Imagine how much shock those Zurulians have been through; first, they're told "hey, the Arxur are going to eat you, don't let that happen," then they assist the Arxur after Earth, then they're *captured* by them, and now another Arxur has saved their lives.
They get to Earth, and Isif mistakes a pet shop for a refugee center.
They get purchased by a suburban Karen and her spoiled daughter.
They escape from a children's tea-party to a UN office dressed in sunhats and tutus.
I think it’s likely he’ll get caught in a future chapter, and one of these things will happen:
A) Put down
B) Manages to escape
C) Ruins his whole plan and the Arxur attack humanity
A far more interesting option that allows for not only a prolonged an interesting story but for a good character to be preserved for longer periods of time.
To be fair, we can say it's Shaza attacks humanity and not "the Arxur".
I'm optimistic because the prizes of victory will be high.
* We'll have a field test of what humanity can bring out of former omnivores, thus weakening the Betterment's hold even more.
* We'll prove ourselves in combat, which is the quickest way to get Arxur respect.
* We'll keep Fahl and Sillis, which means Shaza will have failed the Betterment. Jury is out on whether they treat failed operations like a Bond villain, but I'm sure Giznel will be displeased.
* We can plunder that fancy cattle farm for refugees. Amazing what can get lost in paperwork or during transit by the time we return the place to Dominion care.
* It'll buy time for a diplomatic return of those planets...to Isif, further securing the position of an extremely important ally within the Dominion. 2 weeks isn't a long time to work out a trade deal, but 2 weeks+ however more time Giznel gives Isif?
* It'll be great publicity for the Federation races as humanity fights off Arxur to protect some races that have recently tried to genocide us. We'll come out of this looking like benevolent protectors to occupied civilians and outside onlookers alike, despite Federation propaganda.
All this depends on us actually *winning* this fight, of course. Here's hoping human ingenuity and superior intel carry us through. Plus the fact that it's just a sector's resources coming at us, not the entire Dominion.
We do not know how much shaza is a representative of the arxur. This could be their "by the book" action, or it could be just her pride.
1) could go both ways. we might become "slightly better prey" than the current "weak predator" in eyes of the arxur.
2) Establishing dominance is different than killing . Will almost certainly not be taken as respect. They could however, become more acknowledging of our capabilities and more likely to negotiate.
3) Yes
4) It is not in his sector. only thing that could happen is temporary command as they choose a new chief hunter, or his promotion. both look unlikely to me. they will probably assume direct control in case a chief hunter is removed (like president's rule)
5) happened previously, in the cradle invasion, it was interpretated as two predators fighting over prey.
A SECTOR is quite a huge area in space. it contains various federation worlds as well as earth (in isif's case atleast). while "human space" is just the solar system. We will certainly lose as we got nuked just now will our entire fleet destroyed, even when considering that the enemy is starving.
I suspect Shaza is fairly average as far as Arxur Chief Hunters go. If anything, she's a bit more aggressive and prideful, but I wouldn't bet on it. Either way, not the side of them we want to ally with.
1. It could. Hence the need for us to win. The fight is inevitable, I think, since any attempt to avoid it probably isn't going to be good optics for their culture.
2. It's the closest thing we have to it. It could be argued that we established dominance when we took the planets to begin with, and this is her challenging it. Power dynamics and bloodshed have a complicated relationship. Respecting our capabilities is a net improvement, I'd say. Especially if the point 4 goes well.
3. Fracturing them is only good news for us, really.
4. It won't be his jurisdiction for sure, but he was one of the two told to "settle it within two weeks". Officially, Isif conceded to Shaza's decision *because* it was her domain. If/After she loses, he'll get to jump in for damage control as the second-most involved party. All without leaving his own sector, since Earth *is* in his jurisdiction and he can negotiate with humans for tue Dominion's benefit as he sees fit. This isn't really about getting him a promotion so much as an achievement to leverage in his skillful politics.
5. Yeah. Though I'm pretty sure most Gojid came around on that. The Federation can try to say it again, but the evidence will continue to say otherwise. It's mainly keeping our argument strong.
I'm sure it won't be a cakewalk, but let's not forget we fended off a Federation attack more recently than the attack on Earth. By my account, we won that battle, and it wasn't even a pyrrhic victory. The Mazics survived and are new allies.
What i was trying to say was that most of the brass could see Shaza's actions are logical an isif's as absurd. in that case, we will be fighting "the arxur"
1) or we can just not fight. that could also maintain our standing.
2) better ways are there, namely, providing food, intel, manpower and weaponizing their cattle against federation (unlikely but could happen).
4) like i said, they might just assume direct control. A chief hunter losing a couple worlds would be pretty big deal. all the top brass would want something to do in it.
5) critical thinking is not federation's strong suit. they will just go "forward eyes detected. opinion rejected" as for the common people..... there IS a civil war going on.
Earth is simply not in a position to fight on two fronts. yes the fight with arxur is inevitable but now is not the time.
Well, we're good at war compared to the Federation, which is complacent and emotionally unstable.
Against the Arxur? ...Well, looks like it's time for us to find out proper. Not a brawl, not a skirmish, but true warfare.
i never really liked him. his core policy is same as feds and the arxur "only me and my species should matter. everyone else is just for my convivence."
His policies involve defending human Allies. And frankly they’re quite justified, most of the federation was okay with a genocide of humans. So they don’t really deserve our consideration.
disagree. is CORE policy is defense of humanity. You know it by his infamous line about a hundred humans. it is just that allies help in that goal so he is saving them. pretty sure if you replace xeno with venlil his answer would remain unchanged.
Again no. the whole point of war crimes was that wars happen between governments not people. so people should be left out of this. We know they had been fed propaganda for generations, of course they think humans are monsters *because they are not allowed to think otherwise.* Destroy the federation? go ahead. destroy a species? sorry bro no war hammer here.
I’m not arguing in favor of genocide, since this isn’t stellaris and they’re not just numbers.
However it’s true that Zhao has defended human Allies and also wasn’t it his government that wanted the Arxur to leave some worlds they’d taken?
Either way, his policies make sense. 1 human life is worth more than any number of non allied aliens. Not that I think they should be wiped out, but given the fact billions of humans died. The remaining ones should be kept alive at any cost imo. Since Humans were actively trying to prevent the war, they bare no fault in any of the deaths that come from it imo.
Still betting Shaza will bite off more than she can chew. Get an up close and personal look at Slanek and the Dogs. Have her tail kicked by a human. Then listen to our plans for occupation. Followed by the explanation ‘slavery is inefficient. People work better when they do it for themselves’ and come round to supporting humanity. For completely the opposite reasons to Isif
How far along is Earth in it's wartime manufacturing? They've taken heavy losses from several battles. I'm sure they're won't be any shortage of enlistees, but it takes time to train officers and build ships.
We also need to support our allies. They're less adept at combat and strategy, so would benefit from human military advisors. Hopefully they have strengths that compliment humanity's.
True. We’ve already seen that our allies are going through a ‘anti-cowardice’ program. I see them becoming our drone operators primarily. As well as training officers for the tech upgrades/systems that would be unfamiliar to human recruits.
They were aiming for population centers, not industrial centers - those are two separate things. Not to mention they were trying to take out bunkers, not our factories. Sure we might be low on man power in places, but we definitely arent low on physical factories
I thought most major city centers were just destroyed or razed (based on the descriptions for when we started rescue efforts).That’s why we needed help in the rescue efforts. Human society runs on its infrastructure even its search and rescue
Yes this is the most significant problem I see for the humans in the near future, no matter how good their tactics are. At this point, they've lost lots of material and personnel, that will be difficult to replace especially with the learning curve they are on with all the new technology.
If its one thing humans can recover and advance quickly. It’s manufacturing for war. Plus tons of species have given us ships, some entire fleets. While some work needs to be done to modify ships for service under UN its a lot easier than from scratch. And with their conquests they are conquering more materials, ships, manufacturing. And with the UN using drone tech(that’s incredibly effective) less reliance on personnel. Plus using the fed species for lower jobs(at least in the beginning) helps greatly swell the ranks with humans at the helm. But yea i dont think the UN wants to go up in a fight against the whole dominion right now
That's true but remember these sectors Shaza is talking about have just become vassal states. Their ships and manufacturing are now *humanity's* ships and manufacturing.
According to the [NoP Timeline...](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureofPredators/comments/xbnddj/nop_timeline/)
>October 17
>112 antimatter bombs land on multiple locations, 13 land on various bunkers complexes and 99 land on highly populated cities, causing at a minumum 1 billion deaths
So six and a half weeks ago, the 100 most populated cities in the world were completely destroyed, which killed roughly 8% of all humans. Also destroyed would have been an absolutely massive amount of infrastructure and industrial capacity.
Six and a half weeks.
>How far along is Earth in it's wartime manufacturing?
Well, it took [eight months](https://911groundzero.com/blog/the-complete-history-of-ground-zero-before-and-after-9-11/) to clear the rubble from the 9/11 bombings in New York. So with that in mind, I'm gonna say that Earth is barely holding onto its capacity to manufacture can openers, let alone materiel.
Yeah, that’s the least plausible thing about this (obviously, FTL and aliens are taken for granted as part of the setting). Not nearly enough time has passed for the human military to have gained the capabilities they’ve shown, even with using a lot of Venlil ships. You can’t retool a military and build ships and train people to man them and them have multiple battles in only three months.
I think that Shaza putting her pride before efficiency is reflective of an attitude that will be prevalent (and a huge problem) in the rest of the Dominion. No matter how plentiful and good-tasting lab grown meat or nonsapient livestock is, no matter how more efficient making friends and conquering with a light touch is than slavery and genocide, no matter how fewer Arxur die without forever wars, no matter how pointless Betterment is when you have enough resources to feed everyone, the Arxur cultural identity is built around their superiority. Their perceived superiority over everyone else, their pride in the hunt, and their pride in how pure their species is will become massive hurdles in getting the Arxur to be less shitty.
Some Arxur will be willing to defect to Earth or accept a new, much less cruel status quo, but many Arxur won't. A conflict with those Arxur is inevitable, and we'd better hope that there are enough defectors such that we don't have to fight the whole Dominion.
Except that chances are that this chapter just introduced something massive: frozen meat.
By a simple matter of logistical inference, most of the Arxur populace doesn't have access to freshly butchered prey meat, it's all easy to ration, state given, controlled processed frozen meat.
To those masses the paradigm shift from Fedprey to Terran cattle and lab meat won't change jackshit at worst, and will provide fattening food security at best.
It all comes down to how willing the average, starving Arxur is at being manipulated with the dangling sausage of plentiful, and, IMO, they're gonna be very manipulatable on the basis of not exactly being sociable people, they're just gonna ponder which feeds them the most and go with it.
That would make sense. The grunts might be more amenable to our ideas, but the leadership and high-ranking Arxur like the ones running this farm might be an issue. It will depend on how much control the leadership has over the grunts, military- and propaganda-wise.
Well as they said, the hood postings are hereditary. So only the Dominion's inner circle really gets to be all philosophical about meat and predation. We already are seeing the cracks form in the lower ranks of society for the Arxur. I can definitely see a populist revolution to overthrow the current elite if that meat stops flowing, and earth has more being made
What I find interesting here is the dichotomy/perspective of the federation and the Dominion. We hate the gene modding and cultural genocide of the federation, but are also hoping for the cultural genocide of the Arxur. As you said, their entire culture at this point is based around pride, Arxur superiority, and hunting. They can only be good allies if they lose that. From our perspective, that would be a good thing.
And yet, the original gene mod from the federation was likely seen in the same way. A good thing, that would allow the krakotl to become "good" allies.
There is definitely different levels of extremism here, but there are also some definite similarities.
I see where you're coming from. However, counterpoint; This dogmatic view from the Arxur Betterment was born out of desperation when the Feds sabotaged the Arxurs' existence (They're obligate carnivores after all) with their "cure".
The Feds never told the Arxur that this "cure" would make them allergic to meat (effectively starving them to death), they only said 'this "cure" will make you better'.
The humans' solution is to offer lab-grown meat as an alternative. No modification, no manipulation. Just a solution to feed a carnivore while still letting other sapient life live.
A little off topic, but an alternate solution would be to offer cows, sheep, and other non-sentient cattle for Arxur to raise for themselves.
A steady supply of food won't fix the issue of them seeing themselves as the only true sapient of the galaxy, or as better than anyone else. These things will prevent any true alliance, and keep them out of being part of the galactic community, regardless of the original cause of their issues. These cultural drives need to change for them to be real allies.
If they cannot hunt any more, if they have to acknowledge others as equals, that could easily be seen as cultural genocide by the Arxur themselves. Less duplicitous and harmful than the Federation, but not entirely different than what the federation did to already omnivorous sapients.
Humanity might be growing meat in a lab but that's not to say livestock animals aren't a thing still. Maybe an Arxur steals some, proving they were stealthily enough to sneak them out, and back home. Now here's some none sentient livestock that's easier to deal with, and what's more every one of them is proof that am Arxur was better than humans.
No one needs to know the thief was gifted the animals.
(However, on Earth’s internet, the impulses they discussed toward the prey had…nothing to do with sudden hunger.)
This makes me laugh and dread, whatever he found out about how we feel towards our alien friends.
Humans have retained their predatory nature, unlike the assimilated federation species. The Arxur can't pretend humans aren't true sapients, eating humans would likely be seen as akin to cannibalism.
> The Arxur can't pretend humans aren't true sapients, eating humans would likely be seen as akin to cannibalism.
And yet this other Arxur seems to want to put humanity in its place because we are stealing their territory.
If humans can find ways to justify killing other humans at the bat of an eye, I don't see Arxur having much trouble finding ways to justify killing other "true" sapients.
That’s a territorial dispute between 2 animals. We need to think as the Arxur government as a whole like a predator. Them attacking humanity is more like a display of dominance at this time then a belief we are non-sapient
Yeah I doubt the Arxur would have any problem *killing* us, but you didn't suggest that humans would be killed by the Arxur. You said:
>1 or more humans having been captured and served up
Which sounds a lot like you were saying "served up to be eaten."
Isif is a master negotiator, actor, general and a supreme hacker, seriously this dude is dangerous, luckily he just wants a better life for his people and an end to the slaughter.
Part 85 is here! Isif takes a tour of a Dominion farm habitat, and fails to convince Shaza to stand down. It appears she is planning to bring a fight to humanity. Should our Arxur friend intervene? Will the UN defend our new territories, or find a different resolution?
Also, our Arxur narrator makes an impulsive decision to rescue three Zurulians. It remains to be seen what becomes of our quadrupedal friends, but Isif is Earthbound to leave them to us. How will the Zurulians react to an Arxur saving them (should he succeed)?
As always, thanks for reading! Part 86 will be here Wednesday.
The implication that Isif may get caught in freeing the Zurulians worries me. Let's hope the big guy can silver tongue his way out of any potential trouble he gets into.
Yeah.. the guards were probably told that Isif wanted to keep them as pets. When they don’t come back from Earth, Isif might try to play it off as if they escaped or he ate them; but the Zurulians would have to beep quiet on their end about their Arxur savior.
That was my first thought at the _start_ of the chapter, when he was reading the comments in that forum _out loud_. I fully expect him to be arrested at some point due to this, be rescued by a human Black Ops team, and later form a rebellious faction in the Dominion that learns to use one of our favourite forms of warfare.
Guerrilla.
All those arguments over our arboreal eyes will crumble when the trees start speaking Terran.
Yeah, I got a similar feeling about the reading out loud part.
But the whispered order was probably worse. The arxur seem to look down on lowering your voice. That should be even more true when talking to a subordinate.
ironically, the "arboreal eyes" argument *won't* crumble if the trees start to speak Gaian
*because we'd be doing what arboreal eyes evolved for,* ***being in the trees***
I also wonder how many chapters it'll take for the UN to toss together super-stealth crafts to infiltrate for intel
Doubt it, unless it was planted there during his stay, he would know of any surveillance because he wouldnt be so causual about not trying to instill fear in the zurulians if he knew
Isif can't get involved yet. The question is can the UN stop Shaza and will the Arxur cut her off or retaliate against earth? Also nice to see Siffys! soft side again.
Nah, humans should throw down. The odds might not be in our favor, but this is a very important victory and we have so much to gain from it. Shaza represents everything we oppose about the Arxur, and we were going to fight that side eventually anyways.
Our Arxur friend should intervene in the sense that I'm hoping Isif gives us some tips on how to take down an Arxur fleet and possibly their military tactics. It's a big gamble for him at this point though, so I can't blame him if he doesn't.
As for the Zurulians...they're going through a real rollercoaster of emotions, I'm sure. Just let them go through the motions for now. I am hoping they have some good dialogue with Isif though. As the evidently most curious Federation race, I'm hoping they can get a good dialogue and exchange of information going with Isif.
If we're lucky, Isif and the teddies can even build rapport and form something of a bond. I won't hold my breath on that one though.
Isif needs to warn Humanity about Shaza but focus on improving the Arxur resistance. Dispensing human artificial meat schematics, providing information on how to defect to Human space, giving assignments and creating sleeper cells of resistance members, etc.
Hopefully Shaza lets her pride get the best of her and doesn't take the human defense of Fahl and Sillis seriously. A defeat would put Shaza's position as Chief Hunter in jeopardy, and either:
\-Bring the Arxur to the negotiating table or
\-Buy us time till the Prophet-Descendant sends in a fleet to teach us a lesson.
Either way it will actually help human's diplomatically as a battle against the Arxur shows we're not fully aligned with them.
Isif's rescue of the Zurulians is going to cause a stir. Why would he do it? Are their good Arxur? Are Axur only bad due to their circumstances? Are humans having a positive influence? Can we change our interactions with them?
I'm concerned about your 'should he succeed' comment. He's already likely tips off a couple of flags at the Betterment office, and I don't put spies or bugs beyond them.
Isif is already busy defending Earth and his sector, imho the UN should introduce Shaza to the concepts of MAD and Phyrrhic victory.
Right before the battle some human commander should explain to Shaza the two options that she has :
\- Shaza has the option to accept regular shipments of lab meat, she can save her pride by passing it off to the Dominion as the humans paying tribute. Meanwhile the UN gets to keep governing those two planets without Arxur interference. The UN may even offer the same 2 for 1 deal as an extra bonus for the return of the captured aliens. This is the best outcome for both factions.
\- If Shaza decides to attack she will inevitably lose ships and soldiers that would've been better spend again the federation, this will also sour relationship with humans. Should she lose the battle it will be an even bigger blow to her pride. Bad outcome the Dominion, terrible for her (especially if her fleet outnumbered us), still good for the UN.
\- If she wins that's when we activate the deadman's switch and nuke every major city on the alien planet, killing all the cattle and making it uninhabitable\*. "If humanity can't have those planets nobody else will". Combined with the losses from the battle it's easy to immagine the Dominion will want her head on a silver platter. Extra bonus, if Isif reveals the position of the cattle station we can threaten to nuke that too. This is a bad outcome for both factions but arguably worse for the Dominion. The Dominion would probably want Shaza dead after such result...
\*Realistically speaking we may not have enough nukes/antimatter boms to booby trap the whole planet but as long as Shaza believes our bluff we don't even need to. If she tries to call us out we can nuke a deserted city "what a shame, that's 100.000 cattle gone..." have a couple more bluff cities ready and that may be enough to deter her.
\- If she decides to ignore our threat and fight anyway that's when (maybe with some hackery courtesy of Isif) we can broadcast a message to her entire fleet, offering asylum to all the Arxurs sick of her rule and of eating sapients meet (Gojid etc...), as well as the opportunity to join the UN army "Service guarantees three meals a day". The ensuing mutiny and chaos could be enough to tip the battle in our favour and even gain us control of the whole sector depending on how many Arxurs defect/die. This is a good outcome for humanity and a catastrophic one for the Dominion.
All this scenarios allow the UN to play the Isif cart later down the line "Oh, the Dominion is pissed at humanity and ordered Isif to glass Earth... too bad, looks like you already lost that sector and you're about to end up in a civil war".
Fantastic Story. you've managed to turn what started out as a deceptively simple story, into a fantastically nuanced and complex world(Galaxy? Universe?)
This is really worthy of being published if you ever wanted to pursue that path.
Sure thing! the only structural criticism I have is the timeline feels too compressed and scrunched up for some things, but really that is more than made up for with the nuance and care put into every other aspect of the story.
if I had to guess, I'd say it feels so dense because unlike a traditional story that might follow a small handful of characters on a relatively consistent timeline
this follows at least one armful of characters, with the dot labelled "present" on the timeline slowly moving forward, while each perspective tends to be somewhere in the general vicinity of the current 'present'
Well, if Isif brings up the budding resistance movement is to his human allies, I think he'll be pleasantly surprised at how... knowledgeable humanity is on how to set up, run, and maintain an insurgency/rebellion. Once we start having advisors help set up guidelines on what to target, how to organize effectively, and how to avoid getting caught, that budding resistance is going to start sprouting real fast.
Perhaps our Chief Hunter accidentally shares the location of that Shazas outpost.
And coincidentally some time later a fleet of humans shows up and removes her.
The human have tissue engineering ability. Creating a head with the same features as hers isn't that hard. You just need a good 3D image of it. And, if we can get access to some of hers cells (a bit of blood or some skin) it can be nearly indistinguishable from the original.
I think that commandos and other deep insertion unit aren't used enough by humanity in this story.
Hee didn't share anything! The crafty humans must have planted a tracker on his ship!
Proof that it is better to let them work to achieve Arxur goals than to antagonize them.
I thought it was odd he would use an Earth based communication device. If it is so much 'safer' and more untraceable than the Axur tech then why wouldn't it be more advanced in other ways that might be... less than desirable? Isif also mentioned how the Federation comms were trash and easy to both tap and piggy back on and that the Axur comms were so advanced they, let me check my notes here, use enemy infrastructure to communicate to their most sensitive spy outposts?
That can't possibly be right. Unless of course they're not at all as ready for cyberwarfare as they think because the federation doesn't do it and they were uplifted earlier in their development than humans.
All they had to worry about were other Arxur, and the big bag superior predator doesn't need to sneak around other predators, though they can stalk and ambush their prey.
The Terran apes don't even trust themselves, much less each other.
I don't think the Arxur have any idea what we're capable of.
They were uplifted with only primitive computers (1950s era, IIRC). So yeah, they would have had far less experience with cyber warfare. Though I imagine their government does a lot with censorship and spying, which the Feds might not. After all, what experienced president would reveal state secrets to a journalist without checking her for web-connected cameras and live-streaming? (Yeah, there have been human leaders exactly that stupid. But the squid in question didn’t strike me as stupid.)
Nah I think Isif is right, this is about pride and probably also status. Shaza is looking to pick a fight with humanity to send a message and bolster her reputation, *her station* has plenty of 'food'. So anything short of a direct order from the dominion, which it's clear isn't coming, is unlikely to change her mind.
A resistance. One in which Isif may be a sympathetic part.
And I think I know who Isif is similar too. He’s a Schindler. Desperately trying to induce small changes while not appearing to his superiors and equals that he’s subversive. But big changes are coming!
Humans have a long history of inducing coups, resistance, and revolts within other nations they dislike.
Isif best bet at this point is to probably provide as much Intel as he can and then go conveniently raid some federation plants to keep them busy and away from earth. Humanity is going to have to fight its own battles if there's any hope of getting the rest of the dominion to respect anything that is said.
"The humans are the predators we want to be," I
read one comment aloud. "Perhaps our resistance
movement could be officially recognized. Their support
would lend us legitimacy."
**"Aloud"**
I have a suspicion Isif's being spied on and these very words are gonna be his demise
It was precisely the fact that it's so easy to miss that caught my attention. You'd think that such an important strategic blunder on Isif's part would be at least somewhat elaborated on in some shape or form, e.g. by having him notice it and curse himself for getting too comfortable, but nope - it's just sneakily put in there for everybody to gloss over. There's a good chance that it's some quiet foreshadowing of the events to come.
More like operation Inaros. I wrote a comment a while back about how warp asteroids could potentially be turned into kinetic WMDs on the cheap by exploiting the Oberth effect around black holes or neutron stars.
I believe, our response to betterment meddling with our civilization or those under our protection might be violent. Unbelievably, genocidaly violent. We're primed, jaded and ready to bury our morals after getting 10% of ours nuked by vegan parrots. Now honest to god child eating space nazis want to make us like them or eat those under our protection after legitimate surrender.
I can smell a "may God have mercy on our souls moment" incoming.
Ahh unfortunate that Isif could not bring her wonderous tales of Earth Prey and the delectable and wonderous bounty of Hog, Cow, Ostrich, Elk and Buffalo.
The livestock population must be low, due to most of humanity switching to lab grown meat. I wonder if we've manged to solve invasive species? Wild pigs, and rabbits would likely remain numerous.
unsure if Noah's speech to the Federation Council was dressed up or not, but he specifies that lab-grown meat 'took the cruelty out of meat farming', or something along those lines
also pretty sure somewhere we learn that not *all* meat comes from labs and we still have some livestock
>“Perhaps our resistance movement could be officially recognized. Their support would lend us legitimacy.”
Sombody call the CIA, it's time to cause a foreign uprising
Shame, we havent seen indications of anyone above Isif, or same level of prestige subtly reach out. Then again, its got to be hard to be the first with the power, inclination and oppurtuinity ( sp? )
It’s not expanded upon by Shaza, but she easily could’ve raided across a ship/colony/station. The Yotul’s homeworld is in her sector, and she wants to increase her viable “livestock”
Damn, I like those feisty little guys. I remember Noah offered to let Yotul engineers work with them. I hope they're able to learn quickly enough to build their own fleet.
Isif: I'd like precisely 246 kilos of meat please.
Human: Why?
Isif: \*dumps bag of Zurulians\* I'm a not just a bounty hunter, I'm a Chief Bounty Hunter! So Pay up, Primates!
Aha! So it looks like the prediction that the old guard would rather prolong the war and keep its people downtrodden to maintain power has played out!
Also Arxur forums are a thing (shouldn’t be surprising but it’s made obvious)
Also confirmation the Arxur have nukes.
We also get our first canon look at the inside of a cattle farm, tis around what I imagined. Also my prediction on Arxur fridges came true, so that’s nice
I wonder what hunger the humans have shown for the prey on the internet (heheh)
I wonder if Isif will keep his Zurulian friends or hand them off?
And it seems like humanity’s eagerness to help has back fires - now their closest ally has to chose between helping them out and losing his cred or standing by and watching the other Arxur bloody their noses. I imagine humanity will have to kick some croc tail to get it in their skulls that they aren’t soft and squishy.
Isif, the UN, and allies need to come up with some kind of stealth method to allow Arxur with resistance sympathies and "defective" empathy to defect and leave Wriss safely.
Clandestine landings in remote locations?
Isif creating a secret back door for new military recruits to sneak away from his forces?
Secret equipment/food/weapon drops to resistance strongholds?
Zod, all this makes me want to read more about the Spanish Civil War.
Damn Franco and the fascists to hell! NO PASARÀN!
REMEMBER THE FAI*!
REMEMBER The POUM!
REMEMBER THE CNT!
The [SONGS OF THE REVOLUTION ](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPi81txCiOm3yOm7YFubhYkFmClHr_1z6) WILL BE SUNG AGAIN!
Could likely shift his personnel around and only send ships w/ defectors to Earth to ‘help rebuild’ or whatever. Come up with some front or reason why they are in human space
Early again.
Edit: Well this was a lot to take in.
Cattle stations are horrendous abominations. Enough said.
So Arxur society runs entirely on "bloodline achievements" it seems. Those cattle guards probably don't see much action outside of beating defenseless people into submission. Might make such stations far more vulnerable a target than the Arxur running them think.
Shaza is about to get FAFO'd. I repeat, incoming FAFO imminent!
Isif is such a tragic character. Has to pretend he's a firm believer of dogma he hates, has to do things he loathes himself for and is constantly stuck between a rock and a hard place with far too little room for any sort of manouvering. His one mistake here is underestimating humanity's proclivity for war and how truly dangerous they can make their allies. The Arxur at large are used to winning their fights before they started on a psychological level or, failing that, play the numbers advantage. They're about to find out that neither will work as well soon enough. Especially the Yotul will make a difference here, I think.
True, they're recent uplifts. I assume they haven't had a dozen generations of no experience with predators coupled with aggressive, paranoia inducing propaganda to deal with. The fact that they're new to Federation tech also means their curiosity hasn't been smothered to death either. Yotul and Humans still have the mental capacity for discovery far more widespread among their populations than most other Fed species.
All of humanity's allies are having their predator phobia get worked out of their system. The Arxur are going to soon discover that they can't win via psychology anymore.
Isif is indeed in a bit of a pickle.
However I'm pretty sure that if given access to arxur networks (covertly of course) humans could do a great deal of covert ideological warfare and help tip the scales in favour of the resistance ;)
Not gonna lie, I totally thought Isif would find some small, minor detail that was evidence that Shaza was also part of the resistance. It would be interesting to see how he would react to such a revelation, but the story does need adversaries too.
>However, on Earth’s internet, the impulses they discussed toward the prey had…nothing to do with sudden hunger.
Oh fuck. Isif has been reading the weird sex comments.
Also...
>A two-front war was a steep task for primitive omnivores.
I feel like it's missing the word 'the' between 'for' and 'primitive', but that's just my thoughts.
Predators aren’t real, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, but I’m here to refute ‘evidence’ that I am wrong, you say that you ‘lost a loved one to a predator attack’, no you didn’t, the GOVERNMENT TOOK THEM OUT for getting too close to the truth! So they made it LOOK like some mythical ‘predator’ came in and mauled them to death! If you THINK that you were there when it happened you weren’t! those memories were faked to sell the story!
It's alright, Isif. You're trying your best. Let Shaza come at the humans. There are a dozen ways we can spin this to leverage it in our favor, as long as we win.
I can't blame Isif for not believing that humanity will be able to fend off Shaza, but as far as systematic brainwashing goes, he is already doing splendidly. I also can't blame him for saving three Zurulians over securing peace.
In terms of a numbers game, it's a loss, but Shaza wasn't realistically going to let off anyway and he presented his case well enough to plant the ideas in her head for after this conflict settles. I personally find it far more important that he nurtures that conscience of his. I guess it wouldn't be good for the three teddy friends to stay with him, but I'm hoping they interact a bit at length and establish at least a little rapport. They can be, ironically, morality pets for him and he can help ease their relationship with the meat eaters.
I did not expect the stolen holopad to be used to incognito mode some resistance forces, but yeah, that makes sense. Good to hear that there's a resistance at all, to be honest. I hope humans can make contact with them soon. We have many, *many* tips for them.
Made it.
Edit. This could be a mixed situation. If we can stop her, the Arxur may write her off as rogue to avoid full scale war. Losing a bunch of ships for nothing, likely would make rethink their plan.
This is *valuable* information about the Arxur setup. If Isif communicates to his human allies that he only has jurisdiction over part of the area and that other Arxur have jurisdiction over the rest, then humanity is likely to branch out and start poking elsewhere. Potentially cause a few... minor accidents... to the cogs that won't turn.
At this point in the story, I think the true name should be The Nature of Civil Wars, because boy oh boy, there are plenty of those brewing up everywhere.
> As long as we were isolated and starving, individuals like Shaza and Giznel would maintain power. Our plight was how Betterment retained control, stirring up perpetual hatred. The Federation caused our predicament, after all.
Really enjoying this circling around and how increasingly it's obvious this entire predator vs prey war was created by a few people in power, on *both sides*, to keep conflict going for their own gain.
***The Terran Sentinel***
***A Reverse Sweep for the Ages***
***October 27th 2184***
**Today marks a historical moment in MLB History as the Dawn Creek Giants
pull off the a successful 3-0 comeback against the Sweetwater Millers in the Venlil League**
**Such a successful 3-0 comeback hasn't been seen since exactly 180 years ago in 2004 between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox**
**"the road to it was exhausting but all the more sweeter" said by pitcher Karlim in an interview with The Terran Sentinel**
**With hopes running high for the team, they are expected to face off with the New York Yankees of the Terran League next week**
**Can Dawn Creek carry their momentum into the Galactic Series to claim victory for the Republic?, only time will tell.**
The Yankees will play their first Galactic Series since 2009 after emerging victorious in the Houston Astros Invitational Tournament, formally known as the Terran League Championship Series.
If Isif gets discovered and survives, he may be able to form a successionist government out of his territory. He has a ready-made fifth column on Wriss with the dissidents too, he just needs a reliable way to contact them.
In the last part Isif mused that he was curious why we limited ourselves with our concept of war crimes and here he wonders if we could pull our weight in a fight.
Isif friend, your people hunt. Our people go to war. We limit ourselves because we are too good at it if we don’t and leave nothing but scorched earth and death in our wake.
Shaza and the Betterment had better pray we don’t give up our limitations because if we do then there will poison worlds and wipe out billions. The Geneva Convention limits what we can do and yet since getting FTL we have come out on top of every fight we have gotten involved with except for for the battle of Earth where everyone ganged up on us when we’d only have the drive for a few months and even then we gave the Federation fleet one hell of a bloody nose.
The Arxur have yet to see us fight from a position of strength and yet they question our abilities? The space Nazis will come to regret this hubris once we wipe Shaza out and rebuild our fleets.
Please excuse the wall of text, but my brain is working on very little sleep and I ended up writing an essay instead of a little comment.
It strikes me as a shame that Betterment holds such sway. They've created this image of Arxur superiority and work hard to maintain it, and we see the results in this chapter. Despite the fact that Arxur like Chief Hunter Shaza have evidence that some of the species they enslave are fellow sapients that were genetically and culturally tampered with, they still view them as a viable food source.
Along comes Humanity, they only other species they see as fellow "true sapients". In reality the Arxur actually have a lot in common with those sapients they choose to continue to see as prey. The Arxur were themselves genetically tampered with. A genetically and culturally pure Arxur (as a race) would actually be one that doesn't subjugate and consume others. The grim necessity of consumption of sapient beings, and the cruelty borne of that necessity - everything they've become is due to the Federation.
I'd love to see a Betterment that strives for that kind of purity. Instead we have this idea of Arxur superiority, to the detriment of species that are also victims of the Kolshians (they were the ones who were doing all the tampering, right?). This could be an angle for Isif to take. Even better, from the sound of things, there are other Arxur who would embrace that idea. And if hatred is how Betterment maintain power, as is often the case with dictatorial regimes like this, just turn it towards the idea of tampering.
Reject the status quo, reject the consumption of sapients, restore purity, cooperation over subjugation, and some day, maybe even the idea that empathy is a deficiency will be a relic of the past. But none of this works unless the alliance with Humanity can bear significant fruit in the form of lab grown meat. Otherwise there will always be Arxur arguing for the necessity of consuming sapients. Shaza said it herself, the Arxur as a whole won't care where the food comes.
Well, even if things do go this way there's still going to be resistance from those who benefit from the status quo. In any case Isif has his work cut out for him. Damn, I'm genuinely surprised and delighted by how much I'm enjoying "Siffy" as a character! Keep up the incredible work!
You know, when I read that Isif is on an anonymous Arxur forum, my mind went to 'holy shit, the Arxur accessed 4chan' and I cannot imagine the horror that would bring.
Imagine how much shock those Zurulians have been through; first, they're told "hey, the Arxur are going to eat you, don't let that happen," then they assist the Arxur after Earth, then they're *captured* by them, and now another Arxur has saved their lives.
They get to Earth, and Isif mistakes a pet shop for a refugee center. They get purchased by a suburban Karen and her spoiled daughter. They escape from a children's tea-party to a UN office dressed in sunhats and tutus.
Her spoiled daughter [Elmyra](https://tinytoons.fandom.com/wiki/Elmyra_Duff).
Someone who will name them George and hug them and pet them and squeeze them....
Oh my goodness the perfect reference lol
I left my cat with my sisters for just 10 minutes. All of the above happened. (except it was a bonnet and a long pink dress.)
"Don't you gET It?! You see the HAT?! My *name* is *MiSsEs. NeSbItT!"* \[*maddened cackling*\]
I wonder how many were left behind
\*sigh\* ...too many. Much too many.
"I'm getting mixed signals, here!"
Isif Schindler at it again! I wonder how many more he will save before getting found out...
The Hunter’s List: the remarkable true story of Arxur Schindler
He's halfway between Schindler and Canaris.
And maby a bit of John Rabe as well.
Also Staufenberg a bit.
Welp, surprised it took this long for the housecard to crumble, also it seems like Isif has caught the terrible disease of guilt.
I think it’s likely he’ll get caught in a future chapter, and one of these things will happen: A) Put down B) Manages to escape C) Ruins his whole plan and the Arxur attack humanity
D) Is rescued by his loyal officers and incites an uprising of the Arxur resistance leading to a Dominion civil war.
Oooh I'm definitely down for that
Ah yes, arxur operation valkryie, just hope that it will coup the dominion or at least incite a civil war
A far more interesting option that allows for not only a prolonged an interesting story but for a good character to be preserved for longer periods of time.
I'd like that! Then, as a high-ranking officer, he could end up being seen as a suitable leader for the budding opposition to the Arxur establishment.
Pretty sure this chapter ensures 3
To be fair, we can say it's Shaza attacks humanity and not "the Arxur". I'm optimistic because the prizes of victory will be high. * We'll have a field test of what humanity can bring out of former omnivores, thus weakening the Betterment's hold even more. * We'll prove ourselves in combat, which is the quickest way to get Arxur respect. * We'll keep Fahl and Sillis, which means Shaza will have failed the Betterment. Jury is out on whether they treat failed operations like a Bond villain, but I'm sure Giznel will be displeased. * We can plunder that fancy cattle farm for refugees. Amazing what can get lost in paperwork or during transit by the time we return the place to Dominion care. * It'll buy time for a diplomatic return of those planets...to Isif, further securing the position of an extremely important ally within the Dominion. 2 weeks isn't a long time to work out a trade deal, but 2 weeks+ however more time Giznel gives Isif? * It'll be great publicity for the Federation races as humanity fights off Arxur to protect some races that have recently tried to genocide us. We'll come out of this looking like benevolent protectors to occupied civilians and outside onlookers alike, despite Federation propaganda. All this depends on us actually *winning* this fight, of course. Here's hoping human ingenuity and superior intel carry us through. Plus the fact that it's just a sector's resources coming at us, not the entire Dominion.
We do not know how much shaza is a representative of the arxur. This could be their "by the book" action, or it could be just her pride. 1) could go both ways. we might become "slightly better prey" than the current "weak predator" in eyes of the arxur. 2) Establishing dominance is different than killing . Will almost certainly not be taken as respect. They could however, become more acknowledging of our capabilities and more likely to negotiate. 3) Yes 4) It is not in his sector. only thing that could happen is temporary command as they choose a new chief hunter, or his promotion. both look unlikely to me. they will probably assume direct control in case a chief hunter is removed (like president's rule) 5) happened previously, in the cradle invasion, it was interpretated as two predators fighting over prey. A SECTOR is quite a huge area in space. it contains various federation worlds as well as earth (in isif's case atleast). while "human space" is just the solar system. We will certainly lose as we got nuked just now will our entire fleet destroyed, even when considering that the enemy is starving.
I suspect Shaza is fairly average as far as Arxur Chief Hunters go. If anything, she's a bit more aggressive and prideful, but I wouldn't bet on it. Either way, not the side of them we want to ally with. 1. It could. Hence the need for us to win. The fight is inevitable, I think, since any attempt to avoid it probably isn't going to be good optics for their culture. 2. It's the closest thing we have to it. It could be argued that we established dominance when we took the planets to begin with, and this is her challenging it. Power dynamics and bloodshed have a complicated relationship. Respecting our capabilities is a net improvement, I'd say. Especially if the point 4 goes well. 3. Fracturing them is only good news for us, really. 4. It won't be his jurisdiction for sure, but he was one of the two told to "settle it within two weeks". Officially, Isif conceded to Shaza's decision *because* it was her domain. If/After she loses, he'll get to jump in for damage control as the second-most involved party. All without leaving his own sector, since Earth *is* in his jurisdiction and he can negotiate with humans for tue Dominion's benefit as he sees fit. This isn't really about getting him a promotion so much as an achievement to leverage in his skillful politics. 5. Yeah. Though I'm pretty sure most Gojid came around on that. The Federation can try to say it again, but the evidence will continue to say otherwise. It's mainly keeping our argument strong. I'm sure it won't be a cakewalk, but let's not forget we fended off a Federation attack more recently than the attack on Earth. By my account, we won that battle, and it wasn't even a pyrrhic victory. The Mazics survived and are new allies.
What i was trying to say was that most of the brass could see Shaza's actions are logical an isif's as absurd. in that case, we will be fighting "the arxur" 1) or we can just not fight. that could also maintain our standing. 2) better ways are there, namely, providing food, intel, manpower and weaponizing their cattle against federation (unlikely but could happen). 4) like i said, they might just assume direct control. A chief hunter losing a couple worlds would be pretty big deal. all the top brass would want something to do in it. 5) critical thinking is not federation's strong suit. they will just go "forward eyes detected. opinion rejected" as for the common people..... there IS a civil war going on. Earth is simply not in a position to fight on two fronts. yes the fight with arxur is inevitable but now is not the time.
Not to mention that we are very good at war and fighting.
Well, we're good at war compared to the Federation, which is complacent and emotionally unstable. Against the Arxur? ...Well, looks like it's time for us to find out proper. Not a brawl, not a skirmish, but true warfare.
With Zhao's approach, war with the Arxur has been inevitable.
i never really liked him. his core policy is same as feds and the arxur "only me and my species should matter. everyone else is just for my convivence."
His policies involve defending human Allies. And frankly they’re quite justified, most of the federation was okay with a genocide of humans. So they don’t really deserve our consideration.
disagree. is CORE policy is defense of humanity. You know it by his infamous line about a hundred humans. it is just that allies help in that goal so he is saving them. pretty sure if you replace xeno with venlil his answer would remain unchanged. Again no. the whole point of war crimes was that wars happen between governments not people. so people should be left out of this. We know they had been fed propaganda for generations, of course they think humans are monsters *because they are not allowed to think otherwise.* Destroy the federation? go ahead. destroy a species? sorry bro no war hammer here.
I’m not arguing in favor of genocide, since this isn’t stellaris and they’re not just numbers. However it’s true that Zhao has defended human Allies and also wasn’t it his government that wanted the Arxur to leave some worlds they’d taken? Either way, his policies make sense. 1 human life is worth more than any number of non allied aliens. Not that I think they should be wiped out, but given the fact billions of humans died. The remaining ones should be kept alive at any cost imo. Since Humans were actively trying to prevent the war, they bare no fault in any of the deaths that come from it imo.
>Put down Since these are memory extraction transcripts, it seems like anyone with a POV is likely to survive the conflict.
that nots true, im pretty sure Meier had a POV and he ended up dying.
Oh yikes you're right. How did they extract his memories, I wonder? He wasn't shot in the head, I guess.
Extermination officers (clearly not the “progressive ones) forced the Venlil doctors to perform brain scans post-mortem in Chapter 68 🙏
Well there's that settled.
Ya but he died on a federation world. In a hospital. Isif is not likely to die thar way. Also we have no idea if the arxur have memory retrieval
Oh, that’s true. I sorta forgot about that lol
Meier didn’t survive, so it’s not guaranteed. It’s likely if Isif dies it won’t be in Arxur space though. I doubt they would bother to scan his brain.
Still betting Shaza will bite off more than she can chew. Get an up close and personal look at Slanek and the Dogs. Have her tail kicked by a human. Then listen to our plans for occupation. Followed by the explanation ‘slavery is inefficient. People work better when they do it for themselves’ and come round to supporting humanity. For completely the opposite reasons to Isif
How far along is Earth in it's wartime manufacturing? They've taken heavy losses from several battles. I'm sure they're won't be any shortage of enlistees, but it takes time to train officers and build ships.
Yes!!! Humanity needs a force capable of a victory that’s NOT pyrrhic.
We also need to support our allies. They're less adept at combat and strategy, so would benefit from human military advisors. Hopefully they have strengths that compliment humanity's.
True. We’ve already seen that our allies are going through a ‘anti-cowardice’ program. I see them becoming our drone operators primarily. As well as training officers for the tech upgrades/systems that would be unfamiliar to human recruits.
It's implied that some of the tech developments are Yotul in origin
Probably fine since iirc the Feds targeted population centers not industrial or actual war time ones You know, war crimes instead of actual targets
They wiped out like the top 100 populated cities or something crazy like that. Incase you didn’t know cities are where the industry tends to be
They were aiming for population centers, not industrial centers - those are two separate things. Not to mention they were trying to take out bunkers, not our factories. Sure we might be low on man power in places, but we definitely arent low on physical factories
I thought most major city centers were just destroyed or razed (based on the descriptions for when we started rescue efforts).That’s why we needed help in the rescue efforts. Human society runs on its infrastructure even its search and rescue
Factories are usually located on the outskirts of cities, nobody is stupid enough to put a massive polluting building right next to the city square
Yes this is the most significant problem I see for the humans in the near future, no matter how good their tactics are. At this point, they've lost lots of material and personnel, that will be difficult to replace especially with the learning curve they are on with all the new technology.
If its one thing humans can recover and advance quickly. It’s manufacturing for war. Plus tons of species have given us ships, some entire fleets. While some work needs to be done to modify ships for service under UN its a lot easier than from scratch. And with their conquests they are conquering more materials, ships, manufacturing. And with the UN using drone tech(that’s incredibly effective) less reliance on personnel. Plus using the fed species for lower jobs(at least in the beginning) helps greatly swell the ranks with humans at the helm. But yea i dont think the UN wants to go up in a fight against the whole dominion right now
That's true but remember these sectors Shaza is talking about have just become vassal states. Their ships and manufacturing are now *humanity's* ships and manufacturing.
According to the [NoP Timeline...](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureofPredators/comments/xbnddj/nop_timeline/) >October 17 >112 antimatter bombs land on multiple locations, 13 land on various bunkers complexes and 99 land on highly populated cities, causing at a minumum 1 billion deaths So six and a half weeks ago, the 100 most populated cities in the world were completely destroyed, which killed roughly 8% of all humans. Also destroyed would have been an absolutely massive amount of infrastructure and industrial capacity. Six and a half weeks. >How far along is Earth in it's wartime manufacturing? Well, it took [eight months](https://911groundzero.com/blog/the-complete-history-of-ground-zero-before-and-after-9-11/) to clear the rubble from the 9/11 bombings in New York. So with that in mind, I'm gonna say that Earth is barely holding onto its capacity to manufacture can openers, let alone materiel.
Yeah, that’s the least plausible thing about this (obviously, FTL and aliens are taken for granted as part of the setting). Not nearly enough time has passed for the human military to have gained the capabilities they’ve shown, even with using a lot of Venlil ships. You can’t retool a military and build ships and train people to man them and them have multiple battles in only three months.
I think that Shaza putting her pride before efficiency is reflective of an attitude that will be prevalent (and a huge problem) in the rest of the Dominion. No matter how plentiful and good-tasting lab grown meat or nonsapient livestock is, no matter how more efficient making friends and conquering with a light touch is than slavery and genocide, no matter how fewer Arxur die without forever wars, no matter how pointless Betterment is when you have enough resources to feed everyone, the Arxur cultural identity is built around their superiority. Their perceived superiority over everyone else, their pride in the hunt, and their pride in how pure their species is will become massive hurdles in getting the Arxur to be less shitty. Some Arxur will be willing to defect to Earth or accept a new, much less cruel status quo, but many Arxur won't. A conflict with those Arxur is inevitable, and we'd better hope that there are enough defectors such that we don't have to fight the whole Dominion.
Except that chances are that this chapter just introduced something massive: frozen meat. By a simple matter of logistical inference, most of the Arxur populace doesn't have access to freshly butchered prey meat, it's all easy to ration, state given, controlled processed frozen meat. To those masses the paradigm shift from Fedprey to Terran cattle and lab meat won't change jackshit at worst, and will provide fattening food security at best. It all comes down to how willing the average, starving Arxur is at being manipulated with the dangling sausage of plentiful, and, IMO, they're gonna be very manipulatable on the basis of not exactly being sociable people, they're just gonna ponder which feeds them the most and go with it.
That would make sense. The grunts might be more amenable to our ideas, but the leadership and high-ranking Arxur like the ones running this farm might be an issue. It will depend on how much control the leadership has over the grunts, military- and propaganda-wise.
Well as they said, the hood postings are hereditary. So only the Dominion's inner circle really gets to be all philosophical about meat and predation. We already are seeing the cracks form in the lower ranks of society for the Arxur. I can definitely see a populist revolution to overthrow the current elite if that meat stops flowing, and earth has more being made
Humanity coming to space and accidently cause massive civil war on the two biggest super power is the most human thing
What I find interesting here is the dichotomy/perspective of the federation and the Dominion. We hate the gene modding and cultural genocide of the federation, but are also hoping for the cultural genocide of the Arxur. As you said, their entire culture at this point is based around pride, Arxur superiority, and hunting. They can only be good allies if they lose that. From our perspective, that would be a good thing. And yet, the original gene mod from the federation was likely seen in the same way. A good thing, that would allow the krakotl to become "good" allies. There is definitely different levels of extremism here, but there are also some definite similarities.
I see where you're coming from. However, counterpoint; This dogmatic view from the Arxur Betterment was born out of desperation when the Feds sabotaged the Arxurs' existence (They're obligate carnivores after all) with their "cure". The Feds never told the Arxur that this "cure" would make them allergic to meat (effectively starving them to death), they only said 'this "cure" will make you better'. The humans' solution is to offer lab-grown meat as an alternative. No modification, no manipulation. Just a solution to feed a carnivore while still letting other sapient life live. A little off topic, but an alternate solution would be to offer cows, sheep, and other non-sentient cattle for Arxur to raise for themselves.
A steady supply of food won't fix the issue of them seeing themselves as the only true sapient of the galaxy, or as better than anyone else. These things will prevent any true alliance, and keep them out of being part of the galactic community, regardless of the original cause of their issues. These cultural drives need to change for them to be real allies. If they cannot hunt any more, if they have to acknowledge others as equals, that could easily be seen as cultural genocide by the Arxur themselves. Less duplicitous and harmful than the Federation, but not entirely different than what the federation did to already omnivorous sapients.
Humanity might be growing meat in a lab but that's not to say livestock animals aren't a thing still. Maybe an Arxur steals some, proving they were stealthily enough to sneak them out, and back home. Now here's some none sentient livestock that's easier to deal with, and what's more every one of them is proof that am Arxur was better than humans. No one needs to know the thief was gifted the animals.
Isif: (shows up on Earth) Humans: Hey, what's u- Isif: (dumps three Zurulians on their ship) Humans: Wh- Isif: (leaves)
Humans: damn ^(what a Chad)
Chief hunter grindset
Isif: (refuses to elaborate)
Shows up unannounced. Throws a bag of 3 rescued POWs at you. Refuses to elaborate. Leaves. . What a lad.
*giga Chad music plays*
(However, on Earth’s internet, the impulses they discussed toward the prey had…nothing to do with sudden hunger.) This makes me laugh and dread, whatever he found out about how we feel towards our alien friends.
Less hunger, more...*thirst?*
*C L A P A L I E N C H E E K S*
I hope he doesn't find out about the all of the lizardmen ....stuff, out there.
Haha, It's probably about how we always want to pet them becouse we find them cute right, **right-**
Yeah, a special kind of cute Anyways, does anyone know the birth rate of Venil? I heard Earth is in need of some repopulation.
I'd like to eat a Krakotl and write with it's feathers, maybe even fill a pillow with the rest
Was betting money on 1 or more humans having been captured and served up as a test to see if he would freak out or not.
Humans have retained their predatory nature, unlike the assimilated federation species. The Arxur can't pretend humans aren't true sapients, eating humans would likely be seen as akin to cannibalism.
> The Arxur can't pretend humans aren't true sapients, eating humans would likely be seen as akin to cannibalism. And yet this other Arxur seems to want to put humanity in its place because we are stealing their territory. If humans can find ways to justify killing other humans at the bat of an eye, I don't see Arxur having much trouble finding ways to justify killing other "true" sapients.
That’s a territorial dispute between 2 animals. We need to think as the Arxur government as a whole like a predator. Them attacking humanity is more like a display of dominance at this time then a belief we are non-sapient
Yeah I doubt the Arxur would have any problem *killing* us, but you didn't suggest that humans would be killed by the Arxur. You said: >1 or more humans having been captured and served up Which sounds a lot like you were saying "served up to be eaten."
That would be a problem for shaza, but thats understating things hard
Isif is a master negotiator, actor, general and a supreme hacker, seriously this dude is dangerous, luckily he just wants a better life for his people and an end to the slaughter.
He’s a chad
Part 85 is here! Isif takes a tour of a Dominion farm habitat, and fails to convince Shaza to stand down. It appears she is planning to bring a fight to humanity. Should our Arxur friend intervene? Will the UN defend our new territories, or find a different resolution? Also, our Arxur narrator makes an impulsive decision to rescue three Zurulians. It remains to be seen what becomes of our quadrupedal friends, but Isif is Earthbound to leave them to us. How will the Zurulians react to an Arxur saving them (should he succeed)? As always, thanks for reading! Part 86 will be here Wednesday.
The implication that Isif may get caught in freeing the Zurulians worries me. Let's hope the big guy can silver tongue his way out of any potential trouble he gets into.
Yeah.. the guards were probably told that Isif wanted to keep them as pets. When they don’t come back from Earth, Isif might try to play it off as if they escaped or he ate them; but the Zurulians would have to beep quiet on their end about their Arxur savior.
They were her guards, they won't know what he did with them on earth. It's just him on the ship plus his 3 rescues.
And possibly a surveillance device...
That was my first thought at the _start_ of the chapter, when he was reading the comments in that forum _out loud_. I fully expect him to be arrested at some point due to this, be rescued by a human Black Ops team, and later form a rebellious faction in the Dominion that learns to use one of our favourite forms of warfare. Guerrilla. All those arguments over our arboreal eyes will crumble when the trees start speaking Terran.
Yeah, I got a similar feeling about the reading out loud part. But the whispered order was probably worse. The arxur seem to look down on lowering your voice. That should be even more true when talking to a subordinate.
ironically, the "arboreal eyes" argument *won't* crumble if the trees start to speak Gaian *because we'd be doing what arboreal eyes evolved for,* ***being in the trees*** I also wonder how many chapters it'll take for the UN to toss together super-stealth crafts to infiltrate for intel
Doubt it, unless it was planted there during his stay, he would know of any surveillance because he wouldnt be so causual about not trying to instill fear in the zurulians if he knew
If a silver tongue fails then red fangs will have to work.
Isif seems to be a talented hacker.
Isif can't get involved yet. The question is can the UN stop Shaza and will the Arxur cut her off or retaliate against earth? Also nice to see Siffys! soft side again.
Nah, humans should throw down. The odds might not be in our favor, but this is a very important victory and we have so much to gain from it. Shaza represents everything we oppose about the Arxur, and we were going to fight that side eventually anyways. Our Arxur friend should intervene in the sense that I'm hoping Isif gives us some tips on how to take down an Arxur fleet and possibly their military tactics. It's a big gamble for him at this point though, so I can't blame him if he doesn't. As for the Zurulians...they're going through a real rollercoaster of emotions, I'm sure. Just let them go through the motions for now. I am hoping they have some good dialogue with Isif though. As the evidently most curious Federation race, I'm hoping they can get a good dialogue and exchange of information going with Isif. If we're lucky, Isif and the teddies can even build rapport and form something of a bond. I won't hold my breath on that one though.
Isif needs to warn Humanity about Shaza but focus on improving the Arxur resistance. Dispensing human artificial meat schematics, providing information on how to defect to Human space, giving assignments and creating sleeper cells of resistance members, etc. Hopefully Shaza lets her pride get the best of her and doesn't take the human defense of Fahl and Sillis seriously. A defeat would put Shaza's position as Chief Hunter in jeopardy, and either: \-Bring the Arxur to the negotiating table or \-Buy us time till the Prophet-Descendant sends in a fleet to teach us a lesson. Either way it will actually help human's diplomatically as a battle against the Arxur shows we're not fully aligned with them. Isif's rescue of the Zurulians is going to cause a stir. Why would he do it? Are their good Arxur? Are Axur only bad due to their circumstances? Are humans having a positive influence? Can we change our interactions with them? I'm concerned about your 'should he succeed' comment. He's already likely tips off a couple of flags at the Betterment office, and I don't put spies or bugs beyond them.
Isif is already busy defending Earth and his sector, imho the UN should introduce Shaza to the concepts of MAD and Phyrrhic victory. Right before the battle some human commander should explain to Shaza the two options that she has : \- Shaza has the option to accept regular shipments of lab meat, she can save her pride by passing it off to the Dominion as the humans paying tribute. Meanwhile the UN gets to keep governing those two planets without Arxur interference. The UN may even offer the same 2 for 1 deal as an extra bonus for the return of the captured aliens. This is the best outcome for both factions. \- If Shaza decides to attack she will inevitably lose ships and soldiers that would've been better spend again the federation, this will also sour relationship with humans. Should she lose the battle it will be an even bigger blow to her pride. Bad outcome the Dominion, terrible for her (especially if her fleet outnumbered us), still good for the UN. \- If she wins that's when we activate the deadman's switch and nuke every major city on the alien planet, killing all the cattle and making it uninhabitable\*. "If humanity can't have those planets nobody else will". Combined with the losses from the battle it's easy to immagine the Dominion will want her head on a silver platter. Extra bonus, if Isif reveals the position of the cattle station we can threaten to nuke that too. This is a bad outcome for both factions but arguably worse for the Dominion. The Dominion would probably want Shaza dead after such result... \*Realistically speaking we may not have enough nukes/antimatter boms to booby trap the whole planet but as long as Shaza believes our bluff we don't even need to. If she tries to call us out we can nuke a deserted city "what a shame, that's 100.000 cattle gone..." have a couple more bluff cities ready and that may be enough to deter her. \- If she decides to ignore our threat and fight anyway that's when (maybe with some hackery courtesy of Isif) we can broadcast a message to her entire fleet, offering asylum to all the Arxurs sick of her rule and of eating sapients meet (Gojid etc...), as well as the opportunity to join the UN army "Service guarantees three meals a day". The ensuing mutiny and chaos could be enough to tip the battle in our favour and even gain us control of the whole sector depending on how many Arxurs defect/die. This is a good outcome for humanity and a catastrophic one for the Dominion. All this scenarios allow the UN to play the Isif cart later down the line "Oh, the Dominion is pissed at humanity and ordered Isif to glass Earth... too bad, looks like you already lost that sector and you're about to end up in a civil war".
Fantastic Story. you've managed to turn what started out as a deceptively simple story, into a fantastically nuanced and complex world(Galaxy? Universe?) This is really worthy of being published if you ever wanted to pursue that path.
Thank you!
Sure thing! the only structural criticism I have is the timeline feels too compressed and scrunched up for some things, but really that is more than made up for with the nuance and care put into every other aspect of the story.
if I had to guess, I'd say it feels so dense because unlike a traditional story that might follow a small handful of characters on a relatively consistent timeline this follows at least one armful of characters, with the dot labelled "present" on the timeline slowly moving forward, while each perspective tends to be somewhere in the general vicinity of the current 'present'
Well, if Isif brings up the budding resistance movement is to his human allies, I think he'll be pleasantly surprised at how... knowledgeable humanity is on how to set up, run, and maintain an insurgency/rebellion. Once we start having advisors help set up guidelines on what to target, how to organize effectively, and how to avoid getting caught, that budding resistance is going to start sprouting real fast.
Perhaps our Chief Hunter accidentally shares the location of that Shazas outpost. And coincidentally some time later a fleet of humans shows up and removes her.
She fell off the balcony. Accidents happen all the time.
She wakes up to find an Arxur head in her bed. It's about sending a message, after all.
Whose head?
Sadly, the only one that would matter to her is her own. Ego, y'know. Waking up to find your own head in your bed, tho, that's a heck of a trip.
That can be arranged too you know
With some good psychedelics, yes
The human have tissue engineering ability. Creating a head with the same features as hers isn't that hard. You just need a good 3D image of it. And, if we can get access to some of hers cells (a bit of blood or some skin) it can be nearly indistinguishable from the original. I think that commandos and other deep insertion unit aren't used enough by humanity in this story.
I'd be more adversely affected if I woke up and my own head was NOT with me in bed!
Pick one.
Her security chief
She wakes up handcuffed in a wagon and some guy says "hey you, finally awake"
Hee didn't share anything! The crafty humans must have planted a tracker on his ship! Proof that it is better to let them work to achieve Arxur goals than to antagonize them.
The tracker was on one of the Zurulians!
Those sneaky apes!
Perfidious Albion strikes again!
The holopad from the humans is probably literally tracking him
Isif: I have encrypted this His new FBI agent: *chuckles*
I shall watch his career with great interest
*Isif typing* 'Are humans tracking me on my stolen holopad?' *Autocorrect* 'No we aren't'
I thought it was odd he would use an Earth based communication device. If it is so much 'safer' and more untraceable than the Axur tech then why wouldn't it be more advanced in other ways that might be... less than desirable? Isif also mentioned how the Federation comms were trash and easy to both tap and piggy back on and that the Axur comms were so advanced they, let me check my notes here, use enemy infrastructure to communicate to their most sensitive spy outposts? That can't possibly be right. Unless of course they're not at all as ready for cyberwarfare as they think because the federation doesn't do it and they were uplifted earlier in their development than humans.
All they had to worry about were other Arxur, and the big bag superior predator doesn't need to sneak around other predators, though they can stalk and ambush their prey. The Terran apes don't even trust themselves, much less each other. I don't think the Arxur have any idea what we're capable of.
They were uplifted with only primitive computers (1950s era, IIRC). So yeah, they would have had far less experience with cyber warfare. Though I imagine their government does a lot with censorship and spying, which the Feds might not. After all, what experienced president would reveal state secrets to a journalist without checking her for web-connected cameras and live-streaming? (Yeah, there have been human leaders exactly that stupid. But the squid in question didn’t strike me as stupid.)
Or perhaps the humans show up with a few tons of cloned meat and propose to trade it for the cattle
Nah I think Isif is right, this is about pride and probably also status. Shaza is looking to pick a fight with humanity to send a message and bolster her reputation, *her station* has plenty of 'food'. So anything short of a direct order from the dominion, which it's clear isn't coming, is unlikely to change her mind.
A resistance. One in which Isif may be a sympathetic part. And I think I know who Isif is similar too. He’s a Schindler. Desperately trying to induce small changes while not appearing to his superiors and equals that he’s subversive. But big changes are coming! Humans have a long history of inducing coups, resistance, and revolts within other nations they dislike.
Isif best bet at this point is to probably provide as much Intel as he can and then go conveniently raid some federation plants to keep them busy and away from earth. Humanity is going to have to fight its own battles if there's any hope of getting the rest of the dominion to respect anything that is said.
"The humans are the predators we want to be," I read one comment aloud. "Perhaps our resistance movement could be officially recognized. Their support would lend us legitimacy." **"Aloud"** I have a suspicion Isif's being spied on and these very words are gonna be his demise
Nice catch! I completely missed it.
It was precisely the fact that it's so easy to miss that caught my attention. You'd think that such an important strategic blunder on Isif's part would be at least somewhat elaborated on in some shape or form, e.g. by having him notice it and curse himself for getting too comfortable, but nope - it's just sneakily put in there for everybody to gloss over. There's a good chance that it's some quiet foreshadowing of the events to come.
On human made tech His programing may be new and unhackable But we always listen
Bout time for Operation VALKYRIE
The original one didn’t go so well.
Second time’s the charm eh?
More like operation Inaros. I wrote a comment a while back about how warp asteroids could potentially be turned into kinetic WMDs on the cheap by exploiting the Oberth effect around black holes or neutron stars. I believe, our response to betterment meddling with our civilization or those under our protection might be violent. Unbelievably, genocidaly violent. We're primed, jaded and ready to bury our morals after getting 10% of ours nuked by vegan parrots. Now honest to god child eating space nazis want to make us like them or eat those under our protection after legitimate surrender. I can smell a "may God have mercy on our souls moment" incoming.
Ahh unfortunate that Isif could not bring her wonderous tales of Earth Prey and the delectable and wonderous bounty of Hog, Cow, Ostrich, Elk and Buffalo.
Bacon solves all political discourse.
The livestock population must be low, due to most of humanity switching to lab grown meat. I wonder if we've manged to solve invasive species? Wild pigs, and rabbits would likely remain numerous.
unsure if Noah's speech to the Federation Council was dressed up or not, but he specifies that lab-grown meat 'took the cruelty out of meat farming', or something along those lines also pretty sure somewhere we learn that not *all* meat comes from labs and we still have some livestock
>“Perhaps our resistance movement could be officially recognized. Their support would lend us legitimacy.” Sombody call the CIA, it's time to cause a foreign uprising
do they find Oil in Wriss?
No, but they can make sure it doesn't become ***COMMUNIST***
Shame, we havent seen indications of anyone above Isif, or same level of prestige subtly reach out. Then again, its got to be hard to be the first with the power, inclination and oppurtuinity ( sp? )
>( sp? ) Opportunity.
Man I just want happy things for... most of the people in this universe. Yes. Even the Arxur. Yes the Karkotl. No, not Kalsim.
How did the Arxur capture the Yotul? I was under the impression they hadn't assaulted their territory yet.
It’s not expanded upon by Shaza, but she easily could’ve raided across a ship/colony/station. The Yotul’s homeworld is in her sector, and she wants to increase her viable “livestock”
Damn, I like those feisty little guys. I remember Noah offered to let Yotul engineers work with them. I hope they're able to learn quickly enough to build their own fleet.
Isif: I'd like precisely 246 kilos of meat please. Human: Why? Isif: \*dumps bag of Zurulians\* I'm a not just a bounty hunter, I'm a Chief Bounty Hunter! So Pay up, Primates!
Aha! So it looks like the prediction that the old guard would rather prolong the war and keep its people downtrodden to maintain power has played out! Also Arxur forums are a thing (shouldn’t be surprising but it’s made obvious) Also confirmation the Arxur have nukes. We also get our first canon look at the inside of a cattle farm, tis around what I imagined. Also my prediction on Arxur fridges came true, so that’s nice I wonder what hunger the humans have shown for the prey on the internet (heheh) I wonder if Isif will keep his Zurulian friends or hand them off? And it seems like humanity’s eagerness to help has back fires - now their closest ally has to chose between helping them out and losing his cred or standing by and watching the other Arxur bloody their noses. I imagine humanity will have to kick some croc tail to get it in their skulls that they aren’t soft and squishy.
Isif, the UN, and allies need to come up with some kind of stealth method to allow Arxur with resistance sympathies and "defective" empathy to defect and leave Wriss safely. Clandestine landings in remote locations? Isif creating a secret back door for new military recruits to sneak away from his forces? Secret equipment/food/weapon drops to resistance strongholds? Zod, all this makes me want to read more about the Spanish Civil War. Damn Franco and the fascists to hell! NO PASARÀN! REMEMBER THE FAI*! REMEMBER The POUM! REMEMBER THE CNT! The [SONGS OF THE REVOLUTION ](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPi81txCiOm3yOm7YFubhYkFmClHr_1z6) WILL BE SUNG AGAIN!
A minor correction; it's FAI not FIA (Federacion Anarquista Iberica)
Oh, thank you, commrade.
Could likely shift his personnel around and only send ships w/ defectors to Earth to ‘help rebuild’ or whatever. Come up with some front or reason why they are in human space
Defective Arxur prisoners being used as “slave-labor.” They had discussed it in the previous chapter.
Early again. Edit: Well this was a lot to take in. Cattle stations are horrendous abominations. Enough said. So Arxur society runs entirely on "bloodline achievements" it seems. Those cattle guards probably don't see much action outside of beating defenseless people into submission. Might make such stations far more vulnerable a target than the Arxur running them think. Shaza is about to get FAFO'd. I repeat, incoming FAFO imminent! Isif is such a tragic character. Has to pretend he's a firm believer of dogma he hates, has to do things he loathes himself for and is constantly stuck between a rock and a hard place with far too little room for any sort of manouvering. His one mistake here is underestimating humanity's proclivity for war and how truly dangerous they can make their allies. The Arxur at large are used to winning their fights before they started on a psychological level or, failing that, play the numbers advantage. They're about to find out that neither will work as well soon enough. Especially the Yotul will make a difference here, I think.
The Yotul seem to have weaker predator phobia. That may make them more suited to combat.
True, they're recent uplifts. I assume they haven't had a dozen generations of no experience with predators coupled with aggressive, paranoia inducing propaganda to deal with. The fact that they're new to Federation tech also means their curiosity hasn't been smothered to death either. Yotul and Humans still have the mental capacity for discovery far more widespread among their populations than most other Fed species.
All of humanity's allies are having their predator phobia get worked out of their system. The Arxur are going to soon discover that they can't win via psychology anymore.
Isif is indeed in a bit of a pickle. However I'm pretty sure that if given access to arxur networks (covertly of course) humans could do a great deal of covert ideological warfare and help tip the scales in favour of the resistance ;)
[удалено]
> However, on Earth’s internet, the impulses they discussed toward the prey had…nothing to do with sudden hunger. Pet the fuzzies!
Not gonna lie, I totally thought Isif would find some small, minor detail that was evidence that Shaza was also part of the resistance. It would be interesting to see how he would react to such a revelation, but the story does need adversaries too.
>However, on Earth’s internet, the impulses they discussed toward the prey had…nothing to do with sudden hunger. Oh fuck. Isif has been reading the weird sex comments. Also... >A two-front war was a steep task for primitive omnivores. I feel like it's missing the word 'the' between 'for' and 'primitive', but that's just my thoughts.
Grammatically, it’s correct either way.
Predators aren’t real, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, but I’m here to refute ‘evidence’ that I am wrong, you say that you ‘lost a loved one to a predator attack’, no you didn’t, the GOVERNMENT TOOK THEM OUT for getting too close to the truth! So they made it LOOK like some mythical ‘predator’ came in and mauled them to death! If you THINK that you were there when it happened you weren’t! those memories were faked to sell the story!
"Good, GOOD!, let the insanity flow through you."
Emperor Isif tzlking to Venlil Skywalker
It's alright, Isif. You're trying your best. Let Shaza come at the humans. There are a dozen ways we can spin this to leverage it in our favor, as long as we win. I can't blame Isif for not believing that humanity will be able to fend off Shaza, but as far as systematic brainwashing goes, he is already doing splendidly. I also can't blame him for saving three Zurulians over securing peace. In terms of a numbers game, it's a loss, but Shaza wasn't realistically going to let off anyway and he presented his case well enough to plant the ideas in her head for after this conflict settles. I personally find it far more important that he nurtures that conscience of his. I guess it wouldn't be good for the three teddy friends to stay with him, but I'm hoping they interact a bit at length and establish at least a little rapport. They can be, ironically, morality pets for him and he can help ease their relationship with the meat eaters. I did not expect the stolen holopad to be used to incognito mode some resistance forces, but yeah, that makes sense. Good to hear that there's a resistance at all, to be honest. I hope humans can make contact with them soon. We have many, *many* tips for them.
Time to send them some sten guns and explosives French resistance style.
Made it. Edit. This could be a mixed situation. If we can stop her, the Arxur may write her off as rogue to avoid full scale war. Losing a bunch of ships for nothing, likely would make rethink their plan.
This is *valuable* information about the Arxur setup. If Isif communicates to his human allies that he only has jurisdiction over part of the area and that other Arxur have jurisdiction over the rest, then humanity is likely to branch out and start poking elsewhere. Potentially cause a few... minor accidents... to the cogs that won't turn.
Ah yes, Earth based tech, famous for not tracking and spying on people.
I think he means the Arxur can't track it.
"Ok guys, Isif rescued three Zurulians on a mission he thinks was a secret from us. Act surprised when he brings them over, ok? Great."
I mightve missed some things from previous chapters, but how is the Arxur's view of cannibalism?
Isif discussed cannibalism in Chapter 69 (yes, actually). It’s punishable by death due to prion diseases 🙏
Oh shit Isif knows about the furries
At this point in the story, I think the true name should be The Nature of Civil Wars, because boy oh boy, there are plenty of those brewing up everywhere.
I wonder if maybe Betterment is wearing off, but everyone thinks everyone else is still bloodthirsty, and don't dare show it.
> As long as we were isolated and starving, individuals like Shaza and Giznel would maintain power. Our plight was how Betterment retained control, stirring up perpetual hatred. The Federation caused our predicament, after all. Really enjoying this circling around and how increasingly it's obvious this entire predator vs prey war was created by a few people in power, on *both sides*, to keep conflict going for their own gain.
***The Terran Sentinel*** ***A Reverse Sweep for the Ages*** ***October 27th 2184*** **Today marks a historical moment in MLB History as the Dawn Creek Giants pull off the a successful 3-0 comeback against the Sweetwater Millers in the Venlil League** **Such a successful 3-0 comeback hasn't been seen since exactly 180 years ago in 2004 between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox** **"the road to it was exhausting but all the more sweeter" said by pitcher Karlim in an interview with The Terran Sentinel** **With hopes running high for the team, they are expected to face off with the New York Yankees of the Terran League next week** **Can Dawn Creek carry their momentum into the Galactic Series to claim victory for the Republic?, only time will tell.**
The Yankees will play their first Galactic Series since 2009 after emerging victorious in the Houston Astros Invitational Tournament, formally known as the Terran League Championship Series.
Damn dude. I guess being fast is a perk of being in spacepaladins basement
If Isif gets discovered and survives, he may be able to form a successionist government out of his territory. He has a ready-made fifth column on Wriss with the dissidents too, he just needs a reliable way to contact them.
In the last part Isif mused that he was curious why we limited ourselves with our concept of war crimes and here he wonders if we could pull our weight in a fight. Isif friend, your people hunt. Our people go to war. We limit ourselves because we are too good at it if we don’t and leave nothing but scorched earth and death in our wake. Shaza and the Betterment had better pray we don’t give up our limitations because if we do then there will poison worlds and wipe out billions. The Geneva Convention limits what we can do and yet since getting FTL we have come out on top of every fight we have gotten involved with except for for the battle of Earth where everyone ganged up on us when we’d only have the drive for a few months and even then we gave the Federation fleet one hell of a bloody nose. The Arxur have yet to see us fight from a position of strength and yet they question our abilities? The space Nazis will come to regret this hubris once we wipe Shaza out and rebuild our fleets.
Isif bout to adopt some fluffy little friends!
Please excuse the wall of text, but my brain is working on very little sleep and I ended up writing an essay instead of a little comment. It strikes me as a shame that Betterment holds such sway. They've created this image of Arxur superiority and work hard to maintain it, and we see the results in this chapter. Despite the fact that Arxur like Chief Hunter Shaza have evidence that some of the species they enslave are fellow sapients that were genetically and culturally tampered with, they still view them as a viable food source. Along comes Humanity, they only other species they see as fellow "true sapients". In reality the Arxur actually have a lot in common with those sapients they choose to continue to see as prey. The Arxur were themselves genetically tampered with. A genetically and culturally pure Arxur (as a race) would actually be one that doesn't subjugate and consume others. The grim necessity of consumption of sapient beings, and the cruelty borne of that necessity - everything they've become is due to the Federation. I'd love to see a Betterment that strives for that kind of purity. Instead we have this idea of Arxur superiority, to the detriment of species that are also victims of the Kolshians (they were the ones who were doing all the tampering, right?). This could be an angle for Isif to take. Even better, from the sound of things, there are other Arxur who would embrace that idea. And if hatred is how Betterment maintain power, as is often the case with dictatorial regimes like this, just turn it towards the idea of tampering. Reject the status quo, reject the consumption of sapients, restore purity, cooperation over subjugation, and some day, maybe even the idea that empathy is a deficiency will be a relic of the past. But none of this works unless the alliance with Humanity can bear significant fruit in the form of lab grown meat. Otherwise there will always be Arxur arguing for the necessity of consuming sapients. Shaza said it herself, the Arxur as a whole won't care where the food comes. Well, even if things do go this way there's still going to be resistance from those who benefit from the status quo. In any case Isif has his work cut out for him. Damn, I'm genuinely surprised and delighted by how much I'm enjoying "Siffy" as a character! Keep up the incredible work!
You know, when I read that Isif is on an anonymous Arxur forum, my mind went to 'holy shit, the Arxur accessed 4chan' and I cannot imagine the horror that would bring.
Let there be No Predators or Prey in the ever-changing Galaxy
"Nothing to do with hunger." Yeah rule 34 artists probably had a field day on first contact.
Well seems like the arxur are in some dire need of democracy. I wonder if there is oil on wriss...