Ari
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Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
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Everything posted by Ari
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Also, to help give an idea of what problems this concept can run into, there were three mass shootings in the USA so far this week.
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GM Smiling down at Horrorshow, the Li raised a hulking, steel-muscled arm tipped with a paw bristling with savage claws and rested it gently as a feather on the shapeshifter's shoulder. "It would be an honor, little friend. You did say they were lovely, Ortilac," the ursine alien added to the beaming (and only lightly preening)Ambassador, "but this is totally unexpected! Willing to take our shape as their own, just to wear it. Davyd, I sincerely hope we Li and you Terresi get to be good friends. Leaving you to languish when you're so close by..." Chu shook his head furry head "...that sucks! We'll see if we can't help you get into the Coalition, too. Then we could help get rid of that trash, get you set up with better food-production, maybe a 'sphere-scrubber network-" Abruptly shaking his head again, Chu laughed ruefully "Lookit me, babbling like this. Go ahead, Davyd, mimic me." With a grace that belied his towering bulk, the furry alien flopped onto his belly. Waggling his four splayed limbs, he looked up at Horrorshow expectantly. "Well, while you two get to that, let's show you kids around!" One of the other Li, a heftier one with a red shroud across her back whose helpful multilingual nametag identified them as "Tö", beckoned to the party and set off at a brisk lumber. The first floor alone was massive, and crammed with unearthly sights and sounds. Other aliens were much in evidence, mostly dignitaries from other members of the Coalition. A party of the elegant, austere, alligator-esque Jerreid was unique in the milling press of life-forms by keeping very much to themselves. There weren't so much distinct rooms as shifting moods to gatherings across a common space, with floating wall sections hovering across the floor with a cheery hum, pausing occasionally to dispense drinks and food from its eerie white surface, transforming into picnic-like tables and benches, more intimate single chairs, or even partially enclosing spaces on request. One wall slid gently up beside the party. "hello! i detect some of you are desiring a little smack of a snack or lick of a drink! what would you like?" "Ask away!" Tö looked pardonably proud "We just got in some Earth and new Lor programs. Just like back home, I promise! Getting their food right was how we got those scaly little grumps to the table." She waved at the cluster of murmuring, cold-eyed Jerreid. The reptiles stared blankly, one of them hesitantly returning the wave to uproarious delight among the booming, bassy-voiced space bears littering the room. "service is the highest duty"
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"There's two kinds of roads. The small ones where people walk, and the big ones where people use prosthetics to get around. We're going to one of the small roads." Dio snorted, steam and smoke billowing from his nostrils as the dragon gently but very firmly pressed a gap through the crowd, powerful clawed legs leaving divots in the turf behind him, unfolding his wings and gently sweeping his tail side to side to get a bit more space going. "Please do keep touching to a minimum, please," he added, head turning on a snakelike neck to regard Andromeda, "it wouldn't be a lot of fun to find out it does something you don't want to do." "These, uh, "forebears", what do you know about them, Andromeda?" Dio tried to say it casually, but the hungry gleam in his eyes was hard to hide "Any ideas where they might have gone?"
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"I would like to learn." Dio's head snaked over to Aquaria, his eyes glittering with something. "My god burned for many ages before any human language was created, learning how thoughts on a third blood formed around her would be awesome. Where would you teach? Does it cost anything? I know Tak...uh, Primes often use goods and services to exchange with." The announcements, aside from the first, had left the dragon visibly befuddled, the strange names and implied histories obviously lost on the monster from Earth-2. The first, with Ouroboros ascending to the Guardian's seat, had set his tail shifting anxiously. For a moment, he had looked about to say something to Nicole, but quickly clammed up when she started into the mystical sabotage underway. "I don't have any treasure, yet, but I can totally find some. Do you have to, uh, physically say the words? I gotta use magic to talk at all, sorry."
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@Grumblefloof To explain why I initially ditched the Silver Storm, it's because it was a way to just have superhumans happen, when there's no reason to have two cities swimming in open supers, and it lessens the impetus to lean into the whole secret supervillain conspiracy thing, which is genuinely unique and compelling. As well, the Storm hinges on a metaplot that doesn't really work as well in a shared game versus a home game. It kind of wouldn't make sense to leave unraveling the mystery to the chance that the thread would stall out, players or PCs involved go inactive, in short what was certain to happen in a branch city. Finally I wanted the city to be more open to player impact. Freedom and Bedlam are rocks you cip away at and I hoped greater malleability would encourage experimentation and changes be made more readily. That they would initiate the Events. Now, of course, I am just overcome with indifference and figuring multiple colored Storms based around the Viridian Stones would be neat.
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If a dragon's face could look anything other than hungry and vaguely condescending to human eyes, Dio's drooping crest and huddled wings would have indicated enormous discomfort at Huang's reprimand to Nicole. "Well, not always got a choice, you know? A lot of times it's 'follow or die', 'least when it seems like survival's on the line. But, but we're all on the same side now, focusing on the past just benefits people who want us divided. That's how my mom united us deep dragons on Earth-2 to get the core burning again, got everyone seeing the common ground, and our faith in the Earth-Binder was a big part of it. Um..." Dio glanced down between the smaller guests, patently unsure how to continue. Luckily for him, their host chose that moment to make an address. Shuffling carefully on his long, powerful legs, tail swishing serpentine in the air to keep his balance, the young dragon turned fully to face her. From someone who could swing their head around like an owl, the gesture was that much more significant.
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"Hey! Uh, hold it right there!" A green shadow flashed from the sky, landing in the lake with a thunderous splash that sent water jetting across the shimmering green scales of a mighty dragon! Its mouth gaped to reveal brutal bone plates instead of teeth, and a burning fire in the shadows of its gullet. "Who are you? Where are you from? Do you need medical help? I can't give thatbut I can teleport us right there!" The dragon's tail lashed side to side in agitation, ater streaming and steaming off the flanks as the dragon noticed Felix. "I'm Dio, a guardian of the Earth" his voice lent the word a capital E "as are these other two. Legatus, good to see you again."
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Dio groaned impressively, but flipped over to let Janus scritch under the heavier armor plates on his neck. With his claws dangling in the air, he resembled a brilliant emerald-colored dog. "True enough, Janus, I've already been threatened with extra work just to get me out of that office. Worst comes to worst, I can just dig into the Earth's core. So, you're Felix?" Rolling back over, the giant reptile set his head next to the blond boy, his eye about on level with Felix's own. The creature's lips pulled back, revealing a pair of smooth bone ridges in place of teeth. This close the effect of Dio talking was especially odd, his mouth not moving in the least as his deep, booming voice went on "I'm alright, just scared for someone who doesn't deserve it. That's a good instinct, and there are worse habits than worrying about the wellbeing of other people. But, Janus is also right, here it's not really necessary. Claremont's well protected and most people need to be trusted to handle themselves. "What brings you here, Felix? I'm here to learn magic, for example. So's Prince Janus, in their way." Breathing out softly, Dio transformed into a crowd of other students hanging around a bench. They all looked curiously at Felix, asking in Dio's rumble "Do you know magic?"
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"Hey people. Janus. Strange alien. I don't suppose either of you know the meaning of life once all you put faith in and held to be true collapses to the dust and ashes of failure?" A very large and gloomy-looking green dragon slumped to the ground next to the two, crest drooping and wings limp. The priest from another Earth had been crushed since news came of his human counterpart's mysterious disappearance in space. A slitted eye opened, taking stock of the blond student. "I'm Dio, but you can call me the Dunce Dragon of Dismal Disappointment. You a dragonslayer? Could sure use one right about now."
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Dio the dragon knows all sorts and is great with people. Also he can teleport most anywhere, which is helpful for situations like this.
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GM For a second the young man looked between Louise and Nicole in frustration, at last snapping "Fine. Go ahead. But stay together. All of you. Give me regular updates on your location and current state. I won't have anyone disappearing or getting hurt. The Harrows aren't the only ones I'd have to explain myself to, Summers would...wait." He suddenly took stock of the people gathered on the platform, eyes skipping rapidly over the assembly as he counted, coming up one short. With a deep, slow sigh, Rakesh turned to Ortilac and Leng, who'd politely been ignoring the confrontation and chatting together. He soon had Ortilac's permission to search the Grace for the missing Leroy. "I'll be back soon," he told the students, "stay out of trouble." As Dr. Chawla vanished in a lance of light, the Li blinked at the remaining people. "What would you like to see?" Lu Chu ventured, stubby tail wagging "Everything?"
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"Ugh, meat." Slithering out from under the tables and chairs he had snuck under, the green dragon had followed close on Nicole's heels, enormous head swiveling on his long neck and forked tongue darting in and out nervously. Leaning snakelike from behind Nicole, he eyed Aquaria dubiously and her fish with open distaste. "Can't wait until my teeth come in and I can just eat rocks whenever I want." "Prime's full of things I never expected to see up and kicking. On all the worlds where the Black Sun watches, the sea-kin died millenia ago. Our leader intends to challenge your Hydra for the supremacy," he added with a nod to the Deep One, "but I'm sure that won't happen if she learns there's still worshippers." "These 'forces of Destruction', that'd be the Terminus? Never met them myself, but my elders hate 'em. Glad your benefactors came through, not a lot of answered prayers out there." The dragon sighed wearily "I follow the Earth-Binder, you get used to silence pretty quick when your god is a dragon buried miles underground. When you get so much as a whisper, you hang onto every word." Dio had the good grace to look suitably awkward admitting to that, tail flicking at his flanks. His head tilted to stare down at the wheelchair-bound girl "Though I object to that 'follower' bit, Nicole. And the 'conqueror' one. But you'd never guess it from my ward, so that's plenty forgiveable. Unlike him, I haven't spent my whole existence in a city in the sky getting everything handed to me until anything else is some unimaginable horror." Twisting a couple hundred degrees, Dio's long neck switched him back to Aquaria "What's up with the rest of your kind? Are there some more living around here? I haven't really gone into the sea, it's...really gross in there, and everything stinks." "Too much to hope the Master Mage is gonna do something about that?"
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GM "Well in that case, onward we go! Crew, to your stations. Students, I will be happy to speak with you later. Rakesh, if you would?" Folding his wings behind him, Ortilac stepped off his seat's dais and left the room with the Claremont chaperone. The other ship's officers left by twos or singly, vanishing in light like their captain. The Grace tilted, began to move, and the universe stood still. Later A giant bear smiled at the party, small ears twitching back and forth. "What's good, new buddies? I'm Leng! Head rep of the Li for this case. Welcome to Xix Yr!" The warm welcome was a stark contrast to how the planet and its structures looked. All around loomed black utilitarian blocks radiating with geometric precision from power generation, waste recycling and water-purification centers. The sky crackled with violet lightning through muddy grey clouds. Overhead spanned waves of igneous rock closing in the narrow valley. The structure their ship's shuttle had landed in was different, silver-gray and shaped like a giant bird about to take flight. The walls dazzled with colorful murals, informative screens and tanks of sealife ribboning from floor to ceiling and back again. The pack of well-dressed bears that had met the Coalition envoy and the Claremont class all joined in, politely refraining from trying to hug or shake dextrous paws with their comparatively tiny selves. One, wearing what could be described as a tank on their back, couldn't resist darting forward to give Davyd a friendly, massive lick with a startlingly long, warm and ticklish tongue. They smelled earthy, with a tang like rusty copper. They lumbered back at once, blushing as well as a bear could blush and trying to hide behind the rest of the pack. Leng chuckled along with the rest. "Aw, Lu Chu, save it for the goodbyes, huh? Sorry, Envoy Ortilac, he's just so excitable around new people." The wingéd dignitary bowed, fluttering his wings, "No harm done, Envoy Leng, it is good to stand among you once more. These are the additional visitors I mentioned, they are from 'Earth', a developing world full of wonders!" "And very different chemical makeup. Please don't touch them again." Rakesh had somehow come to Davyd's side and swept the Li's saliva from his skin with a rough blue cloth, which subsequently vanished into a container. The young man adjusted his glasses, glaring up at their startled hosts. "Would you show us to our quarters, please? You and and the Coalition have business to discuss, I'm sure. Don't let us take up all your time." "Well..." Leng blinked, uncertain "if you'd not like to have us show you around a little, first. No problem, really!" "We wouldn't, no."
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GM Facsimile's mind was suddenly awash in a torrent of new sensations, the taste of security protocols sizzling on his tongue as the world of electricity welcomed him into its white-hot universe of information. In an instant Alex was aware of exactly how many Blackguards were sleeping in the walls, the patterns of the scanners sweeping the interior, and the precise location of the Nightstone. It slept, like the beings it empowered, like a slowly-beating heart feeding strength and comfort into the veins of so many lost, lonely souls. Even this far from it, even in just a glimpse, Alex could feel the pull of the darkness. Like a whisper soothing away thought and fear. Come to me Let's be together
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GM "Got that covered. School I.D.'s chipped." Max mouthed in Meridian's direction, indicating the massive display overhead, which had already tagged Robin with an effect similar to what Sophia got in actor briefs on media players. One of a million little ways dropping by the Emeralds felt like visiting a science-fiction novel. Meanwhile, the Man From Mars turned a very Sun-like smile to Robin. "Great question, Robin! Thanks to R&D subsidies graciously extended us by my good friend, governor Rick Rauer, we at MarsTech were able to simultaneously work on the Olympus and develop plans to retrofit every power generator, recycling or waste disposal facility in the state. With this baby," Max slapped the side of the Olympus(Meridian had touched it earlier, and Max had cackled when she realized it was still cold despite operating in direct sunlight and being solid black) "you could condense carbon dioxide and transform that gas into some of the finest diamonds you ever saw. I'm aiming to fit a variant of the Olympus, currently planned to be called the Vastitas, onto our new wave power generator and start pulling carbonic acid out the ocean, too! Sustainable, efficient, humane diamond production as a sideline to cleaning up our air, land and water." "But make no mistake, this is years down the line! We're going to be counting on people like you, Robin, to keep it going so there's still an ecosystem twenty-five, fifty, even a hundred years from now! "Tell me, Robin, what're some problems you see ahead, from where you stand?" A faint vibration suddenly passed through the stage. Max didn't seem to notice, smiling expectantly over at the high schooler, but over the water Devlin, the titanic green Devestoid, would-be citykiller, had changed its footing for the first time in decades. It had turned to face the tech expo, its great cyclopean visual receptor lit up and focused right on the Olympus. With a step, it was off Council Island and wading ponderously across the Columbia river. The audience stared, frozen, those who weren't too intent on the stage to notice the giant robot marching towards them.
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Dio had found a way to be inconspicuous by crushing his massive bulk into a corner, spread underneath several tables and chairs, his head resting comfortably on the floor. Simply teleporting hadn't been possible, but blessedly the space was plenty even for a giant extradimensional reptile. After a horrific attempt at shapeshifting into a human form, the dragon priest of the Earth-Binder had resigned himself to his fate of seeing everything from roughly waist-level. On sighting/smelling Nicole, Dio craned his neck to get an eye above the table plateau, forked tongue flicking at the air. "Evening, master smith! Never seen so many ghosts in one place on this Earth. Hopefully this isn't against my religion somehow. What's the word on Prime's Master Mage, anyway? Back home we never really hear anything about that office, I didn't even know there was a new one until I got here." With a green claw, the dragon nudged a chair close to his head. Glancing sidelong at Huang, Dio added in what was probably intended as a sotto voce "Do you have vampires? That one smells a little vampire-y. Or ghoul-y...not-right."
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GM "Oh, yes, later I need to talk with you, Rakesh, about what's legal on Earth and what isn't relative to Li space..." an insistent chiming, like clacking stones, drew Ortilac's attention to a flashing square on the table "...which is suddenly very relevant! We will shortly be en route to Xix Yr's surface. Captain, I will meet you on the bridge once this meeting is over." The ambassador nodded to the squat, furry Captain, who hopped down from their chair and vanished in a cloud of light without a word. "Oh, and of course there will be a null-gravity recreation room, Davyd." The wingéd envoy seemed honestly taken aback at the shapeshifter's lack of weightlessness experience, shooting a questioning glance at Rakesh, who responded by meaningfully tapping one of his feet. "You won't be expected to have formalwear at the ceremony. If you would rather not be there, that is no issue either. Just relax, mingle, learn about the Li. I hope to as well, they're such wonderful people to negotiate with! Any other concerns, before I confer with Rakesh?" With no obvious move on his part, the teacher's phone sent a simple message to the comms he'd insisted each student carry offworld: 'SAY NO.'
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GM "Oh yes, clear forgot!" Coughing apologetically, Ambassador Ortilac swept his fingers across the table. The planet returned, splitting in half to display a cross-section of its atmosphere. "It's very toxic to us natives of oxygen-based atmos, primarily carbon dioxide here and here, with some nitrogen dominance here. Their seas would be to us highly acidic, their rain season deluges as well. Your charges will of course be kept in the hospitality sectors, Dr. Rakesh," the angelic alien bowed to the Claremonters' stone-faced guardian, who nodded curtly, "there you can observe and meet with life on Xix Yr without fear. There are fields, herds and other representatives of native species, museums and commercial establishments, even samples of their technology and dissections of recently deceased volunteers." "Where do they get food for people of our makeup?" Dr. Chawla had seemed bored and impatient as ever, but the mention of commercial establishments had caught his attention. "They've been perfecting synthsizing food for about 200 years. I tested one of their svillo cakes, just like the real thing, was shocked to find it used to be a block of volcanic rock." The captain of the Grace had been busy absorbing news reports, but evidently had kept at least half an ear on the conversation. The diminutive purple furry thing had been vocally displeased at so many additions to the finalizing ceremony and only begrudgingly agreed to let them in the meeting at all. Ortilac nodded vigorously, addressing the students at large "Please do not go outside the hospitality sectors without protective equipment-ah, and do let your scarred friend know about that too. His communicators keep vanishing for some resson."
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"Th-their dragons. Scipio and Fabian. It is...mother has declared it anathema to kill your own kind on Earth-2." Leroy swallowed "She was furious, so were my sisters' followers. As they had attempted to steal the secret of rubedo, the awakening of fire, from them, she sentenced them to die by fire themselves." "As they burned, she said to me "The morality of heaven is one of results. Bring back food, or be food yourself. If you betray me or anyone, I will not spare you." Once it was done, she broke the dragons' necks with her own hands, and cast them down into the sea." Leroy shuddered, looking up at Judy beseechingly. "Dee...please, do not ask about any of that. Forget it. I beg you."
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"Guess it's hard t'realize what's beyond the power of somethin' so far beyond yourself," B'ka said slowly, turning gingerly back and forth, trying to catch the brilliant, dazzling sights of cosmic clouds and constellations streaming by, "we didn't have anythin' as good as that probe that got stuck in a bad orbit and messed up our weather, some people thought it was a sign from Hathor. When we met the Lor, like you Sri Dravo, we thougt there wasn't nothin' you couldn't do. Just the idea there's stuff beyond even Mentor...it's, 'mean..." He wrestled with the words, grunting nervously over the commlink as he considered how to voice the shapeless fears stewing in the young khered's guts. "It's like thwre's nothin' we can really count on. Not even the gods, or Preserver wonders. Does that...is it shameful, to be scared if that?"
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GM "By happy coincidence, those are connected!" Brushing his fingers against a panel on his chair, Ortilac conjured a photorealistic three-dimensional model of a planet out of the table. His warm, liquid voice flowed breezily over his following exposition. "This is their capital and homeworld, Xix Yr. As you can see from the ravines and rugged mountains covering most of the non-submerged surface, it's been quite tectonically active in the past. At around three times the size of your Earth, with even more mass to boot, travel was exceedingly difficult for life forms to develop. "Cold, too. Temperatures in the mountains rarely reach 200 degrees [kelvin] in the summer. Agriculture is only possible in the temperate, sheltered valleys, and then for a third of their year. Put that together with new forms of life still regularly breaking up from the superheated interior, and you have the Li philosophical foundation: solidarity. "Community and togetherness is pivotal to their thought, their development from religion to science to comedy. Even the divisions based on regional physical differences are unknown." Ortilac looked deeply chagrined "On my homeworld, Eal, the unjust and grievous mistreatment of the wingless stains my peoples' history. Given the recent influx of refugees from spinward systems, and the new species being welcomed as Coalition members, this open and unprejudiced mindset will be invaluable. Imperial history colors much of our Lor-derived thinking." He tapped another pattern on the panel beside him, drawing up an image of a massive, burly creature with long claws covered in reddish-brown hair, a white chevron gleaming on their chest and with a bear-like snout flanked by tusks. The figure was dressed in a cycling series of costumes, minor shifts in physiology accompanying those changes of clothes. "With a few natural exceptions, the Li are lovely, charming and hospitable people who take every pain for the support and comfort of all in their society. They have had conflicts over resources between each other and against other native life, but the last was millennia ago, since then they have learned the value of controlling perception. From natural forms of camouflage they have developed unparalleled stealth technology. Their philosophers theorized and their scientists later confirmed the existence of alien life. "Until now, the Li considered themselves unready for contributing to the interstellar community. Settling and developing their own star system has been their mission for many centuries, decoding transmissions and scanning alien vessels to learn what was needed to care for and benefit these unwitting neighbors. Learning of the Coalition's recent diplomatic troubles appears to have been their signal." Ortilac stretched his wings. "I rarely use this superlative, but the Li appear to be an ideal society, by almost any metric."
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GM As the gravitic gallivant's footsteps receded, Ortilac cleared his throat, adding "As well, Nicole...at a guess, how many of your fellow metahumans are more like yourself, and how many are more like, well..." he glanced meaningfully at the door. "If you can make these metacausal abilities and unknown sciences work predictably and fit within a society outside of fighting metabeings and ransoming technology, so the much the better. Until then, it's regrettably a drawback. Personally, the potentially catastrophic ecological collapse on Terres is also a factor, but I would not make my own feelings into Coalition policy." "But enough of downsides! As Praetorian Sitara says, peace is a time of celebration! What else can I tell you? Perhaps you would like to know about the Li?" Craning forward on his dais, Ortilac beamed hopefully at the teenagers.
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GM "A splendid question, Nicole!" Ortilac plucked an imaginary spec of dust from his wings, ignoring the murmurs and raised hackles evident among the other officials present. The captain of the Science Navy ship Radiance Unveiled, that had brought them from Earth, looked especially nettled. Though it was hard to tell, since they didn't have an indentifiable face among their cybernetic enhancements. "The Li have a unified government that speaks for all sapient life known to exist in their system. Their stealth technology has allowed them to remain undetected even to us, let alone to Terres' observation points. And, perhaps most importantly, they asked to join. "As it stands, no Terresi organization can justly claim to speak for all inhabitants of your home world alone; your prime development, dimensional travel, is riven with risks nobody in greater space would dare accept unless they were already vastly more powerful than the Preservers themselves; you also have not asked. This is a free association of worlds, the Empire is dead and buried, we no longer seize every world and people we find simply to ensure it does not rise to challenge us. Who knows? Maybe one day Terres will form a bloc all its own!" The ambassador smiled kindly at Louise "Oh, yes, I was informed of your awakening. Just so long as you have explicit, uncoerced permission from the sapient, use of your gift is unrestricted. Here: you may look into my mind whenever you wish, Crystal-Gazer, and make whatever use of what you find that pleases you." He indicated a grim, grey old man with pointed ears and brutally cropped silver hair, "Mentat Pei'n, my associate, can answer any more personally significant questions." "Ambassador, uh, may I be excused?" Blinking at Leroy, who'd raised his hand much more gingerly this time, the Ealan inclined his head, bestowing an even more beneficient smile than usual. "All of you Terresi may come and go as you please. Unless an emergency arises, you are not under my authority. You are under your teacher's!" Dr. Rakesh rolled his eyes. "Go. Be back in ten minutes. Touch nothing." "Wretched thing had 'pull hatch' written right on it..." Leroy rose and was soon gone from the room, the door cycling closed behind his angry back.
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"Huh. Wouldn't have got that until I moved to Citadel. No trees back home." B'ka blew experimentally in the helmet, surprised still at how resistant it was to fogging up. "You think we'll get to just fly around like this wherever we want?" The hornless khered watched space slip by around them. After living all his life on one planet, it was hard to imagine that kind of freedom; but the open, utter silence of space reminded him all too much of another time of emptiness and silence on the plains of his homeworld. He hadn't much else to do, with the suits doing the work of tracking and following the senior Knight's. More than usual he felt clumsy and bulky, a piece of luggage someone was wrangling. At least Star Squire armor couldn't feel a grudge over banging their foot. ...Could it? "Hey, Sri Dravo, I was wondering. Why don't the suits just run themselves? Like a big robot army? Why does Mentor want people in 'em?"
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OOC thread for this thread. Teen and space heroes in space, meeting the space bears, fighting the star crimes.
