STGOD 4 Game Thread

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-09-07 11:57pm

To: Tortugan Master at Arms
From: Asgard Imperial Palace
Re: Basing

With the present crisis apparently diffused, we would like to inquire whether it would be possible for you to resolve the issue of basing on one of your system secondary bodies. It is our hope that we might conclude the deal soon.

His Imperial Majesty,

Andreas Alexandar Gustav III

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-09-08 12:02am

Open Transmission

From: United Protectrates State Office

After study of the documents from Atlantis ceded us 100 miles of land on the world of Little Pool, pre Alliance member. Has such we declare the system of Little Pool and nearby systems to be Alliance Protectrates. We are open to negoations with other powers with interest in the area.

Bugsby · Post by **Bugsby** » 2004-09-08 12:04am

Planetary Council of Sirius
To: All powers

Although we go unnoticed as a protectorate of the Krell, in times like this even the small should speak up and be heard. We have ever been a peaceful people, and the announcement that war has been averted delights us. However, we would caution against rash action against the Lying Darkness. Jumping to hasty conclusions regarding the Darkness is as unwise as jumping to conclusions about the White Sun seems to be. We admire the depth of the Veithan analysis, but respectfully request that the Lying Darkness be thoroughly investigated itself. It seems odd to us that after such a huge entrance onto the galactic scene a few months past, we have heard nothing from them. It was the opinion of this council that they had learned their lesson and gone away, and we are slow to reject that idea. We applaud the United Protectorates in their mission to find the Lying Darkness and ascertain truth. You may rest assured that Sirius would be leading the way if we had any ships to offer. As it is, we wish the investigating parties the best of luck.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2004-09-08 12:04am

Alyrium Denryle wrote:Ambassador Sipedon, present for the meeting, signed in relief. It was not every day that war was averted like this.

The lone Vampire representative in attendence abruptly stood bolt upright, a sneer on his lips.

"A fine theory the Veithans have presented, and a fine reasoned response has followed it. Fools," his voice dripped with contempt, "believing that the solutions are so childishly simple. I suppose it is necessary for me to point out, as the sole clear-thinking being in attendance to this farcical ceremony, the fact that Veithan assessment is based on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence!"

The others in attendence protested loudly, but a sudden glare from the representative froze them in their tracks.

He parrotted mockingly with a nasal whine to his deep basso, "'The evidence left behind by the White Sun operative is too obvious to be real.' Hah! We should disregard evidence by the mere virtue of its very existence?" He snorted. "A laughable concept which I would challenge you to apply to your own justice systems. Let the murderer walk free, for there is no way he would be so foolish as to leave enough evidence of the crime to allow his conviction! One should never base such important decision of state on the assumption that the enemy will always perform perfectly."

He continued with a sneer, "And allow me to demolish the Veithan theory of the Lying Darkness with one sentence: We, of the Realm of the Blood King, established a secret espionage operation to track the movements of the lying darkness, aided greatly by their very supernatural composition which allowed us to locate them at will despite their best efforts to disguise themselves, and yet we detected no evidence of any efforts against the Hajr. Had there been a single Lying Darkness agent in the whole Hudson system would should have detected it by it's foul signature upon space-time--yet no such creature was discovered."

"I will give the benefit of the doubt to the Veithans and assume that they did not make this false statement maliciously! I will assume that they were not protecting potential interests in the White Sun. I will simply assume their incompetence."

The vampire representative seated himself again.

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-09-08 12:12am

<< The Veithans present an excellent point. Of course, it would be possible for such shape shifters to have lead this plot- but all know of the relationship that exists between the Diaspora and the Realm of the Blood King. The Hajr suspected that such an enemy was behind this, that the Lying Darkness is the power behind this horrific move. We long ago requested assistance from our friends in the Realm, and received it. The taint of their manipulation was never upon the subject, and no member of their twisted race ever entered the system of Hudson. Their taint is not on this act of terror. We appreciate the Veithan’s efforts, and thank them for their work in ridding us of the Lying Darkness all those months ago after the Trade Fair. Now, the Confederate monsters will pay.>>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Talathrant System
Secondary Industrial World
White Suns Confederation

Alarms rang across the Talathrant System. The signatures were unmistakable- no other vessel in space projected the vivid hyperspace kinetic plumes which were the trademark of the Kincaid drive. In the Talathrant military control rooms, Sixtra officers scurried this way and that, opening up lines to the command centers, blaring alarms, and alerting the fleets. The duty officer’s mouth hung open- there were so many, and they were moving so fast.

The Black Ships have come for us at last. They bring no mercy, no compassion- just hard, violent retribution.

Their general vectors began to appear on the long-range sensors. Jamming ensured that the White Sun’s computers could provide their masters only with cones of probability rather than concrete data on where the Ouster fleet was headed. There were two certainties- the Black Ships were incoming from above the ecliptic, and were dead-set on the world of Talathrant herself.

The 3rd War Cluster was an elite group, experienced and rightly feared. Its spacers were the product of months of heavy combat in the Krynori and Jardan campaigns. It’s vessels were combat-tested and it’s leader, the massive Ouster named Jerac su Fassar, was known as a clever tactician and an honorable warrior. Even such powers as the United Protecorate’s Alliance respected him as a dangerous man. There was little doubt that with warriors such as these over the Confederacy, the Hajr aimed to secure its goals with extreme prejudice.

Two fast groups of Strike Cruisers, Swarm 3.4 and Swarm 3.5, swept out of Kincaid at the edge of the planet’s missile envelope. They immediately opened fire. A small swarm of 16 Kincaid torpedoes lashed out towards Talathrant’s battle station, even as the main body of the Hajr fleet continued its multiple-c approach.

Another Sixtra cursed under his breath.

“Sir, word from Fervestia. They picked up contacts on the edge of their early warning nets- Massed hyperspace disruption, it looks a lot like another Void Barb fleet, heading for the core systems. They were way out at the edge, this attack may be a feint.”

The commander made his species’ version of a smile.

“We’ll see about that. Alert all troops to stand ready. We’ll show these Void Barbarians how to fight.”

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-09-08 12:19am

Ambassador Shelton, dispatched to Veitha III from the Alliance summit for this supremely important occasion, stood up himself, forcing down the uneasiness caused by the vampire's presence. "You know better than that, sir. It is of no use to pretend that ambassadors know nothing of intelligence operations, and surely you must realize that no competent intelligence operative would expose himself in the manner of that supposed Sixtra. That's not simply less than perfect; if it was not an attempt to frame the Confederation then it was criminal. Furthermore, if you expect us to believe that you could see across the interstellar void from your Realm and pick out agents of the Darkness lightyears away in Hudson, then you equate us to ignorant children. Such is not possible."

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-09-08 12:21am

To: Admiral Sir Alastair Von Bek, Duke Von Bek
From: Lord Admiral Bjorn Karlson
RE: *no subject*
*Triple Encrypted Ansible Link*

It has begun.

Bugsby · Post by **Bugsby** » 2004-09-08 12:30am

Rogue 9 wrote:Ambassador Shelton, dispatched to Veitha III from the Alliance summit for this supremely important occasion, stood up himself, forcing down the uneasiness caused by the vampire's presence. "You know better than that, sir. It is of no use to pretend that ambassadors know nothing of intelligence operations, and surely you must realize that no competent intelligence operative would expose himself in the manner of that supposed Sixtra. That's not simply less than perfect; if it was not an attempt to frame the Confederation then it was criminal. Furthermore, if you expect us to believe that you could see across the interstellar void from your Realm and pick out agents of the Darkness lightyears away in Hudson, then you equate us to ignorant children. Such is not possible."

Another member of the conference stood up, a representative from a small, unaligned world.

"Just because the Lying Darkness made a mistake once, you would assume that all failed intelligence operations are their work? Perhaps we should blame the CoG uprisings on them as well, when the Krynor were clearly to blame. How do you discredit the Real of the Blood King? The ties between the Hajr and the Realm would lead anyone to believe that there were vampires near Hudson at the time of the crisis. The information could easily come from them. You would have to ask the vampire representative how he got the data, but just because a person does not publicly declare all their intelligence gathering capabilities does not make their intelligence any less accurate!"

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-09-08 12:34am

The Asgard representative simply stood back and waited quietly. Whatever was done and said here was irrelevant and he knew it. This had the weight of inevitable fate about it and there was no stopping it.

"Why bother." he murmered. "We are all swept along in the wake of history."

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-09-08 12:39am

[Asgard Imperial Intelligence]

After all the hussle and bussle, it came down to the waiting game. Only time would tell them what they needed to know. Until then, until the plunge where ever it went, it was tense waiting. It was the same, from the earliest days to today; patience and pondering in the shadow of armageddon.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2004-09-08 12:40am

Rogue 9 wrote:Furthermore, if you expect us to believe that you could see across the interstellar void from your Realm and pick out agents of the Darkness lightyears away in Hudson, then you equate us to ignorant children. Such is not possible."

"Not lightyears. We have operatives in our embassy on Eketrina who are... ah... looking for such angles," the representative said dismissively, "but I cannot discuss the details of the operation further."

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-09-08 12:42am

Bugsby wrote:
Rogue 9 wrote:Ambassador Shelton, dispatched to Veitha III from the Alliance summit for this supremely important occasion, stood up himself, forcing down the uneasiness caused by the vampire's presence. "You know better than that, sir. It is of no use to pretend that ambassadors know nothing of intelligence operations, and surely you must realize that no competent intelligence operative would expose himself in the manner of that supposed Sixtra. That's not simply less than perfect; if it was not an attempt to frame the Confederation then it was criminal. Furthermore, if you expect us to believe that you could see across the interstellar void from your Realm and pick out agents of the Darkness lightyears away in Hudson, then you equate us to ignorant children. Such is not possible."
Another member of the conference stood up, a representative from a small, unaligned world.

"Just because the Lying Darkness made a mistake once, you would assume that all failed intelligence operations are their work? Perhaps we should blame the CoG uprisings on them as well, when the Krynor were clearly to blame. How do you discredit the Real of the Blood King? The ties between the Hajr and the Realm would lead anyone to believe that there were vampires near Hudson at the time of the crisis. The information could easily come from them. You would have to ask the vampire representative how he got the data, but just because a person does not publicly declare all their intelligence gathering capabilities does not make their intelligence any less accurate!"

"Then I suppose we should take all unsubstantiated claims at face value," retorted Shelton acidly. "My position is not that the Lying Darkness is the only group capable of such incompetence. It is that on such an operation, with the future of their nation at stake, the White Sun Confederation would not place their trust in such a rank amateur. However, for someone attempting to frame a Sixtra, the operation was pulled off perfectly. I'm not saying that this operation was botched; I'm saying that it went off without a hitch and we're seeing the results of it right now!"

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-09-08 12:50am

"Enough!" The representive of the UP stood up. He was in black with silver crossed rifles on his right breast. His grey eyes looked over the assembled.

"This is pointless, despite the facts presented, the Hajr have already made up their minds. Tha vampire offers us nothing but his word. I know who's word I would trust when offered the choice between the Veithan and the Vampires. We will not stand by while the Hajr use this has an excuse to assualt an nation completly unrelated to the attack. We will defend our ally against this aggression."

With that he walked out, leaving them to their petty agruments, the time for talk was finished.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-09-08 12:52am

After making his statement, Shelton also stormed out. He'd have work to do in the coming days, but this was not the time or place for it.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-09-08 12:53am

The Asgard Ambassador just smiled.

Oh yes, this is the reckoning.

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-09-08 12:58am

Tortuga
Unity Station

"Unsubstantiated claims? No, Bondman Ambassador. I assure you, we have enjoyed the assistance of the Blood Lords for quite some time."

Every eye in the chamber turned towards the figure.

Over six feet tall, elegant, and with the slim build and sleekly muscled body which was endemic amongst the heavily genemodded Ousters. Her eyes were twin chips of flint, piercing beneath long, abundant lashes.

She gestured with the odd start-and-stop, too-fast movements Ousters made in gravity. Tiny jewels glittered amongst her head of slim, wheat-blond braids.

"Bondwoman Voice Gheare su Phariseus is my name and title. I bear word- the Hajr has, finding the Veithan conclusion wanting, made a most dire decision."

She swept her gaze across the ranks of diplomats. Her eyes settled on the Vampire ambassador's for a second.

"The Hajr has begun. We are taking what we are owed from the White Suns Confederation. They will pay."

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2004-09-08 01:02am

Thirdfain wrote:"Unsubstantiated claims? No, Bondman Ambassador. I assure you, we have enjoyed the assistance of the Blood Lords for quite some time."

If he hadn't been totally evil, the representative might have felt a little shame at the further spreading of his scurrilous lies. The very idea of being able to detect a member of the lying darkness in such a way was preposterous; it was only lucky that they were all so willing to ascribe mystical qualities of unlimited evil to the Vampires. It was also lucky that the mages were no longer present to expose the truth. They were pesky in that regard, and it was good to be rid of them, finally.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-09-08 01:06am

Shelton stopped on his left heel and spun about. "Rash of you. You openly admit that, since the conclusions reached do not suit you, you will go to war anyway? I would try to dissuade you, but that effort is likely futile by now. I hope that the others present will see through the reckless adventurism of your actions at this juncture. Good day." He turned around and swept out the door.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2004-09-08 01:16am

With the departure of the Nashtari ambassador, the vampire got up again and prepared to leave. At the door, he turned.

"I represent the full authority of Casimir himself when I state that we are opposed to the exploitation of this limited war for gross territorial aggrandizement. You have your war aims, and we will be watching."

With that, he exited.

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-09-08 01:16am

"Bondman Shelton, I apologise. You must not have been paying proper attention. The Veithan evidence is found wanting not due to any fault of theirs- we were loathe to describe the deepness of our relationship with the Vampires. If we had told them at first about the Vampiric aspect of our investigation, this sad travesty would never have come about. For that I am sorry.

Now, with that possibility set aside, we must take final action."

Bugsby · Post by **Bugsby** » 2004-09-08 02:01am

Combine Systems News
Day after first Ouster assault

More fighting on the floor of the new UN today over how to treat the Ouster invasion of White Suns territory. The Ousters maintain that they have proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, while many others say that the Ousters are warmongering, and that their intention to invade was clear from even before the Fall over Hudson. The case rests upon the report given by the Veithan Empire two days ago. According to this report, the Ousters have good evidence to suspect White Sun. However, the evidence points more strongly to the Lying Darkness, the force that disrupted the Ravenlock Trade Fair some months ago. Many nations, including the United Protectorate Alliance, of which the White Sun Confederation is a member, indicate that this is ample evidence to remove the White Sun from immediate suspicion. But new evidence surfaced yesterday evening that calls even the Veithan report into question.

The ambassador from the Realm of the Blood King asserted that vampires have the ability to sense Lying Darkness agents based on the similar nature of their makeups. They further claim that no Darkness agents were present on Hudson during the time of the Fall. If this is true, according to the Veithans themselves, the evidence would then indicate the White Sun. Attempts to scientifically substantiate the vampire claim have been unsuccessful. The vampires are so reclusive that a definitive study on vampire physiology as it relates to ethereal sensibilities has yet to be conducted. Said one expert, "there is just no way of knowing."

The case has come down to a question of who believes the vampires. While the Realm has done nothing to throw doubt on its claims, many humans are prone to distrust vampires because of the very nature of their being. Several worlds, most in the UPA, have publicly declared their distrust of the vampire intelligence and have condemned the Ousters and their attack on White Sun worlds. Others trust the vampires in this matter, and defend the Ouster attacks as just retaliation for the fall over Hudson, long overdue after weeks of waiting for Veithan investigations to take place.

Several key governments were unreachable for comment at the time of this broadcast, most notably the Veithans. We will continue to provide coverage as events unfold.

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-09-08 02:18am

Matar

The UP Ambassador walked to the meeting place he had requested a meeting on the actions of the Hajr. The standing of Minmater had to be estblished.

Spyder · Post by **Spyder** » 2004-09-08 02:51am

Matar

"Yes Mr Ambassador," Spoke Jacobs, "you wished to see me?"

(OOC: MatAr)

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-09-08 03:01am

My government would like to know where you stand on recent events. The actions of the Hajr specially. They have gone to war merely on the unbacked word of a vampire.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2004-09-08 03:43am

Gladsheim Prime

<<War?>> Empress Elana asked. Pushing up her sun glasses and taking another sip of her Mai Tai, she looked at her foreign affairs minister.
<<Well, it seems that way.>>
<<Ah, well,>> she sighed. <<It seems that our dear Veithan allies report was not helpful in any way. They just go to war nonetheless. But I'm sure to weather it out like we always do...>>
<<Yes, Your Majesty. Another point, though. Should we dispatch someone to this UN of theirs in Tortugan space?>>
<<I still don't see any point, but send Duke Nethington. He really likes this diplomatic decorum... Was that all?>>
<<Yes, Your Highness.>> He smiled. <<Incidentally, I just have a tennis match waiting with one of the new Ravenlock representatives. He's a real monster when it comes down to the sport.>>
She sighed. <<You know, I just prefer this relaxing. It's so...relaxing. And I don't have to do it in the real world, to boot.>>