Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Travellers (Semi-Open RP between Tara and Catrin)

Tara nodded a walked back to the food processor, "Hm... Aekhat..." She tapped a symbol and in a few minutes she had a glass of ice cold water in her hand, she went back to Catrin and handed it to her, "Here, drink it slowly."

The hologram seemed to be vastly amused by the whole situation, "So much for having a high tolerance for alcohol."

Catrin's coordination wasn't quite optimal, as she found out when she tried taking the glass from Tara. She managed at her second attempt, though, tried to smile at Tara and then proceeded to drink it all quite quickly and lie back. This should help with all the by-products of metabolising the alcohol.

A minute later, she opened her eyes and gave the AI a rather merry glance, then she smiled at Tara. "Next time, I'll try being more hydrated before I give it a go, and speed my metabolism up beforehand. Um, thanks for letting me try in a safe environment." Using her body got so much easier with all the alcohol out of her blood stream.

She glared at the AI. "Five minutes ago, you were amazed I wasn't unconscious, or screaming my lungs out. Your new communication interface had a really surprised look in his face." She couldn't hold the glare for long, though, and started laughing, then she turned to Tara. "I think I need to use the toilet and then we can try the wine."

Tara nodded, "You know where the bathroom is." She glanced at the AI, "Do you need help standing up?"

"The ship's waste reclamation facilities were upgraded when Tara last overhauled the bathroom, you should have little trouble with them, even if you're still drunk." The AI said.

Catrin nodded and then smiled at Tara. "No, I think I'll be fine." She managed to get up and made a surprisingly steady, but quick, way to the bathroom, not bothering to tell the AI that no, she wasn't drunk anymore.

She came back five minutes later, looking much happier. "There. Thank you for the healing, and your help," she told Tara with a smile, "and I hope you had fun," she said drily in the AI's direction before sitting back down.

Tara smiled and nodded, "No problem, Catrin."

The AI had a slight smile on his face, "I had a great deal of fun, thanks." He said brightly, "Almost as much fun as the last time I had a chance to run a VR sim on the SenNet."

"I suppose you'll spend most of your free time on some VR simulation when we get back?" Tara asked him with an amused smile.

"Well, it gives me a chance to stretch my legs... metaphorically speaking." The AI said.

Catrin smiled back at Tara and then she grinned at the AI. "Well, it's an honour to be compared to a VR sim, I suppose."

The AI grinned, "You've never seen one of my simulations. I've got enough processing power to construct a very life-like virtual world, an entire planet with all of its riches and complexity and history, a kind of playground for AIs."

"He's quite proud of how elaborate his construction can get." Tara said with a shake of her head.

Catrin smiled. "I wasn't being ironic. And I know how much fun creating worlds and then playing in them is."

After hearing Tara's comment, she looked at the AI. "Is it also accessible to organics through some interface, at least for observation if not interaction?"

The AI nodded, "Oh yes, neural interfaces, VR immersion, there's a whole range of methods for organics to join in, but it is easier for AIs, since all we have to do is upload part of our higher processes to a relevant substrate."

"Thanks to his journeys with me, he seems to be best at simulating primitive, planet-bound or first-tier interstellar civilisations in his worlds. He did win an award once for creating the most detailed simulation of the development of a primitive civilisation to interplanetary and interstellar travel capabilities." Tara said, "I've found that some of his simulations are actually quite effective at modelling real-life civilisations, with some modification."

Catrin shuddered a little bit upon hearing about neural interfaces and then she seemed really surprised. “There are awards for that sort of thing?”

"Amateur societies, occasionally a scientific institute will stumble on a really good sim that can be adapted for academic use, so they'll hand the creators a few accolades and quietly whisper in the right ears and appropriate the sim, that sort of thing." The AI said, "It's like any art form."

"Neural interfacing is probably the best way." Tara said, "It's perfectly safe, hell my people perfected the technology thousands of years ago, it's commonplace throughout the Kingdom." Tara smiled, "A lot of things are common in the Kingdom that might seem fantastical in other regions o Senate Space. Since we're the oldest extant civilisation, we had a pretty good head start when it comes to tech, even now most of Senate Space is centuries, or millennia, behind the Kingdom, though a few of the more advanced nations are starting to catch up."

Catrin nodded when the AI explained about the sims, then shrugged when Tara mentioned neural interfacing. “Does it really involve sticking things into one's brain? If so, I think I'll have to pass on that one. It's not like my brain has been researched enough to do that sort of thing to it, and besides, who knows what it could interfere with. Is it a permanent thing, or is it removable?” she asked Tara apprehensively.

"Originally, you'd have a neural lace inserted into you brain, a net of thin filaments formed from a nanomaterial capable of interacting directly with the brain's neural pathways, the neural lace is removable, and it is possible to use temporary ones that automatically degrade after a certain amount of time. My people, however, developed a intricate method of brain scanning and neuron manipulation to basically meld the brain and the terminal using energy fields and quantum mechanics, so that whilst there isn't any physical connection, your mind is still hooked up." Tara said.

"It is perfectly safe, and such methods are even used by our military when organic individuals are needed to directly interface with a ship in lieu of an AI, of course most o those individuals are Isthenir, not Terelains, since we wouldn't risk many Terelains on anything as dangerous as a warship. They're harder to replace."

Catrin listened to Tara quite carefully, but was unconvinced she'd ever try it. "Hm. Still, I don't really want anyone being able to affect me at that level. I feel I need to be able to distinguish between reality and anything else at all times." Or the illusions might become reality.

"Isthenir? The reptilian race? I remember reading about them in your database. I suppose they reproduce more quickly than the Terelains?"

Tara nodded, "Much more quickly, they're a Younger Race, short-lived, with a natural lifespan of around fifty years, although modern medical technology extends that considerably. Nevertheless, they have retained their reptilian ability to bear clutches of eggs at once, meaning that a single mating could produce four or five children at once, and Isthenir are much more fertile than Terelains anyway."

"Because of this, Isthenir vastly outnumber Terelains and operate a separate, though intimately linked and allied, culture and government within the Third Kingdom, the Isthenir Free State. In return for technological, economic and military benefits, the Isthenir agree to be counted as members of the Third Kingdom under Senate law, as well as provide economic and military aid during war, most often in the form of crews for Terelain-built warships." The AI said.

"It is the only way we would ever be able to compete with other nations in war without relying on wholly automated ships, which have... certain disadvantages. This unfortunately means that in any wartime conflict, the number of Isthenir causalities will be extensive, far greater than Terelain casualties, but it is less of a blow to them in the long-term, since they can recover their numbers within two or three generations, by comparison it took us Terelains almost three thousand years to recover from the losses of the First Great War, the Fall of the Second Kingdom, the Gillorian Occupation and the Great Purges."

Catrin nodded. “Yes. Just out of curiosity – has there ever been an armed conflict among the Terelains?”

Tara frowned, "As far as it is recorded, there have been only four known instances of war amongst our own Race. The first was during the Great Rebellion of the Elder Races against the Old Ones in the First Era. After the murder of Tara, Terel took as many of his descendants with him into the wilderness as possible, but some remained behind, remaining slaves to the will of the Elder Gods. These Terelains fought alongside other enslaved members of the Elder Races, as well as various demons and other horrors, during the war. These Terelains were either freed or killed during the war and after the Fall of the Old Ones." Tara sighed "It is not a pleasant time in our history, it is a shameful thing, to murder one's own."

"The second time was during the Fall of the First Kingdom and The Scattering afterwards." The AI said, "With plagues and natural disasters ripping apart the Kingdom, many cities and groups of survivors began fighting over what few resources remained, it was a dark time of anarchy and blood."

"The third time was after the end of The Scattering Period, after the reestablishment of the cities of Heartlands. The city-states fell into war, the War of Kings, which eventually ended when Telar unified the city-states and founded the Second Kingdom. The final time was during The Return when Nathaniel the Exile and Nariel returned to Terelian after three centuries of exile along with the Lost Ones and fought to overthrow the Gillorians and restore the Kingdom. Many slaves rebelled and joined the army, but others, Nah Enel and Nah Ehkrel, The Sorrowful and The Fallen, collaborators with the Gillorians, fought against the rebels." Tara said, "It was the darkest, bloodiest conflict in all our history and our kind came to the very brink of extinction."

"The Sorrowful, Nah Enel, were those who did not collaborate by choice, those forced into aiding our enemies because of their families, or some other precious thing held against them by the Masters." The AI spat the last word vehemently, "The Fallen, Nah Ehkrel, however, were despised and hated even more than the Gillorians. Nah Enel were pitied and pardoned, for they at least did it for understandable reasons. Nah Ehkrel are The Fallen, willing collaborators, seeking to gain or retain favour with their rulers, selfish, betraying their honour, their blood and their line. After The Second Burning of Oberoth and The Scourging of Gilara when the First Gillorian Empire was broken and Terelian was freed, Nah Ehkrel were hunted down and destroyed... without mercy."

“So in essence, all of these conflicts were either Terelains vs. other races + Terelains, or fought over gaining scarce resources, either tangible ones, or power. You seem quite loyal to your own kind, and surprisingly unbloodthirsty on a global level. I suppose that complements your agelessness and a long reproductive cycle quite well.

I couldn't help but notice that the Gillorians seemed to have been mistreated by the Terelains after the First Great War. But I didn't find any information about the First Great War in your database – hopefully the Terelains had a reason for that?” Catrin inquired quite neutrally. “Because if they didn't... well, the entire 'Fool's Revolt' would have been rather justified. But I suppose that's not a very popular opinion, and I can only hope you won't find it offensive."

Tara sighed, "The First Great War left deep scars, Catrin, it was a series of wars that lasted for seven centuries between the Kingdom of Gilara and the Kingdoms of the West. Gilara was a small island off of the north-western coast of Jalaeda, the central continent, the Gillorians had always been a hard race to get along with; fierce, warlike, isolationist and with a terrible hatred of our kind borne of... well, no one remembers why they hated us other than their religion's claim that since Terelains were an Elder Race, we had to be responsible for their short lifespans relative to ours, that our long-life was a result of us 'stealing' it from their ancestors." She shook her head, "Utter drivel. Anyway, the Gillorians wanted more territory, more power, so they started to invade the kingdoms of the western coast; Vaden, Eiloras and Alshai, they were terrible wars, and the western kingdoms were not a united force; fighting each other just as much as their common enemy, indeed many conflicts appear to have been started by Gillorian agents."

"Eventually, however, the Gillorians conquered Alshai in the north-west, then a few decades later they sent ships bearing flags of Vaden and Eiloras south and started attacing merchant shipping, igniting the Pirate Wars and eventually the Fourth Vaden/Eiloras War. Vaden called to Terelian for aid, and we responded, but it was not enough and Vaden was destroyed. The Gillorians attacked soon after and destroyed Eiloras. The King of Gilara declared himself the first Emperor of the Great and Glorious Gillorian Empire." The AI said.

"And then... they attacked the Second Kingdom." Tara said gravely, "It was terrible. The armies of Gilloria smashed themselves upon the fortress of Der'Morlain for years to no avail, they even attacked the southern fortress Rimni at one point. We would have ground them down eventually, but we were betrayed and Der'Morlain was lost. The Gillorians raped, burned and pillaged across the Kingdom, they sacked Oberoth itself and seemed hell-bent on wiping us out. We fled our homes, watched our husbands, wives, children die as we ran."

"Then, the Younger Gods intervened, or so it seems now." The AI said, "The Gillorian Emperor fell off of his horse and broke his neck and died, allowing his 'liberal' son to assume the throne. Instead of extermination, he preferred enslavement and humiliation. This resulted in three centuries of death, torture and loss. The language, the history, the culture, everything that made us who we are was destroyed... but we endured."

"We lost much, Catrin, and even though it has been eighteen thousand years, my people remember. In the days of the Second Great War and the Fool's Revolt there were those still living whom had lived in those dark days. Who were raped and tortured for fun, who watched their children worked to death, or watched as everything they ever knew was corrupted, twisted, forgotten. Every attempt at peace, every chance we got to try and mend the rift was for nothing, even before the wars we tried to live with them in peace and they refused." Tara said, "We gave them every chance to live with us in peace by themselves, and when that didn't work we tried cultural manipulation, subtle breeding programs to gentle them, make them less hostile and warlike. Nothing worked. Make no mistake, Catrin, it was them or us. If we hadn't wiped them from the face of the universe then the Terelain people would have been destroyed, the Isthenir enslaved, the Dragons and the Nymphaic Races purged... and who knows what they would have done to the fledgling Senate Races."

Catrin's ears positioned themself a little backwards while she was listening to Tara. In the end, she nodded. "This certainly does sound like it was you or them. Interesting. Why would any Terelains help with the annihilation of their own race?" It was a rhetorical question. Catrin shrugged. "Thank you for the explanation, I appreciate it. I suppose I wouldn't have got such a calm answer if I had brought it up with someone else. Also, not a very good topic for a wine-tasting party!" she said with a smirk.

"My apologies for letting my curiosity override the potential fun. At least I've had enough time to process the rudimentary poisons from the Shadowwater, though, and can now engage in a drinking competition with you," she said with a wink.