O1 Galaxy IC Thread

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Czernobog
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O1 Galaxy IC Thread

Post by Czernobog »

The Kaiserwelt Herald

Anti-Piracy Act Signed into Law

The controversial Anti-Piracy Act, in its full form the 'Anti-Piracy, Slavery and Smuggling Act', has just been signed into law by Reichskanzler Otto Liebknecht. The act enables the military to attack any planet hosting pirates, slavers or smugglers without a formal declaration of war, and pacifist protest movements held demonstrations on Kaiserwelt but swiftly dispersed. It also allows the Star Navy to detain and forcibly board suspected ships carrying smuggled goods or suspected slave ships passing through Austrian space.

It is hoped that slave-owning planets and pirate-infested areas of Wild Space will soon submit to the recently established law.
You have ruled this galaxy for ten thousand years.
You have little of account to show for your efforts.
Order. Unity. Obedience.
We taught the galaxy these things.

And we shall do so again.
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speaker-to-trolls
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Re: O1 Galaxy IC Thread

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Ahriman Cluster, capital world of the 9th Empire of the Exiled, is a magnificent triumph of modern engineering, which is not at all bad for something which has existed for almost six hundred years.

When the asteroids were first discovered they orbitted the planet Gayomart in an erratic manner, frequently raining down onto it and adding further turbulence and scarring to the huge planet's thick atmosphere and expansive crust. Nevertheless the Antarctican colonists had thought that the planet and the star system which it occupied were worth the effort of taming this harsh environment. So over decades of painstaking effort the colonists had tugged, nudged, driven and otherwise moved the rocks into more stable positions, changing them as they did so into all manner of fantastic shapes; enormous cartwheels linked by spokes miles long, tubes of rock and steel like the shells of caddis larva, sticks with great gleaming baubles at either end, and many others besides.

If one had a time machine, a gigantic fleet of surface to orbital transports and a callous disregard for the right to freedom of movement, one could have transferred the entire human race circa 2000 AD to the Ahriman Cluster and only displaced one half of its people.

Somewhere on the outskirts of the Cluster, the twin silvery grey cylinders of the Chondrichthyen habitat spun silently against the black background. A well tended and affluent (depending upon one's standards for such things) habitat, it was unremarkable but for a small number of permanent Mandigrean residents, which earned it the ire of certain xenophobic sectors of society, and for the fact that a small number of dignitaries from the 8th Empire were visiting it today due to the alleged quality of some of its clubs.

Some 100,000 kilmoetres from the habitat, an unremarkable asteroid 50 metres across moved listlessly through space. The asteroid was well known to the monitors, organic and mechanical, human and Mandigrean alike, of the Cluster, and had never in its history approached close enough to warrant alarm, in any case it could be safely destroyed within minutes if its behaviour became at all remarkable.

This was assuming that the rock was, in fact, no more than a rock, a reasonable assumption to make, one would think.

Such was thought by the Cluster's monitors, at least, so those who were capable of such were quite surprised when the rock went from only a little warmer than its fellows, easily explicable by its orbital path taking it a little closer to the sun of late, to distinctly, worryingly brighter, especially in four particular places. Four places roughly the right size to admit the entry or exit of a substantial missile.

Defences were mobilised immediately by those either unfased by the surprise or quick witted enough to suppress it, and such was fortunate, it meant that a reasonable number of interceptors had a chance to move out toward the rock by the time its first volley of missiles had leapt from their magnetic launchers. The missiles were not to be taken lightly, they ducked and weaved and dodged with impressive technique even before splitting each into three dozen smaller objects. These burned on forwards, throwing themselves in all directions to draw as many of the defenders toward them as the second volley barrelled out of their holes and screamed toward the habitat. A second wave of interceptors had likewise been dispatched to meet them, but the first volley was still at large, doing all they could to maintain the gap in the city's defence.

The first two missiles of a third volley made their way out of the rock before the defenders defences were brought to bear on the source of their troubles and it vanished, beaten into a cloud of dust by a dozen huge projectiles. It had seemed to carry almost no defences of its own.

If one were given to anthropomorphisation it might seem unfair that of all the missiles, which seemed to be so skilled in their evasions of their enemy's defences, only three of them hit home against the Chondrichthyen Cylinder.

For twenty nine thousand people who instantly felt the impact, and nothing more afterwards, it seemed extremely unfair indeed. When the small group of dignitaries had been evacuated and had time to recover their senses, they might also think it unfair that the one of their number who knew the good Chonrichthyen clubs seemed to be missing.

This would have been a minor concern, had that member not been the Emperor of the 8th Empire and President of the Assembly of Empires.

Boom
"Little monuments may be completed by their first architects, but great ones; true ones leave their copestones to posterity. God keep me from completing anything."
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speaker-to-trolls
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Re: O1 Galaxy IC Thread

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Sunspotters News Affiliate

President Feared Dead After Ahriman Strike

An attack thirty two hoursago by an automated missile launcher on the Chondrichthyen habitat in the Ahriman Cluster has left more than 42,000 people dead, missing or bodily inoperative*, including the current President of Emperors, Hugo of the 8th Empire. No traces of the President's body have been found as of our latest update.

Sunspotters has been informed by various sources (found here) that the President had no stored personality's which could be legally recognised as a continuation of his own consciousness, meaning that the position of President, as well as 8th Emperor, is now open. Sources suggest that the most likely candidate for the latter position may be Joamy Alva, representative of the Jonas Tributary System in the 8th Empire. More about the controversy surrounding her as a candidate can be found in the link. There is no clear successor to the President, and we expect that the succession will be decided by a vote in the assembly, with the most likely candidates being Emperor Jocelyn of the 5th and Emperor Agul of the 9th.

We are told that an Assembly of the Emperors and the Widest Circle is to take place at the next available opportunity, and the date has been set for 1600 hours from the date of this writing.

*Complete statistics available here

Unusual Suspects

Sources within the White Fleet and the 9th Blue Fleet suggest that their most likely candidates are the xenophobic Ahriman based Human League, who have previously made threats against the Chondrichthyen habitat for its large Mandigrean populace and general good relations with the Mandigrean nationships. They have told us they do not believe the attack was motivated by any desire to kill the President, as they believe it difficult to believe that the plot could have been made so far in advance as to set up the missile launcher in time.

However, other sources among private investigators and analysts have told us that it was unlikely to be the Human League. One spokesman told us; 'If you wanted to kill Mandigreans this is about the worst way to go about it, many of them are tough enough to survive the decompression and almost all of them have themselves backed up or are capable of uploading upon death, and the Human League has never shown this kind of callous disregard for human life'.

A number of other suspects have been forwarded by our sources, including agents within the Lords Necessary, and agents of the Austrian Government, whose recent 'anti piracy measures' have been seen by some as a pretext on which to launch aggression against other nations...

Emperor Agul Criticises Austrian 'Anti Piracy'
Agul, Emperor of the 9th, told members of the Pan Imperian Department of Information that he believed the recent 'anti piracy act' enacted by the New Austrian Empire was 'no more than a justification for themselves for any act of aggression they might wish to inflict on defenceless planets' he went on to say that 'I want the Austrians to realise that any attempt to use this piece of nonsense against a world in my Empire, and I trust any Empire of the Exiled, will result in immediate and uncompromising action, and no amount of moaning on the theme of 'pirates and slavers' will convince me to do otherwise'.

His Elected Majesty made this statement some 10 hours before the recent attack on the Chondricthyen Habitat.
"Little monuments may be completed by their first architects, but great ones; true ones leave their copestones to posterity. God keep me from completing anything."
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Re: O1 Galaxy IC Thread

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Alright, well let's see if there is any interest to be invoked for this thing. Probably not. Keep in mind if there isn't I may end up derailing it completely into my own transhuman murder mystery.

Circle House, Easterland, 8th Empire of the Exiled
"The vote is in favour of Joamy Alva, representative for Jonas Star, hereafter to be known as Emperor Joamy of the Eighth." The young woman, with the body of a thirty year old which might have been suspected to be closer to nineteen in less civilised times, put her hands together and raised them to the assembled speakers in a gesture of gratitude as applause filled the hall.

"Thank you, Speakers, thank you. I am grateful to you for recognising my potential and my willingness to guide the Eighth Empire through this time of trial, and for dispelling the unkind views many have accused our beloved Empire of holding. Recent days have seen our Empire suffer terribly at the hands of a vile criminal action, an attack not only on the Eighth, but on all of us who have called ourselves the Exiled, but let me assure you, I will do everything in my power, I will shift the orbits of the stars to ensure that such a cowardly blow can never do such damage to us again."

Another round of applause followed. It hadn't been a very good speach, but it was tradition, and the Imperia was built on tradition. The applause halted as everyone in the wall saw the young Emperor's head replaced with the image of a dulled, miniaturised image of the red sun of Easterland. The announcer sounded again.

"All hail Her Elected Majesty, Emperor Joamy!"

"Hail Joamy!" The crowd responded.

Later, the newly crowned Emperor met her erstwhile opponent for the Corona out in the hallway. "I hope there are no hard feelings, Hugo, you put up a good fight."

Her opponent, an uploaded copy of former President Emperor Hugo, here embodied in a small hovering robot, said nothing, glaring at her with a baleful mechanical eye. Joamy became aware that the robot had sent a message to one of her cerebral inplants, then it turned and left.

A little later, after, as protocol dictated, she had sent the message off to a program used by the ILQ to ensure it contained no malware, she read it.

"Joamy,
You know my opinion on you and all your kind, so I will not go into that here. What I will tell you is that I will always consider you an enemy. I am President Hugo, regardless of what the courts say, and you have stolen my position. Rest assured you have not heard the last from me."

Joamy rolled her eyes and deleted the message.
*
From: Joaquin Jonos, Supreme Prefect of the White Fleet
To: The officers of THE LAW
Subject: An investigation and conference.

To whom it may concern.

In light of the recent attack on our territory and death of our beloved President-Emperor, we of the White Fleet of the Imperia of the Exiled wish to invite he most senior officers of THE LAW to a conference to discuss methods of crime prevention and counter terrorism in the modern universe, so as to better discern ways of preventing such heinous acts from being carried out again.

The Conference will be held in five hundred hours (three weeks) on the Xerxes sub-hub habitat in the Ahriman Cluster, Mazda System, Ninth Empire.

The White Fleet also wishes to discuss the possibility of joint operations to prevent international crimes in the future.

With compliments of the Imperia.
"Little monuments may be completed by their first architects, but great ones; true ones leave their copestones to posterity. God keep me from completing anything."
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