• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

IDS Yīnghuā - Log 2.0: "If you are far from the enemy..."

"Don't blame me for that! Molly takes some time to kick in. He was gonna do that regardless. Dood just wants to use drugs as an excuse to get touchy-feely." Jun replied in the virtuality, "Just throw him off the side and be done with it."

Xian didn't say anything, but she did move to position herself between the other Aos Si and Sakura to ensure that no one would be able to interfere.
 
Reina groans internally in the real and externally back at the digital cafe, "There really is at least one asshole in every group you meet isn't there..."

She sighs at the cafe table and picks at a new pastry in front of her, absent-mindedly looking at the hole in the wall, "Well... regardless of our feelings on the matter, please don't kill or maim him. It would look bad preceding the meeting, regardless of the excuse... Though I also second kicking him back back to his fellows if he's going to treat us like that."

In the real, Reina looked to Nardual giving them a tone of disappointment and venom, "Would be wise to step back down to your fellows before you get thrown down. I can't conceive what would possess a man to assault someone they just met, but it won't be tolerated. Rejoice, that we have other things of importance to consider... Any other day, it might have been different."

She looks down to the other Aos'Si and says a little loudly, "You keep poor company and your associations reflect on yourselves. Wouldn't you rather have others see you in a better light?"
 
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"Their metabolisms are better than the humans or something, I'm sure," Hosihko pointed out, thoughtfully downing another sweet bit of cake. "And I doubt you cheaped out on old-ecstacy," she glanced at Jun. "More importantly, look at this Nardual guy. He's totally different from Nimue's crew, so don't lump them together. Look." A television from the early 2000s *poofed* out of thin air and quietly landed one of the nearby cafe tables. Its screen lit up, and let them compare all the images of the Aos'Si they had seen so far. "Nimue and all her Maidenguard are dark skinned, since we met them traveling south from the equatorial region. This guy though - " she pointed at Nardual, " - he's southern bái miànbāo (白麵包)."

"Nnnnngggg!" Nardual gritted his teeth in pain. The moment Sakura let go of his arm however, he massaged the tender spots, cheeks still red with excitement. Though he scowled briefly at Wen, the Aos'Si Stonemaestro greedily grinned back at Sakura and all the other female Daqinren. "I see you savages don't understand the situ - "

"Silence" Lady Nimue. They all felt a weight to her words, and as the faintest of red sparkled at the edges of their vision, the Daqinren all realized that Nardual was making the motions of speech, but was now furious because he couldn't make any noise. "I am still undecided as to which position my people will take," she began. Seeing an opportunity though, Hoshiko motioned with her hand for Wen to stop talking. The tiger princess really needed him to stop talking! "I find it 'fascinating' that the Daqin Empire and the Southern States have very similar attitudes," Nimue dryly remarked.

As the golden eyed envoy lit up her long pipe, Hoshiko asked, "We haven't arrived at the 'Convocation' yet, but might I ask what it is you want for your people?"

"The same as everyone. Safety. Security. Freedom." Lady Nimue's golden eyes lingered on the tiger princess as she took another puff from her pipe. "The Southern States - that is a derogatory term, by the way - promise that through taking a certain course. But what about you?"

"We're the Daqin Empire! That's easy!" Hoshiko proudly puffed her chest up in meatspace. "Shoot. What do we give them? I fly star ships and kill things for a living, so diplomacy is still kinda new to me," the princess admitted, never mind how she had made splashes in one of the international conferences. "Do we give them guns or something?"

Unable to speak, Nardual grandiosely gestured to the distance. Off in the horizon, they could see a vast mountain range approaching, and nestled in the cliff side formed by a shattered giant, clung a gleaming white city.
 
Sakura watched with some amusement as Nardual tried unsuccessfully to speak. She did *not* like the leering grin he had flashed her way after sue ad released him. The only reason she had not broken as many bones in his body as she could as fast as possible was due to their ongoing diplomatic negotiations. But that look on his face shure tempted her to imbed his face into his neck with her fists. He was *very* lucky Sakura had good impulse control.

She was no diplomat, so she had little to no input to give to help the princess with, but did add "If more of them are like this mook, I dont trust them with our weapons systems" over the commlink to the rest of the group.
 
"I don't know these Tolken-folk that well. I'm not going to spend the money on something designer when a sprinkle of Molly will do." Jun replied, coming over to the TV in the virtuality to have a look. Everyone was talking about some kind of Aos Si thing that Jun didn't care to absorb.

It seemed like someone wanted a bribe though.

"I brought some cash if they're charging a cover fee. Or we pull rank and impress them with your princess-powers."
 
Seeing that the male Aos Si was no longer a threat, Wen stepped back behind Hoshiko. In virtual space, however, he brainstormed quickly.

"This is an opportunity to see what their technology-level is not just militarily, but also other aspects of their society." Wen remarked. "See how they respond to food and medical supplies, and what quantities. Transportation, such as cars, rails, trains, aircraft. These are things we can easily give with our production capacity. More importantly, these are all things that don't threaten our own security; we can always nuke them from orbit if they decide to stop playing nice with our gifts. Whatever we do, we don't give them weapons."
 
VR Reina leans on an arm and gestures with another, "I second that we don't give them weapons, at least not until we know for certain where we stand with them. Isn't the point of this whole thing is to find out where they are now tech-wise, possibly establish relations, and maybe provide mutual support if they can provide something of value? I don't know about you, but magic seems very useful... and possibly very dangerous with or without the knowledge to properly use it."

She makes a hand gesture and her virtual body becomes partially see through, showing a replica of her internal body structure. A bright crystalline bead of red nestles near her heart and seems to radiate power outward from it, "And, need I remind you, that we've developed these apparently... very easily and quickly just by being here for awhile," she ponders for a second, "Kinda like a 'friendly' pathogen that we've been infected with. If we're not careful though, using it could be catastrophic. Knowledge is power... and in this case, SAFETY. If its agreeably attainable, giving them tech and support in exchange for teaching us and having an ally with a semi-successful background in a space-fairing empire themselves doesn't sound like a bad deal. We just have to be careful and have stopgaps in place so the deal doesn't screw us over in the long run."
 
"Ah ha! I knew it! I knew it! You're a cheapskate!" Hoshiko accused Jun in their virtual cafe. Feeling a bit bad for Sakura though, she leaned over with a spoonful of cake, hovering it just shy of the blue haired tigress's lips with a silly grin.

"Naturally, The Empire would gladly supply heavy transportation vehicles, road construction, mass water purification systems," the princess began in meatspace. However, behind her holographic face, her helmet scanned Lady Nimue's face. The small, subtle scans told her it wasn't satisfactory. In those few heartbeats, she had to think. "But, that's not what you want, is it? You want something else. Something more important," Hoshiko tried coaxing it out of the cautious Aos'Si woman.

"Gah! That hex is broken at last!" Nardual gasped. "See! It's as said!" he came to Nimue's side, falling to a knee. "They will not treat us fairly! You must side with us!"

"Oh. You must be feeling it now. It's not like you to kneel." Gold eyes rolled. His cheeks turned faintly rose. "The ship maker is very representative of the people who's leader we are to meet, as you can see. They do not trust you. They think you are lesser. Most importantly, " she explained to them all. Though their attention was fixated on their conversation in meatspace, their visual sensors spotted the maidenguard signalling again as the city neared. "You have just a bit more time to think about how to approach this situation."

"Ugh. Didn't you say the north was supposed to have someone here?" Hoshiko crossed her arms. Already, the great slab of marble they were flying in on began to approach the hollowed out mountain, and several shipyards and docks with completed vessels of white and gold could be seen hidden within the shadows. "And how the heck did this mountain get chunked? It's like something just took a big bite out of it," she grumbled in their VR cafe.

"Yes, but they were attacked and scattered by the south when they refused to join the war. No emissary will come." Nimue's eyes settled on Hoshiko with meaning, if only for a moment." As the ship-to-be docked, they could see the gold clad marble vessels not too far away, and before them, a city that looked as though it were made of nothing but marble. It would have been full of splendor, if it were not for the abject poverty they could see. Between the glamorous city guards lining up the literal red carpet, and the peasants clad in clothing for the poor, things were clearly amiss.

"Shit, not good enough..." Hoshiko muttered. "Think of options guys, options!" Hoshiko then pulled an ancient brick of a phone from under her skirt. "Meanwhile, I'm gonna call for backup! MOM! PICK UP THE PHONE!"
 
Wen grumbled out loud in VR space. "Well, we didn't come here to impose our will by force; we didn't bring enough firepower for that anyways." He huffed. "Fine, we'll entertain the diplomacy game."

He observed the floating cities, and noticed the disparity in wealth present aboard. The bull was surprised for a moment; such concepts of economic inequality were only visible on human worlds. It didn't even register to him as a common trait that all life could share until he witnessed it here amongst the Aos Si. He then considered the male Aos Si who could not keep his hands off his fellow Daqinren, and the words of their impromptu liaison.

"Us, lesser?" Wen snorted, then paused.

"They're medieval." He proposed a theory. "They're socially backwards, despite all of the foreign technology they are showing off right now. Hold on..." Wen opened his database on human history. They were an inferior species, but the millennia of history inevitably produced good reference material for strategy and tactics; a diamond for every ton of shit. "In centuries past existed desert kingdoms that existed alongside more developed human governments. In return for the wealth of their lands, the medieval kingdoms accepted modern technology to stay in power. But there was no mistake; these medieval rulers were mere pawns. Once the wealth dried up, only then did they realize their folly, but by then it was too late."

"We can employ similar strategies here. These Aos Si are not interested in anything truly economically or socially useful; they want power, and they want their ego's fulfilled. ... Perhaps we do give them weapons. Weapons... and drugs. And VR suites, with every possible form of ecstasy they can imagine. With our anatomical studies of the Aos Si, we know more about what makes them happy than they themselves do at a biological level. We let them rot in hedonism. In the meantime, we take everything they know about catonite."
 
VR Reina actually rolls her eyes at Wen's suggestion, "There have also been historical accounts of mass uprisings where the advantaged ruling classes were overwhelmed by the peasantry through uprisings caused by unrest and/or resentment and many more where the 'clearly' superior force had to deal with decades of dissidents slowly whittling them down through guerrilla tactics and decentralized leadership. In either case, the countries involved were greatly affected. Some went through reform, but most were greatly damaged, with many governments and societies collapsing. Even vassal states turning on their rulers when the emotions of general society came to a boiling point. Hmm... now that sounds kind of familiar..."

She cocks an eyebrow ridge, "And what can cause people to react this way? Many ways, but I imagine blatant attempts at manipulation or the erosion of your society caused by the 'gifts' your benefactors give you might be a few. Like Lady Nimue herself, not everyone will take up such things and many will see what it does to their citizenry and quite possibly wonder about our motives."

She taps her head, "But what has history also told us? That the longest lasting societies and empires generally had a modicum of respect and trust with their allies and vassals. The best also had a healthy amount of caution, but people generally react positively and WANT to work with you if you treat them with courtesy and understanding," she pauses and thinks for a second, "And giving them things that could actually help them probably doesn't hurt either."

Reina looks Wen in the eyes, "Regardless of your feelings on the Aos'Si, tell me... Is it better that we have allies with mutual goals of advancement and protection or unknowing vassals that we constantly have to monitor for fear that they find out we tricked them and they retaliate... especially with a society that has magic as the ultimate wildcard?"

In the real, Reina looks around at the mismatch of peoples they were headed towards and frowns... Responding to Nimue, she says, "They were hit that hard huh... That sounds like a massive waste of resources and life on the South's part," Reina sighs and looks a little uncomfortable, "As a Doctor, I find it disturbing that they'd do that to people who just didn't want to fight... as a Dàqínrén, I find it strange that they would go out of their way to do that when they were already in the middle of fighting an enemy that they should have probably put more effort toward."
 
"How fortunate your upbringing must have been, if you are able to think so idealistically." Wen scoffed at the snake-form. "First of all, they don't want it. Offering of economic aid and infrastructure construction was my very first thought, and one that I suggested. Princess Hoshiko stated as much. They don't want such hospitality."

"Second of all..." His real form stayed still like a statue, while his virtual form approached into Reina's personal space, and pointed with one finger at the male Aos Si Nardal and the floating Aos Si city. "Look at what they already have. Faster-than-light travel. Floating cities with no radiators or visible propulsion. They can cast lightning out of the tip of their fingers. Biological regeneration that rivals our own. They already have all of this technology and capability, and what do they do with it? Leave an asshole alone to harass diplomats. Visible poverty. Whatever their leadership is doing, they are already making bad decisions. If we treat them fairly as you suggest, then they will only act in bad faith and exploit our hospitality. This is an interstellar species, that for some reason, has fallen a long way. If they are so willing participants in their own demise, why don't we help them along?"

"But, if you remain optimistic about cooperation with the Aos Si," Wen took a step back away from Reina, "Then I won't oppose you. In better circumstances, mutual cooperation is the correct action to take for long term benefit. More importantly, it isn't my decision to make." He turned to Hoshiko. "What will it be, Princess? Treat the Aos Si as equals, only to be disappointed later? Or loot these prideful assholes while we still can?"
 
Inside their vintage cafe, Hoshiko split into two instances of herself. One considering the arguments between Reina and Wen, and the other...nagging her mom over the vintage phone. In meatspace though...

"In one way, yes," Lady Nimue begun to answer Reina. "But in another, no. The North and The South made to persuade one another, but once it was certain their positions were adamant, The South struck when they convened again." She took in a deep breath as they left behind the stonemason at the shipyards. "As far as they were concerned, they were securing their rear lines in anticipation of their...uncharacteristic campaign."

"Uncharacteristic?" Hoshiko raised an eyebrow in meatspace.

"Why rush to rid ourselves of complacent foreigners?" Nimue calmly replied. The dark skinned Aos'Si didn't bother to look back as she continued to follow their escort. "Even if we assumed there was a threat, so long as said threat was more interested in observing from a single city, we could simply wait for assistance from our brethren." She elaborated further, "It does not matter if it need be decades or centuries. With the return of magic, we are once again nigh-immortal, and could even feign bending the knee until our peers arrive if need be. Time will always be on our side."

"Huh. She's right. Something doesn't add up," the thinking instance of Hoshiko realized. In the background, Hoshiko's other instance sounded like she had gone from nagging the Mother-Empress to nagging some Chongwu who had gotten on the phone as well. "Oh come on, just let me talk to her!" the nagging instance whined. At the same time, the Tiger Princess's thinking-instance began to pace, and as she did so, she started compiling what data their sensors had picked up, only to realize they hadn't been focusing on looking around all that much.

Wen however, did at least look closely at the civil aspect of things.

They were malnourished, but not excessively so. The stonemasons and other craftsmen were even less malnourished. In general, their clothing was simpler than the noble garb of their company, but also in good repair. Plus, some of them were holding intact or partial components of a wrapped leaf food package enclosed by a wax seal. Some sort of issued ration, perhaps. The marble city itself, while a bit dirty, was still being tended to. It just didn't seem to be the most important thing on the Aos'Si mind. The airships, or what they could see of them though, looked like they were having steel, super-firing turrets attached, or missile ports being drilled in.

"Normally, I'd kinda agree with Wen, but I don't like how this feels, " Hoshiko's thinking half began. "We're looking at a space faring civilization that's in shambles. They haven't pulled themselves together very well, and some of them are talking about us like we're the trash." She then jabbed at thumb at the image of the airship in progress. "They're clearly capable, and some of them like Lady Nimue are reasonable. So what happened? Are we...talking about some sort of cosmic horror after-war stuff or something?" The tiger princess' tail fluffed up like a bottle brush for a moment. "I feel like we're in the dark right now, and I don't like it, so let's play it safe and be nice." They rounded the corner, and soon, doors closed behind them as they entered the heart of the city. It's citadel in the center of it all.

"Announcing Lady Nimue of Cinna, third of her line and emissary of the great dune seas!" The herald sang with his sonorous voice. He paused and looked at the Daqinren before adding, "And guests!"
 
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