few hours since your brother, Kimnan II, left the Nan system into hyperspace. You gave him your full permission for the retreat- it was not cowardice, but prudence, and you fully supported it. But as they left, the transmission signal was warped and wrong- it made you fear the worst.

“Your Supremacy- you are receiving a message from Kimnan's ship.”

”Excellent- put it on the main... oh no. Kimnan, what did you-”
“I did it, brother. Kimnan I was right. I learned how to “See”.”

Kimnan II's incredible discovery has shaken the entire Hegemony's space division. Navigation, once a creation of star charts and computer algorithms, has been changed to something more innate and personable. Kimnan also explained some of the more obscure truths about hyperspace- such as the fact it is constantly shifting and bending on its own accord, which is probably one of the reasons why it is so difficult to get accurate headings on it in the first place.

Of course, your brother is loyal to the Hegemony and knows your own agenda; and very firmly denies any sort of supernatural or spiritual element to his newfound abilities- he simply theorizes that without light to “distract” oneself, the brain is open to other, more subtle senses. But that hardly changes the fact the ability seems impossible on the surface; after all, there is no part of the brain adapted or evolved for Hyperspace!

It is so fundamental, the symbol of the navigators, the signpost, has been replaced with an eye. There is certainly more to discover when it comes to hyperspace dynamics, but it seems that creatures who are blind are capable of “seeing” in hyperpsace, while the ones who can see cannot. However, as it stands, the only creature capable of navigating hyperspace in this way is your brother- and he had to mutilate himself to do it. Poor old blind Kimnan II...
>>
Now comes an important choice. This newfound discovery is going to require a radically new approach to Hyperspace exploration and FTL travel. You already once had pilots to assist your ships in the power up and power down sequences of FTL, and to ensure they didn't fall back into “real space” on the inside of a planet. But now you have a new class of navigator, and soon your ships, communication, and command centers will need them. There is no way to know if this ability is somehow genetic, or tied to intelligence, or if it is merely a property of the blind.

More of these “navigators” are needed, for experiment and advancement- as well as for your expanding empire. But you can hardly consider forcibly blinding a bunch of young talented Jaxtians for some spooky space program to be a good outcome. There is also the question of the Threemind system- and with your new Baalathi computer core it is coming closer and closer to being reality- could the Threemind be a “presence” in Hyperspace, the same way the Seekers have theirs? But would that mean giving up command of a vessel to a thinking machine of the same level of intellect and self-determinism as a machine-mind, not a slavish AI core? It's not an easy thing to pick.

In any case, the Hegemony will need a source for these blind navigators; Kimnan II cannot do it himself. Now it is time to build a foundation for those with this power of "Starsight". What is your choice, Supreme One?

>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace
>Create a new genetic caste of blind-from-birth indigos specifically raised for Starsight
>Do nothing and hope the Threemind computer can handle it in the future
>Other (Write In)
>>
Kinman II, you champion.
>>
>>5158158
>Create a new genetic caste of blind-from-birth indigos specifically raised for Starsight

It's all about specialization, we're creating a caste of people who will be designed for this sort of thing. Normal promising Jaxtians won't have to be mutilated or mutilate themselves, we'll make people that don't have a choice

I like that. Maybe give them a way to opt out when they come of a certain age, bionic eyes hooked to the brain
or something


Though it would be cool to try and fuck with their genes enough so they don't have eyes at all. Like those fish that live in caves.

I'm down with more gene fuckery
>>
>>5158158
>Create a system of navigators with the same redundancy as our Threeminds Project, using volunteers, genetically-blind indigos, and the Threemind system when it becomes operational to balance and offset any temporary deficiencies in the other navigator types.l

We need a biological element to navigation. I suggest a mix of all three ideas, just so we have the experience and knowledge available in all areas in case one source of navigators becomes deficient in some way. When Threemind becomes fully operational, we can the same redundancy that Threemind fulfills in AI happen in our Starsight Program. If one type of navigator becomes temporarily deficient, the other two types will pick up the slack.
>>
>>5158170 sounds good as an eventual goal. However, I fear we must focus if we want decent results sooner, and to that end...

>>5158158
>Recruit volunteers to be blinded
What an honour these brave Jaxtians will receive!
>>
>>5158158
>Create a new genetic caste of blind-from-birth indigos specifically raised for Starsight
Yeah, it's probably why the Seekers have free-willed AIs, slaved AIs are not enough like people to be able to See.
I can't imagine that we would get a lot of volunteers and having a high class of people (probably mostly hereditary) with what look like mystical powers isn't a great idea either.
Isolated Indigos raised by the state will have a lot less social clout to get power among the people, there is a reason why ancient china used a lot of eunuchs as high bureaucrats.
>>
>>5158158
>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace

We can take measures to make the blinding temporary, an 'off switch for the eyes' rather then permeant blindness, though we'll also have to have a couple of volunteers to undergo a blindness for the whole training period rather then just 'shifts' and see if it makes any difference. We're a scientific society, after all!

I'd also suggest we clone one or two Blind indigos for a long term experiment of their effectiveness, but since we wouldn't be getting use of them for a good decade or two anyway it makes more sense to go with volunteers for now.

Also, since it's only been a few hours and we're back in Nan again, could we destroy the remaining Baalathi before we leave again; or will we have to wait a few months for the inbound Jaxtian fleet to rescue us anyway since the ship's nav-centers are still wiped?
>>
>>5158158
>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace
>>
>>5158158
>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace
Please, let's NOT create a caste of navigators, that is the last thing we want to do. Do we really want the power of our empire being built on the back of a single, powerful caste?

These indigos would become irreverseably powerful. Without them, our infrastructure would be hurt, which meant they would get to do whatevere the fuck.
>>
>>5158158
>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace
>>
>>5158202
>Isolated Indigos raised by the state will have a lot less social clout to get power among the people,
Anon, how does that make any sense? How would making a literal caste of navigators who were especially bred for navigating and raised from birth to do so better than volunteers who were trained from all walks of life?

Those 'Indigo Navigators' would turn like every other navigator in science fiction or every other special caste. Like Janissaries or Mamluks, for example.
>>
>>5158241
>>5158249
I mean, it eventually stopped working because they developed a caste identity but it's still a decent countermeasure, the process would have been way quicker with natives or people able to have children and normal connections with important families (eunuchs especially were seen as monstrous and subhuman in a filial society like China so the people and other important people really didn't like them).
It's way easier for normal people with families to become religious leaders or a new form of nobility.
>>
>>5158158
>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace
>>
>>5158276
The difference is that if you use volunteers, they're not an literal noble caste made specifically for that who will most likely breed true and continue having children within the caste. You people already voted to make Indigos equal, and they also function biologically, so they wouldn't be "weird" like eunuchs.

Volunteers can come from all walks of life and be trained by the government itself.
>>
>>5158158
>>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace
Volunteers are the best option here, we don't want to go full Kamino
>>
>>5158158
>>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace
Volunteers are the best option here, we don't want to go full Kamino
>>
>>5158330
>>5158331
>2 posts within seconds
how
>>
>>5158349

I am honestly just as surprised as you are.
>>
>>5158158
>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace.

I think it's best to recruit volunteers. Once we have a better understanding of how the star sight is developed we can make it an exhalted profession and inventivize candidates with high rewards.
>>
>>5158349
This happens sometimes. Not sure why.
>>
>>5158158
Agreeing with >>5158170 but in case we need them now:
>Recruit volunteers
But make it a two-step program:
First, have the volunteers go on a hyperspace trip, monitor their brainwaves to detect if they can feel the hyperspace like the Kimnans did before we blind them. Who knows, maybe it's not just simple blinding but something more? The fact that Kimnan and his clone can sense it means either it's in their dna, or it's as simple as blinding oneself. But before we do anything rash, experiment first.
>>
>>5158170
>Support
>>
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>>5158158
>Recruit Migrators to act as our navigators, they are already blind and communicate/see-through sonar in a lightless environment. They can live in tanks upon our ships and can be woken up when needed. With their already aquatic nature, I feel like navigating the "ocean" of hyperspace should be natural to them.
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>>5158158
Changing my vote (>>5158202) to
Supporting this >>5158170
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>>5158696
A clever idea!

Adding experimentation along these lines to my vote at >>5158197

>>5158158
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>>5158696
Oh, yes - definitely test this out!
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>>5158696
+1 to this, genius idea.
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>>5158696
Holy shit +1 to this idea.
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>>5158158
>Recruit willing volunteers to be blinded and trained to be able to "See" in Hyperspace
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>>5158158
Changing my vote (>>5158698)
to this >>5158696, that's a fun idea.
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>>5158696
What is this, Dune?

Are migrators even able to process it, though?
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>>5158696
Holy fucking shit brilliant!

+1
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>>5158696
That would be cool if we could make it work. Tentative support of this as well.
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>>5159121
I previously voted for volunteers on another device. Notifying here so I don't double vote
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>>5158696
Not to put a dampener on this cool idea, but do they even have the IQ to act as a spaceship navigator? Plus, wouldn't we run out of Migrators to act as navigators when we start mass building ships for our interstellar empire? I still think it's a cool idea, but I think it's definitely limited in scalability.
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>>5159190
No reason not to experiment with it. We have cloning facilities, after all.
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>>5159190
If utilized correctly I imagine wed be able to use a single migrator for a fleet of ships, probably put it in a liquid suspension pod and study the neural pathways followed by subsequent prodding of the brain that would help us navigate the stars, full dune style
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>>5159203
I don't mind experimenting, I just think if we have to use our cloning facilities to supply our fleet with navigators, the indigo clones would be overall better due to higher IQ, better mobility, and the logistical infustracture already in place for Jaxianites.

>>5159210
>wed be able to use a single migrator for a fleet of ships

Lol, what? That just seems bizarre on the face of it, especially since we can't communicate though Hyperspace.
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>>5159190
IQ isn't everything. And they only need to be good at one job. Like Amustat. Also getting cyclolucidite vibes from Brigador here.

My only issue with this idea is that we're gonna become reliant on Xenos for a key function of the empire. The migrators are chill, but that could change. Or it could not and the migrators might be too chill.

I think it would be worth maintaining a small corps of volunteer jaxian starseers for the most essential and sensitive hyperspace related tasks.

Either that or make the Hegemony puralistic. It is now about the supremacy of the Hegemony as an institution rather than the jaxtian race. Not sure if this is the best idea though.
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>>5159234
Like I said in >>5158170, we need a system of redundancy with our Starsight program, in case one system becomes temporarily deficient or ineffective, simple as. Hyperspace navigation is simply too important to allow any disruption to our logistical network.
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>>5159255
Agreed, but I'm not a big fan of creating a genetic caste for one specific role. Yeah we may sort people into jobs based on their aptitudes but even then they still get a range of choices. Removing that small level of agency is a bad idea. People already chafe under the current restrictions. If a blind indigo is unable or unwilling to see in hyperspace, we've created a cripple without purpose.
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>>5159302
We can always give the indigo mechanical eyes if they truely want to see. I just want our option open in case another Ingar level crisis.
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>>5159190
One of them was smart enough to be a candidate for xeno overseer so yes.

Also IQ is an abstraction of many skills. A navigator with instincts about 3d travel may be more useful than say an electric engineer with a higher IQ on paper.
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>>5159234
Imo it always should have been that.

The Hegemonies concerns are about the institution as a whole, it can't get caught up in something as petty as DNA.
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>>5159613
>Imo it always should have been that.
Like hell it should, we're Jaxtians. Our commitment to Jaxtian Tradition has alwasy served us, the last thing we need is a Xeno holding power they'll abuse.

I mean, imagine if a Hazaar was able to become supreme leader. The whole nation would be lost.
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>>5159613
If we eventually become more cosmopolitan, I'm okay with that... But we ARE eugenic utilitarians.
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It is worth noting that Iceberg was a candidate for being an Overseer while benefitting from none of our eugenic programs, having slept for most of their life, and likely receiving far less formal education or even a cultural grasp of a lot of things as basic as electronics than their counterparts. That doesn’t necessarily make them a good choice and they likely had several lifetimes- though a lot of them would have been hibernation- but they’re definitely no fool.

If I only had a low IQ despite minimal formal education and aquatic nature and exposure to advanced technology or thumbs or a common language as a disadvantage compared to my fellow candidates, I’d consider myself astoundingly fortunate.
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>>5159643
Iceberg seems like a meme choice, in all honesty
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>>5159651
The system wouldn't have suggested Based Bergy if they didn't have skills.
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>>5159652
The system suggested the son of the guy who was killed by a xeno for the position of xeno relations
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>>5159613
>caught up in something as petty as DNA.

DNA is not petty anon. All species that rise to dominance do so because of the desire to preserve and propagate thier genes, at least on an instinctive or subconcious level. Plus our society values eugenics, so DNA kinda matters alot to us. Vanix also did theorise that all interstellar empires would be supremacists in regards to their own species. (Not sure how the seekers and conglomerate would fit into that, but the point is a if we ever let a hazaar or migrator rule the hegemony, we cannot trust them to prioritse jaxtian interests. I mean, it works both ways, but we're currently playing as the Jaxtians so jaxtians must come first.)
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>>5159651
I'm surprised it was a choice at all, I thought miggrators were effectively non-agents given that they spent 90% of the lives asleep.
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>>5159684
The society is eugenic because it knows certain traits are beneficial. The idea that one specific species will be the most useful for the goals of the Hegemon is an illogical impulse born from primitive tribalism.

It would be as foolish as saying screws are the supreme part of an automobile, or that yeast is the supreme part of wine.

Anything designed must use all it's components to serve the goal of that design. Emotional attachment to one of those parts over the wellbeing on the whole is only going to compromise the end product.
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>>5159670
It suggested him because he had objectively useful skills for the position.


If anything I am starting to think the "secret skill" the system picked up from Iceberg was it somehow recognizing they had the Second Sight this whole time.
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>>5141987
What I was talking about.

Maybe our AI good "intuit" the Migrators would be able to navigate hyperspace.

Bananas likes to put little "hints" like that in the quest

(Having to remember what Ballathi ships did what, recalling the last names of one off characters, picking out the muzzle colors of the Supremes, showing the worms and green priests as both blind)

To me this smacks as a classic "Pay attention to this small detail and it pays off in seven months" move thar this game is always pulling.
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>>5159701
Wrong pic sorry
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According to my count, we have a tie between blinding volunteers and using the navigators. However, several votes also included using many different navigation methods to find which one works best, so we'll tentatively use the Navigators as the winner of the vote unless everyone has a problem with that.

Once again, I appreciate your patience. I do not give excuses, so I'll just say thank you for sticking around given the slowness. I'll get the update done sometime today, probably after I sleep. Thanks again.
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>>5159738
HE GOT SPACE AIDS! I KNEW HE GOT FUCKING SPACE AIDS!
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>>5159738
>oh no he got the space aids
We got too cocky!
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>>5159738
You get what you fucking deserve
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>>5159738
May I propose a mix?

Since the Navigators are also Hegemon subjects, they can be included int eh volunteer pool, they just don't have to blind themselves.

So accept Monke and Navigators and any sighted Monkes will volunteer for blindness.
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>>5159759
Makes sense. I'd back such a compromise.
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>>5159738
The Navigator idea is fun.
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>>5159759
It sounds reasonable. I just don't want to rely too heavily on xenos.
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>>5159628
Does the Hegemony serve Jataxians, or do Jataxians serve the Hegemony? Those are two very different things.
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>>5159818
Jaxtians ARE the Hegemony. We created it, and it was made with our society, characteristics and culture in mind. A hegemony without jaxtians is no better than the Hazaar and their cryptobro ancapistan or any of the other galactic powers.
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>>5159821
I disagree. At the time the Hegemony was founded, knowledge of Xenos wasn't known. So to say Species based Supremacy is a core purpose of the Hegemony would be inaccurate given it wouldn't have come up in the age of the Unspeakable.
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>>5159759
Sounds a good compromise to me.
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>>5159612
Iceberg specifically had the Low IQ modifier, shown >>5159704. And considering Hyperspace is nothing but abstraction to physics, exploring and figuring out it's mysteries requires high IQ, simple as.

>>5159633
Cosmopolitan? You mean the death of tradition in favor for creating intersetellarists. We need the people to be loyal to us first and foremost, not to deteriorate our bonds for some sort of multicultural project that's doomed to fail. The Monoculture of the Hegemony must be protected by it enemies, both from within and without.

>>5159691
That's a materialistic view, not a Supremacist one. If any of what you said was believed, then there would be no need to allow a neurotics to become the Supreme Candidates, since we have such a wide pool of potential candidates available. The reason why neurotic have better odds of getting chosen is precisely because of the tradition that Supreme Leaders must be Supreme, a cut above the rest, to ensure he has the sole, commanding authority of an undivided Hegemony.

>>5159818
No, both are one and the same. The Jataxians are obliged to serve the Hegemony, and the Hegemony are obligated to help their subjects prosper or help them out in a crisis.

>>5159843
The Hegemony is Supremacy-based since it's sounding by the Unspeakable. It stands to reason that species based supremacy is just an extension of our current Supremacist attitudes and cultural norms.
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>>5159871
That might just be Iceberg, though. No evidence yet either way if it applies to the whole species.
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>>5159843
Nah, we were always invented with the strict goal to achieve supremacy. That means Supremacy over the Xeno, too. While they will become part of the hegemony, they will never be equal
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>>5159871
>>5159901
And what happens if a Xeno just so happens to be supreme?

Prioritizing species over skills and/or utility to the Hegemony is against the very principles it is meant to enforce.

People once said the Blues needed to be dealt with and now one is the Supreme for non worse the wear.

One Blue Hazaar was found to be supreme tier (despite genetically being only 10 percent Monke) what is to keep another from reaching that height.

Each subject of the Hegemon is ultimately a tool to serve the needs of the Hegemon. Showing racial preference is as illogical as using a hammer to pull out a nail instead of a screwdriver because "you like Hammers more."

But we are going in circles anyway, the Volunteer Option seems to have one, and I think it will be executed via the Hybrid solution I proposed here

>>5159759
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>>5159950
>And what happens if a Xeno just so happens to be supreme?
They would screw it all up. Xenos can't be trusted with command of the hegemony.
>People once said the Blues needed to be dealt with and now one is the Supreme for non worse the wear.
We didn't exactly have a choice though, did we? Agori picked him because he was obsessed with Eoba.
>One Blue Hazaar was found to be supreme tier
Said blue hazaar proceeded to develop a hate of jaxtians despite being more privileged than most of them.

The Hegemony was created by the Unspeakable to instill a supreme JAXTIAN Government. It was made with Jaxtians in mind. It cannot work with Xenos at the top anymore than we couldn't work with a xeno government.
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>>5159952
The data doesn't back that up.
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>>5160015
What data? The only xeno so far who hasn't made things worse is Bluey, and he is only good because he was raised by Talacent, as shown by Yuan'Tul
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>>5160021
There is no evidence that says that Xenos aren't as competent for the needs of the Hegemony as Monkes.

Yuan wasn't incompetent, he was resentful of being taught that Jataxians we're inherently superior . The Hegemony is best served by having the best tool for the job applied in all scenarios. If that tool happens to be AI, xeno, clone, natural born, high class family, low class family, blind or inanimate it must serve the Hegemony regardless.

The Supreme , while the head of the Hegemony, is ultimately just another tool in its arsenal. The Hegemony doesn't exist to serve the whims of the Hegemon, we saw earlier that those who indulged in such manner were seen as backwards.

If we start passing up qualified assets just because they aren't Monkes, we are going to be undermining the very Supremacy of the Hegemony we are meant to be propping up.
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>>5160052
>Yuan wasn't incompetent, he was resentful of being taught that Jataxians we're inherently superior
His race nearly killed itself, migrators while cool are still basically hibernating fish, Balaathi are basically mechagerms. It doesn't matter that he's incompetent, he's an subversive, corruptive element. Bluey is literally the only xeno that has done good to us, and he's the exception raised by the 'Peace-lover' supreme leader.
>The Supreme , while the head of the Hegemony, is ultimately just another tool in its arsenal.
The Supreme Leader is supposed to lead the Hegemony. Putting a xeno in this spot would be the opposite of that. It's an nation created by Jaxtians made with the Jaxtian Mind in reference. Other species would not work because they function differently.

The Hegemony is Jaxtian, and to try to change that would destroy it.
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>>5160066
The worm was actually, technically, useful as well. Aok and his wife too, so far.
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>>5159950
The argument isn't about competency, but loyalty to the ruling ideology.

You also don't use a spoon to hammer in a nail, you discriminate on the basis of what would be the correct tool for the job. Using a hammer to remove a nail is logical precisely because it's favored for the job.

>>5160052
The best tool for the job of Supreme Leader is to be a monkey, if only on the basis of social stability alone. The majority of our population is monkey, putting a strange xeno with foreign though processes in charge of the Hegemony would lead to social instability, not to mention an evolutionary disregard to the ruling ideology. Imagine the scandal if the Supreme Leader started using child soldiers because they thought the little monkeys were fully formed individuals, or that they have their decisions affected by the amount of gas in the atmosphere? It's insane to think that Hegemonic society would be stable under such foreign rule.

>>5160147
Utility isn't the issue, it's leadership that's the issue.
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>>5160147
The Worm died because he got a sun tan and while useful, he is still very much a foreign agent.
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>>5160160
Those examples have all been useful, is all I'm saying. Though, depending how the project goes, I could see a cowperson or a Blue Hazaar being a decent Supreme.
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>>5160163
I don't. This is Supreme Space Monke Ruler Quest, not Supreme Space Xeno Ruler.
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Personally, unless the xeno is basically whipped into being a 100% loyal, monke loving agent (i.e Bluey and no one else), I don't trust any xenos to remotely touch the Supreme Leader position.

Hell, even Bluey would be a last resort measure, like making the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the USA the president when everyone else is dead/unable to rule.
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The discovery of this “Starsight” changes the entire paradigm of your exploration and space flight programs. Is it possible to account for the variances in space-time travel from this ability? Can better “navigators” fly a ship faster?

Regardless- you have decided to take from the Hegemony the best fit for the job- and in this case, one of your species is especially apt. In many ways, Migrators are the forgotten members of the Hegemony. Ever since their discovery centuries ago, they've been part of your cultural consciousness, but are so primitive and undeveloped very little of note has come of them. Their absorption into the Hegemony has been properly glacial in speed. Only now, hundreds of years of research and communication, do the migrators understand the concept of “outer space”, which they still call a different ocean. The migrators do not understand the concept of a nation, so the Hegemony must be considered part of their “pod”, huge and distant. Their language of sonar clicks don't include words for things like stars, planets, ships- and Jaxtians are still just called “friends”.

However, despite how primitive they seem, their environment of crushing darkness and three dimensional evolution has profound impact on their ability to “See” in hyperspace. They are born naturals. Even from the moment of the first test, syncing up their minds to a vessel in Hyperpsace, the navigators show incredible promise and talent at the ability to navigate. Not only are they naturally blind, and accustomed to 3d space, they naturally are very dormant and require so little energy they do not need any form of “Suspension” for spacetravel, the way Jaxtians do- after all, the gene came from them. If a Blue Haazar or Vetuck alien had the same aptitude, you would have to account for the time difference spent in flight. Navigators don't have that problem.

You feel very strongly that for your ingenuity and knowledge of the Hegemony's assets, you have made the correct and most efficient choice.

While the total population of the migrators is quite small, that can be somewhat mitigated by their long lifespans, cloning, and organizational abilities. Your scientists can identify Migrators that will die- one born with a clipped fin who will not survive adolescence in the next few centuries. Another went too far in depth and will die of hypothermia “very soon”- in the next eight months. These ones can be abducted and replaced with a matching amount of biomass and energy to the Caplit ecosystem, and then brought in for training. Starseer Kimnan II feels very optimistic about their inclusion.

In other news- the Nan system is quickly fully conquered with your warfleet, securing it for the future of the Hegemony.
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The Nan system is relatively simple in its construction. Two gas giants, four moons, and a lot of asteroids. It's potential use as a resource extraction site and/or industrial powerhouse is apparent. Still, it's a lot to manage. You're being asked what you want to build on every orbital body... you may need to appoint an Overseer of Stellar Exploitation or Colonization at some point...

In the meantime; Nan-I's first moon, the green one, turns out to be an incredible source of Zinc and other corrosive resistant materials. While nowhere near the level of protection an alloy of Azurium could offer- you can use this to offset the cost and augment your spaceship armor! Beyond being resistant to corrosive acids, the degrading effects of particle rays, it will also make your ships better at exploring dangerous and harmful atmospheres or oceans on various planets. It's a small upgrade, but when you have an entire planet-sized source for your galvanized steel, you can afford a little extravagance.

Nan-II's first desert moon could be made into a electronics manufacturing facility. While your new Threemind computer project is very demanding, and better and better sources of electronics and rare earth metals (mostly from asteroids) are always needed, you feel as though the Threemind will require significantly less pure circuitboard then otherwise- afterall, you're using Haazar and Baalathi technology as two thirds of your computational strength.

However- perhaps MOST useful of everything in the system are actually the gas giants. Gas giants, being huge and made of atmosphere, are heavy produces of Tritium. Even the pale white dwarf in Nan can produce cosmic rays that create the hydrogen isotope. With scalpers you could produce a huge amount of Tritium from these two gas giants here. At this point in time, your entire empire's Tritium allowance comes from just one planet, Max, your own home system's gas giant. However, in recent years, power resources have been dwindling as your consumption overcomes the amount produced. It seems that, as a general rule of thumb for the future, one fully developed Solar System requires about one gas giant worth of fuel to power and fuel the ships that run it. In this case, a “fully developed” star system is one where every planet and moon is colonized and built up. Partially colonized systems will only take a fraction- though a large enough fleet may have a cost to consider. In any case, as long as you can secure Nan and keep the shipments coming and going, you'll have plenty of Tritium for the time being without needing alternate power sources.

Ironic then that the Baalathi live and colonized gas giants, ending up competing with you, a terrestial species, just for different reasons. And speaking of the Baalathi- your newfound stolen Baalathi computer, and many years of research, have finally broken the code and communication with these aliens is now fully possible.
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Your understanding of the Baalathi goes as follows- they have multiple languages and share a sort of “hive mind” when it comes to making decisions, the gases in their environment deciding the temperament of their species. They are extremely communal, due to the lack of intelligence and “personhood” each one possess, since they are so evolutionary disposable. While every gas influences their behavior, Argon seems to make them peaceful and technologically inclined, and a lack of Argon makes them expansionist and stunts their progress.

It seems that the Baalathi that took over Nan-II like a virus are very much in a peaceful Argonic state. This seems to be the reason there was so little real resistance when you attacked the magnetic superstructure. They seem upset that you destroyed their station. The Baalathi who are within their native gas; both in the colonization cylinders and presumably the ones on the homeworld, are very warlike and expansionist.

Kimnan II notes that the Baalathi are capable of “seeing” in Hyperspace much like he is, but their “presence” is very different. Due to their lack of true individuality and a low level of consciousness, they don't seem capable of flying FTL- not that they ever developed the energy-level necessary to achieve it. They do however seem quite capable of the rangefinding ability, similar to the worms, which may explain how they managed to locate and fire on Max with their data prion all that time ago.

However, as a new client species under your empire, it is time to decide what to do with them?

>Introduce them to Max and use them as a scientist/workforce
>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)
>Find the gas that hurts them the worst and kill all of them (Massive morale boost)
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>>5160150
Hasn't the Hegemony ALSO used Child Soldiers?

In fact hasn't it used child forced labor? Kind of a bad comparison there.
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>>5160212
>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)
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>>5160208
Monkey and fish, truly the greatest alliance.

I think we’re now somewhat obligated to make sure their home always stays in their ideal condition and encourage them to spread though- I’m not sure how many migrators there are, but one planet for all our crafts might be problematic in a few lifetimes.
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>>5160212
>Introduce them to Max and use them as a scientist/workforce
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Of course, we were obligated to ensure their well-being to a reasonable extent anyways, them being a client species, but now they’re an actual strategic resource with questionable fecundity we may want to think about ensuring numbers.
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>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)

We'll leave genocide to the next Supreme, its colonization time, baby.
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>>5160181
>>5160212
Wait a second, so did we basically bomb a no hostile powerplant?

Damn.

In any case introduce them to Max. They are chill as fuck and already masters at gas giant energy production. The fact they can be bought off with cheap Gas means we don't even need military force to deal with them. Another valued member of the Hegemony

>Introduce them to Max and use them as a scientist/workforce

Re:The Morale pull a Before Watchmen and spin this as a surrender and an End to the Capsule Wars.

Also what is the unit of sentience for the Ballathi? Is one gas giant basically one person with each ball like a cell? Or would Nan be their equivalent of a village?

Like how many "people" are on Nan, based on the Ball definition of person hood
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>>5160212
>Introduce them to Max and use them as a scientist/workforce

More manpower can never be a bad thing, as long as we well and truly understand them.
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>>5160212
>The Baalathi who are within their native gas ; both in the colonization cylinders and presumably the ones on the homeworld, are very warlike and expansionist.

I don't understand this. The Homeworld Baalathi we're peaceful until Hazzar miners overmined the Argon. Or by "native gas" do you mean post-Hazaar?

We could probably work with the Nan Baalathi to Argonize the Homeworld, it is mutually beneficial for all parties.

We get to stop a hostile empire and they get to avoid a climate catastrophe that's basically PCPed their entire civilization for 70 years.
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>>5160212
>Introduce them to Max and use them as a scientist/workforce
Even if you don't like xenos, Baalathi with argon are pretty docile.
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you guys realize that stalling any more is going to cause eoba to miss his vow?
just leave it to the next guy, the threemind is a long term goal
>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)
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>>5160212
>Introduce them to Max and use them as a scientist/workforce
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>>5160284
That probably make building that colony slower but that's probably still within our reign and I'm not sure if that's slowing the other colonization projects.
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>>5160212
>Have Bluey deal with them for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)

Time is important, and I don't know how I feel about letting Baalathi mess around on Max. If we can just use them as a workforce/scientists on Nan, I'd fully support that.

I think it's important to differentiate between our Baalathi and the ones who decided to pick a fight with our species, at least in our national consciousness.
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>>5160284
Agreed, supporting.
>>5160212
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>>5160250
One Anikin doesn't mean we conscripts kids to become Spartans as normal procedure lad. Child labor beyond education is also rare I would imagine.
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>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)
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>>5160212
>Leave them on Nan but make them the scientists/workforce

Whoops, we bombed a peaceful Baalathi installation, but given their hostile mode we were taking no chances.

But yeah, to jump in the Hegemony vs Jaxtian identity discussion, as long ss Jaxtians are the majority species, the Hegemony should be led by them to avoid anti-hegemon sentiments. Until the population size equalizes, a non-Jaxtian hegemon is a last resort kind of thing.
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>>5160212
>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)

We have our Vow agenda to achieve, we don't want to be spending any time unnecessarily. And we certainly don't want to be introducing a Xeno-species into our home system's gas giant - we fought three whole wars with them just to stop that!
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>>5160212
>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)

Would love to get them to Max, but that's low priority, and we need every bit of time we can get. We'll set them up there eventually.
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>>5160259
Good idea. If we find a similar world to theirs (or a world similar-enough we could Caplitform it) we should try setting up a new colony for them. Vetuck-3b was an Ice Moon, perhaps we should investigate it...

...Actually, since Vetuck 3 is a Gas giant, we probably need to take extra measures to secure it and the star system, both for it's own Tritium supplies and in case another Baalathi cylinder rolls on in.
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>>5160284
+1
They're not a problem as long as they're not doing anything
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>>5160212
>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)
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>>5160212
>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)
Vow comes first, but I certainly want to get these guys as scientists and such.
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You know, i don't distrust the migrators, they're very friendly, but i feel like we should have some Jaxtian Navigators as a redundancy. The last thing we need is for that kind of art to be lost for our people.

It might be wise to always kept a small volunteer force of them. I mean, surely there are people who have lost their sight, be it through accidents or something else, right? Qet lost his eyes, after all. We could use those people as backup navigators in addition to the migrators and the threemind's mapping.
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>>5160212
>>Leave them alone for now, just ensure they don't build anything or interrupt your Tritium gathering (saves time)

>>5160723
Agreed
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>>5160723
Agreed. Though that's kinda been our whole thing ever since THE SCI-KEK WHO SHALL BE INSULTED AT ALL COSTS fucked everything up. Redundancies.
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>>5160723
Meh, I don't mind letting the Threemind being able to do it as a backup but the Navigators sound ideal for the job, Jaxtian Starsighters look like a waste of ressources and I can't imagine a lot of situations where both the Threemind and Navigators are compromised but Jaxtians aren't.
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>>5160723
Supporting!
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>>5160284
They are an asset that can jumpstart our colonization.

Hell if we annex them, all we have to do is drop a few Baal spores on a gas giant in a system and they will do the rest.

If anything they are the vow on easy mode.
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>>5160317
I'll have to dig back but I swear I remember when Kinman I piloted the ship it was brought up the Hegemony uses Child Soldiers if it feels it's needed but hasn't in a while
>>
At the present time- finding ways to work with or include the Baalathi in your normal industry and power-generation, whilst managing all the interspecies drama, security risk, and the obvious propaganda required given how much the average Jaxtian hates and fears the gas bags... No no, it simply won't do. Best to focus on other matters and leave the defanged Baalathi where they are. Besides, putting some of the Baalathi into Max's atmosphere would infect it with Baalathi, and given their rate of reproduction, it would be impossible to remove them. Better to keep your home system's source of Tritium sterile and reliable; just in case.

“Thanks for coming all the way out here to Xin, brother. I know you're busy right now, what with the vow and all...”

”Of course, Kimnan, it's no trouble at all. I hope this isn't about the strange disappearances of the blue Haazar- The colony administrator or an overseer should be handling that!”

“No no, my liege. Come, let us enjoy the new bioenclosure. I hear the air is almost nine percent oxygen now. Perhaps our descendants will be able to run through the fields here totally unaided- though we probably won't.”

”...Kimnan, I don't wish to draw attention to your disability, but how are you walking so well unaided?”

“I programmed some MkIII drones to follow me around and make a click when I stray from the path, or when an object is nearby. I only need two or three to echolocate. I'm not nearly as “aware” down here as I am up there, when I'm flying a ship in Hyperspace.”

”Hah- brilliant! That's my brother- a genius! Please, tell me more about your experiences when you use the Starsight. You've become quite the mystic.”

“...Heh, I thought you'd be mad at me. I had a dream you were threatening to burn me at the stake if I didn't stop spreading spiritualist sentiment.”

”Could you see in the dream, or was it a blind dream?”

“I could see, yeah. Weird, now that I think about it, I think it was black and white... But dreams are a boring topic. How's your wife? Mine has been putting “safety cushions” on every hard-edged piece of furniture in the house- it's driving me insane...”
>>
>>5160723
We do have Jataxians Navigators they are just the minority because the Migrators are so much better at it. Which kind of loops around to my point that blind Monke favouritism is a net negative to the Hegemony.

If we were as ethnic purist as some anons here wanted to be, we would have had a massively less competent starfleet.
>>
”...Kimnan, you can't just point to a cloud. There isn't one where you're pointing.”

“Then what does the one above us look like then?”

”It looks like a Baalathi cylinder, with a brave Kimnan I entering it to destroy its control tower from within, saving the Hegemony from an alien threat.”

“Don't bullshit me!”

”What!? I'm serious, it's kinda cylinder shaped, and it has a little puff coming out the end; you can't see Kimnan I though since he's in the cockpit. You have to really use your imagination with these little dry ass shit clouds on this planet.”

“Pfft haha. Even if you're lying, I can imagine it clearly now.”

”...Kimnan, what's the real reason I'm here? It can't just be to play catch up.”

“I knew it was too selfish to force you to come here just to talk to you face to face like this, especially when you've been working so hard. I'm sorry.”

”Are you gonna spill it, or not?”

“...I was just thinking about us. You know, we clone brothers. Do you ever wonder if we've actually chosen anything?”

”...?”

“I mean, we've done a bunch of stuff, but have we actually made any choices at all? Have we actually achieved anything, or just doing what our biological programming has directed us to do?”

”You know the Hegemony's official stance on determinism. It is too abstract and high concept. As long as it is out of our ability to understand, it is irrelevant to-”

“Oh yeah, the Hegemony's official stance, give me a fucking break. I'm not asking the bloody Supreme Ruler, I'm asking you, Eoba! Look at what we grew up to be. Me, the “fixed” version of a legendary space pilot- the same as him, just less arrogant, and able to sacrifice myself for the good. The born hero. And you- champion duelist Supreme Ruler lord. Exactly as Agori's pet project was designed to do! Take the old geezer Eoba and make him a young man, give him the chance he never got to rule!”
>>
You sit in silence and reflect. You can't really argue with Kimnan.

The nature of free will is still an unknown in Jaxtian psychology and state-philosphy. It is put on the shelf of “not proven untrue but certainly not true and don't waste time on it”- part of the demystification program of anti-spiritual, atheist, rationalist thought. Determinism, as the afterlife or the nature of reality, are part of an intentional anti-intellectual bent in educational curriculum. But Kimnan II's words still bite. There is no way to prove that he's wrong, you might even believe it yourself.

The truth is every decision you have made was based on circumstances outside of your control. Did you really chose to kill Agori, when he threatened you and your brother? Did you choose to kill Ingar once he rebelled, or choose to implement the terrible artificial food program in response to that crisis- which has created and entire underground of “realfood” sellers that operate in the shadows to this day? Did any of them choose to prefer better tasting food over recycled slop? No, these are determined by biological pressures, which in turn shape societies, which in turn shape individuals through their genetic expressions.

Truthfully, you can't be sure if anything can choose or decide anything. Has anything you've done really been a result of your free will, unfettered by circumstance? Everything you've ordered, everything you done, from making a vow to make the Hegemony a true interstellar empire, to subjugating the Vetuck aliens, to Kimnan giving up his own sight- all resulted of choices that you made before. Every choice you've made determines your next set of choices, without end, in an unbroken link of causality. Even if you argue that you picked the best choice out of many, that evaluation of risk and reward was, in and of itself, totally outside of your control. Taking the optimal route out of several inferior ones isn't really a choice either. There's no way to know if everything in the universe is not already planned and put in motion anyway- while certainly not the result of some infinite Skygod as the Vetuckers once believed- but from the spin of the very first quark and the formation of the very first electron's charge.

You are a Supreme Ruler, that is true. But that is what you were created to do. At least a normal Jaxtian has the excuse it was their “random” genes that gave them their capabilities. You are the same as them, you simply have no smokescreen of sexual selection and being reared to explain away your innate propensities. You get the feeling that how Kimnan feels, and how you might also feel, is that you are what you were made to be.
>>
It has been 10 years since you conquered the Nan system. During that time, you have expanded your empire and worked in more and more of your xeno assets into the empire as a whole. While a small number of blind Jaxtians can work as navigators, along with using your old slow “calculate and stake” method of finding hyperspace routes, the real star are the migrators.

Not all blind Jaxtians can develop Starsight. It might be tied to intelligence, or perhaps the unique qualities of leadership and willpower that make up a Supreme Ruler. Kimnan learned his ability basically instantly after losing his vision- where as the newly blinded volunteers sometimes take weeks, to even a year- or never. Migrators, however, are so naturally suited for it that they seem almost instinctually capable of navigating hyperspace- it is so similar to their abyssal environment that a simple computer uplink with their neural impulses in their brain can essentially “steer” a ship through hyperspace. It's a good thing they're so good at it too- because training them is a real pain in the ass. You have to feed them, keep them in water just above freezing (to them, it's like a sauna), and basically feed them caffeine to get them to chart a hyperspace course with any efficacy. Thankfully, small groups of ships can reliably follow one “navigation” lead ship, and they can do so through quantum entanglement. No pesky worms reading your hyperspace coordinates.

You have sent a small fleet of ships, a frigate and two unarmed colony ships packed to the brim with settlers, to the Andoen system. With this place already well explored and documented, it's easy for you to continue fulfilling your vow and building here. While an already habitable world is extremely tempting, it may be better to focus your efforts on the Azurium rich desert world, so you won't have to deal with that defense system...

Which planet do you want to set up your first colony on around this red giant, your Supremacy?

>Andoen I
>Andoen II
>>
>>5160823
I told you guys we needed to invest in therapy.
>>
>>5160825
I forget which one had the ruins and defense system but colonize that one.

We can salvage the tech and take advantage of pre existing architecture like the irl Romans did.
>>
>>5160825
Also do we have diplomatic relations with the Nan- Baalathi?
>>
Like you say "conquered"" but I am kind of unsure what their relationship is to the wider Hegemon government is.
>>
>>5160825
>Andoen II
>>
>>5160831
>>5160826

I support robust mental health investments and diplomacy with the Nan-Baalathi.

>>5160825
Also:
>Andoen I

He who dares, conquers.
>>
>>5160818
Yuan….?
What are you doing?
>>
>>5160825
>Andoen I
>>
>>5160825
>Andoen I
I'm sure that a fleet and drones can deal with it.
>>
How old is Eoba II? ~40?
>>
>>5160825
>Andoen II
>>
>>5160826
Therapy would require someone who's able to help in the first place, anon. Our entire populace is ran on materialistic propaganda. We'd need someone who can be the therapist in the first place.
>>
>>5160825
>Andoen I
>>
>>5160825
>Andoen I
The sooner we can start clearing out/taking down/taking control of the defence system, the better. Whilst an Azurium mine would eventually be nice, we just got a major score in Nan with conquering about two Baalathi cylinder's worth of Azurium - more is not an immediate priority.
>>
>>5160881
Define the mindstate as a mechanical system and determine the proper stimuli required to achieve a set result.

Therapy can work within such a system, in fact since we already filter out mental health via our tests and scans numbers wise we MUST have some knowledge of psychology
>>
>>5160912
Also - Is Kimnan 1 still alive? Last report had him as geriatric, but I don't think he's been reported dead yet? Perhaps he's along for this voyage as a distinguished passenger.
>>
>>5160842
Starting q breakaway Maroon-style colony, I bet.
>>
>>5161015
Preparing a xeno revolution, more like it.
>>
>>5161102
Both, maybe. I mean, Maroons struck at plantations, or recruited/lured away slaves. I don't think that Yuan'tul really NEEDS to, though, with most of the planet better-suietd t his race than the jaxtians... But if he hates us ENOUGH, he might still want to.
>>
>Andoen I

I think colonizing the defense world could net us some sick green tech gains.
>>
>>5161102
>inb4 it was some other distraught Blue Haazar and Yuan comes in to quash the rebellion in his own way
>>
>>5161544
Would be neat, but... We'll see. Doubt it'll be without conditions. He's a genius statesman, by fate and by our hand as the voters.
>>
>>5161544
>implying he wouldn't be the first to join them

>>5161556
Nah, you can't trust him. Nothing good was ever born out of hate.
>>
>>5161568
Our Hegemony's founding father is a masked monster-monke famed for the two knives he reserves for friends and enemies respectively.
>>
>>5161620
I am telling you I have an idea about that that I think will pay off WAAAAAAY down the line
>>
>>5161620
And that was after a nuclear holocaust almost wiped out all life on Jax.
>>
>>5161628
Yes, and his hatred of the systems and structures which led to that were instrumental to the foundations of our centuries-long and now multisolar empire.
>>
>>5161635
That doesn't absolve him of the blood on his hands, or justifies the lives taken as a result of his hate. Face it- you can only use hate to destroy, not to create. Being the sole surviving power after a nuclear holocaust doesn't suddenly make hatred a societal virtue.
>>
>>5161646
I disagree. I think some things deserve to be hated.
>>
>>5161670
Still doesn't make it a virtue lad.
>>
>>5160821
>Do you ever wonder if we've actually chosen anything?”
This is some meta level shit. They both did and didn't. I mean WE chose for them, but even we collectively could not be sure what the optimal choice was at any given time. So yeah, the choices were real.
>>
I wonder if we could have diplomatic relations with the Seekers now that we have Starsighters and don't want a Worm anymore.
Kinman II would probably be a good diplomat for them.
>>
>>5160825
>>Andoen I
>>
You have decided to colonize Andoen I. Despite the danger from the defense network- a habitable planet is just too valuable to pass up. With your modern shield technology, the alien cities working as “safe zones”, and constant deturreting efforts you can establish a beachhead. While the entire planet is essentially defended, the lack of intelligence or power-generation beyond what the turrets can seemingly suck up from the environment, they can't punch through some basic shields. While the occasional Jaxtian explorer or drone might get fried by a wayward turret, they'll be made harmless in every important zone as your expand on the planet.

Colonists from Jaxt are highly attracted to this world, perhaps the ancient ruins give it a sort of romantic feeling, or a truly habitable planet, without the moral qualms or lack of technology of moving to Vetuck- not that citizens are allowed to request permission to move there. Your immigration request department is quickly swamped when Andoen is announced to be conquered by the Hegemony. Perhaps the age-old belief of danger exciting people is indeed true.

It takes a good ten years for your habitat on Andoen to get set up. Time well spent, you'd say.

It doesn't take long before your technicians have taken apart several turrets and, using their newfound appreciation of quantum entanglement technology, reverse engineered their technology. This type of weapon is called a Photon Emission Weapon, or PEW for short. They are similar to your old laser diodes, but instead focus the energy into a single point. The Andoen defenses were using almost no energy- just a shared network of nodes. However, a fusion powered PEW can do some serious damage. Essentially several seconds worth of laser contact focused to a single point, able to punch through shields and armor, more resistant to being reflected or conducted such as from Azurium plating... yes, these weapons are a welcome upgrade to your basic offensive systems.
>>
>>5160944
Kimnan I died decades ago, in fact. He was a decorated hero, and an inspiration for everyone- perhaps most for Kimnan II. He died in his mid nineties. It's unfortunate that a member of the genetic elite of your species still dies before the average expected age- but you know, twice as bright, half as long.

In the meantime, a state philospher named Yuan'Tul Scholiander has been making some waves in the civics community. Not what he has done, but what he promises to do- release not one, but THREE seminal works of civic thought and state-driven philosophy at some time during his lifespan. It sounds incredible, but Haazar do live an awfully long time and he was, strangely enough, a “Supreme Ruler Candidate”. Of course, as a Blue-Haazar, his opportunities for advancement in society were greatly curtailed- no Blue-Haazar will ever be a Supreme Ruler. As a lesser species, it is only just and proper to keep them in their place. You're just glad he's found a useful outlet for his genetic gifts.

More pressingly, your greatly expanded empire is going through another social change, unrelated to philosophy. It was once the wish of a previous Supreme, Kinja Dulioan for Jaxt to remain a sort of home for all Jaxtians. However, at this point in time, it's simply no longer possible. Your population will grow exponentially larger and larger, every habitable world being both living space and the supporting ecology of your people- to cram every single Jaxtian on Jaxt for a majority of their life would only result in a greatly diminished quality of life and a logistical nightmare.

But speaking of your population; the once emergency food rations of the Biocubes have since become a staple of every Jaxtian diet; they're simply too cheap, efficient, and useful to give up. Especially now with so many offworld colonies and ships. However, even despite this importance, they are still wildly unpopular. Over the years, the lack of “real food” has given rise to an almost secondary class of Nouveau Riche “real food” sellers. These merchants work in the black market, buying and selling unrecycled foodstuffs or growing it themselves for profit.
>>
Even though all wealth has since been returned to digital records with the ever growing security of the Threemind computer system, these antisocial actors work on forms of property outside of normal means, and have even circumvented the inheritance system of the Hegemony, allowing wealth to be transferred from parent to child over the last generation or two. This goes against the entire philosophy of the Hegemony's eugenic and meritocratic methods of success and reward!

While it would give you great pleasure to bust this criminal organization, they actually do have some use. By allowing a secondary “illegal” black market to run counter to your own, they can deal with some of their own logistical problems and adapt quickly to consumer demands of “real food”, while the Hegemony can provide primary sustenance with Biocubes and government rations. It has also inspired a lot of Jaxtians to become more self sufficient in growing their own food, though their reason for doing so may be corrupted by Capitalism.

Because you decided not to reduce or suspend your population immediately after the AI crisis, and because you did not immediately colonize Vetuck with its fertile farmland, the ability to transition away from the foodcubes and make the realfood merchants is still not easily within your grasp. You could enforce your will and destroy the organization, but to do so would take up a lot of time of your top people- including your own.

I mean, nobody likes the fucking things, and everybody would prefer real stuff, but what's the harm? Why do you need to replace the biocubes at all?

Think of the cost saving measures at not having to try and expand your farming economy to support... 99 billion people? Has it really grown that much? Your steady post-crisis goal of 2% per year including indigo invitros... yeah, that's about right. Soon, you will reach 100 billion Jaxtians during your reign. An unprecedented first, and a massive challenge. The thought of providing good, natural, balanced diets to all those mouths across a dozen different space colonies with months long transport times makes your head spin. It would be an astronomical cost, to say the least.

Perhaps... this is one of those problems you can just ignore. Pass the buck. Focus on your legacy, and your vow. What say you, Supreme Ruler?

>Crush the black market and publicly punish the Nouveau Rich (Takes time)
>Undercut the "real food" sellers by flooding the market with your own with mass farming programs and installations (Expensive)
>Denounce the black market practice and praise the Biocube rationing but otherwise do nothing
>Just let it go and focus on your own stuff
>Other (Write In)
>>
>>5162010
>Undercut the "real food" sellers by flooding the market with your own with mass farming programs and installations (Expensive)

>Do as much of this as we can on Andoen - whilst the turrets can be lethal to unshielded animal life, PLANTS MOVE TOO SLOWLY to draw the attention of the turrets.
We can use it to regrow all the plantfoods we used to grow even in areas that might be hazardous to unshielded Jaxtians. Colony ships to Andoen become food transports on the way home, bringing more food to overcrowded Jaxt in one direction and helping relieve the population pressure the other way.
>>
>>5162010
>Denounce the black market practice and praise the Biocube rationing but otherwise do nothing
>>
>>5162021
+1, sounds like a good strategy.
>>
>>5162007
>In the meantime, a state philospher named Yuan'Tul Scholiander has been making some waves in the civics community. Not what he has done, but what he promises to do- release not one, but THREE seminal works of civic thought and state-driven philosophy at some time during his lifespan. It sounds incredible, but Haazar do live an awfully long time and he was, strangely enough, a “Supreme Ruler Candidate”. Of course, as a Blue-Haazar, his opportunities for advancement in society were greatly curtailed- no Blue-Haazar will ever be a Supreme Ruler. As a lesser species, it is only just and proper to keep them in their place. You're just glad he's found a useful outlet for his genetic gifts.
Good to see that Yuan is a good productive citizen and found a way to be content in life.
I think that him being a state-philosopher may have been the best option, we got a lot of military, stellar expansion and science upgrades but our state is going to expand a lot too and his work will probably make it more stable.
>>
>>5162010
>Legitimize the Real Food market to properly tax it and begin to close the loopholes create the ability to transfer wealth between generations
>>
If I didn't miss anything, Eoba II is 55 years old right now and we have two systems left + colonizing Vetuck.
>>
>>5162021
Good point, we can help get rid of this. Either way, we can't waste too much time. We need to start colonizing those other systems. Vetuck will probably be last, of course, but still, we can get a move on the others.
>>
>>5162049
Supporting this.

>>5162010
>Legitimize the Real Food market, tax it, qnd close inheritance loopholes
>>
>>5162134
I think it might be prudent to colonize Vetuck sooner rather than later so that we can get more food production.
>>
>>5162049
+1.
>>
>>5162042
In fairness to the skeptics, there's a good chance he's plotting SOMETHING.
>>
>>5162021
+1

>>5162042
Yuan's work is not going to make the Hegemony more stable. Nothing good will come from hating us.
>>
>>5161748
Reminds of the time I had the MC of the quest take drugs and hallucinate green texts
>>
>>5162010
>Write-In

Legalize and Regulate it

As shown irl with Privateers or with the recent legalization cannabis, when the populace wants to consume something, fighting against it is a losing battle

Instead we should give these various real food sellers official Hegemon sanctioning as long as they submit to our regulations.

They are fundamentally businesmonkes so they will choose to deal with us because it will be more profitable than fighting us.

This gives us several boons.

1. We provide real food for our people
2. By integrating the Nouveau Rich into Hegemon plans we keep and eye on them and can prevent them from forming a strong counter society, like the Mafia.
3. We get the benefits of capitalist actions with the abilty to drop the hammer at a moments notice when they step out of line
>>
>>5162288
You forget that we loathe and hate capitalism and the decadent rich on an ideological level, right? These are the bastards and systems that led to the nuclear holocaust. They're lucky that we're too busy with our vow, otherwise I would have voted to pull this out root & stem and thrown them all on a bonfire. Subversives aren't to be tolerated, and this will apply to Yuan when we learn of his traitorous deeds again the Hegemony.
>>
>>5162314
I prefer the Andoen option but we already have some limited capitalism and regulating it would avoid the main problems with it like too much wealth escaping the government and intergenerational wealth weakining our meritocracy.
>>
>>5162314
It's not ideal but now that they are here we have to do what's best for the Hegemony. A war on drugs type of situation would only drain reasources fir a losing battle. We can copy these growers. Capitalism finales because it priorities wealth of the elite over the interests of the people. By controlling these dealers we can have their greed serve the Hegemon . Hell we may be able to just buy them all out. Most business are designed to be sold after all. If we buy these real food dealers we can integrate them into the Ventuck supply chain idea as proposed earlier. We can then also use the pre existing economic system they have built as a tool of the Hegemon
>>
>>5162325
By Ventuck I mean Andoen.

I think going full China on these sellers is the best option.
>>
>>5162325
>A war on drugs type of situation would only drain reasources fir a losing battle
That's an inaccurate representation of the food situation, mostly because China and the Cartels are flooding America with drugs outside it's jurisdiction and the fact that the government bureaucracy dealing with the War on Drugs are indirectly incentivized to keep it going, if only so their funding keeps coming.

Beyond that, legitimizing criminal and possibly dissident elements into official society just smacks of us self-sabotaging with the Yuan situation. Don't embed anti-Hegemony people within our power structures, it will never end well.
>>
>>5162370
The Hegemonies priority is to functionality, not to any set philosophy or ideal. If dealing with capitalists is what's best for the Hegemony it is our responsibility to deal with them is the most effective way.
A crack down would take a lot of time, time better spent on dealing with the root problems of the black market
>>
>>5162376
The Hegemony's priority is Supremacy, as it's core guiding ideal and philosophy. Functionality is a means to Supremacy, not an end in of itself.
>>
>>5162381
>>5162376
The Hegemony's priority is whatever the Supreme Leader says it is, and he sets his priorities based on our votes.

I think we should prioritize a functional and sustainable society over absolute (benevolent) tyranny, and I think we should prioritize our vow over stalwart anticapitalism.
>>
>>5162431
>I think we should prioritize a functional and sustainable society over absolute (benevolent) tyranny

Shut up Yuan, nobody wants your racist opinions.
>>
>>5162021
+1 looks good
>>
>>5162010
>>Crush the black market and publicly punish the Nouveau Rich (Takes time)
There can be only one god in the hegemony.
>>
>>5162021
+1; we’ve a new, lightly developed planet now, may well use it.
>>
>>5162496
If your argument is "a clear emphasis on supremacy, be it genetic/caste or species, leads to a better-functioning Hegemony, and capitalist ventures are incompatible with this", fine. I can see that, maybe.

If your argument is "it's more important that the society of the Hegemony be rooted in a genetic caste system and government absolutism than that the Hegemony actually functions", that's pretty pants-on-head.
>>
>>5162381
Supremacy is defined by functionality. You can't be supreme without being supreme AT something.
>>
>>5162376
>>5162541
That's stupid. Supremacy is not functionality. A government that works only to continue existing is nothing but a vermin that will end up corrupt and be destroyed. The Supremacy exists to carry out complete dominance. Sacrificing our power to make things 'easier' is the opposite of that.
>>
>>5162698
If the Hegemony's only purpose is to control everything, then should it not control the real food trade as well?
>>
>>5162540
Clear emphasis is the obvious answer, no one is starting genetic caste system similar to India is the way to go.

>>5162541
Isn't that the same thing as functionality is a means to supremacy?
>>
>>5162711
A supreme basketball player is supreme because they are better at basketball than everyone else.

A supreme army is supreme because it is stronger than any other force.

Supremacy can't exist in a vacuum, it is a comparative statement of power or ability.

If Supremacy is the only purpose of the Hegemony then we need to make every effort to actually BE supreme. We need to have the Supreme technology, the Supreme military and the supreme economy.

Of the options, I believe taking control of the real food trade is the best path to supremacy in economic matters.

(This is also why I think favoring Monkes is a mistake. The Migrators are supreme navigators, if we, out of some backward sense of species loyalty, only let Monkes be navigators we would have had a far less effective flee undermining our Supremacy.)
>>
>>5162728
>>5162728
>>5162010

Actually, while I am waiting, let's ask Bananas a question.

What IS the fundamental purpose of the Hegemony? Is There some sort of Declaration fo Independence style document or thesis that outlines the goals of the Hegemony and what it sets out to achieve?

We know general cultural values and norms, but I don't think what the Hegemony is meant to DO has been outlined.

We know it's not the happiness of its subjects, and we know its against capitalistic oligarchies, but on paper does it have a goal in the same way that the USA's goal is to secure rights?
>>
>>5162710
Yes, but the realfood makers are an black market facility. That'd be like trying to take over moonshine stills. We make our own stuff.
>>
>>5162737
This, we might need something akin to the Declaration of Independence, or a Constitution of sorts; basically a document that says 'these are the goals and ideology of the Hegemony, may they be followed forevermore'. It will also serve as a guidepost in uncertain/crisis times, and an easy way to tell anti-state actors 'you didn't follow the Hegemonic Constitution, you are in the wrong'.
>>
>>5162977
> That'd be like trying to take over moonshine stills
That's more or less what happened in several states.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage_control_state
>>
>>5163046
The original State that The Unspeakable led had a constitution

>>5149845
It seems to have been replaced with 'The grand purpose and mission" but I am unclear what that purpose and mission IS.
>>
>>5162977
First you legitimize.

Then you tax and regulate.

THEN you confiscate, nationalize if need be, and shut down the few who don't comply, with the blessing of a populace who sees you as reasonable and as a source of Real Food.
>>
>>5162728
>Supreme Space Monke
>I think favoring Monkes is a mistake

Damnit Yuan, not this nonsense again!

Btw, if you agree with my point on functionality leading to supremacy, you don't need an essay to say it lad.

>>5162737
>What IS the fundamental purpose of the Hegemony?

To defeat entropy itself.
>>
>>5162021
I like this idea and want to see what happens.
>>
>>5162021
>Support
>>
>>5162010
>Crush the black market and publicly punish the Nouveau Rich (Takes time)

We really should've spent our time crushing dissidents instead of letting malcontents and deviants grow in strength.
>>
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>>5162042
I am detecting a pattern.
>>
>>5163654
What's the worst thing he could do if he become a super influential philosopher anyway?
>>
>>5163722
Institutionalize a race war, or worse... an ideology insurrection.
>>
You have decided to undercut the real food sellers by mass producing your own real food- and transitioning away from the biocubes rationing. Doing so will require a substantial effort and budgetary cost... but there are some ideas on how to make it cheaper.

Firstly; you have several habitable planets which you can make use of. While Xin is still in the process of being terraformed and Vetuck is still inhabited by iron age kingdoms; Andoen is a potential breadbasket. However, the 9 light year journey of about seven or eight months with migrator navigation means that directly transporting food from the planet in any significant scale is just untenable- all but the most dry of dry goods would rot away on the journey back. You could try building farms on the ships themselves so they arrive on the peak of freshness; Your ships can get pretty big, but not that big. Your Tritium costs are already going up high enough.

However, there are methods. For each load of colonists brought to the Andoen colony, a shipment of biocubes are returned. You order the creation of biocubes made of fast growing weeds and native vegetation grown on Andoen, which will be later broken down into fertilizer and used on Jaxt to increase farming, while Andoen itself works on its own food infrastructure. The biomass is essentially transferable as food anyway. Eventually, canning and long-term food factories on Andoen will relieve the pressure on Jaxt as your main homeworld. Not to mention; less people there mean more room for farmlands. Already, you are looking at permacultures and ocean-surface habitats as grow stations...

This, along with your other improvements and your efforts to legalize and conscript the realfood merchants into legal vendors- though naturally, with much less profit for themselves- has lead to the defeat of the Nouveau Riche before they became too big a problem. It only took a good part of your budget to move away from cheap, recyclable, endlessly scaling superfood to "luxury" in the form of natural foods... but oh well. It also took about five years.
>>
The Nan system has been industrialized in the years since its conquest; much needed Tritium is gathered from the twin gas giants in this system. While both gas giants are infested with Baalathi, they are too deep in the clouds to mess with the cosmic rays that produce your precious fusion fuels.

However, this message has nothing to do with that. It's a distress call. Specifically, Nan-I B. The rocky moon was being surveyed for rare metals or anomalies by a scout frigate until an astronaut was attacked by strange alien lifeforms! You thought it would be impossible for these moons to support life, especially around that pale dim white dwarf that is the star of this system.

These unusual alien creatures, which have since been code named as the Liminels, are capable of apparent levitation, perhaps with lighter then air gases, and are aggressive towards living things. It is unknown if they are attracted to movement, heat, or actually feed on living creatures as a form of sustenance. They can also survive in inhospitable environments; near vacuums and colder-then-life-supporting places. On top of this, they are very strong and can latch on to and possibly chew through some lighter metals and other materials.

Quick field tests done by the astronauts find out more; They do not appear to have any form of intelligence. They seem to be some kind of endemic space animal, or even form of pest. They may be similar or even related to the space whales- a form of space lice? But very much less majestic.

Despite the crew hiding away in the ship, the liminels are sticking to its sides, trying to chew their way inside ravenously. With no life forms on this planet, it's impossible to say how long they have been here, perhaps dormant, or perhaps they arrived here in some other way- like how the worms spread through Hyperspace somehow?

”P-Permission to leave this shitty fucking rock, Sir?!”

Wait a second. If the Liminels are capable of damage to machines, like ships, there is a chance this could be something else. Your AI tells you there is a good chance that the liminels are energy draining parasites, and if you allow the ship to leave the planet, it could spread them out among your robotic installations in that solar system. While it's unlikely that they can leave the moon's gravity well on their own, they could cause absolute havoc if allowed to infest your Tritium skimmers- you need that fuel for your ever more hungry fusion power sources!

>Quarantine the moon and leave the astronauts there to die
>Order them to leave and regroup with Hegemony forces to decontaminate the ship
>Let them leave if they kill all of the Liminels first
>Advise them to hide in suspension pods until a proper science and containment team can arrive
>Other?
>>
>>5163855
>Quarantine the moon and leave the astronauts there to die
No offence astronauts, but I don't really care about you and we have a tight schedule.
Killing the Liminels could be a bad idea, we tend to get cool stuff from studying xenos.
>>
>>5163855
>Let them leave if they kill all of the Liminels first

>Provide some ranged support from other Hegemonic forces to help control this 'outbreak' without getting further assists deep into the gravity well - precision bombardments and visual/sensor scans.

Hmm. They're floaty... could they have come in with the Baalathi, somehow?
>>
>>5163919
+1 to this
>>
>>5163855
>Let them leave if they kill all of the Liminels first

>Provide some ranged support from other Hegemonic forces to help control this 'outbreak' without getting further assists deep into the gravity well - precision bombardments and visual/sensor scans.
>>
>>5163855
>>Let them leave if they kill all of the Liminels first
We are not letting space lice infect our shit.
>>
>>5163919
>>5163855

Oh, additional idea:

The Liminels are very aggressive toward LIVING things, right?

And the Baalathi in Nan II never actually officially surrendered to us, did they?

Scoop up some Baalathi from Nan II, a whole load of as many as we can quickly carry; and drop them nearby our ship. Let's see if they'll distract the majority of the Liminels currently swarming our ship for long enough for it to clear off any stragglers and take off once we've ascertained it as free.
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>>5164202
If we had time to get the Balaathi we could just send our army to kill the animals.
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>>5163262
Supremacy is the point. Monkes, like everything else is a means to the end.
>>
I really would like some clarification on the legal status of the Nan system to be honest.

From what I can tell,we just left the Baalathi here for 25 years and they've done... Nothing?

It said they were angry we bombed their power plant and you said we "conquered" it, but is it a sort of Migrator thing? We just ignore them and they ignore us? Have they built up any military to counter attack?

What have the done to our tritium scammers?

>In any case send as much drone support as we can but don't let them leave until they sterilize them
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>>5164348
Supreme SPACE MONKE Ruler. Not Supreme Space Vermin, not Supreme Space Cow, not Supreme Space Rocks. MONKE.
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>>5163855
>>Let them leave if they kill all of the Liminels first
>>Advise them to hide in suspension pods until a proper science and containment team can arrive
>>
>>5164384
That's out of universe material. I am saying that Supremacy as an ideology is contradictory to species favoritism as the game itself shoes. The Migrators are objectively better Navigators than Monkes. Favoring Monkes over them as space pilots would be an incompetent move motivated by emotions, which is something we know is against Hegemony values.
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>>5164407
>Supremacy as an ideology is contradictory to species favoritism as the game itself shoes
No, it is not. Supremacy doesn't mean we need to have Jaxtians doing everything all the time. Jaxtians are the only ones fit to rule the Hegemony, since they're the one it was made FOR. Supremacy, as an ideology, was made with Monkes in mind. Aliens who get in later will be lower on the totem pole because they're an foreign object.
>Migrators are objectively better Navigators than Monkes
Migrators, while nice, aren't really advanced . They're friendly and useful, but they still think space is just an ocean. They're good navigators, but hardly 'supreme'
>>
I always saw the other races are a means to an end with the monkes. The monkes are the leaders, the other races are tools that we can use to further the monke's goal. Sure, the migrators are better than the monkes when it comes to navigation, but they are basic brained fish who sleep 90% of the time.

You have to realize, the monkes at the end of the day are the ones who make the system about being supremacy and being the top dog. The system is going to have favoritism towards them because the monkes are the ones who made it.

And monkes are also not 100% rational actors. If everything was about supremacy at the end of the day, there should've been no reason not to make everyone Indigos a thread or two back.
>>
QM, how does it feel to have inspired so much unadulterated autism around your quest about blue space monkeys?
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>>5163855
>Advise them to hide in suspension pods until a proper science and containment team can arrive

Sorry lads, can't leave it to chance. If only one survives, it will spell disaster for the Hegemony. We've seen horror films that touched on this very point.
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>>5164442
Anon, that's a trap option. The space-lice can chew through metal and want to get in and kill these monkes. If they go into suspension and wait long enough, the bastards will chomp their way in and slaughter them in their sleep.
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>>5164463
Exactly, it would end bad. We have to kill them, NOW.
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>>5164421
>And monkes are also not 100% rational actors. If everything was about supremacy at the end of the day, there should've been no reason not to make everyone Indigos a thread or two back.

Yeah that's my point. Rationally the ideas of the Supremacy are in contradiction to actions such as that. If I was playing back then, I would have voted for the all Indigo option. The Hegemony should prioritize whatever assets work best for it, with no regard to philosophies or biology. We are a meritocracy at heart and meritocracy is fundamentally against biases of any sort.
>>
>>5164473
Except biases as to what constitutes "merit", and what are the best ways to organize and evaluate merit-worthy individuals.

There is no bias-free social system. It makes sense, ultimately, for the Hegemony to prioritize the interests of its original and primary species. I, for one, am not against that. I just think it should be tempered by a broader considration of what policies and what SORTS of supremacy really serve those monkes. If a Blue Hazaar is a useful asset, it does not serve monkekind to teach them that they are an inferior being and to keep them away from positions where they would be useful, just as it makes no utilitarian sense to use monkes for matters that Migrators are better suited to.

But monkes having special privileges and guaranteed consideration moving forward and forever? Yeah, I'm all for that. Just maybe eventually for other populations which seem to fit well into Hegemony culture as well.
>>
I just realized something, if we annexed Nan, wouldn't that make the Hegemony population mostly Baalathi by a vast margin?
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>>5164473
That's stupid. Trying to think the Hegemony is some kind of impartial 'efficience is all that matters' state, we wouldn't have bothered with keeping Jaxt an garden planet solely to make life better.

I mean, literally one of the first things we did as an empire was to move all industry to schoon because we didn't want Jaxt to be an ugly wasteland. Trying to suddenly paint us as an nation who only cares about "Meritocracy" without regards to philosophy or ideology is retarded.

Stop trying to push this cosmopolitan xenophilic practicalist state meme. It's retarded, stupid and has no reason to exist in the universe beyond "Uhh asset tool hegemony"
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>>5164507
Would you consider the population of an country 'mostly ant' or 'mostly bacteria'?
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>>5164507
Depends on if individual Baalathi are to be considered subjects, or each planet-wide group-mind.
>>
>tell them to fly up to just above the exosphere and eliminate any aliens still attatched to the ship there.
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>>5164532
>driving a ship into space when there's an dangerous xeno infestation
Do you want an Alien scenario? Because that's how you get an Alien scenario
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>>5164463
>>5164467
Anons, anything but the quarantine is a trap option. Simple fact is, you cannot allow anything to escape the atmosphere alive.
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>>5164538
So then why not tell them to try kill the things? If they die, they die, if they succeed, it's good. It's not like we would just allow them to get off planet without making sure the animals are dead.
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>>5163919
Supporting
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>>5164543
Because I sure one of the animals will sneak aboard when they take off, even if they do kill most of them off. I ain't playing with that chance. Kill them all and tell them to sit tight until a science and containment team can come in and ensure that there isn't any parasites stuck on board when they take off.
>>
Why don't we just tell them to sit tight and then have drones come in to kill the monsters?
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>>5164572
I mean, when voting for us to aid in the extermination and only let them leave when all the lice are dead, I assumed that was essentially what would happen -- that they would stay awake, on alert, killing any liminel scum they encounter, and only leaving once we come, clean up whatever's left, and check them over.
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>>5163919
>Seconding this
Who knows, maybe we'll awaken a Monke Doomguy, we can keep their genes for future monke supersoldiers.
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>>5164851
Either a Doomguy or an Ellen Ripley, eitther is good.
>>
You give the astronauts an ultimatum. They can leave... if all the aliens are dead. No spreading them among your hard fought star system.

The liminals slowly eat their way into the starship, mostly through the softer metals in the exhaust ports and other weak points- slowly making their way into the crew quarters. Some of the crew are unfortunately killed, while others make valiant last stands.

Most of your large frigates, especially mining ships, have a few extra hands in the form of low ranking Jaxtians- usually for extra security or heavy lifting, capable of performing critical repairs if the rest of the crew is killed or somehow incapable, as long as they can be guided by an AI. If the ship's damage can't be repaired by an amateur, then it's too far gone anyway.

On this prospector ship, it just so happens that a large bodied Jaxtian Alpah is in suspension. He is woken up by the crew, and armed.

SKREEE!
"Oh yeah? Chew on this."
KABLAM!

Eventually, the aliens are killed and when the coast seems clear; the ship's AI is permitted to leave. It is sequestered with a ring of defensive drones ready to catch any missing. Nearby ships and stations provide high powered scans that prove that no living liminals are left- and the ship is finally returned back home.

The Crewmate, named Jale Berax, is given a commendation for his valiant defense of the ship and slaying of the aliens. While it's not quite worthy of a golden band, he's certainly captured the attention of the juvenile male crowds- he might just switch careers to interactive-film actor.
>>
Because you decided to kill the liminals, none are left alive to capture or study in detail. But at least you don't have to worry about an infestation of alien parasites in your star system...

Closer looks at their biologies and bodyparts reveal that, indeed, these creatures are some kind of strange endemic life to the galaxy. Animals that achieved hyperspace flight. They have vision, but this may only be in their "adult" form, with their juvenile form probably being blind and somehow traveling across space faster then light. Unfortunately, due to your recent budget cuts with the massive food and infrastructure projects, you don't have much ability to really study the parasite's biology or find advancements involved with it. At least they proved your new firearms are effective...

Tentatively, you ask around the galactic community if they have a similar problem. Almost all of them ignore you- except the Seekers. While it's just making small talk, it also proves that, indeed, you're still more or less blacklisted.

"Oh, liminals? Those space lice? Pssh- they're awful little things, but I respect them more then worms."

It's highly likely that these liminals find or create nesting grounds where they flock and reproduce. In fact, some basic scans and estimates indicate that Nan-I B could potentially have millions of the things in deeper rock layers on the moon. While your people don't exactly have private spaceships or the ability to travel anywhere they want in space tourism- you still decide to just make it official. You quarantine this shitty moon. Do not go here!

Well, with that little diversion taken care of, you can finally get back on track and focus on exploring the last two star systems in your local cluster- yet totally unknown...

Next update tomorrow. I hope this update style isn't jumping around too much. After the story-heavy moments of Eoba II's reign, I figured we needed some time progression. We'll finish up his reign and arc sometime soon, hope it hasn't been a drag.
>>
>>5165351
Nah, it's all good. It'd be annoying to have to deal with some empire-changing crisis every 5 minutes. Sometimes, it's about the simple stuff, like killing space lice.
>>
It's interesting. I do feel like the pace has slowed a bit but part of me wonders if that's just you waiting for us to settle our Prequel Trilogy tier debates.
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>>5165351
I propose to make a military outpost in very high orbit of Nan-I B equipped with point-defense cannons aimed at the planet surface, and also a hangar that doubles as a quarantine/de-licing bay for spaceships. The plan is to use the moon as:
>weapons testing facility
>special forces training facility
>de-licing and/or quarantine facility for spaceships
>maybe also a mining station if we finish that scan and find rare metals or something - very optional though

What do you guys think?
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>>5165351
One but of feedback, I do think you were too vague on exactly what happened in Nan after Kinman II left. It's also been quite some time before we checked in on the Ventuck.

May I recommend something I did in my quests where while you are waiting for us to vote and we are waiting for you to update, periodically open the floor to lore questions and such.

Like especially with the Nan Baalathi we bombed their power plant and they were angry but now we are skimming the gas there and it's like they don't exist?
>>
>>5165457
The issue is we don't know how durable these things are.

I think we should just mine there and be ultra vigilant about de licing. We should use a multi chain of custody system where mining equipment never leaves the planet, the ships just pass off ore to a station which in turn passes it off to trade ships.
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>>5165365
Darnit, even the Esaal are blocking us now?

...We'd better run a more thorough check on Talacenti at some point, just to check that we're not bringing a world of sleeping Liminals into the heart of the Jaxt system and a shared gravitational orbit with our industrial hub.

Do the last two stars in our cluster have names in Jaxtian use?
>>
>>5165457
This feels to me like this might have been the fate of the original Inhabitants of Andoen.

'Hey, we need to defend our world from the super-strong parasite-creatures dropping off the visiting whale!"

"Sir, I have a plan - let us create a network of defence turrets across the planetary surface! No Limnal would be able to land without running into one, and best of all their decentralised nature means minimal energy requirements and they'll almost never break down!"

"Brilliant! Deploy them as soon as you've finished the prototype!"
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>>5165457
A good idea, which I am all for!

>>5165351
It makes sense that, in an era of long-lived Jaxtians, and especially when playing a Supreme who took office as a child, we would be hanging with Eoba II for linger than usual. I'm quite enjoying the experience!
>>
The quarantined moon could be of some use; perhaps as a weapons testing facility. Even periodic mock “invasions” to train up your soldiers, though spreading the space lice would be a constant threat. Mining could also be done, though the planet seems to lack the most desirable traits for space mines.

It's a shame. During earlier days of the Hegemony, when such things were more popular, it may have worked well as a prison or execution planet. The public “arena” where dissidents and sexual deviants were killed and ripped apart for entertainment and social cohesion. Unfortunately, it's not a habitable world, at least not for your species.

As for the main draw of the Nan system, are the gas giants. Both gas giants are infested with Baalathi spore- however, they are not disturbing your mining efforts. While gas giants may seem like one cohesive homogenous ball of gas, they are in reality very very deep, with distinct layers of gas, liquefied gases, semisolids, and solid iron-nickel core. The Baalathi exist at a deeper range then your scalpers, which are essentially only peeling the skin of this Danbo for the precious Tritium. In other words; on a tellurgic planet, the Baalathi would be primitives living on the surface where as your equipment is located in the stratosphere. The occasionally free-floating Baalathi corpse may have to be pulled out of the turbines of your tritium harvesters, but it's only a small concern.

Considering the fact that you left the Baalthi alone to save time and focus on your vow, you did not look for ways to genocide them from the gas giants, nor find a way to incorporate them into your empire. They are essentially a population bombed back to the stone age. However, due to the Baalathi mass-mind and strangeness of their culture, they don't seem too upset about it. Just mildly annoyed you blew up their stuff and killed a few thousands of their numbers, but not vengeful. Communications seems to show a rapid onset of apathy, as though ocne they adapted to these more neutral gas-giant compositions as opposed to their Argon-starved homeworld, these Baalathi are just content to exist in the gas for the time being.

Alright hope this holds you over, real update after work today.
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>>5165478
Well, a brave Jaxtian with two pistols are able to take them out, which is why I thought a training facility could work. Drop the trainees via single-use drop pods, have them kill x number of Liminals over three days or something, drop a return pod and have them go to the rendezvous point. Return pod rockets to stable orbit, then one of our ships check and clean for Liminals on the pod.
If we add mining into this, we'll essentially have Deep Rock Galactic but monke military version.
Also I wonder, can we get a Hazaar to poke a Liminal and see what kind of kid spawns? Just for science.
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>>5165861
>can we get a Hazaar to poke a Liminal and see what kind of kid spawns?
I am deeply concerned with how that could go wrong. Something with the ability to independently travel hyperspace, which genetically inherits a grudge against us, perhaps?
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>>5165861
I hardly trust a Hazaar on a good day, let alone a Hazaar/Liminal hybrid.
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>>5165488
>This. Investigate this possibility further.
>>
Guys, can we just leave the Limnals alone on their shitty rock. They way some of you are talking is giving me Weyland Yutani vibes. They're always trying to study the xenomorphs for... reasons. And it never ends well.

The parasite moon has nothing we want, no minerals, nothing. We have absolutely no reason to go there and one huge reason NOT to go there.

Leave the shitty rock alone.
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>>5165981
>a species which can travel hyperspace without a ship and survive unaided in space
>not useful for science

There are risks, but come on. That COULD be useful.
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>>5165842
To be honest, I wouldn't have minded incorporating the Baalathi into our empire, I just didn't want them on Max. Had the incorporation option just focused on Nan, I would've probably voted in favor of it, just to clarify things.

>>5165861
>Also I wonder, can we get a Hazaar to poke a Liminal and see what kind of kid spawns? Just for science.

The last thing you want is to give the energy-eating parasites is intelligence mate.
>>
If they pop up here and there all throughout known space, then it probably would do well to make a more thorough study, though I draw the line at Hazaar implantation until we really, really have nothing better to do and know their weaknesses.
>>
Throughout your reign, many things have happened and changed, and many advancements have been made. You made a vow to colonize your local cluster, and thus far you are almost there- only two unexplored star systems remain. Since both are about a year away or more even with your fastest hyperdrives and migrator-navigator setups; you have the ships sent out as soon as you are able to do so. You have also just turned sixty years old.

Incredible to think that, in the day your DNA was first conceived, that was near the life expectancy of the average Jaxtian. Now, you are over halfway through your life. Eoba the first lived to the ripe old age of 113, which is probably how old you'll live too. It's time to take stock of the Hegemony.

Your current long term empire project is the creation of a Threemind. Progress under the watchful eye of Galyo Qint and other geniuses of the Hegemony, divided up among three totally incompatible computer disciplines, mean that this new computer system will be solving all of your computer problems for the far and foreseeable future.

You have fixed the food crisis and removed your reliance on biocubes. In the meantime, Andoen I and Xin I are slowly being colonized and built up- with Xin-I also being terraformed and inhabited by a large number of Blue Haazar. Vetuck II is not yet colonized as the Vetuck aliens expand across the planet underneath your own ideological goal. Your vassal in the form of King Aok has long since died, but his descendants continue your mission of purging the more religious kingdoms from the planet underneath the Hegemony's banner. Though to them, it's little more then an idea.

Another factor- the rogue exoplanet named Talacenti. Discovered by your predecessor in far and cold orbit around your star, a very slow project to move that planet into your own solar system to twin its orbit with Schoon and gain access to its space and minerals is still underway. All safety checks confirm that the old corrupted Alavis never gained access to the planetoid. It will probably be after your reign, and after you die, that this rogue planet reaches your star system.

As for your own society- the culture of the Hegemony seems very intact and unified- possibly due to the great rate of expansion and colonization. The only big thing on the horizon is the works of Yaun'Tul Scholiander, a State-Philosopher that will release three great works of thought and political analysis in the Hegemony at some distant later date.

Underneath all of this, you think back on how you got here. The truth is, you know that something fundamental about the succession of the Supreme Ruler may need to change. That is something you will need to grapple with... when it is time for your succession. But it is not yet that time.
>>
OH SHIT- THE SPACE WHALE!

There's no way to know if it is the same one- but yes, it is a space whale. Just like the one first discovered by the long-distance Skiff probe sent to Andoen centuries ago.

This whale was discovered in one of the two remaining star systems in your local cluster- a red giant which has since been named the Drakas system.

”What a beautiful song.”
”...Kimnan, your computer is not detecting any communication signals from that alien animal, is it? Can anyone else on the crew report?”
”Can you not hear it? Nobody else...?'

The massive space whale is absolutely ginormous. It couldn't swallow a star... but a small planet or a moon? It totally could. It moves slowly through space, beating its tail pointlessly in a great vacuum. It eyes your ship, its body bioluminescent. It doesn't seem hostile, but it is not making any attempts to communicate or hail your ship. Your own hails do nothing either, it simply drifts very slowly, peacefully, towards the massive nebula nearby this system. It is so big and clearly strong there's zero chance you could ever capture it, or even really try and make it go where you want even with your advanced frigate, it'd be like a wasp trying to sting a whale to swim north.

The concept of such a creature existing, much less evolving in space like this, is so mind-boggling to your current understands of physics. No known materials, much less biological ones, could create a single object of such a large size without falling in on itself- except for maybe a high Azurium framework. But certainly not a living creature with cells and tissues and... blood? You assume it has blood. The existence of a space whale like this violates the square-cube law so hard that you have no idea how such a thing could even exist.

But there is a theory. The prevailing science behind the space whales since their discovery is that these immense creatures somehow sustain themselves on fusion power. Since they cannot swallow stars, or even a humble brown dwarf, they must be capable of creating a fusion reaction in their bodies, somehow. Surely they couldn't sustain themselves with biological matter- there wouldn't be enough biomass in twenty planets a day for something of that size to sustain itself! You have no idea how rare, valuable, or special these animals are either; could this be not one of a species, but a unique creature, one and alone in the cosmos? Is it a protected species according to a charter of interstellar empires? You don't know. But the chance to advance your fusion technology is very enticing...

>Vivisect the space whale for scientific research
>Attempt behavioral study of the animal and get closer
>Try to lead the whale towards an occupied system for closer study
>Leave the whale alone and observe for now
>Other?
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>>5166294
>Attempt behavioural study of the animal and get closer

Let's see if Kimnan will have any insights we might be otherwise unable to get.
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>>5166294
>Try to have Kinman II communicate with it
Sounds like it has some sort of Presence too.
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>>5166294
>Leave the whale alone and observe for now
Sounds dangerous, let's just observe the whale and investigate the system for now.
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>>5166295

>Additional:
>Have Kimnan and our Migrator attempt to talk to it with Hyperspace messages.
>>
>Thirding having our Starseers contacting the whale
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>>5166294
>Have Kimnan and our Migrator attempt to talk to it with Hyperspace messages.
>>
>Attempt behavioral study of the animal and get closer
>Try to have Kinman II communicate with it
Kimnan seems to be able to hear it. Maybe he can talk back?
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>>5165982
We have corpses. We can see if we can figure out the gene/organ that allows hyperspace travel in an organic being


That could boost our tech beyond known limits.
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>>5166709
But it's clearly going to be easier with a live specimen, if we ever get the chance to do so safely. There seems to be something about hyperspace navigation which goes beyond mere biological evolution at play, since it requires:

>blindness
>a specific mental capability
>access to a realm beyond conventional physics

And it is something multiple species can achieve despite no evolutionary pressures to do so. I can see why the Seekers got religious about it.
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>>5166725
Also if the lice are the adult form how do they release their young hyperplankton form?

How advanced are our robots? Could we set up an unmanned lab that would never leave the moon?

We also have brain transplant technology. We could try to make a super soldier program where we implant the minds of loyal Jataxians into superluminal bodies.
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>>5166294
>Vivisect the space whale for scientific research
Stellaris teaches me that space whales are large, slow and harmless
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>>5166295
>>5166320
+1
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>>5166320
Supporting this decision chain.
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>>5166294
>>5166295
>>5166320
+1 To these looks good.
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>>5166294
>>Vivisect the space whale for scientific research
>>
You decide to get closer- and try to get Kimnan II to communicate with the beast. The whale doesn't move much as you get closer- it probably doesn't want to expend energy on something so insignificant as Kimnan's craft. It probably gets hit with asteroids larger then your biggest Frigates and just shrugs them off- your ship is meaningless in its grand and cosmic existence.

While there is no Migrator pilot aboard this ship, Kimnan's abilities in Starsight are equal to theirs; after all, it takes a very long time to train a migrator to do... basically anything.

”Kimnan, what's wrong?”
”Hrrff... This hurts. It feels like pressure building- ahh- so loud!”

The crew of the ship crowd around to see what is happening. You order the ship to stop.

”So many voices- ouch! The whale is... it's in pain? I can feel it too. Its presence is pushing out, so hollowed out and empty- hurting... It's almost trying to talk to me!”
”Navigate the ship away from the whale, you idiots! Can't you see what's happening to Kimnan-”
”No, no wait! I can hear it... It's many voices. They are the lesser presence... Arrg!”

It's clear that something here is happening, something that can't be seen or understood, at least except for those with the Starsight. It cannot be explained, only experienced. You are very worried for your brother. You want to respect his choice to try and understand this alien creature- but it's clear this is hurting him. If things don't change within a few more minutes, you'll order a retreat- you just hope whatever this is isn't hurting him.

The crew members report that Kimnan has fallen to his knees, clutching his skull. He's in pain, and he starts to rave like a madman.

”The presence... it's suffering! Get it out! I would be fine if it wasn't for YOU- get it out get it out! The Whale- something is inside! Get it ooooout!”

You are currently more then a decade away from this place in light speed- yet instantly connected through the power of a computer and quantum entanglement. You can only go by your gut here- and the way Kimnan is speaking makes you think this being conciousness is somehow imprinting its emotions onto him- but in a way, it is like a cry for help.

”Crew! Ready the laser weapons- unfreeze the doctor! Prepare for leviathan surgery!”
>>
The ship's mining lasers are turned to low heat mode; you doubt that even with the full might of your fusion reactor you could seriously hurt this creature. But a surgical incision? You could do that.

”Kimnan- feel the whale's pain! Sense where it wants us to help it! Calm it down- we want to help!”

Kimnan does so- towards its gut. You aren't sure why you're feeling so empathetic, everyone here- including the crew, Kimnan, and yourself and your communications staff on Jaxt are in agreement. The ship's lasers begin to cut through impossibly thick and hard skin, the whale not attempting to flee- it must know what you're trying to do.

It takes a long time, but a slit is slowly carved into the side of the space beast- revealing the insides of the creature. It's dark, and a very alien biology. You wonder exactly what inside this creature could be causing the problem- would you even know what to perform surgery on and what is normal flesh?

The answer to that question is answered by its squirming. Parasitic eel-like creatures wriggle from the flesh of the whale, its sad song causing Kimnan to nearly fall from his feet again. They begin to slip from the hole you have cut, the unusual creatures huge- bigger then any other creature your people have ever categorized, besides the whale itself.

”Parasites?!”

The ship is now in a dangerous situation. The whale's open would is spilling some of these gigantic parasitic worms into space- most of them are as big as the frigate, if not bigger. And inside the whale are even bigger ones, that could rip their way out of the hole- if they truly wanted. It's not clear what exactly these creatures want or would do, but any one of them could destroy your ship easily with their sheer size if they wanted.

”Uhgggghh- shut up you... disgusting things! Permission to destroy them?!”
”Kimnan, dammit. Wait a second-”

Dammit, this is your fault. You weren't trying to hurt the whale, you figured it may be more willing to communicate, or even share some secrets of the cosmos if you played along and helped Kimnan. You've got to do something- you can't just leave this situation as it is...

>Fire at the alien eels
>Attempt communication with the parasites
>Put the whale out of its misery with a full barrage (Chance to fail)
>Shove the space worms back in with your tractor beams
>Other?
>>
>>5167894
>Fire at the alien eels
>Attempt communication with the parasites

Just get those bastards out of the whale!
>>
>>5167894
>Fire at the alien eels
>Attempt communication with the parasites

"Stand down! Justify your presence, or else be destroyed!"

I sort of suspect these are larval Aanel.
>>
>>5167894
>Fire at the alien eels
>>5167914
I think they might actually be the adults
>>
>>5167894
>Fire at the alien eels
Gonna trust Kimnan on this one and fire, gotta help the big whale friend.
>>
>>5167914
This +1

Tell them to peacefully leave the whale or we fire
>>
>"any one of them could destroy your ship easily with their sheer size if they wanted."
>anons overwhelmingly voting to engage them
whelp, nice knowing you Kimnan
>>
>>5167894
>Put the whale out of its misery with a full barrage (Chance to fail)
>>
>>5167914
>>5167934
Yeah, eels spend most of their life as sexually immature and then leave to reproduce in the sea
>>
>>5167894
>parasite
>eel-like
>Gigantic parasitic worms
These are likely grown versions of our former space worm advisor
>Fire at the alien eels
But I do not care, as much as our society is against spirituality, its coming yall, with the new navigation system becoming standard, with telepathy being something our navigators have to deal with, and the new philosophical papers that will super fuck us up, we are gonna going to be entering a new age, and with that new age we are gonna need to pick a side in this ancient war of navigators
>>
>>5167894
>>5167914
+1
>>
Looking at the given picture of the larval Aannel and our advisor and comparing it with these guys, these look different in form and have a different colour scheme. Plus, they're many times the magnitude. I'm not yet convinced they're the same thing.

Also: If they were Aannel, we wouldn't have to fire at them to kill them. The solar system's sunlight should already be doing that to the ones falling from the whale as they leave its shadow.

Having said that...

>Have Kimnan tell the whale to turn it's wound toward the Sun and to move in (a direction) that will take the floating eels out of it's shadow.
If they ARE Aannel, or even a related species, the exposure of the wound to sunlight might kill both the free-floaters and the ones inside the wound?

>MOVE OUT OF THE WAY
>>
>>5167894
>>5168047
Oh yeah, they're in the shadow of the whale
Changing my vote (>>5168012) to support this.
>>
>>5168047
Also none of them are outside the shadow of the whale yet and it's possible that their offspring would teleport before they are exposed to the sun, so they should be exposed to the sun asap.
>>
>>5167894

>>5168047
and

>>Fire at the alien eels
>>
>>5168047
I just wanna say, this is actually a fucking masterful detail by Bananas. It is amazing how the art with this quest adds so much and how little hints are used all over the place.
>>
>>5168173
Hmm.

Assuming they actually ARE Aannel, do we actually want to go through and kill them? Look what their diplomatic clout did when just one of them got accidently killed, taking out a whole colony-brood might have some serious repercussions for our own people down the line.


...Though on the other hand, it might give us some diplomatic clout. A 'see what we did in our ignorance, don't you wish you hadn't cut us off?' moment. Because if these actually are Aannel? Ultimately, we don't hate them, they're just creatures evolved to be parasites being parasites.

So once we've made sure we're out of the way, and have the whale doing what it does in >>5168047

>Attempt communication with the parasites
It might put us in a very strong 'negotiation' moment. I'm not sure if we want them working for us, but they can at least tell everyone to stop ignoring us - we've got no true Ideological bias against them, but by cutting us out they've given us no reason to hold back from cutting them out.
>>
>>5168212
The Seekers would probably like it if we kill a bunch of reproducing adults.
>>
>>5167894
>>5167914
+1
>>
>>5168212
I'm with the Seekers on this, fuck these slimy worm fucks who murdered our people. They had us by the balls but no longer plus think of how cool having a space whale ally would be.
>>
>>5167894

>>5168047
Supporting this, I also wanted to bring up this choice line from our late Worm.
>>5121838
>“Hmm? You are a eusocial species, yes? I would not be offended if you destroyed one of my larvals- there are billions of you- though I understand our cultures may not be equivalent...
>>
>>5167894
>>Fire at the alien eels
>>
Can we tractor beam these eels into the sun?
>>
>>5168605
Doubtful as they are propelling themselves through space using mean we dont understand and theyre way too big
>>5167894
>most of them are as big as the frigate if not bigger

>>5168047
+1 to trying to get the whale to shine some light on the situation
>>
As both disgusting parasites, clearly big enough to cause damage to your ship, and do to the fact you have little other recourse- you decide to open fire after giving a quick warning.

"Go gal? Go galla gol?"
"ATTENTION! Alien Language on file!"

No way... these are Aannel. They're huge, and seem a bit different then the worm's you've seen. These ones may be a mature and adult form, with a "mane" of spikes grown around their neck. Parasites commonly have barbs or spikes to keep themselves inside their prey- and these Aannel are no exception.

"Hmm? This is not a calf, nor a mate."
"It's a steel belly, not a flesh belly!"
"It's the Jaaxi!"
"Go away stupid Jaaxi! This whale does not concern you-"


Kimnan fires a warning shot.

"Stay away from this vessel- you are intruding upon Hegemonic Space!"

As expected, the worm fired at by the ship does not attempt to dodge the lasers by crossing into the sunlight- they are all staying within the shadow of the great space whale.

Of course- this is a huge revelation. The Aannel are some kind of parasite species, perhaps evolved to live inside the bodies of these giant space whales and feed upon them. It would make sense in such a hostile environment they would have the ability to cross through open space through FTL and hyperspace methods. But why are they so intelligent?
>>
"This whale is ours, Jaaxi. Do you want us to call the Cyte towards you, fools!?"

You order Kimnan to have the ship moved away from the whale's shadow- into open space. Despite these worms not being especially aggressive in their attempt to find a new body to inhabit outside of this whale, you know better then to chance it.

In the meantime, Kimnan opens his mind again, communicating with the whale once more through his starsight.

"Come on... You have no language, you have no understanding of what I'm telling you. Just please do what I say. Come on, turn over... I know you can do it- you can understand me. Show your belly to the star, it will get better, I promise."

The whale yet somehow seems to understand Kimnan. It slowly turns its body over towards the star, as the worms desperately try to cram back into the wound they escaped from- many of them lost outside or shallow within the womb, burning up.

"SKREEE! AIIEEE!"
"NOO! THE LIGHT BURNS AHRRGGH!"


Many more of the worms are destroyed inside the whale's body- you don't know if its enough to clear out the infestation, but even this sunscorch should be enough to bring some relief to this poor animal.

"Maybe we could pull the wound open, or place a UV light probe inside of the whale to destroy the rest of the infection..."

Minutes later, a report from the AI indicates that something is... materializing inside the ship. There is a small, very juvenile Aannel appearing in the hull of the ship, as though from thin air.

"W-wait! Don't put me out there with that light- parlay! Take me to the Supreme One!"

>Immediately kill this worm (And all other worms that appear on ships from now on)
>Bring him back to the Supreme Ruler
>>
On one hand, it might be a trap. On the other hand, it might not. Why would he have to talk to the supreme one?

He can talk over comms.
>>
>>5169459
Support. Personal meetings are for AFTER they have at least rescinded our blacklisted status.

>>5169457
>>
>>5169459
+1
"Uh huh. Why do you want to talk to him?"
>>
>>5169457
>Immediately kill this worm (And all other worms that appear on ships from now on)
We don't need these scam artists, the Seekers will probably like us more once they know about what we did (or just tell them) and we have Starsighting now.
Honestly if people want to have diplomatic relations with the Consortium and Esaal then leaking what we know about Starsighting and the worms would be better.
>>
>>5169459
+1
>>
>>5169457
>I'm sorry, the Aannel are blacklisted from the Hegemony, you'll have to wait until the Supreme Leader decides to take your race off the blacklist to make amends. Until then, you have illegally trespassed into Hegemonic space, and there will be consequences for your malicious actions against the Hegemony.
>Keep some alive for processing and dissection, and continue our medical operations on the Whale even if we advance to the diplomatic stage. Kill all other boarders immediately.
>>
>>5169475
>leaking our one advantage to our rivals and potential enemies

I'd rather give up on diplomacy rather than give away state secrets for free. Let our galactic rivals choke on worm nepotism, we got cooler shit to investigate.
>>
>>5169457
>>Immediately kill this worm (And all other worms that appear on ships from now on)
Fuck the worms
>>
>>5169509
The reasoning is that if they know that the worms are useless then they get rid of them too.
>>
>>5169531
Anon, politics doesn't work like that. Besides, why do we care if the other galactic powers entertain parasites? That's their problem, not ours.
>>
>>5169540
The parasites tell them to not talk to us though.
>>
>>5169457
>>Immediately kill this worm (And all other worms that appear on ships from now on)
Gas the worms! Space war now!
>>
>>5169459
>>5169461
Actually, I don't think they know about our quantum entanglement communications. Might be best not to reveal that little tidbit of information to them just yet.
>>
>>5169482
>Support
>>
>>5169457
>"You may speak with our supreme leader - But only once we are done with our mission here."

We've come all this way out, we're not going to leave this star system before we survey it. The Aannel can wait inside a stasis pod for a while.


>>5169457
Honestly, I'm actually HAPPIER diplomancing with the Aannel now we know they're just disgusting space parasites with a cool ability they're taking advantage of to parasitize galactic society.
>>
>>5169482
Supporting
>>
>>5169588
>Honestly, I'm actually HAPPIER diplomancing with the Aannel now we know they're just disgusting space parasites with a cool ability they're taking advantage of to parasitize galactic society.
?
>>
>>5169606
It means we have leverage over them.
>>
>>5169606
I guess it went from "shit fuck we don't understand them UH SHUT WE GOTTA LISTEN" to "kek. haha. lol. funny. you're just a parasite"

They don't really have much of an advantage outside of being parasites that mess around with containing other alien civilizations. Which hardly matters since most of them have been frosty to us at best.
>>
>>5169459
Sounds good to me.
>>
>>5169457
>Bring him back to the Supreme Ruler
I actually want to hear what it has to say, THEN kill it.

While I do want to stick it to the worms we do need to be mindful pissing off the worms could incite an interstellar war as they sic their "friends" on us. So we should try really hard to get a better rapport with the Seekers after this.

On the flip side, the combination of the three mind and potential whale wisdom could mean we're poised for another scientific revolution during the rule of our next Supreme.
>>
>>5169772
>On the flip side, the combination of the three mind and potential whale wisdom could mean we're poised for another scientific revolution during the rule of our next Supreme.

Imagine where we would've been had Yuan been a jealous scientist instead of a hateful racist politician. The next Supreme Ruler ain't gonna just get a scientific revolution on his hands.
>>
>>5169806
His racism seems pretty reasonable given his circumstances but yes, I agree, that could have been neat
>>
>>5169814
>His racism seems pretty reasonable given his circumstances

What, that he was offered a chance to become a politician? He isn't exactly being oppressed, all of those jobs he was offered were important and high ranking compared to the average monke.
>>
>>5169457
>Immediately kill this worm (And all other worms that appear on ships from now on)
Fuck the Aannels
>>
oh jesus fuck we're going on the "yuan should've killed himself" road again, aren't we.
>>
>>5169845
His planet uses creates and uses his people as convenient indentured labour while teaching them they are inferior in spite of ample evidence that their brains are not ACTUALLY simpler, since the Hazaar achieved advanced technologies before the Jaxtians. The QM's own posts note that people were deeply surprised at his abilities and that, even given those, his mobility (and that of his fellows) is artificially limited by policy.

One or two outliers does not negate a trend, and this is a trend that is actually governmentally enforced.
>>
>>5169845
>He isn't exactly being oppressed
But his race is, and no matter how high he rises he will never be considered an equal of a Jaxtian. Also being caught between the Jaxtians and Red Hazaar can't help.

Just roll with it because the qm is actually the Jaxtian Volcano god. Every choice he gives us has an upside and a downside, even Talacent's golden age spawned a complacent population and the geriatric degeneration. A jealous scientist Yuan Tul would only bite us in the ass a different way.
>>
>>5169878
Only if you wanted a stable, prosperous Hegemony.

>>5169881
>uses his people as convenient indentured labour while teaching them they are inferior
So racial solidarity, even though the Jaxians are treated the exact same way in comparison to the Supreme Ruler?

>people were deeply surprised at his abilities and that, even given those, his mobility (and that of his fellows) is artificially limited by policy.
Da fuck? He literally joined the elite political class of this society, and his 'people' number in the thousands, maybe a couple million, as opposed to the monke's hundred billions, all of which are genetically pruned for low IQ and other disabilities. Are you certain it's not simply a numbers problem stifling their mobility? And if it was policy problem, Yuan would've been a busboy or janitor instead being allowed the choice of highly educated scientist or politician. For fuck sake, Bluey is our Overseer of Xeno-Integration, second only to the Supreme Leader himself, and he definitely has monkes as subordinates. Can you really call that artificially limited by policy?

>>5169889
>But his race is, and no matter how high he rises he will never be considered an equal of a Jaxtian
Could that simply not be because the Blue Hazzar's are first generation species in this society, and because of their recent introduction into the Hegemony, haven't the precedence of getting into higher level/leadership positions? How do you know that time working their way up though our institutions wouldn't solve the perception problem?

A jealous scientist would've been more trustworthy and less destructive to the Hegemony. Anons intentionally created a Ingar-level time-bomb, and ruin our society for more decades, if not centuries, to come.
>>
>>5169900
>Jaxians are treated the exact same way
Jaxtians are not taught that they are biologically inferior, not relegated largely to a single half-barren world and a smattering of menial professions, and their betterment and well-being has in fact been prioritized over raw efficiency or repeatedly by the Hegemony ESPECIALLY as we've molded it. That all makes SENSE, mind you. it just also makes sense why a Blue hazaar would resent the difference in his own people's lot as literal second-class citizens. because, lest we forget...

>>5162007
>Of course, as a Blue-Haazar, his opportunities for advancement in society were greatly curtailed
>As a lesser species, it is only just and proper to keep them in their place.

Ah, but I'm sure they're treated just like Jaxtians and also have equal opportunity, right, >>5169900 ?
>>
>>5169908
>Jaxtians are not taught that they are biologically inferior
Because of our eugenics programs. Keep in mind that they only get 10% Monke DNA, 90% are from the Red Haazar, who haven't been employing eugenics on a societal level for centuries like the Monkes have.
>not relegated largely to a single half-barren world
The Blue Hazzar aren't relegated, they're the only ones that can survive in that atmosphere without a suit, otherwise more menial Jaxians would've been put there as well. Terraforming planets isn't exactly a cosmopolitan job lad, there is a lot of grunt work that goes into it.
>betterment and well-being has in fact been prioritized over raw efficiency or repeatedly by the Hegemony ESPECIALLY as we've molded it
Except for the starting years of Eoba's reign, where we only just now got real food production back online for everyone, and I'm sure that wasn't a fun time for anyone during these times.
>Ah, but I'm sure they're treated just like Jaxtians and also have equal opportunity, right
Compared to the Red Haazar, who instigated this whole mess with the Baalathi out of their greed? To the primitive, not genetically-engineered Migrators? Or genocidal hive-mind Baalathi? They are treated better than the rest, and this is literally a new species we've just incorporated. It took around 8 Supreme Leaders before the Migrators found their place in our society, it's unreasonable to expect an untested new species from a race of radical individualists to be offered equal privileges and opportunities within it's first generation to a totalitarian, supremacist society, but even then the Blue Haazar are occupying the upper strata of the Hegemony, given Bluey's and Yuan's high and respectable positions in our society out of a hundred billion monkes. A. Hundred. Billion. All genetically improved. Yet Yuan is treated better than almost all but the governing authorities. His opportunities being curtailed my ass, he's apart of the governing class himself as a State Philosopher. How does he explain that contradiction as an 'oppressed' minority?
>>
>>5169900
>because of their recent introduction into the Hegemony...

Don't kid yourself, the Hegemony is a jaxtian institution that serves the interests of the jaxtian race first. Other races may have their place, but the Jaxt are supreme. Not saying that can't or won't change, just saying that's the way it is right now.

Even the Ingar rebellion had a positive side effect, it provided the Hegemony with the adversity to re invigorate itself and opened the door to the three mind project which the qm states will likely be the greatest AI in the galaxy. Who knows maybe Yuan Tul, though seditious might solve a great philosophical quandary, like how to escape Eoba's cycle of strength, or the issue of neurosis in Supreme Leader candidates?
>>
>>5169845
His people are used as child labor while being constantly told they are untermensch and barred from highest office even if they are qualified.
>>
>>5169889
Holy fucking shit this is some deepest fucking lore.
>>
>>5169961
>Compared to the Red Haazar, who instigated this whole mess with the Baalathi out of their greed?

That wasn't even the ship we captured, it was a completely different group of miners.

That's like enslaving an English cruise liner because BP caused an oil spill.
>>
>>5169459
Changing my vote to this (from >>5169588)

Whilst I'm happy to negotiate, I don't want our ship to leave this star system without a survey.
>>
>>5169962
> Who knows maybe Yuan Tul, though seditious might solve a great philosophical quandary, like how to escape Eoba's cycle of strength, or the issue of neurosis in Supreme Leader candidates?

Yes, because we want to create another Ignar-level to intentionally fuck us other. This isn’t self-sabotaging in the latest.

>>5169981
The Red Haazar use their children as literal meat shields, and that’s even if we use the children for labor instead of educating them.

>>5169986
No, it’s like occupying the Germans after their actions caused a unnecessary genocidal war, if you want an apt comparison.
>>
>>5169996
>Yes, because we want to create another Ignar-level disaster to intentionally fuck us over. This isn’t self-sabotaging in the least.

Damn autocorrect.
>>
>>5169996
>Yes, because we want to create another Ignar-level to intentionally fuck us other.

Of course we don't want to do that, but it's already been done. Might as well look on the bright side.
>>
As much as you'd like to give the worms a taste of their own medicine, it may be better to approach this with a bit more tact.

"Why, exactly, do you want to speak with the Supreme Ruler? I thought our species was blacklisted."
"No no, this is about the future of the Hegemony! It's place in the cosmos! Let me convince him to join us again- I can convince the others to reverse the blacklist- I don't want to be cast out into the light! Let me live!"

What a pathetic creature. It seems that, once the inside of the whale was exposed to enough sunlight, it killed all of the parasites inside of it. This larval was the last of what remained inside the whale's gut.

"It is alright. Bring him to me."

As far as your research and understanding goes, it seems that the adult Aannel live within the bodies of these whales. Their offspring grow and feed on the whale's body before eventually entering hyperspace, using the food and energy they stole from the large creature, and then enter into "presences" they stumble across in Hyperspace. This may have once been only whales, but it turns out spaceships with their hyperspace computers are similar enough to a whale that the Aannel end up inside them too; explaining how they sometimes appear inside ships.

Once the worm is contained, you finish your survey of the Drakas system. Kimnan observes the proceedings with little interest, having more interest in the cosmic entity before you.

"It really is a lovely thing you know. Now with its pain gone, I can feel its soft mind- unchanged by language or abstract thought. Something that simply is and lives as it wills. It is a beautiful soul. Pure experience. Eons and eons it has lived. It does not dread or fear the future, it just is..."
>>
Your survey of the Drakas system is complete. The red giant star is too cold to support lifeforms, but has three planets and a significant amount of asteroid belt- all useful for industry. Drakas I is a rocky planet with very similar conditions to Nan-I B, making it a likely candidate for Liminel infestation, though there is no way to know for sure.

Drakas II is a rocky planet covered in ash with a thick cloud cover. It's quite cold and could be useful for research, or perhaps industry, though has no rare or special metals you know of yet.

Drakas III is a gas giant with no significant moons, but it does have two large rings made up of mostly ice crystals. While your race's fusion technology has given you an interest in gas giants for their tritium, this one may prove to be the most useful for building a colony in this system- as you could use the ice to provide water for aquafarms and space habitats. Regardless, you will send a few industrial ships here to begin harvesting Tritium for your fuel reserves.

With the whale documented and now tracked, you now have access to this system. The Hyerspace flight back will take a little over a full year to get back home- but by then, hopefully your new little "prisoner" will have worked out his story...

You are now Galyo Qint, the Overseer of Science for the Hegemony. Your current goal, as it has been for decades, is to develop the Threemind computer. Right now, you are preparing a very secret project- simply put, you need to grow your next replacement. You've already cleared this with your one and only master- Eoba II, and now have the DNA samples of both himself and several other Supreme Ruler Candidates in tow...

AHH SHIT!

You dropped the biotubes. You really are getting too old for this job- at least they are reinforced with Azurium and you didn't lose them but... shit, now they're all mixed up. Which Supreme Ruler is which? You gotta identify these quick! You've got a deadline to reach!

>Identify each pod (A, B, C, and D)
>>
>>5170070
Hmm.

A) Talacent. That greenish Tinge...
B) Eoba. Our only Purple Supreme.
D) Agori. That Dark Muzzle-colour

So C... I'm drawing a blank here. We never retrieved Vantrix's corpse, so not him. This could be an Ingar, or a Matakana, or an original Kimnan. Perhaps even a Kinja, assuming he copied his genetic legacy onto some other media format - as was his love?
>>
>>5170070
I'd like to thank >>5147207 for being so based as to compiling their portraits. Also, in case anyone forgot about potential donors, >>5141985 helps out immensely.

Of potential candidates, only 6 are reasonably with our grasp. Maktana, Talacent, Eoba, Agori, Ingar, and Kimnan.
>>
>>5170080
I think that you're generally right about A, B, and D. I'm hoping some anon is autistic enough to bring out the color pixels, see if there is a difference.

As an educated guess though? Ignar was brilliant with computer science and was readily available. Maktana by contrast was more of a xeno-biologist, and entrapped in an ice cave. Kinman's clone is already alive, and is more of a Skywalker than a scientist. I'd place my bet on it being Ingar due to the Threeminds project alone. Kinman clones can work on the Starsight program, and Maktana would make for a great Xeno-Integrationist instead. I don't think it's Kinja, despite my best hopes- he was buried long ago, probably too long a usable DNA sample from him.

Shame Qenen was never copied btw.
>>
>>5170080
>>5170092
That said, when eyeballing it with my shitty eyes, I think Maktana's muzzle was a shade lighter and Ingar's a shade darker, though that could just be my eyes playing tricks on me. Assuming Qint knows which Supreme Candidates he put on this tray, it should be an easy process of elimination for the remaining unknown. My educated guess is still on Ingar, solely for his genius regarding computer science and the need for a successor to complete the Threeminds project.
>>
A) Talacent (Fur: #0ac0df, Snout: #19989e)
B) Eoba II (Fur: #3f65e8, Snout: #393c9d)
C) Kinja (Fur:#0ac0df, Snout:#2e9db0) or Maktana (Fur:#0ac0df, Snout:#2e9db0) or Ingar (Fur:#0ac0df, Snout:#2e9db0)
D) Agori (Fur: 0ac0df, Snout: #2d68ad)

I made a mistake, Ingar also shares the colorations of Kinja and Maktana. They all have the same colors.
>>
>>5169961
You're moving goalposts and arguing in bad faith. The internal monologue of the Supreme Leader psecificalky said that all Blue Hazaar, including Yuan'Tul, are being treated as a lesser species and having their opportunities curtailed.

As for Bluey? The guy we installed qs a second choice qfter his predecessor committed treason and who only got that opportunity because he was raised by a Supreme? Yeah, maybe putting an incredibly servile qnd monke-adoring, self-loathing xeno in charge of xeno integration didn't exactly create an egalitatian situation for Yuan's early years? Bluey thinks of his own race as vermin.

But anyway... Voting time.

>>5170185
I THINK this is the answer, but I also sort of hope C is Ingar. An Ingar with artifically-improved empathy could be a great Supreme or science advisor someday.
>>
>>5170188
As for the state of their DNA
Maktana: Preserved in ice, DNA would be easy to recover
Kinja: Buried, state of DNA Unknown
Ingar: We killed him, so it would be very easy.

Of course, i have my doubts that Eoba would close Ingar. But at the same time, he's obviously got DNA Of Agori, so it could be ingar too.
>>
>>5170191
>the post I supported gets deleted, but it actually makes Ingar more likely

Hahaha, yessss, see >>5170188 for what I'm voting.
>>
>>5170191
>are being treated as lesser and having their opportunities curtailed
Oh bohoo, poor yuan only gets to be an elite philosopher with a big mansion and several servants instead of being emperor, how sad. He's so much more oppressed than those mean jaxtians working from dawn to dusk in schoon factories.

Poor, poor Yuan'tul.
>>
>>5170070
>A) Talacent
>B) Eoba
>C) Maktana
>D) Agori
>>
>>5170201
He is probably the least oppressed of his people. We know that the curtailing goes on for ALL Blue Hazaar. he's just uniquely skilled and talented to a degree our I algorithms couldn't ignore... But still, he was downgraded from his full potential.

You need not agree with him, but don't pretend you don't understand his, or his people's, grievance. They are being glass-ceilinged, lied to about their own abilities, and artificially held back from their full potential. ESPECIALLY for a race with strong individualist tendencies, that is going to sting.
>>
>>5170229
>We know that the curtailing goes on for ALL Blue Hazaar
They have the right to achieve important positions as shown by yuan. You could say that all Jaxtians are being held back because they're only allowed to get jobs depending on their genes, but that's the entire basis for our society.

It's dumb to think that an individualist species who became part of our empire not that many generations ago and revolted IN OUR LIFETIME should have the right to become supreme leader.

There are a hundred billion jaxtians. Why should an 0.001% minority who doesn't even fit the ideals of the hegemony get to rule over them?
>>
>>5170237
>It's dumb to think that an individualist species who became part of our empire not that many generations ago and revolted IN OUR LIFETIME should have the right to become supreme leader

But if Yuan'Tul resented the way he was brought up, and his feelings of isolation and squandered potential, it's obvious why that might lead him to being resentful or hateful... Especially if, since his ascent, he's learned that the guy who oversees his people's integration is a race-traitor who talk about them like shit, and that all his other people with less natural talent than him are being held back in even worse ways.

>You could say that all Jaxtians are being held back because they're only allowed to get jobs depending on their genes, but that's the entire basis for our society.

Yes: Jaxtians get analyzed on the basis of individual genetic potential and psychological/intellectual evaluation, and are sorted according to aptitude. Blue Hazaar are |Kept in their place" by having their opportunities "greatly curtailed" in ways that aren't based on actual aptitude, intellect, or merit, but on their being Hazaar. they're also taught what seem to be actual, deliberate falsehoods about their biological inferiority, passing Bluey's self-loathing onto the xenos he is supposed to be integrating.

Again, I get WHY the Hegemony does things this way, and it's not even objectively bad, but no shit Yuan'Tul or any other Blue Hazaar who recognizes this reality is going to resent it.
>>
>>5170265
Yuan'tul is getting more than dozens of billions, he of all people have no right to complain when he's literally allowed to publish state philosophy.
>>
>>5170276
Then I guess he could be agitating on behalf of the other Blue Hazaar who get taught the same bunk science and philosophy of self-loathing and DON'T have his natural abilities enabling them to rise to such a station. Maybe, having had a difficulty time emotionally in his childhood as a result of social stratification and propaganda, he wishes to spare other young Blue Hazaar that experience?
>>
>>5170285
Considering Jaxtians are divided by genetic caste and everyone who gets tough is forced to become an simple labourer, he doesn't have much right to complain.

Blue Hazaars are already treated the best out of any hegemony aliens.
>>
>>5170288
Look, anon, we already know that they are objectively held back by the words of the Supreme Leader. If you think that's fine and sensible, and that they're treated well enough, that's fine. But I think Yuan'Tul's motivations for hating the way things are can be inferred pretty easily, qnd I don't think it's hard to understand how he ended up that way.
>>
>>5169996
Did we have any evidence the miners we met and the miners who strip mined the Baalathi worked for the same people?
>>
>>5170070
>A) Talacent
>B) Eoba II
>C) Ingar
>D) Agori
Ingar makes more sense for a science overseer trying to build a complex triple computer system.
Sure, Ingar killed billions because of his sociopathic tendencies but why would Qint use the DNA of four Supreme Rulers or candidates? I think that he's planning to make a designer baby with bits from the four so the resulting Indigo will not have his antisocial genes.
Probably why it's important to not mix the samples : we wouldn't want to create an overseer with the technical talents of Talacent and Eoba II (intelligent but not scientifically-inclined at all and both pretty mentally stable) with the personality of Ingar and Agori (unstable computer genius and neurotic born tactician) instead of the other way around.
>>
>>5170094
Yeah actually I like the puzzles aspect but in universe we really should know which 4 got mixed up

>Which four Samples are in these vials.
>>
>>5170237
>There are a hundred billion jaxtians. Why should an 0.001% minority who doesn't even fit the ideals of the hegemony get to rule over them?

Because we are (in ideals at least) a meritocracy. If Yuan's power level was shown as Supreme tier, he should have been considered.
>>
I am noticing the Hegemony getting more and more comfortable with the Gattaca tier stuff Talacent ultimately feared.
>>
>>5170306
> a meritocracy.
Pure meritocracy doesn't work when there's multiple species at play. It is retarded to think that an giga-minority from an ALIEN SPECIES should have the right to rule over a hundred billion Jaxtians.
>>
>>5120724
OP, best prep for another thread, we're at 1400+ posts and page 9.
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>>5170317
Maybe that's why Yuan'Tul wants to retool the society or split off his own, anon
>>
>>5170308
What do you mean? We've been full-on Gattaca ever since the start.
>>
>>5170328
If we were FULL ON Gattaca, we would have Indigo'd the whole population.
>>
>>5170330
The entire point of Gattaca was that people who weren't artificially made were having a hard time, though
>>
>>5170332
Because they didn't yet have the means to completely replace the naturally-gestated. If they had the means, they likely would have.

But what >>5170308 seemed to be referring to was not "the Hegemony is trying to replicate the plot of Gattaca, down to the oppressed genetic minority, like some sort of fan homage" but "the Hegemony is increasingly moving towards using genetic engineering as a default solution to all their problems".
>>
>>5170322

I wonder...

The original Terraforming ship to Xin (that was itself made of what used to be the remains of Cirrus) - did we ever find it again, are we preserving it anywhere?

Because the Blue Haazar have likely been in a better position to find it then our Jaxtians on the colony for a good long time now. Could be this where so many of them vanished to, are they fixing it up in secret to try and ride it to the freedom of a solar system a long way from Jaxt?
>>
>>5170336
Yeah. I hope that we get a proper choice of Supreme ruler next time - I've liked Eoba II so far, but I don't want us to be forced to take Eoba III without any further options, or forced to take an Indigo clone of a previous leader/candidate without looking at the variety of options the current Jaxtian population is producing.

Ideally, I'd like us to have a Blonde candidate at some point, even if we don't end up picking them as the choice.
>>
>>5170353
If we get a choice in redesigning the Supreme Ruler selection process, I think that we should trim the current pool based on mental health and stability.
Agori got eight potential candidates and noted that it's too many, so at the rate our population is growing we could eliminate the 90% least stable and mentally healthy first round candidates and get a couple of final candidates like before.
>>
>>5170317
>Pure meritocracy doesn't work when there's multiple species at play.

Why not?

Also as the other anon noted, dictatorships don't have rights, they have privileges. Supremes don't have the "right" to rule, they are chosen to manage our society because they are the most capable.
>>
>>5170376
I agree. I also think we need to have a method of replacement for when a Supreme goes off the rails that isn't just a violent take over
>>
>>5170385

Don't we (technically) already have one we could use, the 500 Voices?
>>
>>5170385
Our system depends on the Supreme Ruler being supreme though, who is going to decide when a Supreme Ruler has gone mad and have the authority of depositing him?
The sentient computer option seems like the only one that would have worked but we voted against it because the Threemind was better and other reasons.
>>5170388
I think that they only vote for a Supreme Ruler when the line of succession is broken and a Supreme Ruler die without an heir, letting them deposit a Supreme Ruler would negate the security of the Threemind: the point is that is it almost unhackable and only the Supreme Ruler has access than more than one part at once, controling the 500 or whoever could choose to replace the Supreme Ruler would grant them indirect complete control of the Threemind.
Making Supreme Rulers less likely to go mad in the first place is probably a better choice.
>>
>>5170384
Rights don't exist.

All authority is directly or indirectly derived from the ability to cause suffering- whether it is inflicting harm or withholding help. Your rights are whatever terms of your survival that you are able to assert.

Unless you and yours are able to go toe-to-toe against your society's administrators than you are as much a slave as any with only privileges not "rights."

Please do not misunderstand, I am not stating the way I desire the world to be- only what I have witnessed in my time.
>>
>>5170392
We could try to set up an impeachment/25th amendment system. The question is who we put on charge of that.
>>
>>5170510
Who could we even trust more than the supreme ruler?
>>
>>5170392
>The sentient computer option seems like the only one that would have worked
If an sentient computer was put in charge, then that computer would be the supreme leader. It'd just be a repeat of Gaftar all over again.

The entire point of using artifical intelligence is that they don't have feelings or sentience or free will, and are thus one-hundred percent loyal to the supreme leader without being changed.
>>
>>5170529
I'm not saying that it's a good idea, just the only one that would work if we wanted the Supreme Ruler to be able to be deposed.
>>
>>5170527
The 500? We could set some mechanism by which "Emergency Protocol" is held and then the 500 would select a new Supreme from among the current and past candidates, (or reconfirm the Supremacy of the current Supreme)

With technology we could even make the system automatic so that there would be no chance of a civil war. (Basically all military command codes and Threemind acess would automatically switch to the new Supreme)
>>
(Also speaking of the 500, they are meant to ratify chosen successors but I'm the entire history of the game they have never said no to one of our picks. )
>>
>>5170618
I don't think that the Threemind AI is independent enough for that, that was more like the "ethical AI" option.
>>
>>5170618
>The 500? We could set some mechanism by which "Emergency Protocol" is held
Politicizing the Council of 500 and handing them the power to remove Supreme Rulers is gonna backfire on us, hard. It's a retarded to hand an non-player authority power to remove us, and putting limitations on Supreme Rulers is antithetical to the founding philosophy of the Hegemony.

>With technology we could even make the system automatic so that there would be no chance of a civil war.
This is a retarded idea. Imagine if this was in place when Ignar made his power play, we'd be playing as a imperial neurotic psychopath. No thank you.
>>
>>5170702
Yeah, I'm not traditionalist for the sake of traditionalism but the Supreme Ruler absolute power worked out incredibly well for us, we got only one true coup attempt in 1000 years.
We need to tweak the selection process to stop the problem of increasing neuroticism in our supreme rulers but giving up the Supremacy of our supreme rulers would expose us to many more internal threats than before.
>>
>>5170191
No, I'm speaking my mind honestly.
>all Blue Hazaar, including Yuan'Tul, are being treated as a lesser species and having their opportunities curtailed.
No, they were born with the specific purpose to terraform Xin into a habitable world for the Hegemony, when Anogi was Supreme Leader. Stating that their opportunities are being curtailed is a blant lie, they were created FOR the opportunity to terraform Xin, our first colony outside the Hegemony's home system. It is an honor and a privilege, and if that's not being represented in the propaganda then we need to sack whoever in charge of it.
>Yeah, maybe putting an incredibly servile qnd monke-adoring, self-loathing xeno in charge of xeno integration didn't exactly create an egalitatian situation for Yuan's early years?
We're not egalitatian, we're totalitarian, and Bluey was my first pick over that traitorous Duj. What, did you want an unassertive woman in that position, or a low IQ narcoleptic instead? Tens of billions of people, and these were our top 4 picks.
>>5170229
>But still, he was downgraded from his full potential.
Downgraded potential my ass, thousands of other Supreme-tier Candidates were disqualified as well, and he still achieved a respectable occupation on the level of Maktana, Kinja, and Ingar. Yuan's just another Lovercraft, an anti-social bigot.
>They are being glass-ceilinged, lied to about their own abilities, and artificially held back from their full potential
Being bred for a specific purpose of colonizing and terraforming our first exoplanet is hardly what I'd call being artificially held back, this was literally the point of breeding so many of them in the first place.
>>5170265
>But if Yuan'Tul resented the way he was brought up, and his feelings of isolation and squandered potential, it's obvious why that might lead him to being resentful or hateful... Especially if, since his ascent, he's learned that the guy who oversees his people's integration is a race-traitor who talk about them like shit, and that all his other people with less natural talent than him are being held back in even worse ways.
This literally sounds like Lovecraft's auto-biography.
>Blue Hazaar are |Kept in their place" by having their opportunities "greatly curtailed" in ways that aren't based on actual aptitude, intellect, or merit, but on their being Hazaar
Not 'curtailed', literally bred to survive on Xin and terraform it. This wouldn't be any different if the monkes could breath on Xin.
>taught what seem to be actual, deliberate falsehoods about their biological inferiority
What, that being individualists is literally hardwired into Haazarian DNA and culture? That's more fact than falsehood.
>>
>>5170285
>Then I guess he could be agitating on behalf of the other Blue Hazaar
Again with the racial solidarity shit.
>Maybe, having had a difficulty time emotionally in his childhood as a result of social stratification and propaganda, he wishes to spare other young Blue Hazaar that experience?
What, that all monke's go through? Splitting the monoculture into different racial groups won't end up with a less oppressed minority, it with just incentivize division and racial hatred, which will end in the genocide of the xenos and the purging of the xenophilic monkes.
>>5170290
>I don't think it's hard to understand how he ended up that way.
Yea, because anons voted for a racist instead of an internationalist. Doesn't take a big brain to realize that.
>>5170306
>If Yuan's power level was shown as Supreme tier, he should have been considered.
But literally thousands of other monkes were also considered Supreme-tier, and Agori rejected them all because he was autistic over Eoba's clone.

>>5170322
That why he's a traitor who should be purged, not rewarded with a position of power.

>>5170345
>The original Terraforming ship to Xin (that was itself made of what used to be the remains of Cirrus) - did we ever find it again, are we preserving it anywhere?

It doesn't have life support, Hyperspace capability, and AI that's not centuries old.

>>5170384
Because we're still a xenophobic society, if the morale boost from the gasing the Baalathi option is any indication.

>>5170510
No one, because you can't ensure that it won't be politicized and used against us later on.
>>
>>5170760
Haazar have less life support requirements then Jaxtians - that's why the Blue Haazar were first created.
Haazar don't need Hyperspace capability - the ship that made it to Jaxt didn't have it.
And a modern AI isn't essential as long as it can do the core of what they need it to.
>>
>>5170702
As far as I am to understand the 500 would have had to ratify Eoba II taking over anyway.
>>
>>5170836
You still need a way to grow food and recycle water, I don't think those ships have the capability to do, and the ship still has no life support systems.

>>5170861
No, Eoba won by right combat with his predecessor Anogi. The Council of 500 were not involved in that affair.
>>
>>5170735
You are arguing with the body of the text. Objectively speaking the Hegemony curtails the Blue Hazaar that was said by Bananas themselves.

Also I wouldn't call being bred for child slave labor an "honor."
>>
>>5170872
You mean the subjective truth of the perception of Supreme Leader, the most privileged person in the entire Hegemony. In reality, Yuan made it as far as other Supreme-tier Candidate in the Hegemony, proving the lack of irrational bias against Blue Haazar advancement and social mobility.

Also, I don't consider education to be child slave labor, and technically they aren't children, but fully autonomous individuals by Haazar standards. You do know that the Blue Haazar live with their monke 'fathers' until they're grown, right?
>>
>>5170735
>>5170760
Supreme Leader said that Blue Hazaar are lesser and are being curtailed. You can argue all you want -- it's explicitly confirmed as being the case by the monke in charge.
>>
That's right, you can successfully identify these by sight. Talacent, Agori, and Eoba II. This leaves just one more pod. By process of elimination, you know exactly who that is... and who you are supposed to “fix” and make again.

You are now Eoba Garastra II again. You are currently interrogating the last of the worms within the space whale, a creature who you ordered to be brought back to Jaxt so you can “hear it out” once again. Agori was in a much different position when he was forced to accept a worm, now you feel that you have the upper hand. Brought to your palace on Jaxt, surrounded by guards and drones, and with automatic, AI controlled shutters above to let in light at the brightest point in the day for an instant destruction of this alien creature- should you just command it. You make sure it can see the sunlight through he slats above. Honest and level negotiations are for friends, not enemies of the state.

”You've grown quite a bit.”
”My kind only grow as large as our environment allows; your new frigates are quite a bit more spacious then those old early hyperdrive ships you flew.”
”Mhmm. Now, enough with the pleasantitires, worm. Speak your piece or be destroyed.”

”Well, as you know, our kind has great influence in the galaxy, influencing the many nations and peoples of the cosmos. We embed ourselves within nations-”
”With hooks and barbs- As parasites do.”
”Mhmm- and make ourselves useful. But moreso then being useful, the cost of rejecting us outweighs the cost of keeping us. You believe murder is wrong, but sacrificing a few low ranking members of your kind is a small price to pay for our connections.”
”You seem much more confident now then you did when you were cowering in my starship as your elders were burned alive from a sun. Why the sudden change?” You smirk.
”...I've had time to talk with my brethren across the galaxy since then. I am not afraid of death anymore- though I know your kind are implicitly. I have a simple offer for you- a trade. We've agreed on the terms now, no haggling or negotiating further is necessary. The price is more then fair to be invited to join back among our circle.”
”And why do you think we need to return to your good graces, parasite?”
>>
”The problem, Jaaxi, is your arrogance. You think you're something you're not, and that is what me and my brothers have agreed needs to change. You think you're something special- divinely inspired beings who are chosen or destined to defeat the “ancient evil” of entropy. Don't you understand? It's so blindly proud of creatures born of pond scum, living on the thin skin of the biosphere of planets-”

”Big words coming from a parasite. Maybe the Consortium members would like to know you grew up in an animal's gut-”

”Oh please- you don't think they know already? We simple ask them to leave the whales alone, so our race can propagate through the universe as it was evolved. The difference is, we don't believe ourselves to be special. At the end of time, we will die too. The issue is you don't think you will. You think you'll defeat the forces of the universe- time and decay. You claim to be free from the taint of religious and magical thought- and yet you believe in an atheist version of salvation! Oh yes, if you just try and work hard enough, your species will be the special chosen ones to defeat the heat death of the universe. Yes, I'm sure you will invent an infinite energy machine. I'm sure you will be the ones to discover alternate dimensions. Millions of intelligent species over billions of years in uncountable galaxies- but no, you will be the ones to succeed. Don't make me laugh. You're still fanatics- you are coping with your own mortality! You've replaced one immortality project of your primitive days with another!”

”You have an issue with our philosophy- that is not my concern. We've rejected nihilistic defeatism and antinatalism for centuries- and from the Hegemony's culture came our great interstellar empire. The proof of its success is in front of you.”

”Oh no, Supreme Ruler, I have no doubts about your races strength. Far from it. We believe you will be a mighty race. Across the eons of the universe many powerful races have come and gone, and while yet none have conquered the entire galaxy you may be the ones to do it. While there are stronger forces then yourself now, they could weaken and you take contrl. Your Reich will last for thousands of years- but these strengths are not ideological. Nations only survive or expand based on physical and political advantages. Not morality, not heroism, not some mystic determination. The actions of individuals, even if they be the Supreme Ruler, are ultimately meaningless. Your empire will grow and expand and be mighty, yes, but one day it will crumble. It will be old, its territory gobbled up. Empires don't really just fall apart, they decay and change. Ultimately, one day, your species will go extinct- trillions of years before anywhere near the end of the end.”
>>
”Even if you do manage to survive for, what, a billion years? How much different would your culture, genes, technology even be? It would be so alien to you you couldn't even say it would be the same “people” anymore. Your ideological beliefs are blind against the unyielding laws of the universe and against time itself.”

”So you want us to abandon our philosophy then, for the approval of a worm?”

”Wrong again, primate. We just want you to eat your words and admit to what it is- posturing. The scientific religion for your unintelligent and ignorant members of your race can remain. You will remain Supreme. I just want you to bow.”

”No.”
”Hmm?”
”Bow before you? That's not going to happen.”
”Don't be so hasty, Supreme One. I don't mean swearing fealty to us- or myself. I am still in the end your captive- or at best, your humble servant. I've already had agreement to reverse your blacklist and put your race into a better position, politically speaking. You won't be humiliated by it- after all, you control information in the Hegemony and I'm sure these guards wouldn't betray that trust. You wouldn't be humiliated in the interstellar community either- Consortium races had to sacrifice the firstborn children of their highest rulers to us to join up. Something like this is utterly meaningless.”

”Then why demand it at all?”

”BECAUSE that's the POINT! You logically know better then to believe in your pointless posturing of “Supreme” omnipotence, your propaganda of an “unbroken line”- when you yourself broke the line of succession by slaying your ruler! There is nothing unique or special about atoms arranging themselves into a different shape- your body will remain the same organism if it be aligned with the floor or standing straight. You know this. So admit it with your body. Logically, there is nothing to lose here, only gain, for a gesture that means nothing. Your people will enjoy a better position and not fear your neighbors- all it means is betraying one of your principles. The Supreme Ruler must always be Supreme, right? Admit this philosophy is meaningless and that your goals are purely material by bowing before me, an albino stomach eel- that is what we want. The ends justify the means, and to this end, protecting your species from an early destruction or exploitation is more meaningful then some prideful rejection of basic fact. You know there is no logical reason to deny this. So bow before me and prove it.”

>Bow
>Stand
>>
>>5171008
>Stand
Burn this worm with UV light of such intensity it's death screams are felt across its entire race.
>>
>>5171008
this guy is a dick and can go fuck himself, bowing is for losers
>>
>>5171008
>Stand

No, wait

>DRAW YOUR DAGGER
>DUEL THE WORM
>>
>>5171008
I love this choice and the thinking involved here. There are actually good practical reasons not to align ourselves with the worms, but I still appreciate this dilemma of pride vs practicality. Anyways, it's hard not to do this:
>Stand
>>
>>5171008
Bowing or standing is pretty meaningless, I think that the consequences of aligning ourselves with the Worms or against is what truly matters.
>Stand
Because they are just parasites and I would rather ally with the Seekers.
>>
>>5171008

>Stand
>Embrace the Light

Perhaps it is the distasteful nature of the worms that have kept those with the Will to overcome entropy from doing business with them, or perhaps their insidious nature weakens their hosts and prevents them from achieving greatness. Perhaps they are just liars.
>>
>>5171008
>Stand
Oho? Just as there is no logical reason for me to submit to your posturing? Your blant attempts to appeal to my logical, material goals are laudable, but you forget yourself, worm. You too, feel pain, and fear death, not as a society, but as individual. You spout your nihilistic dogma about decay and death, thinking that your death is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, a blip in the galactic storms, that you can somehow bargain for your life by relying on others of your race, but really, are they're lives on the line? Do they not fear the sunlight, just as you do? The fact of the matter is that their lives remain unaffected if your burns out. The Hegemony may face hardships, and may turn into the dust of stars during the heat death of the universe, but that is not what concerns either of us today. What you should be concerned about, is whether you want to feel the sun burn you away, flesh and soul. So what will it be, your life, or the light?
>>
>>5170871
But the 500 have to ratify any chosen successor.

Was Eoba II formally named successor before the killing?
>>
>>5171049
Support
>>
>>5171052
Agori has already chosen him. He was disappointed in Kimnan II, and refused to even consider anyone else.
>>
>>5170889
You can't call the Hazaar savages for using young as shields and then turn around and use them as helots. I mean you can but it's hypocritical as fuck.
>>
>>5170889
>Also, I don't consider education to be child slave labor

It's pretty unfortunate we teach them incorrect things about themselves meant to reinforce their lower status, though.
>>
>>5171052
Eoba was, by right of combat. Anogi only had Eoba picked out as his 'perfect' successor. On an unrelated note, I love how the worm tried to appeal to pragmatism and the fear of death to the clone of the man so autistic about principle and honor he literally slashed his own space suit when faced with asphyxiation before the enemy. It's some funny shit when you think about it.
>>
>>5171063
In that case then the 500 always signed off on Eoba 2, so the idea they shouldn't get involved is silly
>>
>>5171066
Have I missed something here? I'm pretty sure we don't use their children as slave labor. Going by Yuan's example, they live with their monke father and take classes before their career.

>>5171069
Same thing happened to that one dissident sperg, doesn't make it a special crime when we do the same to non-monkes.
>>
>>5171078
Pretty sure the 500 don't do shit unless there are no successor candidates left mate.
>>
>>5171008
>Stand
I heard enough from you, worm. Logic this, death that, everything is moot and dust at the end that. You're talking on a scale that neither of us will be alive to care about. I see what you actually want in this situation. To humiliate us. To make us let go of our principles. And for what?

The approval of a buncha gut worms that fear a star's light? To be as "logical" as we can possibly be? No. This is just you trying to humiliate us. To make us lose our principles just because you went on a wordy rant. To make a worm happy.

I rather die standing to my principles than to kneel before a parasite who boasts about all of this nonsense. Not of this will matter in millions or trillions of years from now, yes, but for now? This does matter. This does mean something. Why waste effort worrying about what happens thousands if not millions of years from now when we can worry about what we can actually do and actually change?

We rejected nihilism for a reason. We're not subjecting ourselves to yet another form of it.
>>
>>5171080
You mean Amunu? We didn't teach him falsehoods about how he was inferior. QM confirmed he WAS inferior except in one specific field we didn't realize at first and, when we realized his special talents, we promoted and recognized him under a new identity.

>but we're sometimes oppressive and deceitful to Jaxtians too!

Yes, but that doesn't mean we're NOT oppressive to Blue Hazaar, and it's not sensible to expect that they would be happy living that way, especially one with Supreme Leader-tier intellect who realizes what's being done to them.
>>
You know I think this choice would go down better if there weren't practical reasons not to fuck with the worms


Like if this offer included advanced weapons technology or something then I believe the pride vs practicality painful choice would sell better.

As is , this offer seems pretty puffery. "Better connections" is vauge.

Can the worm offer us any thing hard right now. Like star maps and such?
>>5171008
>>
>>5171086
Alas, the worm said no haggling.
>>
>>5171080
Bluey was once the only Blue Hazaar
Then we realized Hazaar we're suites to pre -terraformed Xin.

We then deliberately bred extra Blue Hazaar to work Xin. Because they nature faster biologically we have had their children work Xin . (And also fed several of them to the worm when the colony lost contact)
>>
>>5171081
The 500 as detailed in thread 1have 2 roles

1. Picking a supreme leader from the candidates in the event a Supreme dies without a successor

2. Ratifying named successors
>>
>>5171085
The classes teach that Monke are biologically better than Hazaar when they are just different
>>
You guys do realize that the 500 Voices were fake and a cover for Helper to control which Supreme Ruler was put on the throne, right?
>>
>>5171098
I actually missed or forgot that plot point, so thanks for the reminder
>>
>>5171098
>spoilers
Admittedly, that was three threads/months ago. People tend to forget.
>>
>>5171087
Can we at least ask for proof that it can do what it offered?

Or at least show is WHAT it is offering

It's doing this whole Health Ledger bit about practicality but it hasn't demonstrated anything hard.

Ask the worm to break down in plain terms exactly what advantages taking their deal will offer.
>>
>>5171098
Wait did Helper install the 500 when they were Supreme or were there at one point a real 500 that Helper usurped?
>>
>>5171008
This is a no-brainer.

>Stand
The one reason, the one identity that makes this Hegemony THE Hegemony, and you want us to piss it into the wind? We'll manage with the other races and civilizations by ourselves. Good thing I'm in a merciful mood today, you won't die by the sun.

>Draw dagger
>Duel it to the death
>>
>>5171110
We haven't finished our vow yet, and I'll be damned if the first Supreme Ruler to actually stand up to the worms gets labeled 'the Lesser' for it.
>>
>>5171028
>>5171110
Have you seen how big he is? That's not a good idea.
>>
>>5171098
Yes, I just ignore the cringe checks and balances players.
>>
>>5171115
We challenged Aok, who was bigger than us. We are an Eoba. We can do this.

Besides how better to prove our point? He claims he does not fear death, but we do. He claims he is rational, we're not.

Well, we're killing him either way. Will he die like an earthworm in the sun, or face us like a honourable monke, in armed combat.

Honor or The Void.
>>
>>5171116
Making our Supreme Ruler able to be deposed by someone else isn't a good idea anyway, we should just improve the selection for our candidates.
>>
>>5171122
It's a terrible idea, the Supreme Ruler is supreme above all and that is the basis of the Hegemony. We can improve our candidates but inherently the system as it exists is perfect for the Hegemony as intended by our founder.
>>
>>5171028
>>DRAW YOUR DAGGER
>>DUEL THE WORM

Do it.
>>
>>5171031
>>5171008
I would like to clarify that I specifically do not want to duel the worm, this is silly and needlessly risky
>>
>>5171141
Me too.
>>
>>5171122
What if we formalized the Supreme picking process? Like some kind of contest tournament or training set up with a firm rubric and objective measure of success.

So instead of personal whims of Supremes picking successors the candidates would be put through a process and the one judged most worthy would ascend to the throne once they were judged ready.
>>
>>5171120
I don't think the worm gives a shit.

To it, it presents a lose lose.

Either Eoba kneels for the sake of the Hegemony and forever lives with the shame and self doubt

Or Eoba refuses the deal and every single time the Hegemony has an issue for the rest of his life he will have to think if he screwed over his whole Empire for the sake of Ego.
>>
>>5171008
>Stand
>Kill Worm

If the Hegemony is doomed to fail then it does not matter if it does so now or in a billion years, But if the Supreme Leader is not Supreme then we fail before the journey even begins.

We've never shied away from making the hard choices anons. We suffered the fallout of Ingar's rebellion because we knew it would be more dangerous in the long run to have a splinter group on Xin.

I have a feeling that if we bow now it will leave a shadow of doubt upon the office of Supreme Ruler for the rest of time. The people of Jaxt might never know, the galactic community might never know, but the worms would and they will taunt every Supreme with that fact going forward, and from that tiny ideological crack might spring the death of our Empire. If our empire must fall let it be brought low from without, never from within.
>>
>>5171113
Way I see it, the conquering process has already started, and would be done with or without us at the helm. This is a matter of national identity, being labeled as a Lesser is an acceptable risk so long as the Hegemony still stands strong for it.

Way I see it, the options presented to us is as follows:
> 1) We capitulate to the worm, we will gain the trust of other civs (except Seekers) at the cost of our national identity and possible internal strife caused by the loss of Supreme supremacy
> 2) We deny the worm, we get ostracized but we might gain the approval of Seekers, we still have our national identity
> 2a) We deny the worm, duel it, and lives, proving to the other civilizations that these worms ain't shit, definitely gaining the support of Seekers
> 2b) We deny the worm, duel it, lose our life, smoke the worm anyway, we show that the Supreme is Supreme because we are willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of our nation.
>>
>>5171151
I agree that we will stand, but I disagree with killing the worm before we give him a chance to bow. I have a feeling that a parasite would choose life over pride.

>>5171156
Eoba will still be named the Lesser for dying, which the worms will mock and use to their advantage. Besides, this goes beyond personal pride- I want the worms to know that we'll burn them in sunlight if the individual parasite doesn't submit to the will of the Supreme Leader. It's isn't about an old indigo having the last hurrah, but the Hegemony making a statement that the worms will pay dearly for making an enemy of us.
>>
>>5171008
>Stand

>>5171049
This

"We know you already have enemies in the cosmos, Worm; forces and nations that have dedicated themselves to your destruction. Because they consider you to be 'Evil' based upon the nature of your biology. Our opinion is that you are just a creature, part of a race, using the abilities it evolved to possess to your own benefit and the propagation of your own ideology. Evil? No inherently moreso then a flea sucking fluid is malicious in intent, no moreso then a louse that assumes the role of the tongue of a fish - you are merely doing what your genetics have decided for you. Our species has evolved to eat fruits, vegetables and insects - if the fruits could think, they might consider us malicious, when all we intend is simply our own survival."

"We do not care for you, worm. That is a simple truth. We do not care to be your friends, and we do not care to be your enemies. Your position in the galaxy and within other nations - even within the great star whales - would be irrelevant to us, if you were not using such influence as you possess to our detriment. And all for the life of one of yours, murdered by a dissident of ours who betrayed Hegemonic ideals and our society to achieve his revenge. He who once declared 'I would not be offended if you destroyed one of my larvals' - and yet, when such an incident happened by misfortune and misassignment, your society revealed this line for a joke by taking such a great deal of offence indeed. Had you not taken such offense to that one accidental death, perhaps history would have differed and your elders would not have burned. But we are all here where we are today because of the choices taken. And my choice today is not to bow in submission, not to crawl for your favour. You said yourself; 'the actions of individuals, even if they be the Supreme Ruler, are ultimately meaningless'. So to bow before you would be a meaningless soak to your ego - and nothing more. I believe that you do not personally want to die, and that your people do not wish for ours to join with the forces that muster against you. Both of those outcomes can be avoided. We Jaxtians do not truly care what influence you may wield among the other nations of this galaxy - as long as you are not using such influence to our detriment."
>>
>>5171005
If we clone Ingar, I think the name of 'Ingar' would just be too much stigma for any Jaxtian to carry after what the original did. Let's call the new clone Ragni.
>>
>>5171455
Ragni is a cool name, but also: q dude who looks like a purple Ingar, named Ragni? Anon, people will figure it out.
>>
>>5171455
>>5171593
Why don't we combine the best traits from all the Monkes we have DNA for like Serpentor?
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>>5171599
>pic related

But probably, actually, that. The genes which encourage certain traits may not mesh well, or may in some cases be exclusive, to others.
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>>5171604
But it would be so cooooool
>>
”No, I don't think I will.”

”And further ostracize your people? Some puny little blacklist is nothing compared to-”

”Enough. I have nothing else to say to you. I will not dignify you with a date of execution. You and your kind are revolting. You exist as parasites, both naturally and in the societies you subvert. You are a gut worm, feckless and primitive. You have no society or advancements of your own- What do you know of the nobility of leadership? To claim that our struggle is ultimately meaningless while you do not struggle at all. If you knew what was good for you, you'd cringe away from the notice of other species in the same way you cringe away from the light. Perhaps I could have been merciful and found a suitably large pachyderm whose colon you could infest, but then you went and offended me. Shut up and die. Alavis, open the light shutters.”

The worm balks for a second, its lips curling in a frown- if it had eyes, you're sure they wold be darting. But then, it begins to shiver- as the window blinds refuse to open.

”What's happening? Al!”

”Brothers... give me strength!”

The worm has begun to mutate. Its body starts to grow even bigger- the technology in the run is suppressed, somehow. Is this worm's “presence” somehow able to control or weaken your computers? Even your drones, equipped with UV generating bulbs, fall to the ground uselessly. The spines on the worms neck, a symbol of their species maturity, begin to grow out. Is it inducing its puberty on itself?

“Your grace! Retreat!”
”No you fool- it doesn't have a nervous system! Don't shoot it, shoot the windows!”

The worm broke its restraints. In a moment it has fallen upon the guards, devouring one and then the other as you make for the hall. You toss your robe off of you- that old symbol of office was specifically chosen by nobility by how much it restrains your movement. You drew your knife in instinct the moment the worm avoided its death- though you wouldn't be stupid enough to stand and fight it, or give it a “duel”. At least the creature was right about one thing; the iron laws of the universe bend for no person, and something that much bigger and stronger then you cannot be overcome no matter your will. So, you will run.
>>
This experience has given you time to reflect. It feels so natural to be doing this, climbing just outside the reach of snapping jaws.

”Jaaxi~ Come here Jaaxi! Come to your end!”

While the sweat collects on your brow, you feel a sort of calm collected feeling of focus that's hard to get in a simulator or even in a knife duel. You're following what you were born to do, same as this worm.

You think- why did you decide to Stand? There was no real reason not to do what the worm wanted; a better position in the galactic community for the cost of some of your own pride. You find the idea a little silly. The truth is you were both angry, sadistic, arrogant, proud... all traits common to Supreme Rulers. You wanted to reject the worm, sneer in his face, and watch him die. All of this comes down to your biological impulses as an aggressive, omnivorous species who takes the safety of the tribe very seriously. Something Kimnan had said really stuck with you. Have we really chosen anything? Eoba I would have almost certainly done the same thing in your position- his genetic profile is almost identical to yours. Your upbringing was certainly different, but would he be the same as you given the identical upbringing?

You certainly hate this creature climbing after you into the highest reaches of the control tower. If you can reach the hatch to the roof first- you'll be safe. But how can you hate something doing what it is born to you? It had no more choice in the matter then you did. It is simply atoms and molecules doing whatever they were set on the path to do at the beginning of time. And one day, those atoms will be meaningless dust- exactly as the worm proscribes.

Of course, it is the purpose that you give this time that matters, which is the prevailing belief of the Hegemony. The idea of free will, TRUE free will, is both meaningless and illogical. To be truly free, one would have to be a god-like being capable of going anywhere, doing anything they wished, with no limitation of resources or time or competition. To be able to do anything you wished without any difficulty is this mythical true freedom, but it also sounds like a hellish existence.

The greatest heroes and martyrs of your people; they were born in a society that shaped them, experienced through a genetic lens that defined them. None of them got to choose anything, not what they could learn nor how long they could live nor even the color of the uniform they wore. Yet despite this you still value what they have done. Why?
>>
The Hegemony rejects nihilistic beliefs for the negative effects they have on societies- especially the most intelligent class, like the Supreme Rulers. But while the ultimate fate of the universe has no sway on you, the fact that everything you are doing and choosing to do is the result of forces set in motion before you were born anyway certainly does. The moment the first electron spin was discovered, any notion of free will should have been dashed from the minds of every living person who learned it. To think otherwise is purely a cope. Nobody can know the property of inertia and not also know, deep down, that their choice is an illusion of self-sensing matter.

You've reached the end of the tower, and the access ladder to the roof. It's locked by metal bolts, a natural security feature. With no AI to unlock it, you are stuck here. You can feel the heat of the sun just behind the reinforced steel hatch.

”Look at you, oh so proud “Supreme Ruler”, running up here like any animal fearing for its life. Come into my jaws, experience the void. First you'll feel pain- and then nothing. Ever again. Eheheeh!”

The brain is well understood. You know where the consciousness lies. The ability of “Starsight” is not understood, but you know you will find the answer someday- or some other race, after yours has gone extinct. The outcome of this “””combat””” has been predetermined before the first rocks that formed this planet had even cooled. This is the deterministic principle. It is purely a game of numbers, of mass units and muscle and speeds against each other. No amount of personal grit will change the outcome.

”Die! DIE DIE DIE! EHEHEH!”

The pure serendipity of you being here, in this place, being pursued by this creature seems to be the outcome of a million different systems combining into a single finite state. If everything in this universe is physical, how can anything change the iron laws of physical reality?

>Choose
>Do not choose
>>
Bruh I did not come to the funny monke game for an extensional crisis. This game truly showcases quests as an artform


That said

>Choose

Yes it is cope, but coping itself has values. If life is ultimately an arbitrary assembly of particles why not choose to operate in it in the way that does the most good?
>>
Meh, fate, schmate. Just kill the big worm.
>>
>>5171701
>Choose
>>
I would really hope that "choose" doesn't mean "I choose to jump and die because nature hurr durr"
>>
>>5171701
I like to think that there’s more to life than facts.
Sure, you can’t change the laws of the universe, but you can change your own destiny well enough.
>Choose
>>
>>5171701
>Choose
>>
>>5171701
>Choose
"A monke chooses a slave obeys."
>>
>>5171701
>Choose
Screw determinism, math and logic aren't axiomatic anyway.
>>
>>5171701

If consciousness is an illusion, and value is an illusion, then what sense does it make to not consciously value that illusion?

>Choose

The choice itself is what matters.

>HONOR OR THE VOID
>>
>>5171701
To not choose is to follow the path of the worm - just blindly surviving with minimal effort.
To choose is to fight destiny itself, the neverending struggle, the ultimate crucible. But through struggle, improvement. And we Jaxtians are no stranger to struggle and hard times.

So we
>choose
>>
>>5171701
>>Choose
>>
>>5171701
"No, Eoba. You are the cope."
And then, Eoba was dead.
>Choose.

>>5170405
You live in Russia or something, anon? I'm rather intrigued as to what experience taught you this lesson. Or is it too personal to share?
>>
>>5171701
HONOR OR THE VOID
>Choose
>>
>>5171701
>Choose

We started Eoba with the choice to live, to save his brother, and to kill Anogi. Whether we live or die to the worm, at least we can say that our choices were meaningful to us. In our fight to defeat entropy is the inherent choice to break the iron laws of physical reality, to become truly 'free' of our binding limitations of physics and biology. To defeat entropy, the choice must be made, for not choosing would be submitting to the parasitic nihilism that bounds the worm so. Parasites don't have a choice in the matter, but to be Supreme is to make a choice, and that choice is to not submit, but to challenge, and rise above it. We did with Anogi and Ignar, we did it in standing up to this worm, and eventually others will do it to break entropy itself, and rise above it. This choice is merely a conscious extension of that fact, to challenge and reign Supreme of reality rather than merely submitting to it.
>>
>>5172034
>Anogi
It's Agori
>>
>>5171701
>>Choose
YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A WORM
>>
>>5172108
Thank you, dyslexia can be a bitch at times.
>>
>>Choose

If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice. You can choose from phantom fears or some celestial voice. You can fight against the dark and the grinding of the gears. I will choose Supremacy, hope, and silencing the jeers.
>>
>>5171913
You can learn this lesson anywhere by looking close enough but what really matters is that most folks are still somewhat free to choose their masters.

Choose carefully, anon.
>>
>>5172748
Just because something is made up, doesn't mean it isn't real.
>>
Ultimately, the illusion of choice is your burden to bear. As an intelligent being in a cosmos of unfaltering physical laws- any choice you make is predetermined by your genes, which are in turn determined by the chemistry that put them there.

But what of predetermination? Even if everything in the universe follows a set “plan” that was put into motion upon its creation, there is no way to know what that plan is. Even if all the matter and energy in the universe was combined to make a massive computer, that computer could not count and comprehend all of its parts, and predict what it could do next- it's simply impossible to know what everything in the universe will do. Philosophically speaking, the script of all actions that will happen in the universe cannot exist within it. There is a significant difference between a certain certainty and a certain uncertainty.

Of course, the truth is that your ability to perceive the objective world and figure that into decisions you make, even if they are not ultimately your own, is the same as decision. Why would a creature doing what it is best at, like this worm, not be the result of a choice? Choices without consequences are ultimately pointless and don't even exist. Purpose, over Freedom. Even if your genes and training decide what course of action you will take, that course of action is also what you perceive to be the correct one at the time. With the fact that you can't know for certain what every particle in the universe will ultimately do with its limited time and energy, and you can't know for certain what the consequences of every choice are, there is no reason to assume that choices aren't real. They are real to our perceptions, which makes them real in principle.

You refuse to cope again physical reality, and you refuse to give into despair. Perhaps the self-emergent property of consciousness is, itself, the uncertainty in the great “plan” of the universe. While you may be only physical, with no soul or spirit or magical God to give you purpose, this doesn't necessarily mean that physical matter is not capable of freedom. Atomic decay is random. Do they choose how they shed their mass?

You were born to be a ruler. You were designed in a test tube to do your job. You've ordered the same- your secret Ingar II project. Your genes, training, and past choices led you to here. Jaxtian. Indigo. Supreme Ruler. Male. Duelist. These are definitions, but they don't define you. You were incorrect when you thought on what Kimnan told you before. You aren't who you were made to be-
>>
You are who you choose to be.
>>
You carve the inside of the worm up, cutting a hole for your escape before you asphyxiate. It falls to the ground, its last gasps, though surprisingly tough. Probably can't go into shock. Didn't the worms say their stomach lining is the most sensitive parts of themselves? Similar neuron count to a cock tip? Good. Get fucked.

”I'm getting way to old for this shit. ENFORCER!”
“Y-Yes sir?”
”Send out this message to Hegemonic command- every ship will now carry UV bulbs and light drones. Any worms that appear on a ship or station is to be destroyed immediately.”
“Right away Sir. But umm... Your face?”
”Hmm?”
“Nothing! Right on it, your grace!”

Last update tomorrow.
>>
Honor or the void, lads. Honor or the void.
>>
Hopefully we get to harvest all kinds of good shit from this leaky condom before his cell-equivalents get denatured. There's probably some good shit in that body.

Man, you fuckheads have passed on way too many paths to transmonkeyism before I caught up.
>>
>Ingar II
This is going to end badly
>>
>>5173611
I think that it's just not too popular with most voters, which is fair enough.
We mostly missed cybernetics because of the whole Helper intrigue though, I think that we would have gotten soon without it but that was still a cool story arc so whatever.
>>
>>5173611
>Man, you fuckheads have passed on way too many paths to transmonkeyism before I caught up.
Yes anon, just what we need. Space vermin DNA. I'm certain there's no drawback to becoming La creatura de jaxt.
>>
>>5173620
Did our entire species turn into lazy ice fish or hosefaced rape insects when we used splicing tech centuries behind what we have now on literally every monkie we have?
>>
Smells like Deus Ex here. https://youtu.be/AAaKGIqgyvI
I like it.
>>
>>5173634
We used the migrator sleep gene because it was necessary for faster than light travel and because it had no drawbacks. What makes you think that means we should turn into disgusting abominations collecting DNA from every species we meet?
>>
>>5173641
Because this might also not have drawbacks, and to get ahead of the galactic eugenic curve. Why would you start pointlessly spewing shit before the possibilities are even laid out, as if splicing's going to suddenly start working differently than it's been depicted this whole time and switch over to teleporter accident physics for no reason?
>>
>>5173653
There's a difference between adding a single gene with a simple function and trying to turn our race into an all-tomorrows tier chimera.
>>
>>5173671
>trying to turn our race into an all-tomorrows tier chimera
You are literally arguing with the voices in your schizo-ass head anon. Or more likely, being a contrarian asshole just for the sake of it.
>>
Let's clone our own worms spliced with Jaxtian DNA linked up to a private hive mind. Or splice jaxtians with worm DNA so they're born with traits for navigation

Then we have a teleporting space navigating subclass of our society.

Also we should leak the secrets to navigation to everyone we can in the universe so that we can destroy the reliance on normal dickhead worms.


Let's ruin these fuckers lives


Oh and we should probably do some stuff with that whale, it's probably useful.
>>
>>5173676
You're the one who wants to use space vermin genes to achieve transmonkeyism
>>
>>5173678
>Let's clone our own worms spliced with Jaxtian DNA linked up to a private hive mind.
Or we could, hear me out, just use the migrators? Who are literally perfect for the task? Who don't need vermin DNA? Who are already friendly to us? Who have no concept of politics like worms do?

WHY Would you want to do that? There is literally no reason. It would just be making things more complicated for no benefit whatsoever.
>>
>>5173616
Is it? The corrected versions of Kinman and Eoba worked out great. Then again, the bagage of being the clone of an arch-traitor might be too much. Either way it'll be interesting.
>>
>>5173700
Ingar was a sociopath, thorugh and through. I don't like the idea of having someone like him on the throne

Especially because it means we don't get a choice of supreme leader again.
>>
>>5173687
but Jaxtians aren't doing the job. Fuck outsourcing

We take the cool parts of worms and leave out their natural nigerian prince scammy parasite bullshit

Plus we could literally puppet them, have someone moderate their enclosed hivemind. Anyone acts out of line and goes full parasite? Kill them. We could use them in war. Can you imagine how terrifying troops would be. Just hike through the void and then pop up in someone's house and kill them. Like, we wouldn't even have to make a lot

Just an elite team of worm infused jaxtians. Super navigators and trained killers. It'd be revolutionary


Besides to anyone who thinks im a lunatic and wants something else

we can still use worm DNA for something if we don't want to go transmonkeyism

Their skin was fucking bullet proof let's just clone sheets of the stuff and use it in armor. Worm Skin= Super Kevlar. If it burns up in light fuck it, night ops type shit. Seal team worm skin
>>
>>5173722
> Fuck outsourcing
Migrators are literally perfect for the job. Jaxtians are the rightful leaders of the hegemony, but they can still cause problems. They can still betray us. Jaxtian Navigators would become an exceedingly powerful group within the hegemony.

Migrators don't even know what space is. They just think it's a big ocean. They don't have concept OR need of things like politics, power and influence. They just swim.
>Plus we could literally puppet them, have someone moderate their enclosed hivemind.
That sounds like it could possibly go horribly wrong.
>>
>>5173749
Valid criticisms

I'm still an advocate for abusing worm DNA in some way. A bunch of worms buffed that one worm up in seconds, they have a ton of crazy ass abilities that we should at least attempt to take advantage of.

In all seriousness

Worm DNA has too many benefits , completely ignoring it and not even attempting to pursue tests is a little extreme.

Let's just see what it does in controlled small scale tests and
If it goes bad we scorch earth all projects, but we should at least test run it on some expendables first before completely swearing off on it.
>>
>>5173584
So we're fully committed to the galactic race war against the worms? The propaganda is gonna be lit. I can't wait for the 'Save the Space Whales' shit to start cropping up.

>>5173722
Actually, if you can disrupt the worm hive-mind, it could be possible to raise some worms with the right conditioning to be pro-Hegemony before reintroducing them to the Hive-mind as a mix of spy, saboteur, and diplomat. It may not work, but it certainly would be an interesting experiment.

>>5173749
>Jaxtian Navigators would become an exceedingly powerful group within the hegemony.

I'm telling you, relying on only one type of navigator may fuck us, we should maintain a small corp of ritualistically blinded baseline and genetically blind indigos just in case our supply of Migrators Navigators becomes low, and the Threemind system as an additional backup option when it comes on line.
>>
>>5173722
You would literally create a worm-monke subspecies that would live and die as meat machines than consensual recruits of the Hegemony?

Why? Because of some retrograde racial supremacy nonsense?
>>
>>5173719
Ingar II is the future science overseer, not supreme ruler.
>>
>>5173826
No anon.

Because it's a really badass dystopian concept
>>
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I like where this is going.
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Is nobody else into the idea of splicing up xenos with Jaxtians until we have a dozen plus phenotypes belonging to a single species and can "phase out" the xenos because our monkies can do everything they can do and more?

If our hyperspace specialists, hostile environment settlers, gas giant farmers, scientists, warriors, etc. were all Jaxtians with Jaxtian mindsets and tastes but were perfectly happy with and capable of the tasks they were bred for we'd probably be able to solve the xeno question once and for all by "harvesting" them all and calling it a day.
>>
>>5174205
Fitting that the xenophiles come out during this particular supremacy
>>
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>>5174218
>literally suggest xenocide
>get called a xenophile
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>>5173799
We already have some Blinded Jaxtian navigators in among the Migrator-Navigators. It's just less a sure thing that they'll ever manage the ability, though on the other side there's less training needed for them.
>>
>>5174231
It's still wise to gain some institutional experience in vetting and training them, same with growing and training the blind indigos as well. We don't need to mass produce them, but it's smart to develop the option in case we ever need to.
>>
After defeating the Aannelid worm with your own hand (and a long shower), you order its remains to be first scanned, samples taken, and then burned in the heat of the midday sun. The same kind of UV radiation you will inflict on any worm that appears on one of your vessels from now on.

You haven't really declared war on the worms, but you've certainly blacklisted them from every entering your society in any way again. The worms did mention serious consequences in the form of sanctions, political erasure, and the threat of... the cyte? You don't know what that means, but perhaps your neighbors may know. At the very least, you will probably find an ally in the Seekers. Though the Essal do not seem to be on friendly terms with you anymore, perhaps it may be possible to one day bring them over to your way of thinking.

With access to both worm and whale samples and DNA, you happen to now have in your positions two diametrically opposed forces; ancient. Many billions of years older then even your own primordial ancestors. Both born space travellers, with abilities and biology far beyond any planet-bound species you have yet discovered. It is very promising as to what you could find out from these creatures- and the scientific research done on the space whale seems to indicate their biology could somehow help you advance your fusion research, unlocking all new avenues of technology and ship design; not to mention even greater FTL engines.

Of course, you didn't come out of this battle unscathed either. With only one unexplored and unconquered solar system remaining in your local cluster, odds seem good you will be able to complete your vow and solidify your legacy as a strong and capable ruler. But all of that is for naught if you cannot fix the problems with the succession and ensure that the future Supreme Rulers are ready to lead the Hegemony into the glorious light once again.

-----

You are now an Essal. More accurately, your citizen name is EMJJ-004899-26, but your military accepted callsign is Peeker. The letters at the front are your species, sex, racial, and familial phenotypes, the number your identifier, and the final number your age. You are twenty six years old.

Despite this, your rank is only a lowly Petty Officer 3rd class. Only barely above an Able 1st class. You were never much good at combat sims, physical sport, or any technical skills. You aren't even popular, which is why you take you're taking your break alone in the mess. Your people believe in eugenics, and that society must be structured so the cream rises to the top- but your dear old father was only a Sergeant, and children always inherent a rank or two below their parents based on their aptitude. If anything, you should consider yourself lucky you haven't been demoted to Civilian.
>>
Of course, your dad was lucky. He grew up in war filled times; in a lucky generation. The riots on Casliaa with the rebel Casliaans fighting the occupation; the battles with pirates in the Great Sea Nebula... plenty of opportunity for a young man to earn his stripes. You'll have no such luck, you figure.

However, breaking you out of this self pitying stupor is your friend, and very slightly superior officer; Jabs. He's the Chief Petty Officer on this deck of the ship.

“Come on Peeks- I got something to show you!”

You don't really want to deny a superior officer- even someone with as little clout as Jabs. Still, you are a bit worried. You're on a research ship; a man can get court martialed or ten lashes just for stepping into the wrong room.

”I dunno about this, Jabs -Sir.”
“Oh come on, you aren't doing anything important anyway! And knock it off with the “Sir” thing, I barely outrank you! Come on, let me show you the freakshow-”

”...Wow, these guys do look weird. Why do we even bother with abduction missions?”
“You know, bioweapons. But check out this weird blue one in the middle. It's really weird. This is really cutting edge stuff here, this gene sequencer? Check out what it says-”
”Huh, that's weird, it's like this alien is missing 10% of its genome.”
“No no, that's because it's the DNA from a different species. In other words, a hybrid!”
”Woah, an alien hybrid? Has anyone ever found a hybrid like that before?”
“No, they haven't Peeks. And you know what that means? Our ship and crew are the first. You know what I'm thinking?”
”...! Promotions?!”
“Hell yeah! You're gonna be wearing one of these too real soon bud, just wait and see!”
>>
=========
Hey everybody, thanks so much for playing this edition of Space Monke Quest! I have a lot of fun running these, so all the discussion and even arguing in the thread has been a blast to read.

I'm not exactly sure when I'm going to continue this, though I certainly do want to continue it in the not too distant future and see where you guys take it- in the meantime, here's the archive link.

Archive- https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5120724/

Feel free to leave any feedback or suggestions you may have, especially in how to improve the quest. As always, I'll be hanging around the threat at the end; but thanks again and hope to see you soon.
>>
Another great thread, bananas. I'll be waiting for your next one.
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>>5174352
Less NTR please. I mean I actually fap to that stuff and still thought it was retardedly out of place.
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>>5174356
Actually, yeah, that was kinda weird, when we didn't vote for it. NTR Is disgusting.
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>>5174205
I think you are conflating biology with culture. Having monke genes isn't liable to make someone more or less loyal to the Hegemony.

For example I think the Migrators have a 100 percent loyalty rate, as opposed to the several monke traitors we have had.
>>
It also had zero effect on the plot
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>>5174371
Why wouldn't I conflate biology with culture? Migrators, Cuck Orcs, Higgers, none of them will ever be Jaxtian in mindset. Biologically, they have different instincts and mindsets, on too profound a level to be altered through anything but genetic fuckery or literal lobotomization. Meaning, there'll always be conflict there and they'll never be full citizens; they couldn't ever be full citizens in a world made by and for Jaxtians. Eventually there'll be enough of them to break off if they want no matter what we do. In fact it's already happening with that one guy.

Electing Bluey was our route to the racial harmony path and it's gone now. And slavery is dumb and inefficient. I think extreme assimilation is the way to go. Yes, there are more steps to be taken after that since being a monkie doesn't ensure loyalty, but being a monkie is a prerequisite to being loyal. If Migrators were land-dwellers with the power to rebel, they definitely would.
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>>5174377
>Why wouldn't i conflate biology with culture
While i agree that it's stupid to think (((Hazaar))) will ever fit in Jaxtian society, Migrators are literally more loyal than Jaxtians, and for good reason. They don't have concept or need of things like politics, greed. What's a fish that spends half it's life sleeping gonna do with money or power? Buy an golden aquarium? They don't even know what space is.Migrators are our best buds. They're the perfect navigators, and while keeping normal traditional blind jaxtians as navigators for an emergency is good, we'd be stupid not to use them.

Furthermore, trying to "assimilate" by turning into the fucking borg or creating a bunch of Muttkey abominations is stupid. It'll just create more and more subgroups with their own interests.
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>>5174385
If they look and think like Jaxtians, they'll be treated as such. I mean, even the alphas count as people some reason, so something as basic as an indigo loaded up with genes that make them more hyperspace-capable shouldn't even halfway qualify for hysteric housewife words like "muttkey" or "abomination"
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>>5174352
Thanks for running, QM! Best quest on the board right here!

>>5174358
We did vote to have sex with a green woman, though
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>>5174401
>We did vote to have sex with a green woman, though
No, we did not. There were a few votes to bang a random green woman, but the majority didn't. And we definitely didn't vote to cuck our representative for no discernible reason.
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>>5174387
>If they look and think like Jaxtians, they'll be treated as such. I
But they won't. Do you think gene splicing is a fucking video game powerup? Do you think that a being who is able to fly in hyperspace is going to look and think like a monkey?
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>>5174420
You sink time and money into it until it works, stupid. Do I have to teach you how scientific research works in this game? It's the end of thread 4, keep the fuck up.
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>>5174417
Qm has repeatedly stated he tries to add interesting write ins when anons show enough interest in them, he offered us his wife it mightve been rude to refuse and now we have an easy already terraformed planet we ntr'd our way in, plus its funny and goofy
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>>5174458
>You sink time and money into it until it works, stupid.
That's not how it fucking works, you idiot. We tried researhcing slughtrowers for our space vessels and it was just a big waste of time. It is not "throw enough money until it works"
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>>5174500
>You sink time and money into it until it works, stupid.
Since when is NTR interesting to anyone but brainfried coomers?
>e offered us his wife it mightve been rude
That doesn't make it any less stupid.
>funny and goofy
No, just retarded. The only people who liked it were the ntrfaggots, too.
>>
the ntr stuff was very eh for me but it was a one off thing that I already forgot about. It's a nothingburger for me.
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>>5174352
We all know that Vantix's descendants have been around - Eoba is one! And Yuan'Tul is a descendent of Qet, and Talacent was Vul's son. Have there been any other 'notable but not notable enough to be in-quest yet' descendants of these Supremes, and do Kinja/Agori have any notable members of their families around these days?

Was Ingar always going to attempt his coup, or did that only happen because Agori died early at the hands of a child?

Has Eoba already had Telomere lengthening, or with his long-predicted lifespan (not only was his original exceptionally long lived for a Jaxtian but he might have been improved further in the cloning) is that still in his future?

So far, what would you say has been the most influential or surprising 'write-in' action taken?


>>5174346
Huh. I guess that's a 'disappeared from Xin' Blue, rather then a 'rape pirate baby'? Surprised that the Essal havn't run into the Haazar themselves before, given they're actually closer to the Haazar Homeworld then we are. So was it the Esaal who left the radiation cloud in Vetuck?

>>5174377
Bluey now has the job he barely got pipped to the first time.
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>>5174417
But a significant portion still wanted to fuck a babe. Besides, the wife did offer herself to us, we didn't try and seduce her. I just wanted to see if we could make another Supreme Candidate with the Ventuck.

Also, clearly the most autistic thing was us choosing to make Yuan a racist bigot. So much potential, wasted on actively fucking us over.
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>>5174352
If we voted to give Ignar his blonde waifu, would he still have revolted?

What would've resulted had we picked the last two Overseer Candidates to head Overseer-Integration? Why was Iceberg chosen?

What career options would opened up had Yuan just been jealous instead of hateful?

What would've happened had we decided to bow, just outta curiosity? I don't regret our choices, I'm just curious as to the alternative.
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>>5174695
How does realizing you live in an aparteid state make you a racist bigot?
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>>5174709
The objective fact that we voted to have him hate the monke.
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>>5174724
you’re acting autistic
most people made a choice that they thought the character would make, they wanted an interesting character and not a retread of something that has already happened before on the quest
personally I’m interested in where QM is planning to go with it and how its going to affect the quest, and not in a lame way like “they kill themselves lmao”
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>>5174774
I'm just sick and tired of dealing with society-ruining traitors, and the fact that I think anons are intentionally self-sabotaging doesn't help. This racist hate shit isn't going to lead anywhere positive, it will lead to more problems, which will be blamed on xenos, and will result in a decision to genocide them for social stability. You wasted a Supreme Tier Aumu by turning him into a traitor-in-waiting, this will become more of an issue than choosing the Aumu sperg out option.
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>>5174352
This thread has been great, ignore the NTR stuff it was perfectly in tune with our swashbuckling leader going on an adventure. Honestly, this is the best quest currently running, your art really helps uplift the whole concept! I look forward to the next thread!
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>>5174826
yeah well I’d prefer a quest that has multiple perspectives and twists rather than a lame one where everything goes as perfectly as possible for the players
QM absolutely excels at writing multiple perspectives and getting people to sympathize with them, and having gone through one that isn’t “all hail jaxt” is interesting. We don’t even know how it’s going to end up and you’ve been peeved over it the entire thread.
you are over ten percent of a 1500+ post thread my man, just chill out
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>>5174826
Racism and other forms of othering show up a lot in history specifically because they have been encouraged by rulers. This is not only because of how naturally it comes to people who have things in common, but because from a leadership position it's a pretty effective way to unite your people.

Now, I'm not entirely against a multiracial empire or whatever, but both that and the full xenocide attitude approach only work if you do it smartly, with a proper strategy in mind. If you go "m-muh peace among worlds" or "m-muh grimderp fetish" as the main resoning behind your votes you're failing this nation as far as I'm concerned.

I'll be honest, I'd be voting uplifting and integrating all the species we conquer if I thought that was an easy thing to do for the Hegemony compared to the other options, and if I thought anons would actually go for it. But it's probably just never going to happen.
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>>5174840
I'm not saying that I don't like twists and other perspectives, I just hate when anons self-sabotage in quests I like. It ruins the quest if we intentionally vote to create a traitor and then give him power in our society, it's like watching a slow-motion train wreck. Ingar and Duj in comparison were better traitors because we didn't directly control their traitorous inclinations, with Duj's being particularly clever when you get past the fact that he never should've gotten on the Overseer Candidate list in the first place.

>my man, just chill out
Ye, I probably will mellow out soon. I'm just overly passionate I guess.

>>5174841
In all honesty, as much as I would love to incorporate other species into our Monke Space Empire, it probably depends on the fickle whims of anons. With Talacent it was genocide, with Agori non-violence. All you need to do is put a genocidal maniac in change for anons to vote for uplifting and integrating other species.
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>>5174724
The options were hatred or envy.

If we didn't want a lose-lose we should have built the Hegemony to be less racist.
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>>5174895
You know we could always POV shift

Like in a hypothetical Civil War, we could have the rebellion as our "MC" and then instead of the Hegemony we would be working to make the Byzantine Hegemony or whatever thrive
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>>5174895
>depends on the fickle whims of anons...

Your choice of Supreme Ruler mans you can't make decisions that aten't pants on head retarded.
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>>5174895
>fickle whims

I voted Hazaar Genocide because I saw little political or practical opportunity to integrate them into the Hegemony at the time, and lots of risk. That all seems true, given the troubles we're having. However, that moment in 'history' has passed, and I didn't go so badly as I feared yet, so I now make votes with that in mind.

I also voted for "leniency" (if you call press-ganging one to make him root out his fellows) to the terrorist. This isn't contradictory, as the terrorist was a monke, and such monkes can be used (with or without their consent) quite easily by the Hegemony, with fewer unknowns. The Hegemony is, if nothing else, very skilled and experienced about the matter of controlling and using Jaxtians.

These aren't random, fickle decisions. They're just contextual, based on shifting conditions and contexts rather than a single ideological stance.
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>>5174915
No, you should've simply voted for Yuan integrate into the Hegemony. Now we are in a lose-lose situation since no one wanted to abort on a well that's been poisoned.

>>5174919
No. We're the Supreme Ruler, not some bigoted rebel with delusions that he's making the world better by blowing it up, and saving loives by ruining others. You've lost the plot.
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>>5175140
That wasn't an option and you know it.
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>>5175140
Making the world better by blowing it up is literally how the Hegemony was founded.
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>>5174895
you are overthinking it
people merely voted hate because
A: They put themselves in the character’s shoes and decided to select hate, which is perfectly reasonable given the character’s circumstances.
or
B: They thought it was the more interesting option, compared to jealousy, which they thought was boring. This is also perfectly reasonable.
No one is trying to tank this quest, and no one is actively trying to create traitors. You’re the one who is immediately thinking worst case scenario in something that hasn’t even panned out yet, and tried to push for a complete meme option of forcing the character to kill themself.
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>>5175140
>simply voted for Yuan integrate into the Hegemony

Kek, as if QM didn't have complications in store for if Yuan'tul became intensely jealous.

It seems to me most likely that jealousy would get you results where he used his intellect to "equalize" the Hegemonic races (though not necessarily in a way Jaxtians or the existing government would approve of), whereas hate gets you more desire for secessionist or segregationist approaches. A jealous state philosopher might try to create a Hegemony where a Blue Hazaar can become Supreme, or at least have guaranteed privileges over and above newer races in the Hegemony. A hateful one might set up maroon colonies and lobby for their own self-determination.

There is probably no scenario where a genius Blue Hazaar realizes he is in a society which devalues an restricts he and his species, and then DOESN'T rock the boat.
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>>5174895
>Self-sabotage
Anons tend to do things that are either interesting or that are reasonable to them. People found jealousy boring, so they picked hate.

Constantly screaming "NO NO NO HE NEEDS TO KILL HIMESLF NOW NO NO NO NO NO" after the fact gets annoying the first time. Now it's the sixth time this thread and it's boiling my piss.
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>>5175222
>Anons tend to do things that are either interesting or that are reasonable to them.

I guess that's where the lines get blurred. Some anons are playing this like a straight civ quest trying to do what's best for the Hegemony at all times.

Others play the POV character and do what makes sense to the POV character even if it may go against the Hegemony.

I do think our choices matter in the sense that it's possible to get a "bad end", but that would require multiple consecutive fuck ups. So far anons have managed to avoid several issues biting them in the ass. (Securing patriotism by not secretly moving the suicide date forward for underperforming members of society, nationalising the real food market.) despite suffering several bad outcomes big and small. So I wouldn't sweat these issues too much.

Also Friendly reminder that the QM is the volcano god. Every triumph will spawn the seeds to the next crisis and every crisis will give an opportunity for the next triumph. So even if you're unhappy with the latest choice, always look on the bright side.
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>>5174706
>Would Ingar revolt with a blonde waifu
Probably not. It also would have resulted in the first blonde Supreme Ruler candidate, but you wouldn't have gotten the high powered computers.

>What would've happened had we decided to bow, just outta curiosity? I don't regret our choices, I'm just curious as to the alternative.
The choice to stand or bow was a significant one, meant to kind of direct the quest in a direction; either towards materialist pessimism or against it. I'm sure the players would have voted against the worms at some point no matter what, but bowing to the worm would have had major consequences to Eoba II's confidence and made it difficult, or a dice roll, if he could complete his vow. However, bowing to the worm would have removed your blacklist and made you much more friendly with all your neighbors, except for the Seekers, obviously. It also would have prevented you from having to deal with the Cyte. But it's a little too late for that now~

>What would have happened with Yuan?
This is an interesting one I wanted to talk about.
>>
Yuan's choice was thought about a lot. Normally I like to keep secrets of my other plans to my chest, since it's non-canon and ultimately not important, but I had a lot planned for this one so I figured I might as well share. I think it's lazy to reuse plots anyway, and by the next time you get a Yuan-Tul kind of situation it'll be in a totally different context, so fuck it, might as well just tell you everything.

If Yuan was jealous instead of hateful, he would have developed a jealousy of the Hegemony's Jaxtian monoethnic state and racial identity. Similar to Bluey, but unlike Bluey, he'd want a segregationist policy. Whatever scientific career he'd enter, he's offer the Supreme Ruler at some point a significant advancement in exchange for making Xin a Blue-Haazar homeworld. Essentially, a partially independent vassalized planet which would still pay taxes and provide labor, but a place where only Blue Haazar can live on freely.

If Yuan was hateful, his scientific career would be deeper and more influential, as his hate fuels his work. No matter what, this choice would result in a serious shakeup to the Hegemony- and result in a serious catastrophe, while unlocking a big scientific discovery in the process.

If he was chosen to be a Astrophysicist, he would have unleashed the doom of the beacon, a hyperspace tech that would allow ships to travel between colonized systems very very fast (essentially jumpgates). However, when the first beacon was turned on, it would invite a huge enemy ship from halfway across the galaxy to arrive there and blow up a moon or something.

If Yuan was chosen to be a geneticist, he would have developed a virus to impede Jaxtian reproduction; to the point of rendering every single Jaxtian sterile. This choice was the most interesting to me because it meant one of two outcomes; either having a limited time to chase immortality tech (brain-computer uploads) OR the second choice of Jaxtians essentially accepting their extincition by mass producing with Blue Haazar. Bluey would have impregnated Eoba II, who he loves, and that resultant child would be the next Supreme Ruler. This choice was most interesting to me, as it would have meant a total departure from the Jaxtians; but the quest would have been the same. It would still be about the Hegemony, with Supreme Rulers, but now they're all Haazar.

But since you chose to make him a State-Philospher, the doom he will bring to you is something else :^)
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>>5175239
So the whole Yuan Tul choice was basically a "pick your next problem" choice.

I love it.
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>>5175239
>Bluey is in love with Eoba II

...Huh.

>Eoba II would let Bluey knock him up

Hahaha, this horny xenophile knife-fighter Supreme and his wacky sex-adventures, I swear.
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>>5175239
Very juicy, I'm sure that the breakthrough with a hateful state-philosopher will be great too, maybe something like super xeno-integration or propaganda?
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>>5175218
I expected complications, I don't expect us to immediately create a problem and then attempt to mitigate it by throwing him into ideology, that's like trying to drown the fire in fuel. I would rather he go into astrophysics and become a terrorist than create a social contagion and become a martyr for a bigger cause.

>>5175222
It's a dissonance of goals. I'd rather deal with the consequences of our choices rather than intentionally chose the problem that will fuck us. I think you're tea is ready btw.
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>>5175238
>>5175239
What about the Overseer one? I'm a bit curious as to what would've happened with Duj had we not chosen him as Overseer. Would he have still made his attempt?
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>>5175253
>>5175271
But what if we agreed with Yuan?
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>>5175297
Your free to vote however you want, it doesn't make it any less self-sabotaging.
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>>5175297
Then maybe it'll lead to eventual, major reforms to the Hegemony. We'll see.
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>>5175353
Into what? A multicultural democracy? Might as well burn the Hegemony flag and spit on the Unspeakable at that point. It's gonna end in a genocide, or worse.
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>>5175238
What do we have going on in Vetuck? I know that we're keeping an 'arms length' policy from the primary Biosphere as the Vetuckers unite under our banner, but what are we doing in the rest of the solar system - I assume we're collecting Tritium from the gas giant because we're planning on doing the same from the more distant Drakas, but does the Hegemony have anything else going on upon other planets or moons?
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>>5175239
>It would still be about the Hegemony, with Supreme Rulers, but now they're all Haazar.
I would literally rather kill every single person in the galaxy than this. That sounds not only gross, but revolting. The day when the Hazaar die out will be a happy one.
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>>5175557
>>5175239
Honestly I'd have preferred the idea of switching to the uplifted Vetuckers then to the Haazar, especially if a Haazar was responsible for destroying every Jaxtian.

Also, voting for Yuan's hatred of Jaxtians to lead to his suicide now sounds like it was the best option we could have possibly taken.
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>>5175590
>Honestly I'd have preferred the idea of switching to the uplifted Vetuckers then to the Haazar
I would have, too. I mean, obviously, i don't want to stop being monkes, but if the space bugs killed them, i'd rather play as the vetuckians, who are at least a cool race, isntead of disgusting mpreg cryptobros like the hazaar.
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>>5175590
>super breakthrough in exchange of a crisis
Nah.
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>>5175590
I'm honestly fine with unexpected catastrophes that are troublesome but interesting to deal with, especially if we get a tech tree climb as a reward. They're fun when they don't come while we already have other shit to deal with.
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>>5175608
Well, i don't think we're going to get a breakthroguh with this choice, only a crisis. How the hell could you have an "Philosophy breakthrough"?
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>>5175590
>>5175607
Yea, as much as it would be interesting to write as I guess, I would have voted to genocide them instead and attempt a Hail Mary immortality play. Playing the Hegemony as the species that genocided the monkes is a step too far methinks.

>>5175610
And we voted for a worm race war and to fight whatever the fuck the Cyte are. What a fun time the next Supreme Leader will have..
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>>5175611
The Nuclear Holocaust was technically a philosophical breakthrough.
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>>5175627
Monarchy is hardly an breakthrough. The hegemony is just an atheist, materialistic monarchy.
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>>5175634
No, I meant the scale of the crisis will be on par with what destroyed the previous social institutions and birthed the founding mythos of the Hegemony. When the Monke Genocide and the Blue Haazar Master Race was a part of the 'Genetics breakthrough', this 'Philosophy breakthrough' will be on par to setting off a nuclear holocaust in the heart of our civilization.
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>>5175557
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>>5175647
Can we get an Akira, but with Monkes? It feels thematically relevant.
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>>5175647
Made me laugh. Bluey is a good one.
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>>5175647
Fucking Uncle Tom motherfucker.
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>>5175638
You make a lot of grand proclamations and defeatist assumptions, anon.
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>>5175611
The Enlightenment was an example of that.

As was the formation of settler states from previous hunter gatherer groups.

Society is a technology and can be advanced like any other.
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>>5175776
No, this is purely based off the Monke Genocide bit. The gloves are off, and while we may survive, it will be a catastrophe that befalls us.

>>5175890
The greatest tragedies of mankind were because of Enlightenment Utopian and Rational assumptions. All you need to do is look up the.bodycount that socialism racked up in the name of one ideal or another.

Society was never technology, but the result of a large amount of people coming together under a single unified culture. That's the problem with social engineering, thinking you can somehow change society based around abstract, rational thought of a minority of elite instead of the individuals themselves. This is a RL take, of course. I imagine the Hegemony puts a lot of effort into social engineering it's people, and I shudder at their bodycout numbers, the pure wastage per day would be insane to us.
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>>5176131
I think it was implied that they were doing some of that Rehoboam shit, considering the option offered to you guys way back when was to ramp the shadow guidance up or not, instead of initiating it (I think) in response to a thing I don't remember.

Especially with the boost the Hegemony received now and will keep receiving in AI power, the number of people guided towards empty, fruitless lives and suicide is probably bananas. When the three minds system is in place folks might not even have to be explicity denied procreation rights at all, just subtly guided towards wizardry.
>>
Leaving this here
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>>5175890
>the Enlightenment
The French Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. Buncha philosophers cracking each other's skulls apart...
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>>5176131
Anything created by sentient minds that does not exist in that state naturally is technology.

Wine is technology. The written word is technology. Contractions are technology. The vast majority of political philosophies (or frankly most philosophies in general) are technology.

The idea of "Consent of the Government" had to be invented by Human minds. That makes it technology.
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>>5175239
A bit of feedback . It seems hate leads to more deadly results than envy, but I don't think it was fair to expect the audience to get that. ( It seems like either would have the same chances of disaster)
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>>5176370
>Anything created by sentient minds that does not exist in that state naturally is technology.
That itself is such a retarded statement that I wasn't going to respond. You can't annex culture and society into the definition of technology, they mean totally different things definitionally. And I don't give a shit if you define things differently on a personal level, this is more about useful communication than it it about personal beliefs. Saying religion is technology is absurd on its face, we have the word culture for a reason.

>>5176373
You must be retarded if you thought that hate wasn't an inherently destructive force. Jealousy wants what others have, hate doesn't give a shit and want it's obsession to burn, and damn the consequences.
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>>5176373
I mean, jealousy means "grrrrr fuckin' monkes i wish i had it like you", Hate is more "FUCK YOU FUCK EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU"

Even those who voted for the Hate option, whether you deem it self sabotage or not, know that hate is a far stronger emotion than Jealousy.
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>>5176505
>Technology ("science of craft", from Greek τέχνη, techne, "art, skill, cunning of hand"; and -λογία, -logia[2]) is the sum of any techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives

I am telling you as a trained electrical engineer, vast amount of our culture ARE technology. Especially when you get to Government types, which are at their core systems of managing reasources.

One of the first things they teach you is to unlearn the popular misconception that technology=electric objects.

Many intangible things are technology.
For example Arabic numerals are in general far better tools for math than the Roman ones, and their development and adoption directly correspondends with mathematics discoveries that they enabled.

For a contemporary example here we see business methods explicitly labeled as technology.

https://wayback.archive-it.org/5902/20150818090057/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c6/c6s5.htm

Even something as simple as a vote is a process developed by Humans as a way to convey community wishes and consensus. It's adoption in early small banded communities is akin to the adoption of primal devices such as the wheel or throwing stick.

This is all to say that social theories and philosophies and means of running government develop shift and are invented over time the same way machines do.

The ideals and philosophies of the Hegemony direct products of Monke biology. They had to be invented and developed just like we did the space ships.

Which means that we can come up with more useful (from our POV) ways of running our society the same way we come up with more useful tools. Because society is ultimately a tool designed to manage the populace and it's reasources.
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>>5175279
No, Duj was one of the "puzzle" choices of the quest, which you unfortunately failed. I like the idea of the "puzzles" or player skill sections to have purely negative outcomes for failing, or purely positive outcomes for succeeding, unlike a normal choice which has positives or negatives. You would have developed the first Starseer in Kinja and had the chance to kick the worms out with or without that choice.

>>5175453
Eoba II's vow was to have a presence on each star system, so the listening post over Vetuck II and mining Tiritium counts. As for the rest of the system That's something you'll decide later

>>5175590
But only the Blue Haazar could continue your species DNA. Even if it's only 10%, you'd still live on. That was kind of the idea. Like I said, I was pretty sure it wouldn't happen anyway- Geneticist was the least popular choice for Yuan'Tul.

>>5176373
>>5176535
True, it was more to delineate what type of path Yuan would have taken. I understand making choices with unintended consequences may seem unfair, but I mean, would you want every single choice and its full consequence spelled out for you in the future? Seems more interesting in the opposite.

Besides, I figured Yuan was going to be a villainous figure either way. I would hope people ITT could handle some dramatic irony, in knowing there is a traitorous element but not being able to do anything about it. With that being said, I did think the "kill yourself" write in option was pretty funny.

>>5174618
>Have there been any other 'notable but not notable enough to be in-quest yet' descendants of these Supremes, and do Kinja/Agori have any notable members of their families around these days?
I want to add more of them in the near future- stay tuned! I don't know if I could successfully write a "bloodline" type of overarching story, that each member of a family would have similar story arcs or personalities so selecting the next Garastra would be like a great explorer, where as Falathane would be like a dictator with an intimidating presence; but it's certainly something I'd like to explore in the future.

Thanks for all the feedback- I appreciate it!
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>>5176559
>Technology
>the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.
>"advances in computer technology"
>machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge.
>"it will reduce the industry's ability to spend money on new technology"
>the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied sciences.

I'm not talking about your finge definition of 'technology equals culture' crap, I'm talking about common nomenclature. That fact that you need to justify your misconception by appealing to authority only proves that it isn't represented in the public consciousness.
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>>5176636
>You would have developed the first Starseer in Kinja and had the chance to kick the worms out with or without that choice.
Wat
>But only the Blue Haazar could continue your species DNA. Even if it's only 10%, you'd still live on. That was kind of the idea.
I honestly felt it was more likely that we would vote to genocide the Blue Haazars at that point, instead of rewarding them for a successful genocide on the Monkes. I honestly don't see the Blue Haazar option as a legitimate successor to the Monke Hegemony, and I think other anons would agree with me on that point.
>I would hope people ITT could handle some dramatic irony, in knowing there is a traitorous element but not being able to do anything about it.
Dramatic irony is fine, it's being a direct participant in fucking over all the effort put into this quest that I had a problem with. It ain't you, I just hate it when anons self-sabotage and the quest dies because of it.
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>>5176752
>I honestly don't see the Blue Haazar option as a legitimate successor to the Monke Hegemony, and I think other anons would agree with me on that point.

I probably would have enjoyed playing a small band of Jaxtians unaffected by the gene plague (say, those overseeing Ventuck) as the new viewpoint faction. Not because I have a hate-on for Blue Hazaar, but it DOES feel weird to just do a perspective shift to your conquerors.

>I just hate it when anons self-sabotage and the quest dies because of it

Good news: doesn't seem like this quest is dying anytime soon to me.
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>>5176636
Calling it now, Yuan is going to be our Karl Marx-tier philosopher. Which is kinda good because we'll see some very interesting times indeed.
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>>5176823
>Good news: doesn't seem like this quest is dying anytime soon to me.
Say that to the Cyle and the Neo-Holocaust Yuan will reenact. Shit's gonna get wild. Would kill for a Monkeized art of Akira though.

>>5176985
>calling it now
>not during Yuan's choice all that time ago
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>>5176636
>But only the Blue Haazar could continue your species DNA. Even if it's only 10%, you'd still live on. That was kind of the idea. Like I said, I was pretty sure it wouldn't happen anyway- Geneticist was the least popular choice for Yuan'Tul.
A bloodsucking slug could have more of your blood than your dog, but if you were kiled by one, you wouldn't choose the slug over your dog.
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>>5176636
>You would have developed the first Starseer in Kinja

I think that's more likely to have been a celebrity review/gossip show in his early 'fab director' days.

Starsight! - With Kinja Dulioan!
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>>5176693
I'm talking about public consciousness, I am speaking in a technical sense because we are dealing with a technical matter.

The Hegemony objectively has shown the ability to develop new methods of government and management (as that is how the Hegemony was formed in the first place.) So it is totally possible that we can have advanced in political theory and thought come out of disasters the same way we advanced our military hardware and software.
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The Hegemony was built on the ashes of the old world on a foundation of totalitarianism. I don't believe that the Hegemony has shown the ability to develop new methods of government, more the ability to eliminate those who pose a threat to the stability of the current system. A Marxian revolution is likely to end up with commies in reeducation camps and soilent green tanks.

Incidentally, Having Eoba be processed and publicly eaten in food cube form (maybe by oligarchs, maybe some other method) would be an interesting sendoff for him. Efficiency beyond death. Still fighting the war on starvation and making amends for the strife he chose.
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>>5177188
*Not talking about public consciousness
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>>5177678
The fact that the role of social philosopher even exists disproves that claim.

Quoting

>State-Philosophers analyze society and try to find the high concept ideals that society should be striving for. In other ways, they define the “values” of a society

That showcases the Hegemon isn't politically stagnant. (Because frankly, no government is .)
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>>5177819
However, state philosophers by their nature within a supremacist hypothesize values and objectives that the Supreme Leader and his totalitarian apparatus should strive for. They choose targets to aim the machine towards. They do not dismantle or dramatically reconfigure that machine.

Our lad Yuan'tul may change that
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>>5177188
First off, you ain't speaking to a bunch of social engineers, you're speaking to anons with vastly different education and experiences, hence why common nomenclature reigns supreme when dealing with the public. When you start dealing in technicalities, you've already admitted that you've lost the argument.

Second off, being the last government standing after a nuclear battle royal doesn't mean it's shown the ability develop new governing philosophy, it just mean it's ability to survive was just better than the other participants.

>>5177678
Technically, we are following Marx's principles already. An atheist, totalitarian government that controls all levels of a society.

Also, I oppose sending Eoba off as a food cube, such a fucking disgraceful send off.

>>5177819
Striving doesn't mean creating a new form of governance beyond totalitarianism.

>>5177914
Yuan will try to destroy and destabilize the Hegemony, yes.
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>>5177974
I don't really care if the Hegemony changes to a new form of government eventually, so whatevs
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>>5177978
You will when the scale of the catastrophe is fully realized. Remember, the equivalent catastrophes were a successful Monke Genocide and a literal Death Star.
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>>5177987
If we don't game over, I still don't care.
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>>5177914
But the fact that it *is* a machine means it can be advanced which was my whole point. If the astrophysicist disaster would let us improve space tech and the genome disaster would let us improve biotech a political disaster should let us improve government tech.
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>>5177974
The First Supreme originally ran a constitutional state, abolishing that (or suspending it, or amending it or just ignoring it) is a development of a new government philosophy, in the same way Republican Rome and the late Byzantine Empire had different governing philosophies despite technically being the same state.
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>>5177974
What greater honor is their in nourishing the people?
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>>5178088
Again, wrong terminology. And what biological improvements? You mean the switch to Blue Haazar or the meme immortality play?

>>5178092
Problem is, a new government philosophy IS a change of government, and I ain't about to give up the Supremacy without a vicious fight.

>>5178093
We ain't on biocubes anymore, and it ain't an honor to be mixed with junk and other dead to be consumed anon, despite your flowery language and platitudes to the contrary.
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>>5178111
>No matter what, this choice would result in a serious shakeup to the Hegemony- and result in a serious catastrophe, while unlocking a big scientific discovery in the process.
My whole point was that a similar catastrophe and discovery could apply in the political/governmental realm.
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>>5178111
Also their are several different ways a dictatorship can be run.

Caesar's Rome, Pinochet's Chile, and Hitler's Germany were all dictatorships but had different philosophies and methods of governing .

So changing the way the Hegemony is run doesn't mean giving up the concept of the Hegemon.

Like in-universe the Esaal could also be considered a Hegemony, even though they run their state very differently than the Monkes.
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>>5178017
This is a good mindset, people dont understand we are trying to build a story and anons will bitch and moan about certain decisions but like itll be so much cooler to see the hegemony rise from the ashes if we make a bad decision
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>>5178124
I don't think that necessarily follows. With the Geneticist route, it would've been a choice between a high chance of failure immortality attempt or switching population to the Blue Haazar, which is more of a option to gamble than a assured scientific discovery, and the same might apply to the Philosophy route as well.

>>5178129
Changing the way the Hegemony is run is one thing, we've done it with the Overseers and all of our other decisions as the other Supreme Leaders, but changing the philosophy of the Hegemony does mean giving up on the concept of the Hegemony, it's supremacist values, and even the authority of the Supreme Leader itself. That is the nature of philosophical shifts, it tends to destabilize and destroy the reigning institutions, and make no mistake, we are the reigning institution here.

>>5178181
A bad decision is one thing, rising from the post-Ignar ashes was interesting, but participating in the active destruction of this quest as an antagonist is where I draw the line.
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>>5178183
I can agree to an extent, I dont think anons should have chosen a supreme candidate that hates the hegemony to take an interest in philosophies he will use as an outright fundamental change to the core beliefs of the hegemony and thats gonna be a whole bag of shit flung at the wall, but its definitely gonna be interesting to see how we get our way out of it, might have a civil war arc that could be pretty cool, itd be tight to see some slight independence from a rival rough and tumble monke faction that we unite with to fight the greater threat
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>>5178183
>A bad decision is one thing, rising from the post-Ignar ashes was interesting, but participating in the active destruction of this quest as an antagonist is where I draw the line.

This. I'm okay with sometimes we take the wrong decision, and I'm absolutely fine with taking hard, costly choices that we will need to recover from over hard times. But actively seeking to self-sabotage the quest and the Hegemony to be 'interesting' is stupid - Bananas does a good job of being interesting with events, boons and calamities that come our way enough that I don't really feel we need to be working against ourselves.
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>>5178183
You are conflating the existence of the Hegemony with the existence of the quest.
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>>5178349
>>5178183
There was no actual "safe" option with Yuan'tul, so it was just a matter of choosing the problem we wanted to face. It isn't self-sabotage, because there was no combo that DIDN'T result in a major threat to the Hegemony.
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>>5178456
That anon has a thing about Xenos. Been reading about them constantly
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>>5178456
Bananas literally stated that a jealous Yuan'tul would have been 'safe' - yes he wanted a homeworld for the Blue Haazar in exchange for what he was doing for us, but Bananas gave no indication he'd have been a danger in that scenario even if he didn't get it.

And having Yuan'tul so consumed with his hatred that he hated the Jaxtian part in himself and the idea of working for them and took his own life? A single dead Haazar isn't really a threat to the Jaxtians.

We had two votes where we could have taken a choice that would have stopped him posing such a danger, and both times we took stupid options instead.
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>>5178380
Yes, because that's obvious.

>>5178456
That's only because you decided the hatred option was the option we wanted. We could have easily just chosen jealousy and gotten some decent science in exchange for giving the Blue Haazar Xin, which would still be under our nominal control. That is a vastly different circumstance than aliens blowing up celestial bodies and creating a plague to specifically genocide the Monkes.

>>5178521
Because the racist Yuan option was chosen. A poisoned well does not help us.
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>>5178601
A breakaway faction is questionable in its safety.

If QM accepted a meme "kill yourself" write-in, I would have lost a lot of respect for him.
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>>5178521
*Ree-ing
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>>5178742
Does it count as racism if its actually true?
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>>5178742
The quest goes on even if the Hegemony fails or changes government.

It's not like a video game where there is a set objective for you to "loose."

Monke quests plays out more line a chose your own adventure book than , say a game of DND.
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>>5178601
Bananas isn't the type to have "cheaty" options.

Envy and Hatred would have roughly equal chances of success or failure because if one was the "right" answer, we would have been given clues.
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>>5178766
If the legitimate 'kill ourselves' vote succeeded and the QM went through with it, I would have gain tremendous respect for him. You can't pick and choose which popular mandate you want to write, and which you wasn't to ignore. it would defeat the purpose of having a democratic vote to begin with.

>>5178829
Yes, because racism isn't about truth but how an individual feels about a race. Yuan is objectively a racist, probably to the level of Hitler.

>>5178830
Then what would be the stakes to prevent a toppling of the Hegemony? That's like saying the survival of the regime doesn't matter, what would be the point in playing as the Hegemony if anons can choose to change into a full capitalist democracy at a drop of a hat with no negative consequences of a game over?

>>5178832
The jealousy/hatred choice wasn't a puzzle with hints, it consequences were pretty self-evident from the choice itself. Hatred is more violent and self-destructive than jealousy, it would undoubtedly lead to catastrophe down the line.
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>>5178919
>Hatred is more violent and self-destructive than jealousy, it would undoubtedly lead to catastrophe down the line.
That's a pretty subjective statement. It's not called the green eyed monster for nothing. Lots of really violent and destructive acts have been done due to envy.
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>>5178919
>You can't pick and choose which popular mandate you want to write, and which you wasn't to ignore.

You can if it's silly an non-nonsensical. In fact, there's no reason you can't IN GENERAL.

>Then what would be the stakes to prevent a toppling of the Hegemony? That's like saying the survival of the regime doesn't matter, what would be the point in playing as the Hegemony if anons can choose to change into a full capitalist democracy at a drop of a hat with no negative consequences of a game over?

Or like anons choosing a character to off themselves on the drop of a hat. See? You do agree that not all write-ins are reasonable to allow.
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>>5179057
Can jealousy produce violent animus? Yea, but not as much as hatred does. With jealousy, you have to jump to hatred to reach the violent phase. Hate is an inherently violent and volatile emotion. This distinction is as subjective as there being only two genders in a human context, simple as.

>>5179107
>You can if it's silly an non-nonsensical.
You can call it silly all you want, but I was dead serious when I voted to kill Yuan.
>In fact, there's no reason you can't IN GENERAL.
Not if you want a popular quest. Weren't anons just complaining about a lack of character agency with Agori? Man, how quickly the winds have turned.
>Or like anons choosing a character to off themselves on the drop of a hat. See? You do agree that not all write-ins are reasonable to allow.
No, you misinterpreted my words. My point was that maintaining the Hegemony would lose meaning if there was nothing at stake in maintaining that institution. If losing loses all meaning, so to does winning, and the quest will be worst off for it, especially as it relates to narrative tension.
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Short Synopsis
After a strange alien worm appears on a standard transport vessel between Jaxt and the newly made colony on Xin-I and devours its captain (Allsals Duj); the Jaxtians are thrust into the wider cosmic community.

The worm easily convinces the current reigning Supreme Ruler, Agori Falathane, into becoming an advisor and diplomat; revealing a crooked network of greedy worms controls much of the galaxy. However, Agori is busy selecting his replacement- two genetic clones of past Supreme Ruler candidates; Kimnan Oles II and Eoba Garastra II. Agori prefers Eoba II, and gives him an ultimatum between himself and his "brother". Child Eoba II slays Agori- and in the resulting power vacuum, Ingar Durix attempts a coup by upending the computer network; and he is killed.

With massive devestation, Eoba Garastra II becomes the next Supreme Ruler and rebuilds from the crisis. He also makes a vow and puts colonies on all but one of the stars in his local cluster. The Nan system is taken back from the Baalathi who wanted its gas giants; and in the process Kimnan II discovers the power of Starsight, the ability to navigate hyperspace, but only manageable by biologically blind beings. At the same time, one Blue-Haazar named Yaun'Tul Scholiander develops a hatred for his "oppressors", and sets out to become a state philosopher for the Hegemony.

In one system, the Jaxtians rediscover the massive space whales that drift through the galaxy- only to find out the worm alien's origins as intestinal parasites inside these great whales. With a final worm appearing to taunt the Supreme Ruler- Eoba slays it in single combat and rejects all of wormkind, thus likely inviting their anger for the future.



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