RP [IRC of YE 46] A meeting of cultures

[HarperMadi]

"Softening the... Harshness of the practice is... Difficult, I would assume. Our people have been doing this for millenia, we would be numb to its implications, but I see how another culture may find some difficulty. The Yamataians with their healing blood... I, personally, believe that the soul is an immutable thing, a part of the body in the story of its history. One can choose to remember or not, but end of the day, that blood still lives, and still carries the story of the people it came from. There is a not insignificant portion of Yamatai made from the same concept as our burial steel. Every Nekovalkyrja born of the Hemosynth is an amalgamate of the souls used to create that hemosynth, no matter their personality or programmed memories. And inso being, as they grow and make more, and return to it, their burial potion grows in the same way burial steel does. We... We just do it differently," Khelas gave a thoughtful hum as she considered it. "Like when a human body is buried in the earth. The component chemicals break down, leach into the soil, and enrich the plants above it. Many of these bear fruit or are eaten by the hunter and the farmer. Decay and the life it represents are the same concept, we have to shape and forge our decay or it becomes poison. Even for us. Many of our foods would be poison to you, creatures with the same chemistry as us. But that is not all we grow."

"On the same hand," Dusali stepped in, "Shurista has Separa'Shan immigrants and refugees, a Star Army Fortress, and even some Nepleslian settlers who must watch what they buy at the farmer's markets. But there are myriad options available to them, and more crops and livestock from more worlds being grown carefully and safely every year. We have to be careful of our dead, and the greatest use they can be is as that golden metal that forms the foundations of our Flotillas... Though that word translates wrong. I think the closer Trade equivalent would be... World-ships, roughly. I am not particularly religious, but I know Khelas is. She uses it as a tool to connect to the spirituality of others, so I apologize if that may sound overly... What is the word for bnyksydešgyc?"

"In Yamataigo, it's practical. Literal translation. I think what you are trying to say is pragmatic."

"Thank you."

Khelas nodded before returning her attention to Toidorno. "Fact of the matter is, you claimed your people spent a few generations in the same condition we have built our culture around. Take what your kin there did and perhaps... Carry it a few thousand generations. Where would that land your people? Did you break down your dead and use their bodies as fertilizer, then? Do you still? My belief says that burying the dead by shooting them towards your home star is rather... wasteful. And our home star was snuffed as you would a candle. There are no extant records of its location."

"I do find it odd that Shurista, Turassiel, and Katamura are all in this sector, though. Three Original Flotillas, all nomadic for so long, and all in the same place? Something special must be here."

"That is a simple answer, Dusali." Khelas gestured to Toidorno, then to the wider crowd of the IRC milling about. "There are people, here. Life. The Librarians can find you accounts of thousands of worlds, tens or hundreds of thousands, found dead and dying. Search any agricultural dome and remember where those crops came from, what world died and we found it as a survivor, and figured out how to care for its descendants. At any of our ships and see what little of it is not the Steel, and what it once was... And here are a thousand more worlds, living, breathing, fighting, but not at their end. We found something far more precious than a few derelict ships and scraps of plant life, here."

"Fair. But back to the topic, what is to say that that is the entire soul that is so immutable, Khelas? Is there another portion that goes on somewhere else as the beliefs of other peoples?"

"It could. I think it could be a mistranslation? No, wrong word... What is the term for a difference in definition? Like how one person solves a building problem with a square and another with threes, fours, and fives?"

"I know Shuristan has a word for it. Gedužutec. Is there one in Yamataigo? Is there one in... I'm sorry, what is the name of your native tongue, Toidorno?"

 

[Hollander]

The Qaktoro closed his eyes, thoughtful. Even seated, his length from torso to head was substantial, and he was taller than some of the shorter individuals moving about the park. It was a little difficult to concentrate on the heady philosophical questions at hand while the air boiled with foreign scents and unusual sounds. Perfumes, natural musks, the noise of footsteps and claw-clacks and rustling clothing, they all swirled together in a twisting stew that threatened to overwhelm the man’s senses. To combat this, he kept his ears swiveled toward the metallic pair at his table, his nostrils as shut as he could keep them.

Khelas’ thoughts about Hemosynth and the soul raised a difficult question. Whose beliefs determined the truth? Yamataians did not, as far as Toidorno knew, believe that the soul remained in the blood. Yet by Khelas’ words, the soul was an immutable part of the blood’s ‘memories’. Who was correct? Toidorno suspect that the answer that he might give, or that Khelas might give, was less impactful on international relations that the answer given by the Faith Walkers, or by the Senti analogue.

He opened his eyes once again as they the discussed the word ‘bnyksydešgyc’, and Toidorno was not ashamed to avoid attempting to pronounce that!

He could see the point Khelas made that the act of sun-burning was ‘wasteful’, if one thought of the body as a useful material worthy of recycling. To his people, the soul was of greater value than the flesh, and sending it to the ‘Eye of God’ was perfectly acceptable when weighed against the loss of meat and water. He grimaced for a moment, feeling like a salvager somehow trying to evaluate the worth of a life against the worth of a soul.

“The name of our language is ‘Takavonai’. It means ‘Speech of the People’. And as to your word… ‘Isâisâjyaon’ is the best. It means ‘different rule’. We use this word to explain practices that are… not similar.” He grinned. “When you are a guest in another’s house, and they make you a traditional, but they make it in a way different from how your own family makes it, you say Isâisâjyaon. It is a different way. It is not good or bad, unless it is good or bad.”

He looked out across the expanse of faces that were strange to him, gaits that were unlike those of his own digitigrade legs, fur-less skins. The universe was wider than that known by the old Qaktoro Empire, to be sure. “We have encountered many new Isâisâjyaoni since we finally left our Nebula. It has required new thoughts, new… Willingness to see other perspectives." He observed a Neko security officer, one of the Yamatai Security Agents patrolling the area. The thought occurred to him to ask.

"You spoke of your Senator as 'He', and your Aliset as 'she'. Do your Tsulrati have males and females, then?" he asked. He wondered whether he was stumbling into some new horror; that the Tsulrati built their children in a factory assembly, or poured dead metal into a 'mold' that later came alive.

 

[HarperMadi]

Dusali's eyes seemed to sparkle at the complexity of the question Toidorno posed, as Khelas wrapped her tongue around the Takovani word and what it meant.

"I think that the matter of the soul and its transferability, then, is one of these Isâisâjyaoni, if I pronounced that right... Anyway, there may be more than one part to see. The immutable intransferable part that is story and memory, an essence that follows intact with every use of the body, and the immaterial life and essence that goes forth to be reincarnated. Without both sides of that coin being equally true, why would elder races like ours have such different beliefs?" Khelas would have continued the thought if Dusali hadn't taken the opportunity.

"And we do have men and women, but the term can be a little ambiguous based on our species's adaptability. Tsulrati are rather plastic in our biology, to a degree that some Yamataian doctors found... disturbing. There are reports of all female crews going out for multi year cruises and coming back with pregnancies or children or men. And my own knowledge of my species's anatomy says that the male and female reproductive tracts are so similar that it could be possible that some of our species could swap reproductive function. This is further reinforced with some difficulties Dr. Sanssinia had with building Aliset's second body, that it developed male several times. Based on her genetics analysis of the tsulrati, she found that the sexual dimorphism shown may be less linked to genetics and more an at need development for--"

"Simply put, Dusali?"

"Yes, we have males and females, but it doesn't matter as much culturally, just an honorific based on presentation and attraction. Khelas and I are both Senti women. I am sure you'll meet Senator Natus later on. Females tend to be softer featured with more inclination towards fatty deposits, males tend to have more diverse hair, including facial hair. Females also tend to have brighter markings, while males have a deeper lip groove. Though it is rare, we do have transgender and intersex people, but that usually sorts itself out within a few decades." Dusali shot a harsh look to Khelas.

"I assume your people have a similar sexual dimprphism, then, but have met monogenderate species as well, based on your astute observation?"

 

[Hollander]

"Ahh... We are less... plastic." he admitted, finding the scenario Dusali described remarkable, and even a little amusing, in an odd way. His people frequently had their own long voyages and multi-year cruises, but none of them had ever resulted in changes of that magnitude! "We are one, or we are the other." Toidorno glanced down at his translator device, checking the Yamataigo words that had been used to convey the terms 'transgender' and 'intersex', and he found himself entirely unsure as to whether the Clan had any cultural beliefs about either, at least as far as he knew.

He heard their mention of Aliset once again, who had been called a traitor by one of them earlier. "Was Aliset also soul-transferred?" he asked. "You spoke of building a second body. Or is..." He looked down at the honey-colored pen on the table. Did these beings build their own metallic bodies? Perhaps even from the discarded bodies of their dead? He realized he needed to complete his question. "Is your... reproductive process... constructive?"

Spoiler: OOC

At this moment, I can't find a lot of clear references to the Clan culture revolving around those who are transgender or intersex. The CCG he wrote does say this: "Gender within the clan has no significance in the clan's culture. Males and females can hold any position within the clan, and have all of the same rights and privileges."

So for me, this seems to imply that it's a society that recognizes males and females. I don't think Nashoba weighed in on that topic any further than that. Maybe something for a future FM of the Faction to discuss with the site and clarify!

 

[HarperMadi]

"I have several children," Dusali offered a small smile. "From what I understand, the process is no different than for any carbon based mammal, at least in presentation. We get pregnant, eighteen months later, babies. But Dr. Sanssinia did contact one of my colleagues on the matter, and I believe the Star Army made a working Senti body in a similar way as some Nekovalkyrja are made. Vat-grown. I know Senator Natus's new body and the process to create it were based on that research."

Khela gave a shrug. "As far as I know, Yamatai does not allow the possession of another's body in the soul transfer process. So a new body for the patient would have to be built to specifications. I am not as familiar with the process."

"Nor am I. I would have to attend a Yamataian medical school to learn more. No worries, I have plenty of time."

"And it gets you out of the office."

 

[Hollander]

Toidorno inadvertently breathed a sigh of relief at the news. He felt that, perhaps, he shouldn't ask any other probing questions about their biology. His heart might not be able to withstand anything as distressing as what he had just been imagining, or what he had already learned. While the pair spoke about the soul transfer process, Toidorno stole a moment to look up a few words in Yamataigo. He had decided to angle the conversation toward safer territory.

"If I may, Dusali, Khelas, earlier you spoke of the seeds of the plant that is in your drink, and of trouble with the supply. In the Clan, there is a species of people who have a connection to plants, and who can perform works with them that your scientists may not have access to." He leaned back in his chair, his fluffy, short-haired tail swishing behind him. A Kodian passerby stopped and stared at it for a moment before ambling on their way. "How would you both feel about our Clan contacting your Senti in an agricultural research project?" He grinned, feeling boyishly proud of his use of those Yamataigo terms in conversation.

 

[HarperMadi]

Khelas's brow furrowed as she tilted her head, considering. "Agricultural research? It could prove valuable for both our peoples."

"I feel it would be welcomed..." Dusali's voice trailed for a moment, nodding. "But I would recommend thorough briefings on both sides before either set foot on the other's habitations. Missteps to avoid, climate, et cetera. With our preference for non gravity environments, and our species's high temperature requirements, it could be quite uncomfortable for either your member species or a Senti coming to you."

"Agreed. Though there are places where the heat is not so fierce. And where there is gravity. Here." Khelas produced a sata chip from a pocket. "This holds a cultural briefing and documented biology on the tsulrati. Alongside that, some methods for contacting any Senti already within your territory. Not tracking them, but to hear them and speak with them. Shurista can be found in the Lonely Expanse. The Star Army placed a beacon that can be followed."

 

[Hollander]

Toidorno nodded sagely. "We quite dislike zero gravity situations. Your concerns are well founded. Knowing that members of our species would not need to cohabitate frequently for this project, but when we do, it can be aboard the YSS Kyōryoku Starbase of the S S S." Toidorno enunciated each of the three letters carefully, as though pronouncing the letters back to back in Yamataigo was physically challenging. It seemed like his teeth got in the way a little. "The Starbase can accommodate various needs and comfort levels, and our Tula can conduct their work on your seedlings with your assistance and supervision."

He accepted the chip, observing it for a moment as Khelas explained its contents. He wondered what material it was made from as he carefully pocketed it in a pouch inside his blood-red cloth belt.

"Tell me a little of the Lonely Expanse. Have you foes, there?" He poised his question carefully, not knowing whether the Senti viewed combat or hunting in any way similar to the way the Clan viewed the same.

 

[HarperMadi]

Dusali hadn't made the trip to Kyōroku, yet, and nodded contemplatively. "I think that can be arranged. I'll speak to the Councillors of agriculture and sciences. They will await contact eagerly. Khelas, you gave him theYamatai made chip, right?"

"Of course. Otherwise we would have to send one of our readers with him. Those are heavy and cantankerous.". Khelas gave a soft laugh before answering Toidorno's question. "It is the empty span of space separating Yamatai and Duskerian territory. Not really much out there, and we like it that way. Makes the local pirate threats more... Manageable. Like bloodsucking insects rather than a proper fight."

"Doesn't the Cult of Skydas want us to rebuild our armies?"

"Not unnecessarily. Where a simple mining cruiser can tear a pirate ship asunder and a tugboat can sweep another away into the maw of a mining web? We have little need for a proper warship. Though hunting the se Defilers to extinction is something we wish to restore our warships for. When they come to us, they are a nuisance, farmers hunt them for sport and the last one that was found on Shurista was made a fine meal by some cannon fruit farmers. But we are not the ones they threaten. Besides. It was Skydasi cultists that tried to fight the Kuvexians at Turassiel. Millions died because the war fleet would not start and were not ready to fight. Shuristan Skydasi are far more reserved and clever. They understand that war is a lost art to us, and we should learn from others."

"Explains your hatred for Aliset, then. She chose Yamatai over your plans for the first Senti warrior. You wanted her at your side, the Sword of Shurista and the Heir of Skydas, a Councils member, not some random Senti in the Star Army." Dusali shook her head, seemingly disappointed as Khelas rolled her eyes. "Back to the matter, then... The lonely expanse is relatively quiet. Senti live between stars, and our Flotillas stay hidden, there."

"All who followed her to the Star Army did so because they agreed it was the right thing to do. Some are coming back with skills useful in the goal of defending our community."

 

[Hollander]

Toidorno struggled to follow the politics being discussed, and the names and titles flew past him like hawks soaring over clouds. Still, some terms stuck out. Defilers, naturally. Pirates. Aliset, once again. He began to wonder whether it would be possible for him to meet this person who inspired such strong feelings in Dusali and Khelas. Strong feelings of two different kinds, it seemed.

"If there is an opportunity for our peoples to hunt Defilers together, I cannot envision a scenario where we would decline an invitation to a kill." Toidorno said, holding up a clenched paw. His tail whisked once more, apparently a pretty active part of his body language. "And to your pirates, are they common in your territory? I wonder what they seek in an area of space described as 'lonely'."

Separately, his curiosity had been growing about this Aliset. He had to ask. "What is the role of this Aliset in your current government? It sounds as though she has had a great impact on your Senti."

 

[HarperMadi]

"They are as common as in any other portion of the territory," Dusali gave a shrug. "Pirates are everywhere, whatever the Star Army may tell you. But they tend to try escaping jurisdiction by seeking out ungoverned and abandoned space as a safe reclusion. They can be the simple polite highway robbers like the Katamuran Senti, or they can be the more violent and slaving like Kuvexian remnants. Either way, the solution is the same. Be able to fight them off when negotiation fails. Except there is a bit of a thing..."

"Are you calling the First Law a thing, Dusali? The law that requires us to observe all peoples as such until they prove to be predators by violation of mind, body, or soul, and thus become not people but threats to be exterminated with a clean blow of knife?"

"When you put it like that, it's almost as shocking to the other races as burial steel. But yes, there is no quarter for any who would violate another's basic autonomy." Dusali hesitated before tapping Khelas on the shoulder at Toidorno's second question. "Let me answer this one. You will be Rustybe."

"Wrathful, you mean. Of course."

"Aliset iš gynu myeju Kōun is a formerly Shuristan warrior of the Star Army. She was placed upon the Councils for her being the first of our people in half a million years to become a warrior, and thus, had the most experience in military matters. We recused ourselves during the height of the Kuvexian war, branding ourselves as cowards in her eyes. A stain I doubt she will ever forgive, especially given she lost two husbands to that war, and many friends. She... She forfeit her claim to Shuristan citizenship, the Councils, and any ship bearing the Shuristan flag. She believes a person's legacy is not of their family, but solely their own to build. And that tradition is for the dead. Khelas sees her as a traitor to her culture and home. Aliset believes Shurista abandoned her as a child and proved it when we abandoned all Senti in the Star Army for our own safety. I find it hard to not see her point. Her cousin, Sutessetu Soren, is a dear friend of mine. I have known her since she was a child. She wanted to be an astrocartographer when she was young. Her grandmother wanted to train her as a Smith. In stead, people like myself and Khelas forced her into the postal service as a freighter captain. We two were not involved in this decision, but I believe there was some... Racial motivation."

"She is Skydasir. We have no use for a warrior caste. Hers is obsolete, and cannot thrive as a Smith or cartographer."

"Senti ethnicity usually comes with significant physiological changes. Skydasir like Aliset have spectacular reaction times and faster nerves, with speed and great feats of strength with long recovery times. Allows them to handle stressful situations and overwhelming danger with quick reaction and instinctive solutions. Many myths point towards Skydasir heritage coming from the last war, but I cannot confirm this. I am a Smith. Enduring, able to handle harsher heat and radiation than other ethnicities, with a neurology more attuned to detail tasks and long periods of intense focus. Khelas is a Kusot. Many-Blood. Her ethnic group isn't as specialized as any other. Kind of the average all rounder of our species. And stubborn as any tricentennial by nature."

"The attitudes towards ethnicities in our people can be seen as harsh. But our trials of adulthood are designed to identify individual aptitudes and build upon those with later training. Unfortunately, the type of body we have plays a larger role than we like to admit. Anyway. Aliset was, as Dusali said, to be the Sword of Shurista. She would have been the one captaining the first warship restored from the Grand Library, if she had risen to the challenge. In stead, she cast aside her duty to her species and people to chase some idealistic dream of earning her way where the soldiers are built for perfection and she had nothing left to fight for." Khelas gave a shrug. "Aliset is a traitor and pays the price with her failures. A walking policy disaster since I went to the school of xenodiplomacy with her. What little I know of her is that she avoids the Conference, and if her Captain dragged her here, she left at the first opportunity. Probably drowning her sorrows with the Nepleslians, and we will see her arrested by Yamataian security for some drunken stupidity. And when she is done, she will fade into obscurity like so many other bullheaded idealists who couldn't make their ideals work."

"I was trying to be nice about it. You sure she will be just another forge spark?"

"Without a doubt. She will try. She will fail. It is her nature. She should have been content where she was, and done her duty. The self is nothing without the family. There is no such thing as a one man army or a hero. The more she fights that, the more she will find herself choking on her isolation and impotence. We would welcome her back, of course, but she is stubborn. It is not worth the effort to reclaim her."

 

[Hollander]

Under the table, Toidorno flexed his catlike legs, working the long and lean muscles so that they didn't seize up too badly. As he did, he attempted to absorb the tale of Aliset, acknowledging that it was coming through the filter of these two Senti women, who may have their own biases and agendas in the telling.

More than a few of the beliefs Aliset seemed to express were concerning, but there were some he might find agreement with. To withdraw from a war could mean a violation of the second tenet of the Clan's Code: "Be fierce in the face of your prey". Forfeiting her citizenship separated her from her Clan... Or in this context, her former nation. Such an act ought to meant that she could no longer bring honor or dishonor to that nation, and could be seen as a rightly act. The idea that 'tradition is for the dead' was one he couldn't agree with. The clan believed that the ancestral spirits of their dead could, perhaps for a time, intervene in the fate of the universe. Tradition was a thing for the living and the dead. He wondered whether this phrase had a different meaning for a species whose dead continued on in their structures and tools?

"Trials of adulthood?" he repeated immediately latching on to this mentioned concept. But he hushed his curiosity, attempting to parse through the information about Senti ethnicities. The metal people took many forms, it seemed.

"If she has set aside your flag, and instead wears the uniform of the Star Army, then surely none see her as representative of your people. Though some follow her example... She is a soldier. Soldiers in the Star Army cannot be politicians." He leaned back, suddenly unsure. "At least... I think they cannot be? Perhaps..." He looked away. He had met a few leaders in the Star Army who were remarkably capable diplomats and leaders, and members of the military regularly represented the Star Empire to other worlds. It had been the Star Army's YSS Resurgence that had treated with the Delsaurians of the Koenic System, not a civilian Ambassador. Was not every Captain a Governor on their own ship? Or the Commander of every starbase a President?

"I... withdraw my assertion." he said slowly, returning his eyes to them both. "Is there an effort to censure this person who you call traitor, even though she has set aside your citizenship?"

 

[HarperMadi]

"Coming of age tests and rituals. Nothing special, unless you're curious." Dusali gave a shrug.

"Unfortunately, many people see Aliset and see Senti. She is still the first warrior of the species, and is still the first Shuristan to join the Star Army, so in a way, she does represent us. Hers may still be the face people imagine when Senti in the Star Army comes up. Even if there are higher ranked individuals. Thousands followed her example. Some still do. Most will return home. As for her censure... There may be some. I know I do. But I am a Governor. I have no power in the Councils, and I simply interpret the law and act as a representative between the Councils and the Yamataians. The same with the Senator. He is our voice in the Senate hall, but he is beholden to the Councils as I am. I do not presume to know how the general council feels about her." Khelas shook her head and looked to Dusali.

"I am a member of the General Council. Specifically, I represent the medical community. My councils have no opinion on her. In fact, she has made significant advances in medicine possible for us. I know the Skydasi cults have... conflicting views on her. Many see her as Khelas does. That she was foolish and idealistic and not worth the effort to elevate to her station. Others see her as a trailblazer and the rightful ruler. Some even claim she is descended from mythical figures such as Rustybe Eskydas and Shurista, the former Captain of the warship Skydas, and the founder of Shurista Flotilla, respectively. But the records are fragmentary at best. What I know is that she chose the wider Kikyo Sector over Shurista. I see no shame in it. But she would feel responsible for every Senti in every military, and would feel personally responsible for every one that dies in battle. That is punishment enough."

"I disagree, but shaming her publicly is beyond my current capacity and authority."

"You never liked her, though."

"Does that matter in the grand scheme?"

"If your censure is personally motivated, it is invalid and you know it. Do not hide behind logic for your failing. What was it she said to you the last time you talked? Burn in your holy war like the rest of the Skydasi or choke on the holy vacuum of the Isolationist?"

"That was at the last IRC. Right before she stripped off her suit, threw her emblem at me, and strode naked through the star fortress to return to the Star Army. I think it's more likely our hatred of each other is mutual."

"You are forty years her senior. I feel like there would have been some gem of wisdom for dealing with her?"

"She is uniquely stereotypical. But to answer Toidorno's question, I wish to censure her. But the rest of the Council is divided and likely will be for many decades as usual."

 

[Hollander]

Toidorno attempted to lead forward onto the table, but he was just a bit too tall for that maneuver to be comfortable, and so he found himself placing his arms out to the sides to grasp its edges instead. The status of Aliset and her significance in the minds of the common people was a curious dilemma. In the Clan, an individual could be exiled, cast out from Family and House, spurned from Sect. Their actions no longer conferred honor or dishonor upon anyone but themselves. But for the Senti, such political acts might not change what others perceived. He heard Dusali speak of this person as a possible 'rightful ruler', and that phrase caught his attention. He wondered whether the Senti were more or less democratic than the Clan. Perhaps they were closer to the practices of the Star Empire, in that regard?

"You spoke of whether she might be a 'rightful ruler'. Is she of a... hereditary... monarchy? Or a ruling caste?"

Separately, because the anecdote of Aliset apparently stripping off her clothes and walking through the Conference of two years ago shocked and amused him, he asked them both. "Do you expect a... similarly troubling event to occur at this conference, with regard to Aliset?"

 

[HarperMadi]

"We don't have hereditary rule," Khelas clarified. "Our governance is based on pattern of expertise and volunteerism. We govern by Councils of volunteer experts who make decisions based on their knowledge base. Why Dusali is so special as a member of the General Council. Three hundred year old doctors with centuries of practice have deferred to her expertise in multspecies medicine and biology. I was the only volunteer for the Governor title, and Shretas the only volunteer for Senator. Aliset is rightful in her experience as a freighter captain on the Shurista-Turassiel-Katamura route, dealing with pirates all her life and then joining the Star Army. She would have been the foremost expert on warfare and military matters, joining the General Council to advise on military and diplomatic matters with our allies and rulers, referring specifically to Yamatai. That would have put her in a major leadership position in the Skydasi Cult."

"Which she clearly took offense to. The personal legacy thing Aliset is so fierce about is actually pretty normal for us. In fact, we are often romantically attracted to achievement and skill, building multifaceted family webs of highly skilled people. While she was rather overweight and not physically attractive when last I saw her, she is a highly skilled navigator and has a lot of leadership potential. There are several of my own friends who would court her for her deeds. Even one of my husbands. I don't expect any trouble from her. We didn't bring her here, and I highly doubt anyone would be foolish enough to force her to be here. If she is, she will be seeking out cultures she knows and making an effort to find something to place her faith in due to the fact that she lost the culture she grew up in. So Khelas's crude assessment of drinking with the Nepleslians seems accurate, as she did marry one. And I suppose physical beauty varies from species to species." Dusali offered a small shrug.

"I'm not sure if there is a specific 'ruling caste' ethnic group in the tsulrati as a species. But hereditary rule seems common among the humanoids. I know Yamatai employs a figurehead empress and ruling family, and I have met with and rather like the Empress. What of your people, then? How does the government of the Clan work?"

 

[Hollander]

The acting Ambassador of the Hidden Sun Clan made a mental note regarding Senti romantic attraction. He wasn't the type of man (or more properly, the type of cat-man) to boast about his station or his accomplishments, but if he were, would that have led to alien desires? Toidorno then had to remember that these beings lived for hundreds of years! Were they impressed with the mere 'blip', comparatively, of a forty or even sixty-year life? He thought further about this Senti habit, and he wondered whether that was truly so different from his own culture... Was it an attraction to achievement, or an attraction to the traits that often led to achievement? Traits like trustworthiness, drive, sincerity, intelligence, confidence, to name a few possibilities?

The fact that his Aliset was not present was both a relief, and a disappointment. Encountering her would likely have been a diplomatic challenge.

"I would describe it as large." Toidorno began, answering Khelas' question about the government of the Clan. "Our government is directed by a Council with..." he doublechecked how to say the number. "Sixty-and-nine seats. Many are held by leaders of Houses, which are... a social group made up of many families. Others are held by those who direct... the Sects, which are... occupational groups made up of people from many different houses or families. We have a minority species, the Tula, who hold two seats, and a single Leader, who holds one seat and has some additional powers. The Council makes many choices with regard to the Clan as a whole."

He felt it would be prudent to relate to their shared history aboard-ships. "In the time of our spaceborne exodus, each ship coordinated with each other, but... Not being close made it a challenge to feel unified. Once we arrived in the Nebula where we live, to the South... We joined all our ships together, and formed a single station out of them. It brought our... separate people and separate ships into one." His ears flicked curiously. "You Tsulrati have many large ships. If you brought your ships together into one, what would happen?"

 

[HarperMadi]

Khelas and Dusali exchanged a look, wordlessly noting how similar Clan history was to their own, until dusali pulled a device from her pocket, setting it on the table to pair with het tablet. "Pairing code for this is 0125. But first..."

She sent a file to it, showing a model that seemed tiny, only a holographic display of a scant foot. But what it showed was an aggregate disc of that same golden metal, with swarms of blips around it. In the center like too small a crown, one could pick out the white arms of a recently installed Zodiac Star Fortress. "We fuse our ships now, when they grow too old to fly, or when repairs begin to weigh down the family. That is Shurista."

Khelas continued Dusali's statement. "Nine thousand and three hundred Yamataian kilometers in diameter. Population of eight point seven five billion. A small and sparsely populated Flotilla. But half a million years ago, it was a small fleet of ships. Perhaps a million lives. And it is mobile."

"You see, then, why our kind rarely visit stars. A Flotilla sized vessel, or even the former Kyoto class vessel we came to this conference aboard, would be difficult and dangerous to maneuver inside a star's influence, let alone escape it. Orbiting a planet would tear Shurista apart due to tidal forces. Shurista can maneuver about... One eighth the sped of light, or traverse FTL at about five light years per hour. It is not fast, by any means. Your explanation reminds me of our earliest histories, before the Skydas War, before Sentisura convinced our people to observe and travel between the stars, rather than living in their light, and before history faded and became mythology. I would not recommend that path to any race, but we have gotten rather good at it."

 

[Hollander]

Toidorno leaned forward, engaged in this latest lesson in the lives and culture of these metal peoples. He observed the Zodiac Star Fortress, but he did not recognize it. "That is much larger than our World Station." he admitted. In fact, it dwarfed the World Station, whose primary disc was merely 67 kilometers in diameter. Their own population, even including the colonies, was hardly more than a billion, but these details were not ones he was authorized to share.

The two women had given him much to think about. Their burial practices, the plant for their tea and their agreement to research it together, the plight of their resurrected Senator... One element of their story remained in his mind, managing to stand above all the others. It was that name that had spurred passions in them both, which had seemed to polarize the two women and, from their words, their very civilization. Aliset... Aliset the Traitor? Aliset who had developed male several times, upon her reconstructions? The Sword of Shurista and the Heir of Skydas? A woman who had forfeited claims and titles to wear the uniform of the Star Empire's military...

Instincts weren't deliberate; they didn't settle into the driver's seat and calmly take the wheel. They rose up from the blood and commanded flesh and ligament to move, demanded that nose and eye and ear bend to its purpose. So it was that Toidorno found himself standing, and his rational mind had to move quickly to come up with an explanation for why.

"Ladies Khelas, Dusali." he began, his flicking tail betraying a sense of predatory interest. "This time you have spent with me has been..." he blinked slowly, remembering the word he'd learned earlier in the day, and which he'd wanted to find an opportunity to use. "Edifying. I will... review your data chip, and we will coordinate regarding the tea. I happen to have an opportunity which may pass me by if I... delay. If I may, I would... ask your..." He winced a little, the language failing him, and he'd already put his translator in a pocket of his cloth sash. "I must goodbye now." Toidorno announced awkwardly.

After exchanging polite goodbyes, the acting Ambassador stepped away into the crowd, focusing his senses. He'd spent enough time with both Senti women to pick up the commonalities in their scent; all he needed to do was take that unique Senti smell, and find where it was combined with Yamataian soldier smells. Yamataian uniforms, Yamataian weapons, even the black glossy shoes of the Class A uniform had a unique scent. Moving through the aliens as though they were a school of fish and he a shark, he drew all the strange and foreign air into his nostrils, filtering out the hundred-hundred unfamiliar notes to try to find what he was seeking. What clues had Khelas given him?

"...if her Captain dragged her here, she left at the first opportunity. Probably drowning her sorrows with the Nepleslians, and we will see her arrested by Yamataian security for some drunken stupidity." Khelas had said.

Nepleslians, the Clan of Machine Men. Toidorno knew some of their common smells. Gunmetal, olive-drab clothing, leather boots. What had 'drowning her sorrows' meant, however? Was Aliset swimming? Could the Senti swim? Khelas had then spoken of 'drunken stupidity'... Toidorno knew that this referred to alcohol, not an unfamiliar topic in Clan culture, and certainly not one unfamiliar in Nepleslian culture. Perhaps... Struck with an idea, Toidorno targetted an unoccupied Nepleslian, approaching her and politely introducing himself. His key line, after letting her know who he was, was this...

"I've always wanted to try beer." he said to her with a well-fanged smile. "A real beer."

********
​

Apparently, the Nepleslians called their Embassy 'Blaze's Spot', though Toidorno was certain the two terms didn't translate in Trade. Blaze meant... fire? Fire's Spot? This had nothing to do, as far as he knew, with the work conducted in an Embassy, but... Then again, Nepleslians had unique reputations in the universe. Perhaps fires were an essential part of Nepleslian negotiations.

As the formal representative of the Hidden Sun Clan to the Yamatai Star Empire, Toidorno had no official business which brought him to this patch of Nepleslian soil on Planet Yamatai. The Clan and the Democratic Imperium had built their embassies around the same time, but the two polities had little formal relations with each other. Even if they had... Toidorno was the Ambassador to Yamatai! However, this was the International Relations Conference. The staff who received Toidorno verified his identity, gave him a plethora of safety warnings, and granted him access to their building. He took a moment and asked about the name of the complex, and felt ashamed at hismelf for not knowing.

He also felt a little overwhelmed. This Embassy was... not what he expected of an Embassy.

Where Yamataian culture preferred for government buildings to be formal and professional, the Nepleslians... seemed to not do that, quite so much. He marveled at just the names of the different facilities on the property. The Roachmere Motel... Roaches were bugs, his translator told him, and not all roaches were edible. What was the name advertising, exactly? There was an indoor shooting range. There was... the thumping sound of either music, or of battle robots being destroyed coming from what must be a sub-Embassy titled the 'emBASSy'. Maybe this was a miniature version of the Embassy? This was all terribly confusing, but Toidorno reapplied his "Where's the beer?" tactic to great success, and found his way toward 'The Shore Leave', his nose seeking out the scents of a Senti in uniform...

 

[HarperMadi]

The tsulrati he sought was decidedly not in uniform, not anymore, but the scents clung to her like some sickly aura that allowed his trained nose to track her with the same ease as her bride's serpentine senses would have. He would have noticed by now how the two Senti women seemed to smell of emotion as much as speak it, though those smells were sharp and metallic.

And Aliset Koun was far from the only tsulrati in this bar. But she was the only one challenging a squad of ID-SOL to contests of drink, opening her bout by chugging a bottle of rotgut as though it were a sweet tea. Which, for her, it absolutely would have been. Senti biology was metallic, after all, and would not have had the same effect. And the Marine passing her her next drink knew it, handing off a bottle with some alien script on it, which she looked at, gave a laugh, and declared that "Alright, you folks got me, I surrender! Now who's up for a quiet drink and some good stories in honor of those who couldn't come home? If someone brings me a guitar, I'll sing a song my husband wrote."

"Nah, girl, you started this, you gotta finish it!" One of the Marines laughed at her failing bravado and took a deep swing of her drink, his face screwing in the bitterness as she gave a bright laugh.

"Alright , what would your CO say about you losing a drinking contest to a Yamataian? I'll drink Senti hooch and still put you under the table!"

"I'll take that wager! You're the one that hugged Admiral Barna at her fleet address! I'm surprised she didn't shoot you!"

"Why would she shoot her baby brother's wife? Anyway, a lot's changed since then, I've mellowed out, gotten nicer, I'm just here for a good time and to not be involved with whatever shenannigans my Captain got himself into.". Taking her drink back, Aliset drew three deep swings. "Turassieli whiskey... Not the best, but better than whatever rotgut you people call whiskey."

"That shit's sugar water to you! We'd be wasting the good stuff."

"You've been hanging out with the Katamurans.," Aliset's head tilted back in laughter. It seemed she had found her people, at least till she noticed Toidorno. "And a diplomat's here. Quiet drinks it is, let's make a good impression."

 

[Hollander]

'More than a few Tsulrati...' Toidorno thought to himself, musing as he entered the space known as 'Shore Leave'. The translation of the area's name was utterly lost on the man-cat, and the appearance of it didn't help. There was no 'shore', here, no beach, and though people came and went... What was the significant of the word 'leave', exactly? He did not know. It was open, very open, with tables spread about and pneumatic tubes moving food and alcohol at what were surely unsafe rates of speed, and Toidorno had to wonder how messy those tubes could get if something spilled or shook apart or exploded within the tube and... There were restaurants around the edges, interspersed with bars, and then there were restaurants that were also bars.

This simply seemed to be the Nepleslian way. Raucous, rambunctious, revelrous.

Toidorno noted the monument, the Mishhuvurthyar 'Ripper' in battle with a quintet of Nepleslian armors. The sight of the Ripper statue gave him brief pause. As a young mech pilot, he'd encountered those terrible suits... Like the Nepleslians apparently did, he also preferred to encounter them while supported by a team. He'd also seen them on 'Dream', when he'd first set foot on that planet personally. He'd had no idea that the Defilers were still there on that bombed rock, hiding...

He dismissed the memory, placing his paws behind his back as he moved from bar to restaurant, greeting other guests, avoiding stumbling revelers deftly, and all the while subtly sniffing away, seeking his target. He found one, two, three, four Tsulrati... But in listening, he'd hear their name revealed, or other context clues that told him they weren't a soldier of Yamatai's army, and couldn't be the Aliset he sought.

A bar populated with Nepleslians and IDeal SOLdiers and at least one Tsulrati was his next target. He heard himself referred to by the Tsulrati, accurately identified as a diplomat. He was a Qaktoro in robes, after all. He wondered whether he should be offended that they seemed poised to calm their merrymaking on his account... Or perhaps it was sarcasm?

He gave Potentially-Aliset a polite wave, as if to say 'Please, carry on', before he moved up to the bar. Some of these ID-SOLs were nearly eight feet tall, and so he wasn't one of the taller beings in the space. He was one of the only furred beings in the space, at the very least. At the bar, he negotiated with the bartender to charge the Embassy's account, something accomplished quickly and easily thanks to the efficient organization of the Reikan Park system. He then chose a beer to drink; in the Clan, alcohol brewed from grains were the domain and drink of the Tula. The Qaktoro preferred wines or straight liquors, rarely mixed drinks. As his species' sense of taste was abysmal compared to that of many other species, he aimed for something 'hoppy'. Toidorno actually rather liked bitter things, from time to time, and so he chose a wickedly dark Stout called Crunch-Thumb. He observed that the tap for Crunch-Thumb had a company logo above it. It showed a humanoid thumb being... crunched.

As he waited for his beer, Toidorno listened to the continued conversationa round him, particularly that of the Senti woman who'd noticed his presence. It sounded as though they were telling tales of fallen soldiers, so he did not want to interrupt.