A black screen transitions to the glowing blue ‘YINN’ logo, all of which then fades to a camera view of a modern Yamataian-style newsroom. The white-and-silver environment is pristine and orderly, and the camera pans to a desk occupied by YINN reporter Kazashi Chiba. The Neko’s ghost-white hair is tied flat and straight to the back of her head, and her severe expression and modest gray suit bring an air of seriousness and maturity the show she hosts for an hour every day. She addresses the camera immediately.
“This is Yamatai Interstellar News Network’s ‘The Interior, I’m Kazashi Chiba. Just yesterday, tensions rose to a boiling point once again in many cities on the planet of Ohara, homeworld of the Phods. In the Haton Federation and the Free City State of Klala, native police officers cleared the streets of protesters and demonstrators, citing repeated incidents of violence and property destruction. This marks the second time in only two months that Phodian crowds were forcibly dispersed by police in the Haton Federation; during the “New Year, New Ohara” protests at the outset of YE 46, more then fifty-thousand Phodian citizens of the Federation were detained by police in connection with political demonstrations.”
During Kazashi’s narration above, segments of locally-recorded footage were played, with YINN identifying the location and the date in bold text across the bottom of the screen. The native footage is recorded to strips of magnetic tape, and the quality is notably low compared to the usual YINN digital recordings. The tape shows Phodian cities lined with glass-windowed corporate buildings and advertisement displays for products. The streets are packed with Phod demonstrators raising feathered fists, holding signs and shouting. Some of the signs, thrust toward the sky, read:
“New World Now”
“Tech Ban Kills”
“Love It Or Leave It?
Fine, Let Me Leave It!”
The footage shifts to a scene of civilian protesters leaping over a fence, even as canisters of riot control gas are flung into their midst. A particularly poignant shot shows a group of Phods tearing down a propaganda poster put up by a Haton Federation politician, Yarl Teeton; the poster depicts Fort Ohara stretching protective wings over the planet below it. The poster reads: “You’re Safe Here”.
Kazashi continues. “In the Lage-aligned cities, where public demonstrations must be licensed and approved for specific times and locations, no incidents of violence were noted, but Phodians reached out to YINN to report that millions of citizens are conducting work strikes in order to advocate for emigration rights. Here is Olin Pirrin of Pinuu, spokesperson of the International Workingphod’s Emigration Union.”
A Phodian man, scarred and harsh-faced, speaks to a crowd before a podium. He wears an olive-drab long-sleeved shirt which has a military look to it, but which bears no medals and no patches. The building looming behind him is red-bricked and stoic, with vast stone columns arrayed to the speaker’s left and right. Words carved into the stone above the entrance read: ‘Supreme Ministry of Chuno’.
Olin speaks. “The Constitution of the Yamatai Star Empire grants citizens the right to move to other nations, as well as the right to political asylum, and the right to escape injustices such as slavery and political persecution. These rights are enshrined in the law of the Empire, but are unenforceable on a world which rejects the technology beyond its own atmosphere, and which keeps us in a state of scientific poverty. How can we fly to a new world when our planet's ships cannot leave our own solar system? It is past time for Phods with new ideas to leave this planet which remains obsessed with old ideas.”
The screen returns to Kazashi. “Ohara, which joined the Yamatai Star Empire in YE 28, maintains no laws restricting the emigration rights of its citizens, though politicians of the Haton Federation, as well as the Interior Ministry of the Lage Republic have, for decades, strongly discouraged mass emigration movements of Phods from leaving the planet. Both cities, and many of their politically-aligned allies, claim that a mass emigration movement would disrupt planetary economics and labor systems, and would in turn reduce Ohara’s ability to grow food for the Empire.“
The screen behind Kazashi now displays statistics of Ohara food production, and the export of that food to the Empire at large.
“Ohara’s states and principalities have long upheld a technological embargo preventing the import of Yamataian technology that the Phodian people have not developed themselves and at their own pace. Native political efforts to overturn the ban have historically failed, and emigration advocates, like those in the Emigration Union, argue that the technology ban prevents safe and effective emigration from the planet. Emigration advocates are expected to appoint representatives to attend the upcoming International Relations Conference, in an effort to identify systems to which they might move and establish their own colony, and to lobby for support in the form of transport ships.”
Kazashi moves some papers around on her desk before looking once more at the camera; the screen now shows the flag of Gashmere. “In other news, the General Assembly of Gashmere has announced…..”
“This is Yamatai Interstellar News Network’s ‘The Interior, I’m Kazashi Chiba. Just yesterday, tensions rose to a boiling point once again in many cities on the planet of Ohara, homeworld of the Phods. In the Haton Federation and the Free City State of Klala, native police officers cleared the streets of protesters and demonstrators, citing repeated incidents of violence and property destruction. This marks the second time in only two months that Phodian crowds were forcibly dispersed by police in the Haton Federation; during the “New Year, New Ohara” protests at the outset of YE 46, more then fifty-thousand Phodian citizens of the Federation were detained by police in connection with political demonstrations.”
During Kazashi’s narration above, segments of locally-recorded footage were played, with YINN identifying the location and the date in bold text across the bottom of the screen. The native footage is recorded to strips of magnetic tape, and the quality is notably low compared to the usual YINN digital recordings. The tape shows Phodian cities lined with glass-windowed corporate buildings and advertisement displays for products. The streets are packed with Phod demonstrators raising feathered fists, holding signs and shouting. Some of the signs, thrust toward the sky, read:
“New World Now”
“Tech Ban Kills”
“Love It Or Leave It?
Fine, Let Me Leave It!”
The footage shifts to a scene of civilian protesters leaping over a fence, even as canisters of riot control gas are flung into their midst. A particularly poignant shot shows a group of Phods tearing down a propaganda poster put up by a Haton Federation politician, Yarl Teeton; the poster depicts Fort Ohara stretching protective wings over the planet below it. The poster reads: “You’re Safe Here”.
Kazashi continues. “In the Lage-aligned cities, where public demonstrations must be licensed and approved for specific times and locations, no incidents of violence were noted, but Phodians reached out to YINN to report that millions of citizens are conducting work strikes in order to advocate for emigration rights. Here is Olin Pirrin of Pinuu, spokesperson of the International Workingphod’s Emigration Union.”
A Phodian man, scarred and harsh-faced, speaks to a crowd before a podium. He wears an olive-drab long-sleeved shirt which has a military look to it, but which bears no medals and no patches. The building looming behind him is red-bricked and stoic, with vast stone columns arrayed to the speaker’s left and right. Words carved into the stone above the entrance read: ‘Supreme Ministry of Chuno’.
Olin speaks. “The Constitution of the Yamatai Star Empire grants citizens the right to move to other nations, as well as the right to political asylum, and the right to escape injustices such as slavery and political persecution. These rights are enshrined in the law of the Empire, but are unenforceable on a world which rejects the technology beyond its own atmosphere, and which keeps us in a state of scientific poverty. How can we fly to a new world when our planet's ships cannot leave our own solar system? It is past time for Phods with new ideas to leave this planet which remains obsessed with old ideas.”
The screen returns to Kazashi. “Ohara, which joined the Yamatai Star Empire in YE 28, maintains no laws restricting the emigration rights of its citizens, though politicians of the Haton Federation, as well as the Interior Ministry of the Lage Republic have, for decades, strongly discouraged mass emigration movements of Phods from leaving the planet. Both cities, and many of their politically-aligned allies, claim that a mass emigration movement would disrupt planetary economics and labor systems, and would in turn reduce Ohara’s ability to grow food for the Empire.“
The screen behind Kazashi now displays statistics of Ohara food production, and the export of that food to the Empire at large.
“Ohara’s states and principalities have long upheld a technological embargo preventing the import of Yamataian technology that the Phodian people have not developed themselves and at their own pace. Native political efforts to overturn the ban have historically failed, and emigration advocates, like those in the Emigration Union, argue that the technology ban prevents safe and effective emigration from the planet. Emigration advocates are expected to appoint representatives to attend the upcoming International Relations Conference, in an effort to identify systems to which they might move and establish their own colony, and to lobby for support in the form of transport ships.”
Kazashi moves some papers around on her desk before looking once more at the camera; the screen now shows the flag of Gashmere. “In other news, the General Assembly of Gashmere has announced…..”
