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Terra novam wrote:Its interior is designed for people the size of Space Marine Terminators in power armor. So for armored Aesir it's a little tight but should be doable.

How about armored Aesir over a thousand years old and grown to roughly 5 meters tall?

Aragonn wrote:How about armored Aesir over a thousand years old and grown to roughly 5 meters tall?

My mind's eye has the passenger compartment at about 8 meters high, beam-wise it'd be a little narrow though... XD

Terra novam wrote:Jarl Brunnhilde and her bodyguards arrived moments before Administrator Vitaan and his entourage did. The arrival of Dysonian Titans along with the diplomats was met with some apprehension, but a quick psychic screening and these Guardian Corps troopers were cleared.
“Honored Jarl, esteemed Administrator,” Princess Anna began, bowing respectfully to both dignitaries, “please forgive our paranoia. We intend no insult, but given the circumstances…”
“The Scrin have creatures capable of directly hijacking the human neural net. Probably that of other species as well. We’ve been calling them ‘Masterminds’.” Continued Zoey Autumn, Emperor of the Novans, glancing behind at the faceless, purple-robed figures interspersed with the convoy guards, whose presence sent out an almost tangible humming as they passively scanned the area. “This event marks the first time in history where we’ve had to organize our handfuls of Psykers into a military formation.”
Marcus Jäger, easily the most intimidating person in the Terran command group, was next to speak: “It began a few months ago. A mysterious death here, a sabotaged server there. It all seemed unrelated at first. By the time we figured out our defense infrastructure was being fractured it was almost too late to act – people were being caught red-handed with no memory of their acts, it was lucky that an old Psyker picked up a resonance from a Scrin neural pattern and called it in. Even so, there have been attacks, more directly now… And our comms are no longer safe either. At least until we can get a handle on this psychic assault, we’re down to self-deleting flash messages and our new Astropaths. Of whom we have far too few.” The President of the New Enclave looked grim, determination set in his features. Even though Homo Illustratum did not age physically, his centuries of life were more apparent than ever on his ash-gray face. “Still, even the Scrin cannot attack us psychically right in the heart of our capital. Not yet, that is to say. Still, there is always a risk of an assassination attempt, hence the high security.”

‘High security’ would be an understatement. The swirling purple skies of Fort Alcatraz were streaked with the blue pulses of Air Defense Force interceptors as tanks and IFV’s ran tight patrol routes, and even the floodlights that spun the ground-side landing bays had been mounted with prism gun turrets. The normally bustling Spaceport was eerily quiet, as although continuous orders were given over the PA system the civilian personnel did their work in a tense silence, and under Lockdown Protocol the soldiers communicated via helmet com, not a word they spoke heard by the outside world. The air itself seemed heavier, as if electrified, giving a sense of foreboding to the atmosphere. The skycars and light aircraft that usually zoomed across the Fort Alcatraz skyline were conspicuously absent, while the skyline of the usually flat roofs of the city’s skyscrapers was broken with the bulbous forms of Searchlight anti-air platforms.

“If you’d follow us to the Palace?” The Emperor requested, gesturing at the convoy’s middle vehicle, a large, train-car-like hovering black brick bristling with guns, that was nevertheless palatial on the inside. “Mallory Jäger and our foremost Scrin specialist, Evelyn Riggs, will be giving us a briefing shortly.” Pensively looking down for a moment, she looked at the Jarl and said: “I hope you understand why we shut our borders so tightly? Why we had to evacuate all foreign nationals?”

"As inconvenient as it is, I understand," she replied. "While I cannot vouch for the mental security of the Alfir and Fenrir from the consulate, I can confidently state that these Masterminds will be hard pressed to take command of an Aesir, as our neural network is rather different from your human one. And speaking honestly, if the Scrin somehow managed to take control of my mind, the galaxy would already be doomed."

The Jarl began her walk towards the Brick, taking small strides so as not to outpace the humans, continuing.

"I am hopeful that the Scrin have yet to witness a race like the Aesir. Our minds, physiology, weapons, and technology differ from your own. If this is the case, my people could potentially wage a lightning war to end the Scrin threat before it causes too much harm."

Terra novam

Aragonn wrote:"As inconvenient as it is, I understand," she replied. "While I cannot vouch for the mental security of the Alfir and Fenrir from the consulate, I can confidently state that these Masterminds will be hard pressed to take command of an Aesir, as our neural network is rather different from your human one. And speaking honestly, if the Scrin somehow managed to take control of my mind, the galaxy would already be doomed."

The Jarl began her walk towards the Brick, taking small strides so as not to outpace the humans, continuing.

"I am hopeful that the Scrin have yet to witness a race like the Aesir. Our minds, physiology, weapons, and technology differ from your own. If this is the case, my people could potentially wage a lightning war to end the Scrin threat before it causes too much harm."

As the groups of delegates boarded the black mobile fortress, passing through a guarded airlock into the main interior, which resembled a sort of hotel lobby furnished with large, comfortable chairs that would even seat the much bigger than human Aesir, a bar, overhead chandelier, and various carpets with price tags in the millions, only the presence of armed guards and the knowledge that the view from fake windows was a holographic projection as between the bulkhead and the outside was a thickly armored gun gallery revealing that this was not an actual building; Zoey replied to Jarl Brunnhilde.
“I’m glad you understand. And I apologize for not stating the reason before. The Scrin have been known to not be able to affect every single species in Via Lactea, but still most species are susceptible to their mind control. I shudder to think what would happen if the Aesir Empire would be compromised…”
Sitting down in a blue-covered chair as the convoy began rolling, she continued: “Terra Novam and the Federation may be the strongest economy in New Hyperion, but the Scrin care not for standard of living or the value of currencies. Your nation boasts the greatest military industrial capacity and strongest force of arms in the galaxy. They’d be far more interested in your factories that churn out railrifles than ours that produce sports cars. So by expelling all foreigners, we were hoping to direct the Scrin’s attention on us exclusively, or at least slow them down. It’s good to know you are able to resist their influence, my colleague.”

As Brunnhilde mentioned the differences between their races, it was Marcus who replied: “All these factors should play a role in giving your Aesir an edge, though I fear it will only be temporary. The first invasion fell hardest on us, but the Scrin also attacked our bloc of allied species, and even the opposing bloc in our Galactic Cold War just to distract our allies and prevent the other side from taking advantage on the Scrin’s Harvest.” Verbally capitalizing ‘Harvest’, the Enclave President, being Terran and thus all but unable to control his emotions, winced in disgust. “And the armada that laid low an entire galaxy? That was just harvesters. Seeders. Collectors. Miners. This time we’ll be facing down the actual Scrin military… Even if you can destroy their first expeditionary forces with a lightning strike, it will only buy us time. The Scrin are, at the very least, a galaxy-sized power. Controlling a million systems or more. Yet, we have some advantages… Admiral Riggs will tell us more on that. But suffice it to say, we are in a predicament, and we’re going to have to muster every ounce of strength to weather this onslaught.”
“Yes. They control at least one galaxy, possibly more, and even worse: we have no idea where it is. We’ve thus far been unable to reverse-engineer their portal technology, which we’ve been working on for almost a millennium.” Anna said, speaking up for the first time and cautiously at that. “Scrin tech is inferior to ours, but their portals? We are a species that travels by jumping between dimensions and folding points in space like a sheet of paper… And we can’t even begin to comprehend the basics behind their method. Maybe you’ll have better fortune.”
“Please tell me.” Marcus asked the Jarl. “I don’t want to give you redundant information. How extensive is your knowledge of the Enclave?”

Terra novam wrote:As the groups of delegates boarded the black mobile fortress, passing through a guarded airlock into the main interior, which resembled a sort of hotel lobby furnished with large, comfortable chairs that would even seat the much bigger than human Aesir, a bar, overhead chandelier, and various carpets with price tags in the millions, only the presence of armed guards and the knowledge that the view from fake windows was a holographic projection as between the bulkhead and the outside was a thickly armored gun gallery revealing that this was not an actual building; Zoey replied to Jarl Brunnhilde.
“I’m glad you understand. And I apologize for not stating the reason before. The Scrin have been known to not be able to affect every single species in Via Lactea, but still most species are susceptible to their mind control. I shudder to think what would happen if the Aesir Empire would be compromised…”
Sitting down in a blue-covered chair as the convoy began rolling, she continued: “Terra Novam and the Federation may be the strongest economy in New Hyperion, but the Scrin care not for standard of living or the value of currencies. Your nation boasts the greatest military industrial capacity and strongest force of arms in the galaxy. They’d be far more interested in your factories that churn out railrifles than ours that produce sports cars. So by expelling all foreigners, we were hoping to direct the Scrin’s attention on us exclusively, or at least slow them down. It’s good to know you are able to resist their influence, my colleague.”

As Brunnhilde mentioned the differences between their races, it was Marcus who replied: “All these factors should play a role in giving your Aesir an edge, though I fear it will only be temporary. The first invasion fell hardest on us, but the Scrin also attacked our bloc of allied species, and even the opposing bloc in our Galactic Cold War just to distract our allies and prevent the other side from taking advantage on the Scrin’s Harvest.” Verbally capitalizing ‘Harvest’, the Enclave President, being Terran and thus all but unable to control his emotions, winced in disgust. “And the armada that laid low an entire galaxy? That was just harvesters. Seeders. Collectors. Miners. This time we’ll be facing down the actual Scrin military… Even if you can destroy their first expeditionary forces with a lightning strike, it will only buy us time. The Scrin are, at the very least, a galaxy-sized power. Controlling a million systems or more. Yet, we have some advantages… Admiral Riggs will tell us more on that. But suffice it to say, we are in a predicament, and we’re going to have to muster every ounce of strength to weather this onslaught.”
“Yes. They control at least one galaxy, possibly more, and even worse: we have no idea where it is. We’ve thus far been unable to reverse-engineer their portal technology, which we’ve been working on for almost a millennium.” Anna said, speaking up for the first time and cautiously at that. “Scrin tech is inferior to ours, but their portals? We are a species that travels by jumping between dimensions and folding points in space like a sheet of paper… And we can’t even begin to comprehend the basics behind their method. Maybe you’ll have better fortune.”
“Please tell me.” Marcus asked the Jarl. “I don’t want to give you redundant information. How extensive is your knowledge of the Enclave?”

Administrator Vitaan kept an even pace with the other leaders, the eerie orange glow of his eyes appraising the environment and people within. The attending Titans kept a mild distance from the other leaders, heavy disruptor rifles held firm to their chests ready for any potential attack. The message sent by the Terrans was beyond dour, and the Talos would take no chances. As the Psykers mentally scanned the attending Talos, the only clear image they could get of their minds would be. . .cold, as though they were appraising the inner workings of high-tech cogitator. Nonetheless, they were free from any psychic influence. "The short notice is forgiven by the dire situation, my friends. Though I promised my people only limited exchange with yours after the Terran Civil War, it seems the galaxy has other plans for us, as it always does.

"You will not need to worry about the mental corruption of us Talos, as our less than conventional biology excludes us from most effects of the Empyrean. The Scrin were mentioned in a dossier shared with our intelligence services and all of our calculations have put our chances of success against such a threat were. . .well, far below favorable odds." He listens carefully to the Jarl and Novan officials as they discuss all available information, his cold and unnerving stare switching from speaker to speaker. "It is understandable that a species like the Scrin would have little use for a recognizable economy, and it is logical to assume that they will be targeting the Aesir first to knock off their largest obstacle in conquering our galaxy." Upon hearing about the portals, he narrows his eyes. "As you might know, us Talos have extensive knowledge of manipulating the phasic layers of realspace, our most obvious result being our transphasic torpedoes and shields. However, we have been theorizing methods of utilizing phaseshift technology to produce an FTL effect. Perhaps our exploits can shed some light on this exotic method of travel our adversaries are so fond of."

Terra novam and Aragonn

The Aesir refused the seating, preferring to stand despite the size of the seats with the opening in the back for their tails.

"This will not be the first time we Aesir have stared down a galaxy sized power. You claim their technology is inferior to ours. We can use that to our advantage. Superiority in range and protections goes a long way to victory.

"Administrator, your people's experience in this field of science would be greatly appreciated. The more we can understand about the voidship drives of the Scrin, the better we can protect ourselves from deep incursions into our territories.

"Unfortunately my knowledge of the Enclave is much less than I would prefer to have. The more information you can provide relevant to the situation, the better."

Terra novam

Aragonn wrote:The Aesir refused the seating, preferring to stand despite the size of the seats with the opening in the back for their tails.

"This will not be the first time we Aesir have stared down a galaxy sized power. You claim their technology is inferior to ours. We can use that to our advantage. Superiority in range and protections goes a long way to victory.

"Administrator, your people's experience in this field of science would be greatly appreciated. The more we can understand about the voidship drives of the Scrin, the better we can protect ourselves from deep incursions into our territories.

"Unfortunately my knowledge of the Enclave is much less than I would prefer to have. The more information you can provide relevant to the situation, the better."

The half-dozen purple-robed figures, conspicuous “Oathsworn Psykers” who did not blend in with the military or civilian population, were arrayed in a circle around the assembled diplomatic group, vigilantly watching the surrounding area scanning for threats as best they could as the convoy exited the Spaceport and hit the highway to Fort Alcatraz, rushing past numerous checkpoints without interruption. To these men, whose faces were shrouded by hoods and psychic shields alike, the Talos’ resemblance to machine spirits was reason enough to clear them after a cursory screening, since such AI could not be corrupted by the Scrin, meaning they could focus all their efforts on their primary duty of protecting the Federation’s leaders, as the Aesir were an unknown to the Scrin and thus would not be taken over without them noticing, the large Xenos being far more gifted in the ways of the Empyrean and defense against its nefarious powers than the Terrans would ever be.
The Oathsworn were quite relaxed at the moment, sensing no unusual danger, but kept their guard up nonetheless, tuning out the conversation taking place as easily as switching off a radio channel.

“It is dismaying how often the promises we make ourselves are thrown out the window by the realities of life. Even more so when plans presented to the people that rely on us for their safety cannot be followed.” Anna told Vitaan with a heavy heart. “I don’t blame your nation for wanting little to do with the Federation. And had the situation not been so dire, I would not have called on you to fight another Terran war so soon after the last… Altercation… But as one of our ancestral leaders once said, a house divided against itself cannot stand. The Scrin don’t care about political relations. All they do is harvest. And kill. And harvest some more.”

As Vitaan voiced his thoughts after the exchange between Marcus and Brunnhilde, Emperor Autumn addressed the Talos Administrator: “The Scrin have no powers derived from the Warp, thank the Spirits. If they had… A war between Chaos and the Scrin would only end with the victor emerging stronger than the sum of the two as they are now. However, your unique biology should be a solid defense against their mental control. It’s unlikely to be total, but they will have to adapt, and in that time we should focus on developing a countermeasure.”
Anna continued: “Indeed, any direct invasion is likely to hit the Aesir Empire first and hardest. Without its strength as galactic bulwark, there is very little standing in their way from fracturing the galaxy and conquering it piecemeal. Still, they have the numbers to open multiple fronts, so focusing all our power there could be disastrous.”
Finally, Marcus nodded at the Jarl, then looked at the Talos representative with a twinkle in his eye: “Indeed your expertise would be appreciated. I can arrange for a few dozen Scrin portal gates to be delivered to you. They are, as far as we can tell, dormant, but undamaged. If you are able to figure out where their point of origin lies, we can take the fight to their accursed home galaxy.”

As the convoy entered the city limits, passing the eerie glow of a scanning array, President Jäger explained briefly the story of the Enclave: “The Enclave is an organization almost as old as Lactean Human spacefaring civilization. In the Terran Empire’s early days, a group of scientists, intellectuals, politicians, and military officers got together and saw that the unified Earth was heading in an entirely undesirable direction – turning from a republic of explorers into a race of conquistadors. Rather than settle uninhabited worlds, we took settled planets off other races, afraid that not doing so, allowing advanced Xenos within our contiguous space, would inevitably lead to war. It was a reaction to our First Contact, where we were attacked without reason by some species… But also made friends with others. The public, of course, focused only on the hostiles. In any case, it was decided to form the Enclave, a sort of shadow government that would put its members in positions of power to try and guide the Empire along a gentler path. I am ashamed to say that, for the most part, we succeeded. Ashamed because despire our best efforts, we have still had massive civil wars, decades-long rules by bloody tyrants, and limitless expansion into inhabited territories… We would have been truly monstrous were it not for the Enclave. Almost every event in our history has been according to our plan, except for two happenings: the Scrin Invasion, and Pretorius’ rise to power. Nowadays the Enclave is the true Federal government, the real power behind the façade of our elected government. It is an unfortunate arrangement, but also the only one that works without falling into outright military dictatorship. However, we possess certain technologies and methods the government does not, we are aware of threats that nobody else knows even exists, and what’s more: we have control over the entire Federal defense infrastructure. We are able to coordinate all our resources and fight the Scrin more effectively and efficiently than the Terran Federation – which is where the dilemma comes in. If we do not reveal ourselves and openly take command, I fear even our combined powers will not be enough to stop the Scrin ravaging the galaxy. But if we do, the civilians… I don’t know what their reaction would be. Panic? Anger? Revolution, acceptance, another civil war? The last thing I want is for this young Federation not go the way of the Central Authority, if I recall their name right. Yes, our technology is superior to the Scrin, but their numbers are so vast, and their morale is nearly unbreakable. They aren’t a mob either – they know their maneuvers. They are a proper army, albeit one that is fanatically devoted to obtaining Tiberium like a swarm of junkies. The quality of our arms only counts for so much if they can simply drown us in bodies.”

As the Enclave President paused to catch his breath and allow the other leaders to think and reply, the convoy, already deep within the city at its high speed, was waived through yet another checkpoint on their way to the walls of the Imperial Palace complex, where far below the Ministry of War headquarters, Evelyn Riggs frowned over a holographic display of troop movements in Via Lactea, where along the Fortress Worlds in the Terran Empire’s Southeast, several status indicators for army and fleet formations that had been green days before blinked from red to black, as more and more purple symbols converged on the borders of the Terran Federation.

Hey y'all, lots of fun games and stuff going on in Wintreath right now (I'm hosting one or two as well) if any of you are interested.

--

Invitation to Wintreath's Summersend Festival

The Summersend Festival is our annual festival to celebrate the end of summer and the coming of winter with many fun games, contests, events, and friends, you are invited to join us! To learn more, check out the dispatch included, and to go directy to the festival click the link below it!

Link to Festival: https://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?board=182.0

Link


The Summersend Festival is our annual festival to celebrate the end of summer and the coming of winter with many fun games, contests, events, and friends, you you are invited to join us! For more information, check out the graphic below, and to check out our festival forum, just Linkclick here or on the graphic! Hope you can find the time to join us. :)

Read dispatch

Terra novam and Aragonn

Terra dysonia

Terra novam wrote:The half-dozen purple-robed figures, conspicuous “Oathsworn Psykers” who did not blend in with the military or civilian population, were arrayed in a circle around the assembled diplomatic group, vigilantly watching the surrounding area scanning for threats as best they could as the convoy exited the Spaceport and hit the highway to Fort Alcatraz, rushing past numerous checkpoints without interruption. To these men, whose faces were shrouded by hoods and psychic shields alike, the Talos’ resemblance to machine spirits was reason enough to clear them after a cursory screening, since such AI could not be corrupted by the Scrin, meaning they could focus all their efforts on their primary duty of protecting the Federation’s leaders, as the Aesir were an unknown to the Scrin and thus would not be taken over without them noticing, the large Xenos being far more gifted in the ways of the Empyrean and defense against its nefarious powers than the Terrans would ever be.
The Oathsworn were quite relaxed at the moment, sensing no unusual danger, but kept their guard up nonetheless, tuning out the conversation taking place as easily as switching off a radio channel.

“It is dismaying how often the promises we make ourselves are thrown out the window by the realities of life. Even more so when plans presented to the people that rely on us for their safety cannot be followed.” Anna told Vitaan with a heavy heart. “I don’t blame your nation for wanting little to do with the Federation. And had the situation not been so dire, I would not have called on you to fight another Terran war so soon after the last… Altercation… But as one of our ancestral leaders once said, a house divided against itself cannot stand. The Scrin don’t care about political relations. All they do is harvest. And kill. And harvest some more.”

The Talos regards the Novan monarch with a softened expression. "I would have it no other way. The Scrin are not a threat we can ignore, especially after we. . .witnessed how lethal anything related to Tiberium could be." The Administrator was of course referring to the dual Tiberium attacks at the heart of Dysonian space, the first wiping out nearly the whole population of one world and the other leaving a gaping wound upon the home Dyson Sphere of the Talos.

Terra novam wrote:

“The Enclave is an organization almost as old as Lactean Human spacefaring civilization. In the Terran Empire’s early days, a group of scientists, intellectuals, politicians, and military officers got together and saw that the unified Earth was heading in an entirely undesirable direction – turning from a republic of explorers into a race of conquistadors. Rather than settle uninhabited worlds, we took settled planets off other races, afraid that not doing so, allowing advanced Xenos within our contiguous space, would inevitably lead to war. It was a reaction to our First Contact, where we were attacked without reason by some species… But also made friends with others. The public, of course, focused only on the hostiles. In any case, it was decided to form the Enclave, a sort of shadow government that would put its members in positions of power to try and guide the Empire along a gentler path. I am ashamed to say that, for the most part, we succeeded. Ashamed because despire our best efforts, we have still had massive civil wars, decades-long rules by bloody tyrants, and limitless expansion into inhabited territories… We would have been truly monstrous were it not for the Enclave. Almost every event in our history has been according to our plan, except for two happenings: the Scrin Invasion, and Pretorius’ rise to power. Nowadays the Enclave is the true Federal government, the real power behind the façade of our elected government. It is an unfortunate arrangement, but also the only one that works without falling into outright military dictatorship. However, we possess certain technologies and methods the government does not, we are aware of threats that nobody else knows even exists, and what’s more: we have control over the entire Federal defense infrastructure. We are able to coordinate all our resources and fight the Scrin more effectively and efficiently than the Terran Federation – which is where the dilemma comes in. If we do not reveal ourselves and openly take command, I fear even our combined powers will not be enough to stop the Scrin ravaging the galaxy. But if we do, the civilians… I don’t know what their reaction would be. Panic? Anger? Revolution, acceptance, another civil war? The last thing I want is for this young Federation not go the way of the Central Authority, if I recall their name right. Yes, our technology is superior to the Scrin, but their numbers are so vast, and their morale is nearly unbreakable. They aren’t a mob either – they know their maneuvers. They are a proper army, albeit one that is fanatically devoted to obtaining Tiberium like a swarm of junkies. The quality of our arms only counts for so much if they can simply drown us in bodies.”

"Though I find the manipulations of a democracy distasteful, I understand the logic behind the Enclave and its power. Though I would call into question how one could not see the rising ultranationalist fervor of Pretorius." On the point of arms, he shifts a bit. "It seems the best way to defeat these fanatics is to give them exactly what they want: Utilize Tiberium as a decoy to pull sections the Scrin into traps that will whittle down and delay their main force."

Edit: In response to Marcus's offer of the Scrin portals: "That would be ideal, I will send a communique to our flagship to prepare for the transfer. Our artificers are the best in the galaxy and I have no doubt that they will discover the inner workings of these infernal machines.

Terra novam

Terra novam

Terra dysonia wrote:The Talos regards the Novan monarch with a softened expression. "I would have it no other way. The Scrin are not a threat we can ignore, especially after we. . .witnessed how lethal anything related to Tiberium could be." The Administrator was of course referring to the dual Tiberium attacks at the heart of Dysonian space, the first wiping out nearly the whole population of one world and the other leaving a gaping wound upon the home Dyson Sphere of the Talos.

"Though I find the manipulations of a democracy distasteful, I understand the logic behind the Enclave and its power. Though I would call into question how one could not see the rising ultranationalist fervor of Pretorius." On the point of arms, he shifts a bit. "It seems the best way to defeat these fanatics is to give them exactly what they want: Utilize Tiberium as a decoy to pull sections the Scrin into traps that will whittle down and delay their main force."

Edit: In response to Marcus's offer of the Scrin portals: "That would be ideal, I will send a communique to our flagship to prepare for the transfer. Our artificers are the best in the galaxy and I have no doubt that they will discover the inner workings of these infernal machines.

Untensing a little as Vitaan’s expression lost some of its harshness, Anna recalled images of carnage, the Tiberium hell the Black Hand terrorists had created on Gherian. She had personally assisted in the cleanup efforts, and the sights she saw were not soon forgotten. “I am glad you agree. I only wish your experience of it could have been less… Direct, but now we all know the stakes. What our worlds will look like if these monsters succeed.”

Marcus listened to Administrator Vitaan intently. So used to being engulfed in the Empire’s internal politics that he knew very little of the goings on outside Terran borders, he did not have an inkling of how true the Talos’ belief in democracy was. Yet as straightforward as he was, he assumed nothing he could not observe, and simply spoke his mind as a man who lived and breathed Terran culture.
“The manipulation of democracy is the only reason our nation can function. If you knew our long and troubled history you might agree, or you may not. But suffice it to say – we tried for centuries to let things go their natural way. Yet there were always those who abused the system for their own gains at everyone else’s expense. Even in Terra Novam. The main reason for the damned Cult Mechanicus to become as large as it did is because the government sat atop their ivory towers, propped up by industrial money, while the infrastructure crumbled and robber barons paid the law to look the other way. Our species has the unfortunate propensity for short-sighted gain at the expense of everything and everyone else. The problem with our culture is that it is simultaneously extremely individualistic and patriotic at once, and the results can be, well… By the standards of other Human civilizations, each and every Federal Terran is utterly insane.”
Stopping his tangent as it was off topic, he addressed the core of Vitaan’s question:
“The rise of ultranationalism was of no concern to us. It is part of our natural cycle, our governments shift between libertarians and nationalist types. It’s a consistent pattern – the libertarians ensure government power remains limited and freedom is upheld, while the nationalists ensure our military remains strong and our borders secure. Both are also beneficial for the economy in their own ways. Everything seemed business as usual. Elisabeth Pretorius managed to out-scheme us all. But we did see a storm coming. And we tried to prevent it. The Terran Empire’s Office of Naval Intelligence, one of the organizations under our direct control, attempted to eliminate Pretorius before she could seize power. But our task force was intercepted by the Internal Security Agency’s counter-terrorism unit and deflected. That branch of the State fell under Gartan Kondraki, in other words, Pretorius’ former greatest ally. More direct action became necessary, so we turned to our direct action wing: The Black Corps of General Jackson Vaughn, under the direct command of Imperial President Tani who is, herself, a member of the Enclave. But the Black Hand’s paramilitary forces managed to protect their leaders even if the Corps managed to consistently win in open battle and destroy many of their worst projects. We also destroyed many of their military bases and rescued thousands of politicians, military officers, and their families they had abducted to force people to do their bidding. Tiberium mutants made from abducted humans and Xenos alike, Tiberium missiles with FTL drives, all kinds of terrible toxins and bred-to-kill animals and plant life, biogenetic plagues that only targeted select species. All of that the Enclave bereaved the fascists of and more, but the Black Hand Elite Guard proved, for the most part, superior in small-unit operations. I don’t know for certain how many of our field agents we lost to their Fate Squad assassins, and they even managed to discover and kill Marianna Drexler, our mole in the Pretorian Government. Believe me, Administrator, the Enclave did all it could bar launching a coup. In retrospect that may have been the better idea, but you know what they say about hindsight. So here we are.”

“Vitaan, you sir, are brilliant!” Anna exclaimed. “I never would’ve thought of that… Evelyn will probably give you an Order of Merit for that alone.” She said this in a jovial tone, yet it was abundantly clear she was not joking – the Federals’ creative sterility meant the Talos’ plan had not occurred to any of the Terrans, and just like that, a winning strategy had been presented.
“I tend to agree.” Zoey nodded. “We can manufacture ultra-dense clusters of Tiberium, and place them on strategic uninhabited worlds. It’ll attract them like moths to the flame! We may just be able to dictate their axes of advance doing this, and bottleneck them in a handful of sectors. Momentum is key to Scrin victories – if they cannot overwhelm our lines with their numbers, they’re down to attrition. Now, they actually won via attrition the first time around, but then they caught us off guard while we were engaged in another war already. And even then it was a close thing… They’re much stronger now though.” The young Emperor bit her lip pensively. “In far greater numbers, with more dangerous units. Still, if we play our cards right…”
She turned to look at Jarl Brunnhilde. “Our Aesir colleague is correct. Her Empire has survived many terrible threats. The Hyperion Empire’s wars of extermination. The madness of the Yamato-Hyperion galactic war. The ceaseless tribulations of Chaos. And Terra Novam? She too has survived. Chaos has hit us harder than any nation in the galaxy, yet we stand. 400 years of total war against the Cult Mechanicus and its techno-abominations, and we stood! I myself was only a young sailor when First Contact with Chaos happened. I was aboard the I.S.S. Ulster, the first ship ever lost the Khornate Daemons… But I survived. And if we can build on the trust gained during the Pretorian War, we can survive this too.”
Placing her right hand along the small of her back and shaping the left into a fist near her stomach, Emperor Autumn bowed to the Jarl and Administrator in turn. “What say you… Comrades?”

Marcus confirmed the delivery of 84 Scrin portal gates to the Dyson Sphere’s care would commence as soon as possible, excusing himself to the hovering vehicle’s comm room to set the chain in motion.
The convoy entered the final minutes of its journey, coming up on the outer gates of the sprawling Imperial Palace complex when an Everest-class Dreadnought quite simply fell out of the sky.

Moments before
Orbital Defense Fleet

There had been but a few mutineers, and when they made their play by storming the bridge and engineering sections they had been quickly dispatched. But to the vessels' crew's dismay, when the first group had been killed, another sprang up. And once they were dead, a third group, loyal sailors all, had suddenly gone turncoat and became hostile. It was at this point that an Astropath aboard another vessel detected Scrin neural signatures being sent through a small, cloaked relay some AU's outside the system. A command to a nearby defense platform, and the Scrin device was no more. The Psyker had managed to determine the signal's origin, a Scrin Destroyer hiding in dark space, and a manhunt was already underway. The Masterminds that were responsible had been reduced to a pulp by a projection of Warp-fire... But for the affected Everest class Dreadnought, it was too late. She had been sabotaged, and was now falling out of the sky, directly above the Imperial Palace.
It was too late to try and repair her. Under total power failure and with the command crew locked out of every system, there was only one recourse - divert the ship's course. The crew began evacuating as nearby warships opened fire with their heaviest kinetics, hoping to redirect its trajectory to where groundside anti-orbital guns could safely destroy the vessel.
Alarms and sirens sounded throughout the city below, but with minutes to spare there was no time to evacuate. Fully shielded despite the power loss, this system selectively being kept on, and well-armored, big chunks were blown out of the Everest that vaporized on its descent, but it was not enough - its drifting hulk came down some 25 kilometers North of the Palace, flattening two blocks' worth of skyscrapers and causing what would be best described as a miniature earthquake, sending shockwaves and tremors out that caused damage for tens of miles around. It was a small mercy that the pressure blast from the impact put out fires before they had the chance to get started - though containment teams had to be dispatched right away lest the battered fusion reactor melt down and irradiate half the planet.
With one small act of sabotage, the Scrin had killed a million plus citizens in the very capital of the Novan nation... But their bit to assassinate the leaders of the free galaxy had, as a silver lining, been averted.

OOC

Hold the f up, a dreadnought just fell out of the sky? If it's as big as I'm thinking, it should be causing an impact similar to an asteroid. Where is this thing dropping in relation to the Imperial Palace?

Edit: Not a planet killer asteroid, a much smaller asteroid. Given the mass of the dreadnought impacting at terminal velocity, the resulting destruction is no doubt enormous.

Aragonn wrote:OOC

Hold the f up, a dreadnought just fell out of the sky? If it's as big as I'm thinking, it should be causing an impact similar to an asteroid. Where is this thing dropping in relation to the Imperial Palace?

Edit: Not a planet killer asteroid, a much smaller asteroid. Given the mass of the dreadnought impacting at terminal velocity, the resulting destruction is no doubt enormous.

Made an edit to address this!

Romulan Science Directorate Would you let me, Aragonn, and Dysonia mention Romulan military and Tal'Shiar involvement in the Scrin conflict? Terra Novan and the RSE have our mutual defense treaty to work with, and your distance from the frontlines would mean your forces can deploy very flexibly.

FYI I'm waiting on Aragonn to respond

Terra novam

Terra dysonia wrote:FYI I'm waiting on Aragonn to respond

Sorry for the wait. I plan on posting a response today.

Terra novam and Terra dysonia

OOC note about IC:
Preempting any question on why this dread crash wasn't called in - a priority 1 alert from orbit to the Emperor takes 7 minutes. Since we're not at the Palace, that's 2-3 minutes more. A mutiny itself is not a P1 alert, and most likely wouldn't even be brought to attention of senior leaders. By the time she started crashing an alarm was sent out, but it only took 4 minutes before the Everest hit the ground. Hence, there just wasn't enough time to notify the convoy.

So how do we Rp. I've seen people simply leaving posts in the comments, is that alright?

Terra novam and Rationalist Science

Harkonnen Prime wrote:So how do we Rp. I've seen people simply leaving posts in the comments, is that alright?

Role-playing is essentially collaborative storytelling. Everyone writes the story together. Each person plays a certain character or faction (in this case, an entire nation) in furthering the story along.

Terra novam and Rationalist Science

"The Aesir will never back down from a fight." Jarl Brunnhilde stood as tall as she could in the somewhat cramped space and pounded a balled fist to her chest in salute. "Valhalla awaits!" THUD. The booming sound from the impact of the dreadnought very quickly grabbed the Jarl's attention. She immediately opened a vox channel with her flagship. "Captain, report!"

"The Odinblessed detected a foreign mental presence and shielded our crews against it, but a Novan dreadnought was not so lucky. The ship lost its antigrav and fell from the sky. It impacted some distance to the North."

"That foreign mental presence was a Scrin, our new enemy," she informed him. "Keep yourselves alert for anything else threatening our safety."

"Aye, my Jarl." And with that, the vox channel was closed.

"It would seem that your lockdown cannot guarantee our safety," Brunnhilde stated to Zoey. "We may end up with a fight on our hands in this system."

Terra novam

Forgive my silence, folks. University is starting up and that's soaking up a lot of my attention right now.

Terra dysonia wrote:Forgive my silence, folks. University is starting up and that's soaking up a lot of my attention right now.

Completely understand. I've got two sisters getting ready for school; one high school senior and one about to get a taste of that college experience.

Hey

Ancray wrote:Hey

My farts smell like cheese

Ancray wrote:Hey

Hello there.

Ancray wrote:My farts smell like cheese

Bro...not here... Come on. Have some decency.

Aragonn wrote:Hello there.
Bro...not here... Come on. Have some decency.

Oh okay

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