They are quite colourful, so could be. Though they have notable claws, so I see them more as a hybrid of parrots and seagulls, but basically human sized.
I'm picturing the Rito from Zelda, tbh. Except, you know, sideways eyes of Krakotl ~~Fried~~ Chicken.
Also makes it easier on my psyche when a decent Krakotl person or two shows up in the story too, since Rito are (mostly) friendly and nice.
i imagined space toucans, with multicolored beaks, like a murderous toucan sam. they were described as having a curved beak with tropical colors on the wiki page after all
Oh crap! A seagull that can say more then “Mine!” What a nightmare. I can just imagine being chased down the beach for my French fries by a seagull sized parrot with a seagull beak, screaming, “Give me those damn fries or I’ll F#ck you up!!!”
I love the krakotl there, I’ve always thought that some must sympathize with humanity and this confirms it
Can’t wait to see krakotl manning human ships too
Me too
Glad to see the entire species isn't one dimensional where every member of the species thinks exactly the same. Something science fiction unfortunately tends to do often
"The price for peace is at a all time low!" I loved that speech. The federation called the ferengi primitive but they never had wars never used nukes. They were just a different complicated culture.
Ferengi culture was really highlighted in DS9 and it is a shame the entire federation was written as communist because of it. And yeah they were. No money. No wealth. No poverty. No war and No substance abuse. Definitely sounds like what was proposed by Karl Marx
Oh yes, so many flaws. But it keeps trying, and that's what matters.
Although I would argue it is more socialist than communist. I'm pretty sure private enterprise is still a thing there after all. It's just more a hobby one pursues than a career needed for income.
Star Wars, too. Other than humans, most of the species are all basically the same. It's an easy (lazy) way to flesh out out an entire universe. Just treat every member of the same species as the same thing. Fantasy does it too. Look at orcs, elves and dwarves. They're functionally identical across multiple worlds (with a few exceptions)
Star Wars is both a movie and more of an space opera, with less time to flesh out the alien species. In the series like clone wars, they certainly do get depth
Meanwhile, Star Trek was founded with a rule that the Klingons needed there own actual language
Does Star Wars really do that too? The only species-wide stereotypes I can think of are Twileks being slaves (which is something done to them, not a quality of their species) and Nemoidians being driven by self-interest (which is deconstructed/explicitly refuted in the novels Brotherhood and Queen's Hope).
Both suffer from what I would call First Impression Syndrome. Which is basically the first example of a race or species that we see on screen MUST be what their entire race/species must be like.
And I feel like that started as far back with Spock of Star Trek fame, not Star Wars.
Of course his viewpoint is different. He's only ever lived on Venlil Prime. Unlike the rest of his people he's seen Humanity's actions personally from day one.
So far every single federation species was a one dimensional predator hater until taught otherwise. I wonder if there were any pro-predator groups prior to first contact with humans. Like alien hippies or something lol. Id love to see the perspective of some scientist who thought "predators evolve on every world! they fill a niche in the environment! we shouldnt blindly genocide them!" getting blacklisted and shamed for his quack theories, only to be pulled back into the limelight with the arrival of humans
Same here! Seeing a Krakotl act normally in canon is a huge relief, considering every other one we saw before this was completely insane in one way or another.
I wonder if any of the birds' holdout worlds mentioned in chapter 70 would be willing to join humanity?
I would imagine that at least some of them would, I feel like they’re kinda in the middle of a civil war, and that some factions that see themselves as victims (unlike Kalsim) will join us
A human's inner desires breaking free, causing death and havoc on a ship. It threatens everyone around it, since it's contagious in a way, consuming everything it can.
Hey, not my fault human media made by ~~predators~~ us is a metaphor for things that are actual fears, just manifested in an external way :D
EDIT: Also, Alien is my favourite franchise of sci-fi ever, so great choice there!
I second that! Then, it's 'Alien', 'Jaws', 'The Thing', 'Nope', 'V', 'Burning Bright', 'The Tomorrow War', 'Edge of Tomorrow', 'Beast', 'Skyline', 'Anaconda', ***e******very single episode of 'Falling Skies',*** ***'JURASSIC PARK'!*** **MAKE HIM PLAY** '***METROID: DREAD'!!!*** **THEN** ***'PREY'!!!!!*** **READ HIM** ***'S.C.P.'*** **STORIES AND WASH IT DOWN WITH** ***'LOVECRAFT'*** **BEFORE TUCKING HIM IN AT NIGHT!!!!!!** ... Wait, what are we tryin' to do here again?
Xenomorphs are mostly humanoid
The Thing mostly takes over human bodies
V is literally a human killer
..maybe filter your horror choices by something that you can't weave into "humans = evil"
>wash it down with 'lovecraft'
calm down there satan, lovecraftian horror is existential, don't break him before he's even healed
True, a several front war isn't exactly conducive to ... *wonderful things* ... However, we don't have time to softly introduce the Venlil rescues to the new society. Even the non-traumatised Venlil reacted similarly upon meeting humans, so returning them to a 'normal' mental state before introducing them won't really help. If Glim and Haysi were asking questions and wanted out within less than a week of rescue, then how will we deal with countless rescues who will spread dissent and potentially try to kill humans if given the chance? The goal is simple: "The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions." It's clear that he never reached the threshold in Arxur captivity. If he somehow thinks humans are *scarier* by comparison, the solution is to go harder. After exposure to a wide variety of humanoid and non-humanoid nightmare fuel, he'll start to form a distinction between 'normal' humans and ס̸̙͈̟͐̈́י̷̧͍̀̈́ו̷̡͌͝ט̶͈̣̈́͆ ̵̝̈́כ̴͎̓̃י̷̺͂̂פ̷̲͐̐̽ו̸̪̏ף̶̦͝ͅ ̴͎̜̼̏̓̂ה̵̞̠͒͌͘מ̷͎̜̈́̎̇ו̸̱͔͑͠ח̶̣̫̋́͜ entities (those words are pronounced with eldritch screeching, by the way). That way, when he sees the normal thing, he'll go "Oh, it's just you."
... How am I even writing this with a straight face? I marvel at how one can come up with arguments for utter nonsense if they just put their mind to it.
are-
are you suggesting to further terrify them by showing them what scares *us* so they can draw their own lines in the sand?
...
that almost sounds plausible-
That's the crazy part. I went in with an absurdist's approach, but knowing that it *almost* makes sense feels wrong and oddly vindicating. Not to mention the 'normal' humans in these pieces of media are depicted as heroic or just people trying to survive. Assuming they ignore all ethics and manage to revive Glim every time his heart stops beating, that might actually work ... assuming he doesn't lose his mind.
now I might be unsure as to whether intentional sleep deprivation is legally considered torture (/ref)
but I'm fairly positive *that* would be considered torture
I'd love to see a memory recap of a non-human watching *Jurassic Park* anyway. I think it'd show them that we have a lot more common ground than they might think.
It surprises me that they haven't got on board with the metro system; you don't have a schedule per se, you just have "every few minutes there will be a train between these two times"; so, for example, in London you get on the tube, and won't wait more than 15 minutes (theoretically) between 7am and 8pm, or something.
I mean, sure, the UK manages to screw it up, but as a system, it works fine. And the more people you have using it, the more reliable it gets, because they can afford to put more trains on; if one gets stuck, or full, you just wait for the next. In a well-designed system (ie, not the london underground) you even have multiple tracks, so you can route around a borked train; again, more users, more money, more planning, better results.
Public transport is a thing, yo.
I dunno. I've seen mass transit systems with posted schedules (my local bus network for example).
And of course, people have complained about mass transit trains being late since time immemorial.
So Venlil Prime could very well have mass transit trains with posted schedules, and this train was late. Especially since according to Noah, these particular trains weren't just going around the block, but to an entirely other town. Although since it was described like a mass transit train, I would guess a suburb of the capital city or satellite town that got swallowed up by a growing capital city. Close enough to not need more than personal seating per passenger, but far enough to not count as part of the capitol city proper anyway.
AHHHHH. Surely there are better ways to deal with this situation than having the *number one human ambassador* CHASE DOWN A TRAUMATISED VENLIL ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT?
*Holopads captured my flight in real time.“GLIM! Our eyes are…arboreal!” the Gaian panted. “Helps…judge…branch distances!”*
This is so embarrassing, please come up with better plans in future, guys.
*"Several Venlil stared at the human chasing a rescue; we were creating quite a spectacle."* Yeah I'll fuckin bet
Yeah. Though it is accurate that our binocular eyes were for depth perception to help judge tree branch distances but nowadays we use that depth perception for throwing stuff, aiming, etc.
Yes, but our ability to *throw stuff* also came from our time in the trees. Our shoulder joints evolved a wider range of motion because we needed to grip, and swing from, overhead branches. Although we weren't capable of fast brachiation, like gibbons, being able to hold on to a high branch with one hand behind you while you stood on a lower branch made reaching for the fruit at the end of the higher branch safer. When we came to the ground that ability to pull our arms back behind us gave us more power in overhead throwing.
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1411/1411.2343.pdf
I mean, what better ways did they have available in the short time since Glim got out? Chasing a traumatized Venlil definitely isn't great but he was a threat to himself and others and needed to be stopped.
And having it be Noah, the most high profile advocate for human peace and empathy on the planet, means that people don't think "Oh its the humans showing their true colors and hunting down sentients" and instead think "oh something is wrong and Noah needs help"
Isn't there a Venlil military and a Venlil police force. With the scars of the band on glims neck it should have been easy to find him. And Noah is a high ranking person and glim a battle hardened Predator Killer.
The military would have taken to long. And the police, from what I gather are in the middle of reorganizing from all the excrement hitting the oscillation.
>Isn't there a Venlil military and a Venlil police force
That's a good question. Is there a Venlil police force? They seem to feel that only evil predators do bad things so do Venlil commit crimes?
Going by Kalsim's memories of a probable murder scene, I would guess no, no there's no police force. Having a police force implies there are crimes to police, and the only "crimes" we hear of is "predator disease" - or people just being overly aggressive. Any policing is likely handled by Exterminators and "psychologists" who would serve pretty much the same function as police.
I don't remember the chapter but She was talking about petty crimes committed by refugees (vandalism etc) and the victims called exterminators instead of the proper law enforcement. I think she also said that the crimes were no worse than the usual fare implying that it does occur.
Lets be real, noah, sarah and tarva shouldnt be working on rehabilitation of arxur cattle at all. But this is a fictional story, with a limited number of already introduced characters, so some suspension of belief needs to be had if we dont want to introduce new characters at every single new aspect of society
Tarva should've known this was a bad idea. I doubt that Noah and Sarah even realized the spectacle they were creating. But Tarva is a good enough politician to know not to do it this way.
That is exactly the kind of ammo the predator bigots can use.
If they are smart, human PR will speed up the footage x2 and overlay the Benny Hill theme to diffuse the impact.
Well, in a pinch, people don't have time to come up with the best plans. They just gotta roll with the most effective thing that comes to mind at the time. Besides, a human would have been better suited to chase down a Venlil in a crowded setting than the actual Venlil, given superior stamina, and apparently Venlil aren't that fast either. However, enough Venlil authorities might have been able to catch him anyway.
Noah is a high ranking ambassador and Tarva is a head of state. Anything they do in public will be news, and anything dramatic will be major news across federation, human, and arxur space. Ways this could have gone worse:
- Noah chases Glim onto train tracks, gets hit by train
- Glim succeeds at committing suicide while recklessly chased by Noah
- Noah says something off the cuff that harms humanity's image among neutral parties
- Glim attacks Noah/Tarva/Sarah/bystanders, security stops that with lethal force
- Glim found extremists (and/or foreign operatives), who take advantage of the fact that VIPs are looking for him to pick an ambush location to bomb. Noah, Sarah, Tarva, and a bunch of civilians die
People in these positions make decisions, and have dozens of advisors (each with advisors, analysts, and field workers of their own) who are paid specifically to make sure they make good decisions.
Part 83 is here! Glim learns the Venlil government's version of events while waiting for a train. Noah catches our rescue right before his departure, and attempts to persuade him during a foot chase. Do you think our former exterminator will come around? Did Noah take the right approach with Glim, by chasing him and going with him?
Also, on a side note, we get a glimpse of other non-Venlil species on Venlil Prime. Krakotl especially aren’t the humans’ favorites…
As always, thanks for reading! Part 84 will be here Wednesday.
I hadn’t considered other species on Venlil Prime. I can just imagine their families on other worlds during the comm blackout after first contact. Also, Venlil living on Aafa or the Gojid Cradle. Their opinions on the war would be drastically different depending on which planet they’re on. Kind of like the families split after the Korean War.
Venlil living on other worlds may be mourning the fall of their worlds. As for the other species on Venlil Prime, the comm blackout was a diplomatic disaster! Diplomats and merchants held hostage, and ex-pats unable to contact relatives.
The Federation outrage was why Sovlin got a green light to poke around the outpost in the first place.
>Also, Venlil living on Aafa or the Gojid Cradle.
In my fanfic *Insertion* (formerly titled "Now Boarding") one of the venlil characters was born and raised on a gojid colony world and has higher aggression than a normal venlil. Bytheir standards she would have "predator disease" but by gojid standards she is normal.
The Feds use orbital bombardment to "cleanse" planets for colonization
The Mazic offered to help the UN colonize new planets
That isn't going to end well in the future
UN shows up with 100k tons of tons of construction supplies.
Mazic arrive with half a kilo of antimatter.
They end up camping all weekend and use the antimatter to go plinking with a nearby moon.
Obviously, you don't need to write to appease just one comment - but just to give you the feedback, I would LOVE to see the conversation on that bus; the questions that get asked and the answers that are given. Whether Glim opens up, or closes off, I'd love to witness it.
My guess is that after that public display, someone else (not Noah or something) will have to explain a bunch of stuff about Humanity and our biology in a press conference.
Pretty sure the Venlil and allies already know about our endurance and persistence hunting, no way that with an entire country sized refugee population in Venlil Prime there wouldn't be a lot of our internet being dumped on theirs, including the entirety of Wikipedia.
As well as… other materials (while the fan story strange bedfellows isn’t canon it is part of my head canon so I’m pretty sure at least some xenos know of our… tastes when it comes to bedroom activities)
Nice to see more from Glim’s POV. Him being resistant to the truth makes a ton of sense and shows how much work has to be done with the traumatized survivors. Seeing more of Venlil is fun too.
It would have been better to have Venlil apprend Glim, but they didn't have the time. If that train had departed, tracking down Glim would be much harder and he'd likely be able to obtain or create some form of weapon. I imagine he'd start trying to exterminate occupying predators and would not be taken alive. Especially after he said "death before capture", there weren't any better options. This will come back to bite them.
Letting Glim talk to his aunt is a good idea, but Noah escorting him could be interpreted as a threat. "I know where your family lives, so be a good little pet." This might make him fake a change of heart, even if he doesn't believe them, and bide his time. Getting a Venlil escort that could handle Glim if he got violent would have taken time. As it stands, I could see Glim attacking Noah with a kitchen knife, then trying to escape with his aunt. Even if she seems pro-human, he could believe that she was intimidated by Noah.
It will take a lot for Glim to come around. Even if humans were 100% herbivore, allying with the Arxur, the flesh-eating reptilian space-Nazis that had been preying on him for years(?), could easily be a deal-breaker.
This was a wonderfully written chapter. I was able to really feel what Glim was going through, feel the desperation, the trauma, the confusion, and everything else. Like, my heart was actually racing.
I also enjoyed the extra peek into life on Venlil Prime. Loving the random non main character civilian interactions.
I feel bad for the lady krokotl though. She was born and raised on Venlil Prime her whole life and there's every chance that she was just as cool with humans as the (seemingly- I'm making assumptions here) majority of the Venlil and others on the planet relatively early on. Now, she has to live in fear of being associated with shit she had literally zero part in.
The cycle continues, but hopefully they (and us irl) can keep trying to do better.
Awesome update as always!
It's funny to me how the comment you made on your post has more upvotes than your actual post. I just wonder how that even happens, as the people clearly like the story aswell.
Then the post is simply only not updating for me. As of writing that first comment, the post was at 105 or so upvotes and the comment at 147. I tried to make sure I was seeing right by reloading it and even going from the previous chapter and back yet it was still the same. How very peculiar.
This is the way I feel it should have been.
Deception, even well intentioned, breeds mistrust.
Should have started with Venil explaining recent events, and that humans would be participating at the facility.
Introduce them one at a time - but be slow, deliberate. Answer questions, but ensure the individual feels safe.
At a minimum, they should have screened which patients needed face covers, and which would likely be compliant at worst.
Based on Glim’s reaction, I think they might’ve gone panic-mode even if a Venlil explained the situation to them. Because Glim seems to think is humans have some big, planet wide psy-op that’s fooled everyone.
I’m not sure how else they could’ve broken the news to Glim
Yeah, I know 😥
Still, some warning, and a processing system to determine who is more likely to work well with humans, and who wouldn't, would have been good.
They are doing their best, and no one is trying to make this hard on anyone... it's just so unfortunate.
*"Could any Venlil actually believe a predator came in peace? My firsthand experience was ripe with displays of aggression; I could still hear the Arxur calling us animals."*
Almost like... you calling them "predators"? 🤔
Ah yes, *chase* the incredibly traumatized and horrified refugee that thinks his entire planet has been enslaved and that he's still cattle. Great thinking, Noah.
It is great thinking. He could catch Glim easier because of his hands, sweat and endurance. It also makes it easier to introduce the idea that Humans aren’t so bad. And besides, if Glim hadn’t been chased out of the train, he would’ve found his Aunts home either empty or with someone else in it, traumatizing him more.
THEY ATE HER!!! THE MONSTERS!!!
“Um, she moved last year.”
THEY ATE HER AND REPLACED HER WITH MORE DOCILE PETS!
“No, really, we have her forwarding address here somewhere…”
I WILL NEVER SEE MY AUNTIE AGAIN. THE MONSTERS!!!
“Oh, I found her phone number…. Where are you going?”
I MAY AS WELL DIE!!!
“Do you need a medical professional? I think you may be having a breakdown.”
WHY IS FATE SO CRUEL?!?!
“Okay, called the cops. Bye now.”
That is assuming:
A) They knew for sure he was heading there before finding him on the tram.
B) They could actually contact her, and get her there in time.
C) He didn't run in to anything problematic on his way there.
Actually, that was the best cause of action. Everyone knows about the refugee situation. Glim is likely going to end up infamous and his actions show why they are taking this slow. World has changed
After the captain america ending scene this chapter was a full blown Benny Hill chase scene. Really enjoying those more light hearted moments, even though they have a more serious undertone.
Its a bit of fresh air in all the darkness we had to witness in these last chapters of doom.
>My team had descended a canyon, cleaning up native predators there. The region could become an abscess for a fledgling colony otherwise. It was supposed to be a simple job, but none of us realized we weren’t alone. The Arxur snuck a ship in under nightfall, and landed practically atop my unit. We all knew it was better to die than to be captured.
This means that the Arxur have access to planets with a semi-funtional ecosystem and even ones with full ecosystems, which means they have access to animal prey, yet they still rely on the Feds for food, it seems that the Arxur goverment really likes to have its people starving for control
Sounds like it was a single cattle ship
The planet was clearly well within Venlil territory, the Arxur would have to fight an actual, full war in order to get enough of a claim on that planet to utilize it
Also remember that the exterminators label every animal that even has a *possibility* of being harmful as a predator, even ones too small to be a genuine threat to them (the Arxur demand for meat is great, small animals cannot sustain them), and that they kill all the large herbivores as well
The possibility of mid and large size animals is still there, also the Arxur just have a thing agains't eating **Sapient** carnivores and possibly Omnivores, for them all non sapient animals are fair game
Yeah, but the Arxur say that the Venlil cyber security is lacking, so they could have swoped in before the devastation
Also, since the Venlil had access to a couple of inhabitable planets in their 20ly radius sphere, we can conclude that inhabitable planets not touched by the Federation are a thing
A starving populace is easier to control and subdue. If you don’t have enough food, you don’t really question your government’s actions if they’re the ones giving you the little food you do have.
Or you question your government even more because if you are so superior why are you unable to supply more food. A starving population is a revolting population in 99% of the cases.
Humans are pack hunters. If a group are suffering, they tend to bond and revolt together. An Arxur on the other hand by being ambush predators, don't form packs, and likely turn on eachother in times of stress to the point of cannibalism.
That isn’t the same as domesticate, and would cost a lot of resources while also fighting a war
Still, questions for future historians and archeologists to answer
Not true. Ohter chapters and the free chapter of the Arxur POV and space paladin himself did state that the Arxur have no access to domesticatable animals. Also the Arxur aren't a unified government but many chief Hunters that act like war lords. More food than the other chief hunters gives you more power in the feudal society meaning every chief hunters for most goal is to find a stable food source. So it makes 0 sense to not domesticate meaning the can't do it because of the feds destroying the planets. See how glim did say that they bomb the planets before going on the ground. Also the Arxur did slip a stealth cattle ship between their lines which is not enough to get enough animals to domesticate them.
Yeah but he most likely only has control over the homeworld and it's local military. And his main job will most likely be the interpretation of the teaching of the great prophet.
The Arxur situation is complicated; its definitely clear that the Arxur are in a political situation that isn't going to be solved without an outside force.
Its pretty hard to maintain the political control the top brass of the Dominion seems to hold when there's a semi-friendly power willing to trade away something that takes away their primary means of control now, with the arrival of the humans.
I predict an Arxur Civil War at some point in the story between the "War and Peace" camps.
Same. And I think I can predict how it happens.
Isif trades Federation Prisoners to Earth for food, possibly even more food than they would have gotten from the prisoners. Trade continues, and Isif's sector fleet (or whatever it's called) is flush with enough food for everyone in it and Isif is telling everyone to trade with the humans for more food, but to not attack them because that would destroy THE source of enough plentiful food for everyone. End result, Isif becomes VERY powerful and influential, more so than his rank normally allows. And probably, enough so than the Dominion regime starts feeling threatened.
So the Dominion regime trumps up criminal charges against Isif. Or they attack Earth, ostensibly under the ideology of "The strong don't trade. The strong TAKE what they want!" but really to destroy the source of plentiful food that's undermining their hold on the Arxur race. Or they do both.
They fail of course, either because Isif has accumulated far more internal support than the Dominion regime realizes (in the case of trumped up charges) or because Isif decides that humanity's allegiance (and food supply) is far more important than obedience to Dominion authority. Either way, Isif winds up allied with humanity fighting the Dominion.
Maybe, maybe not - note the "snuck a ship under nightfall".
It is possible if they wanted to colonize and farm that planet they would have to fight the Federation for it, continually, instead of just a quick "snatch and grab" under the cover of night.
Being kept in a kennel, seeing people eaten, it's a little hard to trust someone who fits the bill of every definition of being a predator. It's not different to how many Jews left Europe after being liberated. Every non-Jew could have been a Nazi that wasn't in the camp with them, or dead.
The chase scene looked like it's be really bad, from a PR perspective... but then Noah saved Glim from the train and, yep, that will play really well I think!
I think having Noah be the one chasing Glim down was their best bet. Noah’s like, top dog, the most well-known ambassador on Venlil Prime. So when people see him chasing Glim, they’re like “oh shoot, something’s wrong” and not “THE HUMANS ARE SHOWING THEIR TRUE COLORS EVERYBODY PANIC”
I really hope on the trip, as Glim is reading stuff using his translator. When he gets to a word that doesn’t translate,(especially if it’s a Venlil word that he forgot) he asks what the word is so that he can realize how obsolete his translator is and that maybe it’s been spelling out stuff wrong to him.
Or Sara figures out what’s going on, so they can report this immediately to the volunteers to fix the problem.
‘predator disease’ isn’t real, its just how the SIVKIT DEEP STATE disposes of their sleeper agents after they outlive their usefulness. Once they do the deed that the sivkits want them, they make them go bonkers so that they can get rid of them without arousing suspicion. Any one of your friends could be an agent of the yotul deep state, STAY AWARE
Chief Hunter Isalec Jonif: The Federation doesn't want you to know this but THEIR CITIZENS ARE LITERALLY MADE OF MEAT! You heard me people, LITERALLY.MADE.OF.MEAT. Now I'm not saying you should eat you're Federation neighbours... But, and hear me out here, if my freezer is running low? I'm going to break into their house AND.EAT.THEIR.KIDS! I'M GOING TO SLATHER MY NEIGHBOURS KIDS IN BBQ SAUCE AND FREAKING EAT THEM! This is what the deep state has bought me to! I'm a good guy and I'm thinking about eating my Federation neighbours kids!? That's how bad it is out there people!
>Public transit on Venlil Prime was always behind schedule
You'd think that the genlil would do their damm best to have a reliable public transit system considering that walking from place to place is a lot less of an option for them than it is for us
***The Terran Sentinel***
***A Means to an End : A Retrospect on Operation Cygnus Eternale***
***May 19th, 2180***
**Today marks the 230th anniversary of the Beginning of Operation Cygnus Eternale, a 2 century gambit of data collection, misdirection and future proofed planning of near incomprehensible scale**
**Cygnus Eternale was the brainchild of the CIA in 1950 ever since the confirmed existence of the Federation during The Battle of Los Angeles in 1942 during World War 2 with the Operation being expanded to a global scale in the space of a decade**
**the expansion was a move to misdirect the Federation into thinking that Earth was in a state of constant nuclear war for decades, only stopping in the 80s with the withdrawal of Federation spy satellites**
**but just because the spy satellites were gone doesn't mean that the threat of hostile first contact was as well, so the Operation went into stage 2 after the 1980s up until the 2130s**
**during that time the date of first contact was refined from the beyond the 21st century to exactly July 13th 2136**
**we will never know all the fine details of such a massive operation and we may never see one as large as this ever again, but we can hope that such expertise will be used for good once again**
Made it.
Edit, well, it end well. Glim get to see his aunt, and a bunch of people saw letting the rescues out could end with them jumping in front of a train.
Im sure this chase scene will become a meme in-verse.
Man, Glim really has it bad mentally huh, death before dishonor and all that.
Really hoping he comes back to the land of the more mentally stable
Ah yes, I can see a "Noah chasing glim" meme in the intergalactic web, being kind of the opposite of the [guy being chased by another floating guy meme](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/419/179/d95.jpg), where the one chasing actually has benevolent intent
That...could've gone better, but it also could've gone worse. At least nobody was particularly hurt, though...it'll be interesting to see how Tarva addresses this new viral video clip of Noah chasing down a refugee.
Really, being part of the volunteer force isn't the best use of their time, just in terms of opportunity cost in general. It's fine though. A bit of suspension of disbelief is worth keeping the cast from getting too big to manage when we're already dealing with over half a dozen POVs.
Glim...might recover, given some time, or he might just live the rest of his life staying away from humans to the best of his ability. I can't blame him if he does, but I'm hoping it'll be the former. At the very least, he has the will to no longer be cattle and his mind is actually working at a pretty sharp and healthy level, even if a few gears are gunked up or missing.
I also hope things get better for that Krakotl lass. Things aren't going to be easy, but hanging in there is all any of us can do.
Here's hoping we get some of that exchange on the train ride over, though I suppose going back to talk to Haysi wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Noah’s going to have a hard time downplaying his little escapade there. Tarva likes a hand-on approach with things that are important to her, but none of them should’ve been involved in hindsight. Really messed things up! 🤣
We will get to hear more about Haysi, as well as following Glim’s journey! Both rescues have a long, difficult road ahead
I fucking love this series :D
I think I found a typo by the way:
> I jostled the avian’s wing. “Hey, wait up! How many Venlil…d-do you think they’ve eaten so far?”
> “Zero,” she replied, settling into a window seat. “Humans don’t eat sapients, and they see you as part of their pack.”
> “You’re really trying to say it’s a non-zero number. Has the whole world gone mad?”
The Krakotl said zero, so why would Glim respond that the Krakotl called it a non-zero number?
This is the capital, the most human-friendly area on Venlil. Anti-human individuals were driven out, since this is the hotspot of the “infestation.” Rural areas and settlements, especially as you get further from the capital, aren’t so open-minded.
Even Volek states that the extermination office had to get rid of bigoted employees…and there was a Venlil in this chapter giving a passing human a wide berth 😅
I'm glad that Glim was only Nearly Departed and not Dearly Departed!
Also, I enjoyed this and the previous chapter(s) involving human-phobic narrators much more once I adopted the frame of reference that they were insane, or at least in serious need of mental help (which, to be fair, they do).
Loved seeing the Krakotl in Venlil Prime. There obviously would have been other species immigrants living there and I love seeing how they're reacting to the changes.
Hope to see more of her.
"Colonies we landed on had infestations that were out of control too; so much that we mixed orbital actions with paws-on-the-ground."
For a prey species, they do sure have an understanding of combined-arms operations. While this sounds mundane, one can infer a complex kill chain. You need to identify the target, one of the on-the-ground troopers will determine its location, adjust orbital bombardment onto it, and FFE. Even in this simplified example, there is still a crew manning the weapons, manning the targeting computer, manning the observation. All are very complex in one single goal. That is the eradication of a living organism.
I see our deprogramming tactics are bearing fruits, even the Space Turkeys are feeling sorry for us now.
Space Seagulls* They went for fish after all.
Or Bald Eagles, or Heron. I’ve been imagining them as Heron.
They are quite colourful, so could be. Though they have notable claws, so I see them more as a hybrid of parrots and seagulls, but basically human sized.
I'm picturing the Rito from Zelda, tbh. Except, you know, sideways eyes of Krakotl ~~Fried~~ Chicken. Also makes it easier on my psyche when a decent Krakotl person or two shows up in the story too, since Rito are (mostly) friendly and nice.
I picture Falco from Star Fox... Who basically looks the same.
Y'all have these sensible images for the Krackotl, meanwhile I've been imagining Archeops ever since color and flailing was mentioned.
They do have the ability to hold guns, so you may not be far off.
i imagined space toucans, with multicolored beaks, like a murderous toucan sam. they were described as having a curved beak with tropical colors on the wiki page after all
Oh crap! A seagull that can say more then “Mine!” What a nightmare. I can just imagine being chased down the beach for my French fries by a seagull sized parrot with a seagull beak, screaming, “Give me those damn fries or I’ll F#ck you up!!!”
Kalsim after being forced to hang out with seagulls for a year as part of his sentance:
Oh God imagine a krakotl going fishing an it does that thing that black Herons do with their wings
More Skua for me. But with weirder beaks
Green herons? Do they do the [neck thing](https://youtu.be/2XMMLuX_rZk)?
Heron sounds right
Krakotl, [Stop It Now](https://youtu.be/U9t-slLl30E)!
I like you. You get it.
I love the krakotl there, I’ve always thought that some must sympathize with humanity and this confirms it Can’t wait to see krakotl manning human ships too
Me too Glad to see the entire species isn't one dimensional where every member of the species thinks exactly the same. Something science fiction unfortunately tends to do often
Blame Star Trek. The Klingons were great, but boy did they propel the planet of hats to new heights
Honestly another reason to love DS9, they actualy added complexity to both klingon and ferengi culture
Quark's dissertation on the philosophy of peace as a commodity really made the society come alive for me.
3rd rule of acquisition! Also, root beer.
It so sweet and bubbly
And happy...
Just like the federation
But you want to know what's crazy? Drink enough of it, and you begin to like it...
"The price for peace is at a all time low!" I loved that speech. The federation called the ferengi primitive but they never had wars never used nukes. They were just a different complicated culture.
Ferengi culture was really highlighted in DS9 and it is a shame the entire federation was written as communist because of it. And yeah they were. No money. No wealth. No poverty. No war and No substance abuse. Definitely sounds like what was proposed by Karl Marx
Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism!
It was and judging by the fanbase. It was awesome Still. Has it flaws though
Oh yes, so many flaws. But it keeps trying, and that's what matters. Although I would argue it is more socialist than communist. I'm pretty sure private enterprise is still a thing there after all. It's just more a hobby one pursues than a career needed for income.
Star Wars, too. Other than humans, most of the species are all basically the same. It's an easy (lazy) way to flesh out out an entire universe. Just treat every member of the same species as the same thing. Fantasy does it too. Look at orcs, elves and dwarves. They're functionally identical across multiple worlds (with a few exceptions)
Star Wars is both a movie and more of an space opera, with less time to flesh out the alien species. In the series like clone wars, they certainly do get depth Meanwhile, Star Trek was founded with a rule that the Klingons needed there own actual language
Does Star Wars really do that too? The only species-wide stereotypes I can think of are Twileks being slaves (which is something done to them, not a quality of their species) and Nemoidians being driven by self-interest (which is deconstructed/explicitly refuted in the novels Brotherhood and Queen's Hope).
Both suffer from what I would call First Impression Syndrome. Which is basically the first example of a race or species that we see on screen MUST be what their entire race/species must be like. And I feel like that started as far back with Spock of Star Trek fame, not Star Wars.
Hutts are lazy gangsters...WTF Yoda is is special with the force, Wookies are warrior barbarians who only speak wookie..
Of course his viewpoint is different. He's only ever lived on Venlil Prime. Unlike the rest of his people he's seen Humanity's actions personally from day one.
So far every single federation species was a one dimensional predator hater until taught otherwise. I wonder if there were any pro-predator groups prior to first contact with humans. Like alien hippies or something lol. Id love to see the perspective of some scientist who thought "predators evolve on every world! they fill a niche in the environment! we shouldnt blindly genocide them!" getting blacklisted and shamed for his quack theories, only to be pulled back into the limelight with the arrival of humans
Same here! Seeing a Krakotl act normally in canon is a huge relief, considering every other one we saw before this was completely insane in one way or another. I wonder if any of the birds' holdout worlds mentioned in chapter 70 would be willing to join humanity?
I would imagine that at least some of them would, I feel like they’re kinda in the middle of a civil war, and that some factions that see themselves as victims (unlike Kalsim) will join us
>Call us whatever you like... not predator, I hope." >The predator You had one job, Glim.
So... Maybe we should show *Predator* to Venli as an example of what scares us. Show that we fear being hunted, too. 😁
They would point out how they're still human shaped and all that bullshit. Something something they fear themselves going feral bla bla bla.
Let's do Alien instead. Just for some irony.
They'd make up some shit about that too, the cognitive dissonance is strong with them.
A human's inner desires breaking free, causing death and havoc on a ship. It threatens everyone around it, since it's contagious in a way, consuming everything it can.
Found the Fed!
Hey, not my fault human media made by ~~predators~~ us is a metaphor for things that are actual fears, just manifested in an external way :D EDIT: Also, Alien is my favourite franchise of sci-fi ever, so great choice there!
They sound like vatnik but if they finaly had a gun to they'r head
I second that! Then, it's 'Alien', 'Jaws', 'The Thing', 'Nope', 'V', 'Burning Bright', 'The Tomorrow War', 'Edge of Tomorrow', 'Beast', 'Skyline', 'Anaconda', ***e******very single episode of 'Falling Skies',*** ***'JURASSIC PARK'!*** **MAKE HIM PLAY** '***METROID: DREAD'!!!*** **THEN** ***'PREY'!!!!!*** **READ HIM** ***'S.C.P.'*** **STORIES AND WASH IT DOWN WITH** ***'LOVECRAFT'*** **BEFORE TUCKING HIM IN AT NIGHT!!!!!!** ... Wait, what are we tryin' to do here again?
Xenomorphs are mostly humanoid The Thing mostly takes over human bodies V is literally a human killer ..maybe filter your horror choices by something that you can't weave into "humans = evil" >wash it down with 'lovecraft' calm down there satan, lovecraftian horror is existential, don't break him before he's even healed
Good points. I'm aware of that, as another comment highlighted this. However, I think we gotta keep focused on the goal here.
fair enough but to be honest I don't think scaring them is the best idea.. especially given that we're still *at war on several fronts*
True, a several front war isn't exactly conducive to ... *wonderful things* ... However, we don't have time to softly introduce the Venlil rescues to the new society. Even the non-traumatised Venlil reacted similarly upon meeting humans, so returning them to a 'normal' mental state before introducing them won't really help. If Glim and Haysi were asking questions and wanted out within less than a week of rescue, then how will we deal with countless rescues who will spread dissent and potentially try to kill humans if given the chance? The goal is simple: "The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions." It's clear that he never reached the threshold in Arxur captivity. If he somehow thinks humans are *scarier* by comparison, the solution is to go harder. After exposure to a wide variety of humanoid and non-humanoid nightmare fuel, he'll start to form a distinction between 'normal' humans and ס̸̙͈̟͐̈́י̷̧͍̀̈́ו̷̡͌͝ט̶͈̣̈́͆ ̵̝̈́כ̴͎̓̃י̷̺͂̂פ̷̲͐̐̽ו̸̪̏ף̶̦͝ͅ ̴͎̜̼̏̓̂ה̵̞̠͒͌͘מ̷͎̜̈́̎̇ו̸̱͔͑͠ח̶̣̫̋́͜ entities (those words are pronounced with eldritch screeching, by the way). That way, when he sees the normal thing, he'll go "Oh, it's just you." ... How am I even writing this with a straight face? I marvel at how one can come up with arguments for utter nonsense if they just put their mind to it.
are- are you suggesting to further terrify them by showing them what scares *us* so they can draw their own lines in the sand? ... that almost sounds plausible-
That's the crazy part. I went in with an absurdist's approach, but knowing that it *almost* makes sense feels wrong and oddly vindicating. Not to mention the 'normal' humans in these pieces of media are depicted as heroic or just people trying to survive. Assuming they ignore all ethics and manage to revive Glim every time his heart stops beating, that might actually work ... assuming he doesn't lose his mind.
now I might be unsure as to whether intentional sleep deprivation is legally considered torture (/ref) but I'm fairly positive *that* would be considered torture
Something about how we also fear being preyed upon.
I'd love to see a memory recap of a non-human watching *Jurassic Park* anyway. I think it'd show them that we have a lot more common ground than they might think.
It wasn't a job he was obligated to take.
But it sure as hell wasn't a hard job. At all. One of the easiest in the galaxy, in fact.
> Public transit in Venlil Prime was always behind schedule Good to know some things are true no matter where you go
If any survived we should *send* some managers from Japan’s many transit services Edit: realized I missed a word
It surprises me that they haven't got on board with the metro system; you don't have a schedule per se, you just have "every few minutes there will be a train between these two times"; so, for example, in London you get on the tube, and won't wait more than 15 minutes (theoretically) between 7am and 8pm, or something. I mean, sure, the UK manages to screw it up, but as a system, it works fine. And the more people you have using it, the more reliable it gets, because they can afford to put more trains on; if one gets stuck, or full, you just wait for the next. In a well-designed system (ie, not the london underground) you even have multiple tracks, so you can route around a borked train; again, more users, more money, more planning, better results. Public transport is a thing, yo.
I dunno. I've seen mass transit systems with posted schedules (my local bus network for example). And of course, people have complained about mass transit trains being late since time immemorial. So Venlil Prime could very well have mass transit trains with posted schedules, and this train was late. Especially since according to Noah, these particular trains weren't just going around the block, but to an entirely other town. Although since it was described like a mass transit train, I would guess a suburb of the capital city or satellite town that got swallowed up by a growing capital city. Close enough to not need more than personal seating per passenger, but far enough to not count as part of the capitol city proper anyway.
AHHHHH. Surely there are better ways to deal with this situation than having the *number one human ambassador* CHASE DOWN A TRAUMATISED VENLIL ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT? *Holopads captured my flight in real time.“GLIM! Our eyes are…arboreal!” the Gaian panted. “Helps…judge…branch distances!”* This is so embarrassing, please come up with better plans in future, guys. *"Several Venlil stared at the human chasing a rescue; we were creating quite a spectacle."* Yeah I'll fuckin bet
Yeah. Though it is accurate that our binocular eyes were for depth perception to help judge tree branch distances but nowadays we use that depth perception for throwing stuff, aiming, etc.
Shit. We threw shit when we partied with the giga sloths.
r/brandnewsentence I love it
Yes, but our ability to *throw stuff* also came from our time in the trees. Our shoulder joints evolved a wider range of motion because we needed to grip, and swing from, overhead branches. Although we weren't capable of fast brachiation, like gibbons, being able to hold on to a high branch with one hand behind you while you stood on a lower branch made reaching for the fruit at the end of the higher branch safer. When we came to the ground that ability to pull our arms back behind us gave us more power in overhead throwing. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1411/1411.2343.pdf
It makes sense, tree hopping is just the art of throwing tree branches backwards
That's a fun way of thinking about it. BTW, there are health benefits to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzQM49swPvs
I just use mine for driving to taco bell.
This is a good use of that skill.
It's an exaptation. Something that once served a different purpose in our evolutionary history changing to suit a new purpose.
I mean, what better ways did they have available in the short time since Glim got out? Chasing a traumatized Venlil definitely isn't great but he was a threat to himself and others and needed to be stopped. And having it be Noah, the most high profile advocate for human peace and empathy on the planet, means that people don't think "Oh its the humans showing their true colors and hunting down sentients" and instead think "oh something is wrong and Noah needs help"
Isn't there a Venlil military and a Venlil police force. With the scars of the band on glims neck it should have been easy to find him. And Noah is a high ranking person and glim a battle hardened Predator Killer.
That’s true. But Noah and Co. might not have thought of that, since they were dealing with Haysi while Glim was running away
The military would have taken to long. And the police, from what I gather are in the middle of reorganizing from all the excrement hitting the oscillation.
>Isn't there a Venlil military and a Venlil police force That's a good question. Is there a Venlil police force? They seem to feel that only evil predators do bad things so do Venlil commit crimes?
Going by Kalsim's memories of a probable murder scene, I would guess no, no there's no police force. Having a police force implies there are crimes to police, and the only "crimes" we hear of is "predator disease" - or people just being overly aggressive. Any policing is likely handled by Exterminators and "psychologists" who would serve pretty much the same function as police.
I think tarva mentioned a police force somewhere
I don't remember the chapter but She was talking about petty crimes committed by refugees (vandalism etc) and the victims called exterminators instead of the proper law enforcement. I think she also said that the crimes were no worse than the usual fare implying that it does occur.
Lets be real, noah, sarah and tarva shouldnt be working on rehabilitation of arxur cattle at all. But this is a fictional story, with a limited number of already introduced characters, so some suspension of belief needs to be had if we dont want to introduce new characters at every single new aspect of society
Yeah for some reason I feel like chasing after someone who's afraid of being hunted might not be the best move
Tarva should've known this was a bad idea. I doubt that Noah and Sarah even realized the spectacle they were creating. But Tarva is a good enough politician to know not to do it this way.
Well, it wasn’t exactly planned….
That is exactly the kind of ammo the predator bigots can use. If they are smart, human PR will speed up the footage x2 and overlay the Benny Hill theme to diffuse the impact.
Well, in a pinch, people don't have time to come up with the best plans. They just gotta roll with the most effective thing that comes to mind at the time. Besides, a human would have been better suited to chase down a Venlil in a crowded setting than the actual Venlil, given superior stamina, and apparently Venlil aren't that fast either. However, enough Venlil authorities might have been able to catch him anyway.
Noah is a high ranking ambassador and Tarva is a head of state. Anything they do in public will be news, and anything dramatic will be major news across federation, human, and arxur space. Ways this could have gone worse: - Noah chases Glim onto train tracks, gets hit by train - Glim succeeds at committing suicide while recklessly chased by Noah - Noah says something off the cuff that harms humanity's image among neutral parties - Glim attacks Noah/Tarva/Sarah/bystanders, security stops that with lethal force - Glim found extremists (and/or foreign operatives), who take advantage of the fact that VIPs are looking for him to pick an ambush location to bomb. Noah, Sarah, Tarva, and a bunch of civilians die People in these positions make decisions, and have dozens of advisors (each with advisors, analysts, and field workers of their own) who are paid specifically to make sure they make good decisions.
Part 83 is here! Glim learns the Venlil government's version of events while waiting for a train. Noah catches our rescue right before his departure, and attempts to persuade him during a foot chase. Do you think our former exterminator will come around? Did Noah take the right approach with Glim, by chasing him and going with him? Also, on a side note, we get a glimpse of other non-Venlil species on Venlil Prime. Krakotl especially aren’t the humans’ favorites… As always, thanks for reading! Part 84 will be here Wednesday.
Not many other choices, if you don't want him to get smashed, which I think we all want him to have a long and happy life.
Yeah. Ultimately he stopped Glim from getting flattened by a tram, and that's what's important. He also let him educate himself.
I hadn’t considered other species on Venlil Prime. I can just imagine their families on other worlds during the comm blackout after first contact. Also, Venlil living on Aafa or the Gojid Cradle. Their opinions on the war would be drastically different depending on which planet they’re on. Kind of like the families split after the Korean War.
Venlil living on other worlds may be mourning the fall of their worlds. As for the other species on Venlil Prime, the comm blackout was a diplomatic disaster! Diplomats and merchants held hostage, and ex-pats unable to contact relatives. The Federation outrage was why Sovlin got a green light to poke around the outpost in the first place.
>Also, Venlil living on Aafa or the Gojid Cradle. In my fanfic *Insertion* (formerly titled "Now Boarding") one of the venlil characters was born and raised on a gojid colony world and has higher aggression than a normal venlil. Bytheir standards she would have "predator disease" but by gojid standards she is normal.
The Feds use orbital bombardment to "cleanse" planets for colonization The Mazic offered to help the UN colonize new planets That isn't going to end well in the future
The UN ain’t gonna let that happen though
Oh, yeah. Definitely not
UN shows up with 100k tons of tons of construction supplies. Mazic arrive with half a kilo of antimatter. They end up camping all weekend and use the antimatter to go plinking with a nearby moon.
Obviously, you don't need to write to appease just one comment - but just to give you the feedback, I would LOVE to see the conversation on that bus; the questions that get asked and the answers that are given. Whether Glim opens up, or closes off, I'd love to witness it.
maybe not a full chapter but this would certainly be able to be some kind of filler episode
My guess is that after that public display, someone else (not Noah or something) will have to explain a bunch of stuff about Humanity and our biology in a press conference.
Pretty sure the Venlil and allies already know about our endurance and persistence hunting, no way that with an entire country sized refugee population in Venlil Prime there wouldn't be a lot of our internet being dumped on theirs, including the entirety of Wikipedia.
As well as… other materials (while the fan story strange bedfellows isn’t canon it is part of my head canon so I’m pretty sure at least some xenos know of our… tastes when it comes to bedroom activities)
This one was a doozy, but I predict 84 will be a slammer for everyone in the public
Hey, someone referencing a chapter that is out on patron, not five in the future.
My dearie boy, I only read the miniseries and never the main story on Patreon. I just like misleading the proletariat
Nice to see more from Glim’s POV. Him being resistant to the truth makes a ton of sense and shows how much work has to be done with the traumatized survivors. Seeing more of Venlil is fun too.
It would have been better to have Venlil apprend Glim, but they didn't have the time. If that train had departed, tracking down Glim would be much harder and he'd likely be able to obtain or create some form of weapon. I imagine he'd start trying to exterminate occupying predators and would not be taken alive. Especially after he said "death before capture", there weren't any better options. This will come back to bite them. Letting Glim talk to his aunt is a good idea, but Noah escorting him could be interpreted as a threat. "I know where your family lives, so be a good little pet." This might make him fake a change of heart, even if he doesn't believe them, and bide his time. Getting a Venlil escort that could handle Glim if he got violent would have taken time. As it stands, I could see Glim attacking Noah with a kitchen knife, then trying to escape with his aunt. Even if she seems pro-human, he could believe that she was intimidated by Noah. It will take a lot for Glim to come around. Even if humans were 100% herbivore, allying with the Arxur, the flesh-eating reptilian space-Nazis that had been preying on him for years(?), could easily be a deal-breaker.
This was a wonderfully written chapter. I was able to really feel what Glim was going through, feel the desperation, the trauma, the confusion, and everything else. Like, my heart was actually racing. I also enjoyed the extra peek into life on Venlil Prime. Loving the random non main character civilian interactions. I feel bad for the lady krokotl though. She was born and raised on Venlil Prime her whole life and there's every chance that she was just as cool with humans as the (seemingly- I'm making assumptions here) majority of the Venlil and others on the planet relatively early on. Now, she has to live in fear of being associated with shit she had literally zero part in. The cycle continues, but hopefully they (and us irl) can keep trying to do better. Awesome update as always!
> Noah catches our rescue right before his departure To the goddamm spirit world
It's funny to me how the comment you made on your post has more upvotes than your actual post. I just wonder how that even happens, as the people clearly like the story aswell.
What do you mean? This comment has 151, and the post has 1471 at time of writing 😅
Then the post is simply only not updating for me. As of writing that first comment, the post was at 105 or so upvotes and the comment at 147. I tried to make sure I was seeing right by reloading it and even going from the previous chapter and back yet it was still the same. How very peculiar.
This is the way I feel it should have been. Deception, even well intentioned, breeds mistrust. Should have started with Venil explaining recent events, and that humans would be participating at the facility. Introduce them one at a time - but be slow, deliberate. Answer questions, but ensure the individual feels safe. At a minimum, they should have screened which patients needed face covers, and which would likely be compliant at worst.
Based on Glim’s reaction, I think they might’ve gone panic-mode even if a Venlil explained the situation to them. Because Glim seems to think is humans have some big, planet wide psy-op that’s fooled everyone. I’m not sure how else they could’ve broken the news to Glim
Tarva did that bombing -conspiracybenlil62627 who is actually glim
They brought in humans because there weren't enough Venlil staff.
Yeah, I know 😥 Still, some warning, and a processing system to determine who is more likely to work well with humans, and who wouldn't, would have been good. They are doing their best, and no one is trying to make this hard on anyone... it's just so unfortunate.
I really like the fact that: all krakotls are experiencing first hand xenophobia now. I mean I feel sorry for her but thats really realistic
Yeah. It’s a shame, but now she—among others—will realize how sucky it is to be the subject of malice and disgust
*"Could any Venlil actually believe a predator came in peace? My firsthand experience was ripe with displays of aggression; I could still hear the Arxur calling us animals."* Almost like... you calling them "predators"? 🤔
That's the fun thing about brainwashing.
Cognitive dissonance, and major PTSD
Ah yes, *chase* the incredibly traumatized and horrified refugee that thinks his entire planet has been enslaved and that he's still cattle. Great thinking, Noah.
It is great thinking. He could catch Glim easier because of his hands, sweat and endurance. It also makes it easier to introduce the idea that Humans aren’t so bad. And besides, if Glim hadn’t been chased out of the train, he would’ve found his Aunts home either empty or with someone else in it, traumatizing him more.
THEY ATE HER!!! THE MONSTERS!!! “Um, she moved last year.” THEY ATE HER AND REPLACED HER WITH MORE DOCILE PETS! “No, really, we have her forwarding address here somewhere…” I WILL NEVER SEE MY AUNTIE AGAIN. THE MONSTERS!!! “Oh, I found her phone number…. Where are you going?” I MAY AS WELL DIE!!! “Do you need a medical professional? I think you may be having a breakdown.” WHY IS FATE SO CRUEL?!?! “Okay, called the cops. Bye now.”
Better idea: Just get his aunt to meet him at her old place. They know her current contact details.
That is assuming: A) They knew for sure he was heading there before finding him on the tram. B) They could actually contact her, and get her there in time. C) He didn't run in to anything problematic on his way there.
Bad idea. World has moved on. Her included. Not so much Glim
Actually, that was the best cause of action. Everyone knows about the refugee situation. Glim is likely going to end up infamous and his actions show why they are taking this slow. World has changed
My apologies for being disrespectful but: THUNDER OVER INDIA WHEN!?
You’re right, he could’ve just let Glim throw himself in front of the train instead.
What else could he do?
After the captain america ending scene this chapter was a full blown Benny Hill chase scene. Really enjoying those more light hearted moments, even though they have a more serious undertone. Its a bit of fresh air in all the darkness we had to witness in these last chapters of doom.
Yessss i was hoping for more glim POV
>My team had descended a canyon, cleaning up native predators there. The region could become an abscess for a fledgling colony otherwise. It was supposed to be a simple job, but none of us realized we weren’t alone. The Arxur snuck a ship in under nightfall, and landed practically atop my unit. We all knew it was better to die than to be captured. This means that the Arxur have access to planets with a semi-funtional ecosystem and even ones with full ecosystems, which means they have access to animal prey, yet they still rely on the Feds for food, it seems that the Arxur goverment really likes to have its people starving for control
Sounds like it was a single cattle ship The planet was clearly well within Venlil territory, the Arxur would have to fight an actual, full war in order to get enough of a claim on that planet to utilize it Also remember that the exterminators label every animal that even has a *possibility* of being harmful as a predator, even ones too small to be a genuine threat to them (the Arxur demand for meat is great, small animals cannot sustain them), and that they kill all the large herbivores as well
The possibility of mid and large size animals is still there, also the Arxur just have a thing agains't eating **Sapient** carnivores and possibly Omnivores, for them all non sapient animals are fair game
The planet could have been too far gone to get any reliable cattle
Yeah, but the Arxur say that the Venlil cyber security is lacking, so they could have swoped in before the devastation Also, since the Venlil had access to a couple of inhabitable planets in their 20ly radius sphere, we can conclude that inhabitable planets not touched by the Federation are a thing
A starving populace is easier to control and subdue. If you don’t have enough food, you don’t really question your government’s actions if they’re the ones giving you the little food you do have.
Or you question your government even more because if you are so superior why are you unable to supply more food. A starving population is a revolting population in 99% of the cases.
Humans are pack hunters. If a group are suffering, they tend to bond and revolt together. An Arxur on the other hand by being ambush predators, don't form packs, and likely turn on eachother in times of stress to the point of cannibalism.
That *might* be what happens in later entries, now that I think about it. Surely not *all* the Arxur are happy eating screaming, flailing infants.
That isn’t the same as domesticate, and would cost a lot of resources while also fighting a war Still, questions for future historians and archeologists to answer
Not true. Ohter chapters and the free chapter of the Arxur POV and space paladin himself did state that the Arxur have no access to domesticatable animals. Also the Arxur aren't a unified government but many chief Hunters that act like war lords. More food than the other chief hunters gives you more power in the feudal society meaning every chief hunters for most goal is to find a stable food source. So it makes 0 sense to not domesticate meaning the can't do it because of the feds destroying the planets. See how glim did say that they bomb the planets before going on the ground. Also the Arxur did slip a stealth cattle ship between their lines which is not enough to get enough animals to domesticate them.
Surely there is a token emperor at the middle of all this? Or High King at least
Yeah but he most likely only has control over the homeworld and it's local military. And his main job will most likely be the interpretation of the teaching of the great prophet.
The Arxur situation is complicated; its definitely clear that the Arxur are in a political situation that isn't going to be solved without an outside force. Its pretty hard to maintain the political control the top brass of the Dominion seems to hold when there's a semi-friendly power willing to trade away something that takes away their primary means of control now, with the arrival of the humans. I predict an Arxur Civil War at some point in the story between the "War and Peace" camps.
Same. And I think I can predict how it happens. Isif trades Federation Prisoners to Earth for food, possibly even more food than they would have gotten from the prisoners. Trade continues, and Isif's sector fleet (or whatever it's called) is flush with enough food for everyone in it and Isif is telling everyone to trade with the humans for more food, but to not attack them because that would destroy THE source of enough plentiful food for everyone. End result, Isif becomes VERY powerful and influential, more so than his rank normally allows. And probably, enough so than the Dominion regime starts feeling threatened. So the Dominion regime trumps up criminal charges against Isif. Or they attack Earth, ostensibly under the ideology of "The strong don't trade. The strong TAKE what they want!" but really to destroy the source of plentiful food that's undermining their hold on the Arxur race. Or they do both. They fail of course, either because Isif has accumulated far more internal support than the Dominion regime realizes (in the case of trumped up charges) or because Isif decides that humanity's allegiance (and food supply) is far more important than obedience to Dominion authority. Either way, Isif winds up allied with humanity fighting the Dominion.
Maybe, maybe not - note the "snuck a ship under nightfall". It is possible if they wanted to colonize and farm that planet they would have to fight the Federation for it, continually, instead of just a quick "snatch and grab" under the cover of night.
Coyotes eat mice and rabbits. An Arxur would not see Mice or Rabbits as food, but to a Venlil, a Coyote is a threat.
And to an Arxur a Coyote would be food, althought they would never mass breed them
Poor Glim is completely overwhelmed
Being kept in a kennel, seeing people eaten, it's a little hard to trust someone who fits the bill of every definition of being a predator. It's not different to how many Jews left Europe after being liberated. Every non-Jew could have been a Nazi that wasn't in the camp with them, or dead.
The chase scene looked like it's be really bad, from a PR perspective... but then Noah saved Glim from the train and, yep, that will play really well I think!
I think having Noah be the one chasing Glim down was their best bet. Noah’s like, top dog, the most well-known ambassador on Venlil Prime. So when people see him chasing Glim, they’re like “oh shoot, something’s wrong” and not “THE HUMANS ARE SHOWING THEIR TRUE COLORS EVERYBODY PANIC”
I really hope on the trip, as Glim is reading stuff using his translator. When he gets to a word that doesn’t translate,(especially if it’s a Venlil word that he forgot) he asks what the word is so that he can realize how obsolete his translator is and that maybe it’s been spelling out stuff wrong to him. Or Sara figures out what’s going on, so they can report this immediately to the volunteers to fix the problem.
‘predator disease’ isn’t real, its just how the SIVKIT DEEP STATE disposes of their sleeper agents after they outlive their usefulness. Once they do the deed that the sivkits want them, they make them go bonkers so that they can get rid of them without arousing suspicion. Any one of your friends could be an agent of the yotul deep state, STAY AWARE
Chief Hunter Isalec Jonif: The Federation doesn't want you to know this but THEIR CITIZENS ARE LITERALLY MADE OF MEAT! You heard me people, LITERALLY.MADE.OF.MEAT. Now I'm not saying you should eat you're Federation neighbours... But, and hear me out here, if my freezer is running low? I'm going to break into their house AND.EAT.THEIR.KIDS! I'M GOING TO SLATHER MY NEIGHBOURS KIDS IN BBQ SAUCE AND FREAKING EAT THEM! This is what the deep state has bought me to! I'm a good guy and I'm thinking about eating my Federation neighbours kids!? That's how bad it is out there people!
Every one of these chapters feels too fucking short.
Probably due to the character limit of Reddit, about 6,000, I believe. I agree, though. We need longer chapters!
>Public transit on Venlil Prime was always behind schedule You'd think that the genlil would do their damm best to have a reliable public transit system considering that walking from place to place is a lot less of an option for them than it is for us
Yes, Glim you cannot outrun a human!
maybe meeting with his family will give him a GLIMmer of hope
Moar
***The Terran Sentinel*** ***A Means to an End : A Retrospect on Operation Cygnus Eternale*** ***May 19th, 2180*** **Today marks the 230th anniversary of the Beginning of Operation Cygnus Eternale, a 2 century gambit of data collection, misdirection and future proofed planning of near incomprehensible scale** **Cygnus Eternale was the brainchild of the CIA in 1950 ever since the confirmed existence of the Federation during The Battle of Los Angeles in 1942 during World War 2 with the Operation being expanded to a global scale in the space of a decade** **the expansion was a move to misdirect the Federation into thinking that Earth was in a state of constant nuclear war for decades, only stopping in the 80s with the withdrawal of Federation spy satellites** **but just because the spy satellites were gone doesn't mean that the threat of hostile first contact was as well, so the Operation went into stage 2 after the 1980s up until the 2130s** **during that time the date of first contact was refined from the beyond the 21st century to exactly July 13th 2136** **we will never know all the fine details of such a massive operation and we may never see one as large as this ever again, but we can hope that such expertise will be used for good once again**
Hey, Starfish Prime finally makes sense.
Oh no its the Feds!
love your work
Thanks!
>Thanks! You're welcome!
Made it. Edit, well, it end well. Glim get to see his aunt, and a bunch of people saw letting the rescues out could end with them jumping in front of a train.
Ooo is glim gonna find the video of a human soldier sacrificing himself to save a gojid child
There are No Predators or Prey in the Galaxy
Im sure this chase scene will become a meme in-verse. Man, Glim really has it bad mentally huh, death before dishonor and all that. Really hoping he comes back to the land of the more mentally stable
Ah yes, I can see a "Noah chasing glim" meme in the intergalactic web, being kind of the opposite of the [guy being chased by another floating guy meme](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/419/179/d95.jpg), where the one chasing actually has benevolent intent
That...could've gone better, but it also could've gone worse. At least nobody was particularly hurt, though...it'll be interesting to see how Tarva addresses this new viral video clip of Noah chasing down a refugee. Really, being part of the volunteer force isn't the best use of their time, just in terms of opportunity cost in general. It's fine though. A bit of suspension of disbelief is worth keeping the cast from getting too big to manage when we're already dealing with over half a dozen POVs. Glim...might recover, given some time, or he might just live the rest of his life staying away from humans to the best of his ability. I can't blame him if he does, but I'm hoping it'll be the former. At the very least, he has the will to no longer be cattle and his mind is actually working at a pretty sharp and healthy level, even if a few gears are gunked up or missing. I also hope things get better for that Krakotl lass. Things aren't going to be easy, but hanging in there is all any of us can do. Here's hoping we get some of that exchange on the train ride over, though I suppose going back to talk to Haysi wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Noah’s going to have a hard time downplaying his little escapade there. Tarva likes a hand-on approach with things that are important to her, but none of them should’ve been involved in hindsight. Really messed things up! 🤣 We will get to hear more about Haysi, as well as following Glim’s journey! Both rescues have a long, difficult road ahead
>Call us whatever you like…not predator, I hope.” >The predator Comeon glim, ya had one job
I fucking love this series :D I think I found a typo by the way: > I jostled the avian’s wing. “Hey, wait up! How many Venlil…d-do you think they’ve eaten so far?” > “Zero,” she replied, settling into a window seat. “Humans don’t eat sapients, and they see you as part of their pack.” > “You’re really trying to say it’s a non-zero number. Has the whole world gone mad?” The Krakotl said zero, so why would Glim respond that the Krakotl called it a non-zero number?
Good eye, thanks for catching that! Not sure what my brain did, but it’s fixed now 😅
Super easy to make mistakes when you're in your flow and knocking out a chunk of writing, I totally get it lol
"Glim was not a number" Glim is a free Venlil!
Far too quick acceptance of the humans on the planet. This would take decades, not weeks.
This is the capital, the most human-friendly area on Venlil. Anti-human individuals were driven out, since this is the hotspot of the “infestation.” Rural areas and settlements, especially as you get further from the capital, aren’t so open-minded. Even Volek states that the extermination office had to get rid of bigoted employees…and there was a Venlil in this chapter giving a passing human a wide berth 😅
The Venlil are a species of followers not leaders. Also the hostile element to humanity did leave the capital
* Narrators voice \* It turns out a predators kindness could be very convincing.
love it :)
Yay, new chapter just dropped!
dont have pandas also forward facing eyes ?
How grand! These details keep me on the edge of my seat, great work as always. I thoroughly enjoy the full picture being painted over time.
welp glim is very sporty despite his arxur misstreatment sss that was athleat potential right there sss and brafe as heck ! sss
I'm glad that Glim was only Nearly Departed and not Dearly Departed! Also, I enjoyed this and the previous chapter(s) involving human-phobic narrators much more once I adopted the frame of reference that they were insane, or at least in serious need of mental help (which, to be fair, they do).
Loved seeing the Krakotl in Venlil Prime. There obviously would have been other species immigrants living there and I love seeing how they're reacting to the changes. Hope to see more of her.
"Colonies we landed on had infestations that were out of control too; so much that we mixed orbital actions with paws-on-the-ground." For a prey species, they do sure have an understanding of combined-arms operations. While this sounds mundane, one can infer a complex kill chain. You need to identify the target, one of the on-the-ground troopers will determine its location, adjust orbital bombardment onto it, and FFE. Even in this simplified example, there is still a crew manning the weapons, manning the targeting computer, manning the observation. All are very complex in one single goal. That is the eradication of a living organism.