Part 86 is here! Tyler invites Sovlin to hang out, shortly after punching him. It seems Marcel's buddy considers the score settled. Are you happy that Sovlin finally got a breather? Is it a good sign that the UN has been monitoring the Arxur?
Meanwhile, Onso's behavior proves to be more hippo-like than Federation-like. Do you think that the Yotul's temperament is more indicative of what herbivores actual behavior was like, before the Federation?
As always, thank you for reading! Part 87 will be here Saturday.
Onso needs to play Primal Rage (Mid/late 90's) a 2d fighter. Plenty of chances for the smasher of controllers to vent his rage on a Arxur impersonator there.
Solvin needs therapy, but it sounds like he won't go anytime soon.
And Tyler should have started on easy, so Onso would have so time to learn and break less controllers.
I'd like to think by this point 3d printers are fairly ubiquitous...and with any luck, the basic outline of things like controllers are readily available.
It would even make a certain sense economically - you sell the PCB/electronics and a sample 3d digital model of the controller, save a whole bunch of space for packaging and shipping thereby reducing cost. End user then prints the controller shell, pops the electronics package in and jobs a goodun.
Added bonus would be if designed right you could possibly have some leeway for users to scale/adapt the shell to them specifically (albeit clearly not enough for alien ergonomics...yet).
Which is all to say that maybe Tyler only had the 4 controllers, but all Onso has done thus far is bust the shell...print a new one and you're good.
Im guessing 3d printers a hundred years in the future could also print small electronic boards/circuits, so they likley could just print the entire controller
Pretty sure the tech is already in its infancy for that, so you're kind of not wrong (though it seems unlikely we're gonna be 'home' printing microprocessor silicon even in that timeframe - so you'd need prefab chips on hand to integrate)...I'm just figuring capitalism is going to capitalist to put a kill order on free use of that concept. After all, there's already a whole lot more money in accessories than there is consoles, there's not much in the way of incentive to entirely give up on that revenue stream (especially if you have players like Onso).
The shells are simple enough that someone could probably knock one up whether you like it or not, so makes sense to just release the design. Keep the PCB proprietary and limit reproduction (as well as scummy tactics like encrypted authorisation/wireless chips) keeps that revenue yours.
After all \*overly dramatic music plays\* ["You wouldn't steal a car..."](https://youtu.be/_FtE0S-IyY0)
I like to belive the current economic crissis we are moving into gave the commonfolk a lot more power through one means or another, and we chose to become more socialistic all over the world, forcing corporations to release said blueprints for most things, and not just game controllers
Mabye instead of charging for creation they force us to register the controller if the above comment isnt true, giving us the ability to print new controllers, but forcing us to pay a fee to be able to use said controller
I mean 3D printer's exist *now* so as long as the internals are good it might be as simple as printing a new case. Or they could be the SciFi kind of 3D printer that just makes a new one, in which case some enterprising human needs to make controllers designed for other species. Even the more timid ones would probably like things like visual novels and farm sims.
Tons probably. More military equipment than you'd expect now a days uses an Xbox controller. Like submarines used to have a unique interface, but now they just use 360 controllers
That's what happens when you play with tryhards, I broke one keyboard and a mouse, Mouse I repaired, Keyboard was turned into 3D printer filament and spare electronics
In this context, Tyler is a Tryhard, In context of L4D2, Phantom Forces or Stellaris, I am a tryhard and I learned the hard way that Raging makes my fare worse
It is a VERY good thing that the UN has been monitoring the Arxur. Early warning systems save lives. And I wouldn't put it past the Dominion to try and pull a Federation on the humans by trying to make humans allergic to plant-based food or cause some false-flags to destroy democracies.
It’s been established that the Arxur don’t have genetic manipulation tech. They would’ve stopped the hunting years ago in place of lab grown steaks or something.
It’s good to keep tabs even on your friends, especially friends like the Arxur. Isif might be a moral (as moral as you can be in that society), but the rest of them are still Nazis.
> Onso's behavior proves to be more hippo-like
Since there's no large herbivore filling the hippo niche in Australia, I think Yotul would do great in that niche.
Finding out you just put "placeholder" in your initial comment is oddly funny to me.
This chapter was nice, a more down to Earth change of pace, albiet with some grim undertones. Let's hope that Zhao's whole "humanity first" way of thinking changes soon or else it'll be humanity all alone against the galaxy again.
Trying to beat Yoyle to my own post is harder than it may sound 🤔
Thanks! Thought Sovlin deserved a brief respite, since he hasn’t had a single chill chapter or chance to befriend a human. The calm before that storm, as he himself says!
I wouldn't be surprised if he had a script to notify him the moment you make a post. I hope you managed to beat him this time.
I hope that Sovlin lives through the rest of the series and gets his well deserved therapy and finally accepts himself for who he is.
> Zhao's whole "humanity first"
I don't get this entire argument.
We had one statement where he stated he considered humanity first, *In relation to a bunch of people who literally tried the genocide*
If you state that you'd rather see a hundred Russian soldiers die for one Ukrainian, does that mean you're a anti-slav nutter?
This wasn't a discussion about whether the Venlil should be sacrificed, but in relation to trying to defend against a bunch of people who were attempting the genocide of the human species.
As for their Arxur relations, what else is he supposed to do?
"Yes sure, come and eat the people who surrendered to us. This totally will cause more federation species to break away and won't be used as a unifying cause."
He handled the situation poorly, not offering anything in return for it. Meier would've known that to do something like claiming planets the Arxur felt belonged to them would need to be repaid.
And Isif's thoughts on the man seem to imply that he considers any deal the aliens offer that don't directly benefit humanity are worthless to him.
Offer what though? With the exception of lab grown meat (Which the two sides haven't even interacted enough to have said discussion) humans don't have anything that the Arxur want.
Considering how we've switched over to lab meat, I'm willing to bet that there are a lot of farm animals that we no longer need and the Arxur would kill to have.
I hope Isif tells Humanity at least a little about the politics of the Arxur so they understand the betrayal in context and make sure to increase escorts in less friendly territories. Ideally, she'll tip them off before hostile actions, but I doubt that will be the case. It's going to be seen as treachery and lies. The humans won't give in the Arxur demands. I think the only fix would be for the hostile chief hunter to be killed and/or completely discredited/embarrassed. The Betterment leadership needs to change their mind.
Triggering an Arxur revolution needs to be the end game, but setting that off prematurely could be catastrophic.
____
I'm sure most Federation species were more aggressive before being "cured", even the herbivores. The insidious thing about the "cure" is that once a species is domesticated, their culture is such that they believe their current state to be far better than their natural one. Reversing the "cure" would be extremely traumatic no matter how it's done, and even then their culture won't be rediscovered.
I really do wonder how the Federation cured new species and concealed their past without word getting out. Anybody who discovers or contacts an omnivorous (or noticeably violent) species would need to be in on the conspiracy or silenced before they spread the truth. They would need to administer the "cure" to everyone on the planet while controlling information. Any evidence of the past would need to be destroyed. Every individual would need to be prevented from passing down unwanted information to the next generation. Every cookbook and biology textbook would need to be burned. And all of this had to be done by personnel in the know while turning away any curious investigators and journalists. Considering the apparent lack of automation (IIRC, autonomous drones were unique to humans, but I might be wrong), you'd need a damned army.
Something to keep in mind...historically, more castles fell because *somebody* on the inside, unlocked the postern gate, rather than succumbed to a siege. No matter how uniform and settled a culture / civilization seems to be, there's *always* somebody who thinks the 'status quo' is either immoral / unjust / or *THEY* want to be the new 'top dog' and devil take anybody who thinks otherwise.
The Federation could have become quite adept at ID'ing such people in a xeno culture and using them as cats-paws in their long game (I'm thinking pre-first contact here...).
This might honk some people off, but my experience with 'vegans' is that they are the most insufferable, intolerant people I know, AND regard themselves as morally superior to all others, including family and blood kin. What do you think would happen if a shadowy character offered you wealth, unlimited power, *AND* the opportunity to *TOTALLY* re-write society into your 'perfect image' of *what a culture should be*.
Consider this a thought exercise...
Most vegans only object to meat because of animal cruelty. With the advent of lab-grown meat, a lot of vegans would shut up, as it directly addresses their qualms with animal agriculture.
You are wrong about vegans, what you described is the vocal "holier than thou" vegans, which i absolutley agree are insuffrable pricks. However most vegans are not like that, as the only time they have gotten vocal about their opinions regarding meat, is either when asked, or when discussed. They are simply not assholes who try to push their opinion down the throat of others
on your question about how the Federation kept everything under wraps
consider: maybe all of those "predator attacks" weren't actually predators
maybe it was just Space Big Brother removing people who got too curious until there wasn't anyone willing to be curious anymore
Yeah, it’s extremely implausible that they could actually do as claimed. I’m taking it as author fiat, though it would be really cool if he could come up with actual logic for it.
Implausible, but not impossible. Like what u/Eisenwulf_1683 said, you start with some people on the inside, like Gojid PETA or something and start reforming the culture from there. Throw in a new religion and some gunboat diplomacy and a non-insignificant minority aligned with the Feds could take root and start systematically destroying the older culture(s). Purge the elders and indoctrinate the children Cultural Revolution style and you could further restructure the old culture into one more like the Feds. Rinse and repeat for a few generations and we have the Gojids.
Lots of assumptions on my end, but that's my head cannon anyways. Plus, there are probably plenty of people in the Federation who don't truly buy the culture or still remember the old ways, but keep quiet about it.
Of course, it can't just be earth with angry herbivores!
Though I'm wondering if word will get back to Marcel that Tyler is befriending Sovlin.
And I'm never letting Onso touch my videogames
It's not a *bad* sign that the UN has been monitoring the Arxur. It's still a new and tenuous friendship. And, to be honest, I feel like the Arxur will be annoyed but not mad at humanity for it. It feels well within their ideals to be on some guard against even their fellow reptile, with anything less being either showing weakness, a ritual, or even an insult.
Solvin needs therapy, but in lieu of access to that, an outlet and buddy is fairly helpful. We gotta circle back to that therapy thing though.
It's nice to know that by chapter 86, all the readers have pretty universally come to understood that hippo = violently aggressive herbivore.
hippo or moose
because while hippos are tanks
if the moosiah decides that you fail the vibe check, you're gonna have a hard time keeping your name on the census
For predators it’s kill to eat.
for prey it’s kill to survive a predator, or other prey.
Resources are limited and sometimes there are too many mouthes to feed.
For a predator its kill or kill something else later. Then maybe if you fail then die. Or attempt to kill hurt you ankle then you cant kill later and die. For prey its fight or die every single time. As prey you can still survive if your hurt because your food does not run away.
I think hippo like behavior is more common in large herbivores, so maybe some of the smaller species were more skittish while bigger ones were more like hippos.
You've never kept rabbits nor seen a squirrel attack birds. Skittish? Yes but also 1000% ready to throw down.
Fun fact many herbivores do eat meat at least occasionally, mostly but not always carrion.
When it comes to larger herbivores...don't get me started about horses.
Whats wrong with horses? The ones Ive interacted with so far have been super chill. To be fair those were living across the river from my grandparents garden so they were pretty used to seeing me.
I think they mean that horses have been witnessed eating small animals intentionally (like chicks) on more than one occasion. I guess resources are resources and if the occasion presents itself they can eat protein.
Plus, horses and donkeys have been also witnessed to kick the living out of big cats or out of dogs if they feel threatened enough. And it’s not like “kick to get out alive” the horse was intentionally trying to stomp on areas like the head or abdomen.
I agree though that horses are gentle and patient when raised to not be fearful.
>Are you happy that Sovlin finally got a breather?
I think Sovlin needs both serious psychological counseling *and* some way to make amends. Serving in the military is... fine I guess but he *knows* he deserves greater punishment for torture, kidnapping, and planning genocide than he got and he's not wrong. That being said he had his day in court and what's done is done so there's nothing for it but to find a way to make peace with it which probably means some greater act of atonement than just... doing the same job as everyone else in the military.
>Do you think that the Yotul's temperament is more indicative of what herbivores actual behavior was like, before the Federation?
I mean there was probably a whole range of herbivore behaviors before the Federation 'fixed' them, just like we see on earth. Everything from the aforementioned hippo to the insanely peaceful sloth is fair game. What the Federation destroyed was not just identity but also diversity. The Federation gambled away each species unique contributions in favor of maintaining a status quo they assumed would always be to their benefit.
> The Federation gambled away each species unique contributions in favor of maintaining a status quo they assumed would always be to their benefit.
That's actually a very common thing for people in power to do. The current status quo is how they have power, and while there *might* be benefits to shaking things up, those benefits might give someone else the ability to take your place at the top. They'd rather maintain their hold on power, even if it means stagnation for millions or billions as long as they are guaranteed to get to stay at the top.
As someone with experience modding games... replacing textures is REALLY not that hard. Especially if he didn't replace the underlying model or hitboxes and just put an Arxur skin over a human NPC.
I mean
knowing that the game initially was human vs human, and that the Arxur are more like bipedal crocodiles
I'm pretty sure that the models *would* need to be swapped around at the very least
The Yotul's temperament is an example of what the pre-contact Yotul were like, nothing more, nothing less IMO. Some other herbivores were probably similar - Any other big muscular species out there? Cupo and his people are hefty right? But not everyone is like that. Some species were probably always more timid, but that doesn't mean they didn't fight. Maybe ancient Harchen would focus on ambushes due to their camouflage abilities, etc.
That said I do believe the Federation has meddled in the nature of many species. It could be interesting to see what the "symptoms" of predator disease are in various species - I wonder if there are differences in aggressive behavior depending on the (old) nature of the species in question!
Onso's behavior seems pretty comparable to what we'd expect from a herbivore xeno. More evidence of the federation manipulating all it's members not just the omnivors.
I suppose this sets up how we're going to resolve the Shaza situation.
>“Competition *is* normal, and you fuckers told us it’s not. Nature is indifferent to any of our morals. The Gojids probably did the same thing, before the tentacled-freaks remade you.”
This line, right here. Probably my favorite bit of dialogue so far. "Nature is indifferent to any of our morals" needs to be beaten into (and possibly through) the heads of every fuckin' idiot that still thinks the Fed was in the right.
Same to the Arxur. Nature is indifferent to morals, whether they be egalitarian or authoritarian. And authoritarianism is highly vulnerable to the "cut off the head and the snake dies" type of natural disaster, while democracy is extremely resilient against that sort of thing, even if it can have the issue of being only mildly vulnerable to the "Slow action in times of crisis can be lethal" issue that a highly-centralized system is immune to.
The Chinese nor the Russian government seem to have done well in battling the covid crisis. So much for fast and decisive action from authoritarian regimes. They clearly didn't end up immune to selfish and short term thinking, prioritising avoiding looking bad.
Doesn't help that, culturally, the "elite" of both those cultures seems to *very* highly prioritize being right, looking important/competent/better than everyone, and keeping up appearances/saving face, than doing the right thing. Both historically and now. Both those cultures' elites have had a bad habit of disappearing people, having those that so much as deliver bad news as a messenger killed, etc, breeding yes-men too scared to tell the truth when shit gets bad.
Or in stalin's case scaring away/imprisoning all the competent doctors and then any remaining that could treat his seizure were too scared to go near him, irony is a funny thing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilt%E2%80%93shame%E2%80%93fear_spectrum_of_cultures
Russia and China are both Shame cultures. Being *perceived of* as being "right" is far more important than actually *being* right in a Shame culture.
That's a case of their shame-driven cultures prioritizing "keeping face for the family" as opposed to prioritizing hard decision-making. Plus, the CCP is more bureaucratic than it is centralized.
To be fair, humans say "fuck you" to nature in favor of our own morality all the time. How many deadly diseases or genetic disorders are treated to keep people alive when nature would have killed them? Natural doesn't automatically mean good.
I don't agree with the mass cultural genocide perpetrated by the Federation, but those who are "cured" are conditioned to see their current state to be morally superior to their past state.
Hold up, if they basically have no competition, their technologies would develop at a slow pace. In a few decades, competition-driven human tech could match and easily surpass Fed technology.
While competition CAN spur technical innovation, it is a misconception that it is the best or "the only good" incentive to innovate.
I recommend the book "Where Good Ideas Come From" by Steven Johnson.
He makes a very good case that one of the best ways to spur innovation is to create an environment in which many different ideas and perspectives are circulating and interacting among the participants. Many innovations were not made by people trying to compete with each other or get rich.
But, given this perspective, the Federation and Arxur would still likely lag behind Humanity and its allies in the long run. Both cultures have a tendency to enforce a single hegemonic cultural ideal, squashing the differences of individual societies and routing out individuals that don't conform.
Indeed, still others were made out of a desire to help others.
My point overall is that the neoliberal narrative of competition and profit motive being the best motivation for innovation is. . . Well, naive
>“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”
>
>\-Bill Gates
as lazy person, can confirm
in my Satisfactory file, I went from "too stubborn to properly automate" to "I'm tired of manually doing all this stuff"
That's why the Federation had to find us at such a high tech level. If they didn't, we'd have busted out of our own home system by the time that they got around to decide on sending the exterminatus fleets the first time.
If the Federation were lower-tech relative to us, we'd have gotten out of the Sol system on generation arks and then they'd never be able to permanently get rid of us.
If the Federation were higher-tech relative to us, they'd have realized we weren't damaged in the slightest, and those nukes were all tests.
you have a point.. in the first half
because the Federation discovered us *after* the war with the Arxur, which I feel is safe to assume after every member (at the time) having FTL
they found us during WWII, which is *definitely* at least a few years before even sub-light space travel
they were just too terrified at the prospect of another war-like predator species possibly coming for them next that they didn't dare touch us with a 10-lightyear pole unless said pole was tipped with enough explosives to glass the planet
Somebody is gonna need to make a PSA post about the Yotul acting more like their more excitable half and not the calm Capybaras every one knows and loves. If Onso is our baseline example everyone is gonna start calling Yotul the "Crack Wallabies"
Come on Tyler start the new players on easy, less destroyed controllers that way.
Also glad no one just trusts the Arxur and have been monitoring them. The fleet won't be caught off guard, but can they save their respective worlds. And will the Arxur believe we tracked them or Isif warned us.
> Also glad no one just trusts the Arxur and have been monitoring them.
Could we even call them allies if we didn't spy on them? It's practically a tradition.
actually I saw a reply earlier that described the Axur political structure as authoritarian, and like all snakes it's very vulnerable to being decapitated
It seemed like Solvin thought we were just gonna give them the universe, no my dude we trust them as far as we can throw them...with two battleships tied to their feet. Let's see if can actually stop them, that's the big question.
Yeah, I think Solvin's "Punishment" would be a lot more severe if he was told to choose his next year's chaperone, a Nun, fresh from a Catholic School, A Jewish Mother, recently having lost money due to the invasion, or a Chinese "Tiger Mom" who will become invested in how Solvin is shown to benefit society.
Eh, depends on the current. Some would be way to restrictive and would make it worse.
But therapy is the best start, afterwards we can introduce Sovlin to several religious doctrines, maybe budhism.
Tyler's "Fell Down The Stairs" Club has its first success.
Now we have to wait for ISIF to spill the beans on Dominion structure and make the Humans and their Allies realize it's a fractured and feudalistic state that they need to stoke into a civil war rather than unite against them through naked aggression.
Arxur balkanization will do two things:
1) Make fighting the Arxur much easier, since they're disorganized and blowing each other up. They'll probably also be willing to trade/cooperate with others (at least the humans) if it gives them an advantage over other Arxur.
2) Make fighting the Arxur much more difficult, since the destruction of their food supplies and infrastructure by each other will make them more desperate.
On the other hand, us rolling out the cloned meat buffet just as they all start starving again from the infighting is a GREAT way to finally break them.
I mean more like the Unholy Roman Empire.
But that being said then the solution is to make like the Normans in Sicily and Lombardia: Capture the Pope and don't let him go till he grants a bunch of territory to Humanity as a "Papal Duchy" and Chief Hunter Zhao takes over a major border territory of the Dominion.
No. It isn’t. It is far more like medieval France. The authority of the God Appointed Emperor and his relationship to the church is clear
The church can’t interfere with the succession of the emperor and it’s likely the emperor has less authority over the church than he’d like. The church can do fuck all about the chief hunters and emperor
Meanwhile, while the chief hunters technically owe loyalty to the emperor. They are too powerful to give much beyond lip service. Something the church is fine with since it increases their power at the expense of the emperor
So the Feds tells uplifts that "competition" is unnatural, which implies that they think war is unnatural
But do they all think that? I had the impression that some of them recognized that war for resources was a thing of the past that thanks to the "ilustrated" Federation efforts for "peace" doesn't happen anymore
Hmmmm, competition is a normal state of affairs, 'unrestrained competition' can lead to 'aggression', a trait the Federation actively tries to suppress in most individual species.
The only *sanctioned* aggressive behavior I've seen is the imposing of veganism on omnivore xenos.
***The Terran Sentinel***
***The Ghost of Grifters Past Haunt Once More***
***September 4th, 2157***
**Just a few hours ago, Trillionaire and Industrialist, Varna Maxwell has been arrested on grounds of Insider Trading, Fraud, Bribery, Political Collusion and Corruption and Money Laundering**
**She was arrested in the Bahamas by the local authorities on behalf of the UN and the Galactic Commonwealth just mere hours before when she said in an interview that she would not get arrested**
**With her closest accomplices also being arrested but are willing to cooperate with the authorities against Varna for a shorter sentence in prison**
**She is said to be facing nearly 125 years in prison for defrauding thousands of investors and quite possibly undermining democracy for profit**
Definitely seeing the themes of “there are good and bad deeds” vs “there are good and bad people” at play here.
Humanity very much on the side of people are capable of good and bad deeds, and the federation on the side of there are good and bad people.
Until Solvin escapes the latter mindset into the former, I doubt he will have much progress on his pain.
Alright lets go, its been confirmed the Yotul are more like traditional Earth herbivores - sure they eat mostly plants but are territorial and can kick your ass if you mess with them enough. The straightfowards charge in and beat shit up mentality further confirms that.
I also suppose their tails are pretty prehensile if Onzo could hold and balance a controller with it while using his paws to interact with the buttons.
My only concern is that Tyler has been trying to play a shooter with Onzo when he'd clearly do better with a fighting game like Street Fighters - watch him become a button wizard and clean house easily.
Also double not surprised people are modding aliens into their games, I imagine V-tubers got a kick out of the reveal of aliens being real, with accurate references for models to boot.
Well needed chat. It also Seems like Christianity and its themes of redemption are going to do well in Gojidi space, that and we did kind off take there army for ourselves post battle for the Cradle. I’m sure most ship captains threw their lot in with us in the aftermath. Heck, might even see Saint Sovlin
Human Religious Missionaries would be awesome. We just have billions of aliens who discovered they are actually not herbivores and their religions are Federation fakery.
Meanwhile, human religions are clearly federation fakery and they do fine to contain "Predator Urges".
Its Religious Real Estate
If they're paying attention at all they should see that they have to corral humanity immediately. A few months ago humans couldn't even protect their homeworld, and now they're capable of defeating multiple fleets of the Federation's combat specialized species.
That's a horrifying development speed.
We shouldn't forget that the Federation might as well be spreading thin thanks to so many new separatist. Don't get me wrong, we are awesome, but falling asleep on the top only means that eventually someone will catch you off guard
With how clannish the Arxur are, a few skirmishes might actually work in our favour: showing that whilst we may be bloodied we're still more than capable of defending our "kills".
Sovlin needs sooooooooo much therapy. Don't think there's enough therapists left in the universe to help him with his issues.
Thanks for the chapter mate!
You might be wondering, after the ‘humans’ made first contact, why have SO MANY perfectly upstanding venlil suddenly went insane and started being FRIENDS with them, but I have FINALLY found out why, the federation always hated us venlil, they wanted an excuse to get rid of us, so when tarva made up the humans for her little stunt, the federating put DRUGS in our water supply to induce mass hysteria, giving them the excuse to start the war with us to FINALLY get rid of us! They made us think that their made up ‘predators’ were our FRIENDS so that they had their excuse! And we fell for it!
33 allies! That’s a good turnout! Wonder about the neutral.
An Arxur mod. Bet that took less than a week to appear. And the Yotul have the throwing instinct! A Yotul baseball is possible!
Now, let’s kick Nazi Lizard ass.
Someone needs to sit down on camera and explain the concept of a complete, well-rounded person, then give that recording to every former-federation citizen.
They keep latching on to one tiny detail and running wild with it.
It seems the Yotul truly haven't succumbed to the Federation's brainwashing and revisionism. It's no wonder they aligned themselves with humanity so readily, in most ways they seem to be the most like us.
Tyler is a dummy, but well-meaning. Indefinite latrine duty sounds about right. At least there was no dishonorable discharge or anything like that. Though I guess humanity can't really afford that right now anyway.
Onso the gamer rage lemur is very funny. I wonder if Doom got any more remakes at that point? That seems like the sort of FPS that suits Onso's marsupial brain. Full aggro, charge in and rip resources right out of your enemies. Well, it might be a bit gory for him, but worth a shot.
It's a shame our industrial complex is going to be locked to military for a while. The federation races could really use more ergonomic video game controllers. Well. That's assuming the aliens don't each already have their version of video games with already-designed controllers. Come to think of it, I wonder what sorts of games they even have? Farming sims?
>In-fighting wasn’t a luxury our underdog coalition could afford.
A might bit ironic considering what the Arxur might be considering, unless that abnormal movement is from Isif and the few Zurulians from the previous chapter.
I'm sorry but are you saying that it's the year 2136, and they still have loading screens that last long enough for someone to explain the controls?? Balderdash!!
Wonder if we should introduce some of the aliens to Dead Space, feels like they'd find it more comfortable you're fighting mindless monsters--that we do in fact find predators scary.
OK, but someone needs to tell Slovin nit to use the phrase "rug tussle", because it may give connotations that get him a different kind of attention, if you know what I mean.
Ok yotals are by far my favorite species here. Due to their recent introduction to the fed, they don’t have any preconceived bs and are pure animals! Herbivores but true and true animals. They understand competition (as Onso demonstrated) and know that what the Fed considers predatory is basically the just normal behaviors
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>“Together, we’re unlocking the secrets of physics, and kicking ass!”
I have been wondering for a couple days now if the Yotul get along with the Humans so well because Humans see them being a walking race of Steven Fucking Hawkings and now I am wondering less. That >!anti-shield emp thing!< was new and the Yotul knew about it... Who knows what else those magnificent squirrely fuckers have up their sleeves.
I have a theory. the squid people made plagues that killed off the entirety of the greys livestock right. they also induced that meat allergy. so they probably have some kind of bioweapon for the greys to if they are that familiar with the greys biology. so me thinks that perhaps the squids could end the "Great Arxur threat" at any time. even if the greys are now spacefaring the squidboys have far better biotech than them. I smell a strawman. Who has time to challenge leaders when your family is getting eaten. I wonder how many squid worlds get lost to the arxur.
That could go well, middle ground, or horribly wrong.
Good scenario: UNE from Stellaris.
Middle ground: UNSC from HALO.
Bad: Imperium of man from WH40k
Really bad: A portal to a place worse than hell opened. And hordes of demons come out. No, not the demons from doom. Worse. Lawyers.
The worst: Hi, we've been trying to reach you about your vehicle's extended warranty...
Part 86 is here! Tyler invites Sovlin to hang out, shortly after punching him. It seems Marcel's buddy considers the score settled. Are you happy that Sovlin finally got a breather? Is it a good sign that the UN has been monitoring the Arxur? Meanwhile, Onso's behavior proves to be more hippo-like than Federation-like. Do you think that the Yotul's temperament is more indicative of what herbivores actual behavior was like, before the Federation? As always, thank you for reading! Part 87 will be here Saturday.
Sooo new Nickname... Onso the Bull-headed. This guy's ready to charge anyone in range.
Onso, The Destroyer of game controllers.
Controllers for the Controller God!
Onso needs to play Primal Rage (Mid/late 90's) a 2d fighter. Plenty of chances for the smasher of controllers to vent his rage on a Arxur impersonator there.
Otherwise known as "That one arcade game in every Pizza Hut."
CONSOLES FOR THE CONSOLE THRONE!
Onso. Destroyer of controllers
Solvin needs therapy, but it sounds like he won't go anytime soon. And Tyler should have started on easy, so Onso would have so time to learn and break less controllers.
Sovlin needs to think he deserves help first, instead of believing he should suffer. It’s kind of Tyler’s fault, given Onso broke two before 🤣
How many controllers did Tyler have if Onso has already broken 3?!?!
I'd like to think by this point 3d printers are fairly ubiquitous...and with any luck, the basic outline of things like controllers are readily available. It would even make a certain sense economically - you sell the PCB/electronics and a sample 3d digital model of the controller, save a whole bunch of space for packaging and shipping thereby reducing cost. End user then prints the controller shell, pops the electronics package in and jobs a goodun. Added bonus would be if designed right you could possibly have some leeway for users to scale/adapt the shell to them specifically (albeit clearly not enough for alien ergonomics...yet). Which is all to say that maybe Tyler only had the 4 controllers, but all Onso has done thus far is bust the shell...print a new one and you're good.
Im guessing 3d printers a hundred years in the future could also print small electronic boards/circuits, so they likley could just print the entire controller
Pretty sure the tech is already in its infancy for that, so you're kind of not wrong (though it seems unlikely we're gonna be 'home' printing microprocessor silicon even in that timeframe - so you'd need prefab chips on hand to integrate)...I'm just figuring capitalism is going to capitalist to put a kill order on free use of that concept. After all, there's already a whole lot more money in accessories than there is consoles, there's not much in the way of incentive to entirely give up on that revenue stream (especially if you have players like Onso). The shells are simple enough that someone could probably knock one up whether you like it or not, so makes sense to just release the design. Keep the PCB proprietary and limit reproduction (as well as scummy tactics like encrypted authorisation/wireless chips) keeps that revenue yours. After all \*overly dramatic music plays\* ["You wouldn't steal a car..."](https://youtu.be/_FtE0S-IyY0)
I like to belive the current economic crissis we are moving into gave the commonfolk a lot more power through one means or another, and we chose to become more socialistic all over the world, forcing corporations to release said blueprints for most things, and not just game controllers
Mabye instead of charging for creation they force us to register the controller if the above comment isnt true, giving us the ability to print new controllers, but forcing us to pay a fee to be able to use said controller
One for each time he accidentally made slanek get scared of him
I mean 3D printer's exist *now* so as long as the internals are good it might be as simple as printing a new case. Or they could be the SciFi kind of 3D printer that just makes a new one, in which case some enterprising human needs to make controllers designed for other species. Even the more timid ones would probably like things like visual novels and farm sims.
Tons probably. More military equipment than you'd expect now a days uses an Xbox controller. Like submarines used to have a unique interface, but now they just use 360 controllers
Officers can afford multiple controllers.
That's what happens when you play with tryhards, I broke one keyboard and a mouse, Mouse I repaired, Keyboard was turned into 3D printer filament and spare electronics
I would argue im pretty tryhard in regards to valorant, but i dont break anything when i die...
In this context, Tyler is a Tryhard, In context of L4D2, Phantom Forces or Stellaris, I am a tryhard and I learned the hard way that Raging makes my fare worse
Some people just break controllers, not enough emotional regulation after the end play. Time to make them pay for their own controller.
Or tie the controller to his arm like you do with Wii controllers lol
It is a VERY good thing that the UN has been monitoring the Arxur. Early warning systems save lives. And I wouldn't put it past the Dominion to try and pull a Federation on the humans by trying to make humans allergic to plant-based food or cause some false-flags to destroy democracies.
It’s been established that the Arxur don’t have genetic manipulation tech. They would’ve stopped the hunting years ago in place of lab grown steaks or something.
Don't have, or won't use on themselves? The lack of easily-accessible food is a handy way for the Dominion to keep a hungry populace in line.
exactly what I was gonna say Betterment gave them a reason to keep going and now it and the Dominion needs the whole populace in control
It’s good to keep tabs even on your friends, especially friends like the Arxur. Isif might be a moral (as moral as you can be in that society), but the rest of them are still Nazis.
keep your friends close, and your enemies closer
> Onso's behavior proves to be more hippo-like Since there's no large herbivore filling the hippo niche in Australia, I think Yotul would do great in that niche.
Hey, give a lemur a big enough stick and he'll think he's King of the Hill. 😆
Finding out you just put "placeholder" in your initial comment is oddly funny to me. This chapter was nice, a more down to Earth change of pace, albiet with some grim undertones. Let's hope that Zhao's whole "humanity first" way of thinking changes soon or else it'll be humanity all alone against the galaxy again.
Trying to beat Yoyle to my own post is harder than it may sound 🤔 Thanks! Thought Sovlin deserved a brief respite, since he hasn’t had a single chill chapter or chance to befriend a human. The calm before that storm, as he himself says!
Maybe you could negotiate by offering to free him from your basement?
There are no basements where I live 👀 (but actually)
There are basements in Ba Sing Se
I’m sorry but there are no basements in ba sing se
Good catch on that typo
the Earth King invites you to Lake Laogai
I wouldn't be surprised if he had a script to notify him the moment you make a post. I hope you managed to beat him this time. I hope that Sovlin lives through the rest of the series and gets his well deserved therapy and finally accepts himself for who he is.
> Zhao's whole "humanity first" I don't get this entire argument. We had one statement where he stated he considered humanity first, *In relation to a bunch of people who literally tried the genocide* If you state that you'd rather see a hundred Russian soldiers die for one Ukrainian, does that mean you're a anti-slav nutter? This wasn't a discussion about whether the Venlil should be sacrificed, but in relation to trying to defend against a bunch of people who were attempting the genocide of the human species. As for their Arxur relations, what else is he supposed to do? "Yes sure, come and eat the people who surrendered to us. This totally will cause more federation species to break away and won't be used as a unifying cause."
He handled the situation poorly, not offering anything in return for it. Meier would've known that to do something like claiming planets the Arxur felt belonged to them would need to be repaid. And Isif's thoughts on the man seem to imply that he considers any deal the aliens offer that don't directly benefit humanity are worthless to him.
Offer what though? With the exception of lab grown meat (Which the two sides haven't even interacted enough to have said discussion) humans don't have anything that the Arxur want.
Considering how we've switched over to lab meat, I'm willing to bet that there are a lot of farm animals that we no longer need and the Arxur would kill to have.
I hope Isif tells Humanity at least a little about the politics of the Arxur so they understand the betrayal in context and make sure to increase escorts in less friendly territories. Ideally, she'll tip them off before hostile actions, but I doubt that will be the case. It's going to be seen as treachery and lies. The humans won't give in the Arxur demands. I think the only fix would be for the hostile chief hunter to be killed and/or completely discredited/embarrassed. The Betterment leadership needs to change their mind. Triggering an Arxur revolution needs to be the end game, but setting that off prematurely could be catastrophic. ____ I'm sure most Federation species were more aggressive before being "cured", even the herbivores. The insidious thing about the "cure" is that once a species is domesticated, their culture is such that they believe their current state to be far better than their natural one. Reversing the "cure" would be extremely traumatic no matter how it's done, and even then their culture won't be rediscovered. I really do wonder how the Federation cured new species and concealed their past without word getting out. Anybody who discovers or contacts an omnivorous (or noticeably violent) species would need to be in on the conspiracy or silenced before they spread the truth. They would need to administer the "cure" to everyone on the planet while controlling information. Any evidence of the past would need to be destroyed. Every individual would need to be prevented from passing down unwanted information to the next generation. Every cookbook and biology textbook would need to be burned. And all of this had to be done by personnel in the know while turning away any curious investigators and journalists. Considering the apparent lack of automation (IIRC, autonomous drones were unique to humans, but I might be wrong), you'd need a damned army.
Something to keep in mind...historically, more castles fell because *somebody* on the inside, unlocked the postern gate, rather than succumbed to a siege. No matter how uniform and settled a culture / civilization seems to be, there's *always* somebody who thinks the 'status quo' is either immoral / unjust / or *THEY* want to be the new 'top dog' and devil take anybody who thinks otherwise. The Federation could have become quite adept at ID'ing such people in a xeno culture and using them as cats-paws in their long game (I'm thinking pre-first contact here...). This might honk some people off, but my experience with 'vegans' is that they are the most insufferable, intolerant people I know, AND regard themselves as morally superior to all others, including family and blood kin. What do you think would happen if a shadowy character offered you wealth, unlimited power, *AND* the opportunity to *TOTALLY* re-write society into your 'perfect image' of *what a culture should be*. Consider this a thought exercise...
Most vegans only object to meat because of animal cruelty. With the advent of lab-grown meat, a lot of vegans would shut up, as it directly addresses their qualms with animal agriculture.
You are wrong about vegans, what you described is the vocal "holier than thou" vegans, which i absolutley agree are insuffrable pricks. However most vegans are not like that, as the only time they have gotten vocal about their opinions regarding meat, is either when asked, or when discussed. They are simply not assholes who try to push their opinion down the throat of others
Anyone who asked the wrong questions probably had “predator desease”
that or they were unfortunately killed in a "predator attack" seems Big Brother took a page from the Federation's/Kolshian's handbook
on your question about how the Federation kept everything under wraps consider: maybe all of those "predator attacks" weren't actually predators maybe it was just Space Big Brother removing people who got too curious until there wasn't anyone willing to be curious anymore
Yeah, it’s extremely implausible that they could actually do as claimed. I’m taking it as author fiat, though it would be really cool if he could come up with actual logic for it.
Implausible, but not impossible. Like what u/Eisenwulf_1683 said, you start with some people on the inside, like Gojid PETA or something and start reforming the culture from there. Throw in a new religion and some gunboat diplomacy and a non-insignificant minority aligned with the Feds could take root and start systematically destroying the older culture(s). Purge the elders and indoctrinate the children Cultural Revolution style and you could further restructure the old culture into one more like the Feds. Rinse and repeat for a few generations and we have the Gojids. Lots of assumptions on my end, but that's my head cannon anyways. Plus, there are probably plenty of people in the Federation who don't truly buy the culture or still remember the old ways, but keep quiet about it.
Of course, it can't just be earth with angry herbivores! Though I'm wondering if word will get back to Marcel that Tyler is befriending Sovlin. And I'm never letting Onso touch my videogames
Onso has the throwing instinct! Do the Yotul throw in a different way than humans do?
We need answers!
It's not a *bad* sign that the UN has been monitoring the Arxur. It's still a new and tenuous friendship. And, to be honest, I feel like the Arxur will be annoyed but not mad at humanity for it. It feels well within their ideals to be on some guard against even their fellow reptile, with anything less being either showing weakness, a ritual, or even an insult. Solvin needs therapy, but in lieu of access to that, an outlet and buddy is fairly helpful. We gotta circle back to that therapy thing though. It's nice to know that by chapter 86, all the readers have pretty universally come to understood that hippo = violently aggressive herbivore.
hippo or moose because while hippos are tanks if the moosiah decides that you fail the vibe check, you're gonna have a hard time keeping your name on the census
Its a good sign they know but a bad sign they dont back off.
For predators it’s kill to eat. for prey it’s kill to survive a predator, or other prey. Resources are limited and sometimes there are too many mouthes to feed.
For a predator its kill or kill something else later. Then maybe if you fail then die. Or attempt to kill hurt you ankle then you cant kill later and die. For prey its fight or die every single time. As prey you can still survive if your hurt because your food does not run away.
I think hippo like behavior is more common in large herbivores, so maybe some of the smaller species were more skittish while bigger ones were more like hippos.
You've never kept rabbits nor seen a squirrel attack birds. Skittish? Yes but also 1000% ready to throw down. Fun fact many herbivores do eat meat at least occasionally, mostly but not always carrion. When it comes to larger herbivores...don't get me started about horses.
Whats wrong with horses? The ones Ive interacted with so far have been super chill. To be fair those were living across the river from my grandparents garden so they were pretty used to seeing me.
I think they mean that horses have been witnessed eating small animals intentionally (like chicks) on more than one occasion. I guess resources are resources and if the occasion presents itself they can eat protein. Plus, horses and donkeys have been also witnessed to kick the living out of big cats or out of dogs if they feel threatened enough. And it’s not like “kick to get out alive” the horse was intentionally trying to stomp on areas like the head or abdomen. I agree though that horses are gentle and patient when raised to not be fearful.
>Are you happy that Sovlin finally got a breather? I think Sovlin needs both serious psychological counseling *and* some way to make amends. Serving in the military is... fine I guess but he *knows* he deserves greater punishment for torture, kidnapping, and planning genocide than he got and he's not wrong. That being said he had his day in court and what's done is done so there's nothing for it but to find a way to make peace with it which probably means some greater act of atonement than just... doing the same job as everyone else in the military. >Do you think that the Yotul's temperament is more indicative of what herbivores actual behavior was like, before the Federation? I mean there was probably a whole range of herbivore behaviors before the Federation 'fixed' them, just like we see on earth. Everything from the aforementioned hippo to the insanely peaceful sloth is fair game. What the Federation destroyed was not just identity but also diversity. The Federation gambled away each species unique contributions in favor of maintaining a status quo they assumed would always be to their benefit.
> The Federation gambled away each species unique contributions in favor of maintaining a status quo they assumed would always be to their benefit. That's actually a very common thing for people in power to do. The current status quo is how they have power, and while there *might* be benefits to shaking things up, those benefits might give someone else the ability to take your place at the top. They'd rather maintain their hold on power, even if it means stagnation for millions or billions as long as they are guaranteed to get to stay at the top.
source: the US Government
I’m impressed that Tyler has the coding knowhow to mod the game like he did.
As someone with experience modding games... replacing textures is REALLY not that hard. Especially if he didn't replace the underlying model or hitboxes and just put an Arxur skin over a human NPC.
I mean knowing that the game initially was human vs human, and that the Arxur are more like bipedal crocodiles I'm pretty sure that the models *would* need to be swapped around at the very least
The Yotul's temperament is an example of what the pre-contact Yotul were like, nothing more, nothing less IMO. Some other herbivores were probably similar - Any other big muscular species out there? Cupo and his people are hefty right? But not everyone is like that. Some species were probably always more timid, but that doesn't mean they didn't fight. Maybe ancient Harchen would focus on ambushes due to their camouflage abilities, etc. That said I do believe the Federation has meddled in the nature of many species. It could be interesting to see what the "symptoms" of predator disease are in various species - I wonder if there are differences in aggressive behavior depending on the (old) nature of the species in question!
Onso's behavior seems pretty comparable to what we'd expect from a herbivore xeno. More evidence of the federation manipulating all it's members not just the omnivors. I suppose this sets up how we're going to resolve the Shaza situation.
>“Competition *is* normal, and you fuckers told us it’s not. Nature is indifferent to any of our morals. The Gojids probably did the same thing, before the tentacled-freaks remade you.” This line, right here. Probably my favorite bit of dialogue so far. "Nature is indifferent to any of our morals" needs to be beaten into (and possibly through) the heads of every fuckin' idiot that still thinks the Fed was in the right.
Same to the Arxur. Nature is indifferent to morals, whether they be egalitarian or authoritarian. And authoritarianism is highly vulnerable to the "cut off the head and the snake dies" type of natural disaster, while democracy is extremely resilient against that sort of thing, even if it can have the issue of being only mildly vulnerable to the "Slow action in times of crisis can be lethal" issue that a highly-centralized system is immune to.
The Chinese nor the Russian government seem to have done well in battling the covid crisis. So much for fast and decisive action from authoritarian regimes. They clearly didn't end up immune to selfish and short term thinking, prioritising avoiding looking bad.
Doesn't help that, culturally, the "elite" of both those cultures seems to *very* highly prioritize being right, looking important/competent/better than everyone, and keeping up appearances/saving face, than doing the right thing. Both historically and now. Both those cultures' elites have had a bad habit of disappearing people, having those that so much as deliver bad news as a messenger killed, etc, breeding yes-men too scared to tell the truth when shit gets bad.
Or in stalin's case scaring away/imprisoning all the competent doctors and then any remaining that could treat his seizure were too scared to go near him, irony is a funny thing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilt%E2%80%93shame%E2%80%93fear_spectrum_of_cultures Russia and China are both Shame cultures. Being *perceived of* as being "right" is far more important than actually *being* right in a Shame culture.
That's a case of their shame-driven cultures prioritizing "keeping face for the family" as opposed to prioritizing hard decision-making. Plus, the CCP is more bureaucratic than it is centralized.
Onso has a good head on his furry little shoulders, doesn't he?
To be fair, humans say "fuck you" to nature in favor of our own morality all the time. How many deadly diseases or genetic disorders are treated to keep people alive when nature would have killed them? Natural doesn't automatically mean good. I don't agree with the mass cultural genocide perpetrated by the Federation, but those who are "cured" are conditioned to see their current state to be morally superior to their past state.
Hold up, if they basically have no competition, their technologies would develop at a slow pace. In a few decades, competition-driven human tech could match and easily surpass Fed technology.
While competition CAN spur technical innovation, it is a misconception that it is the best or "the only good" incentive to innovate. I recommend the book "Where Good Ideas Come From" by Steven Johnson. He makes a very good case that one of the best ways to spur innovation is to create an environment in which many different ideas and perspectives are circulating and interacting among the participants. Many innovations were not made by people trying to compete with each other or get rich. But, given this perspective, the Federation and Arxur would still likely lag behind Humanity and its allies in the long run. Both cultures have a tendency to enforce a single hegemonic cultural ideal, squashing the differences of individual societies and routing out individuals that don't conform.
A lot of inventions and advancements are made out of laziness and/or personal desire.
Indeed, still others were made out of a desire to help others. My point overall is that the neoliberal narrative of competition and profit motive being the best motivation for innovation is. . . Well, naive
>“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” > >\-Bill Gates as lazy person, can confirm in my Satisfactory file, I went from "too stubborn to properly automate" to "I'm tired of manually doing all this stuff"
That's why the Federation had to find us at such a high tech level. If they didn't, we'd have busted out of our own home system by the time that they got around to decide on sending the exterminatus fleets the first time.
What do you mean
If the Federation were lower-tech relative to us, we'd have gotten out of the Sol system on generation arks and then they'd never be able to permanently get rid of us. If the Federation were higher-tech relative to us, they'd have realized we weren't damaged in the slightest, and those nukes were all tests.
you have a point.. in the first half because the Federation discovered us *after* the war with the Arxur, which I feel is safe to assume after every member (at the time) having FTL they found us during WWII, which is *definitely* at least a few years before even sub-light space travel they were just too terrified at the prospect of another war-like predator species possibly coming for them next that they didn't dare touch us with a 10-lightyear pole unless said pole was tipped with enough explosives to glass the planet
Preferably with bombs
Yotul gamer-rage (and not being a species near-irreparably fucked up) is a great mental image.
Somebody is gonna need to make a PSA post about the Yotul acting more like their more excitable half and not the calm Capybaras every one knows and loves. If Onso is our baseline example everyone is gonna start calling Yotul the "Crack Wallabies"
I'm going with 'keep the lemurs away from the Red Bull'...it's safer that way.
And now i have the mental image of king Julian drinking redbull and going even crazier than he already was
I fear seeing what their online gaming communities are like, if Onso is representative of the species.
On my way to join a Yotul CS:GO lobby and hear six different slurs in the span of two seconds
For whatever reason, Onso getting gamer-rage is giving me the mental image of AVGN.
Come on Tyler start the new players on easy, less destroyed controllers that way. Also glad no one just trusts the Arxur and have been monitoring them. The fleet won't be caught off guard, but can they save their respective worlds. And will the Arxur believe we tracked them or Isif warned us.
> Also glad no one just trusts the Arxur and have been monitoring them. Could we even call them allies if we didn't spy on them? It's practically a tradition.
CIA: What’s a little espionage among friends?
MI6: It's a good bit of fun, eh lads? Mossad: Wouldn't want to get sloppy, would we?
Everyone: Besides! Cause we are *allies* it is fine to just ask about it
Also CIA: ya know, the arxur dominion looks mighty ready for a coup right around now....
Nah, they are too hierarchical. Need more lower class power before the CIA gets interested.
actually I saw a reply earlier that described the Axur political structure as authoritarian, and like all snakes it's very vulnerable to being decapitated
CIA: *aaaaaannnyyyyy* moment now...
It seemed like Solvin thought we were just gonna give them the universe, no my dude we trust them as far as we can throw them...with two battleships tied to their feet. Let's see if can actually stop them, that's the big question.
That might have been easy...... They dont have years of experience with videogame controllers.
Sam asked about easy, Tyler said they'd never learn that way.
if Onso is any indication to go by (and the fact he went through two controllers beforehand) he isn't exactly learning *this way* either
Ah, back with the Trauma hedgehog. Nice.
Now we need to introduce Solvin to the Catholic Church. I'm sure that will help him with his guilt issues.
Another thing that is good for guilt, Jewish mothers. They are SOO good with guilt. I swear it is built in.
Yeah, I think Solvin's "Punishment" would be a lot more severe if he was told to choose his next year's chaperone, a Nun, fresh from a Catholic School, A Jewish Mother, recently having lost money due to the invasion, or a Chinese "Tiger Mom" who will become invested in how Solvin is shown to benefit society.
Damn nobody deserves that homie
Damn dude. I think we might be veering into war crime territory. LOL
Catholic Guilt is just Guilt+
New Guilt +
Eh, depends on the current. Some would be way to restrictive and would make it worse. But therapy is the best start, afterwards we can introduce Sovlin to several religious doctrines, maybe budhism.
Heh, looks like somebody else has gotten that mental picture. 😉
.... Trauma the hedgehog...
Tyler's "Fell Down The Stairs" Club has its first success. Now we have to wait for ISIF to spill the beans on Dominion structure and make the Humans and their Allies realize it's a fractured and feudalistic state that they need to stoke into a civil war rather than unite against them through naked aggression.
Arxur balkanization will do two things: 1) Make fighting the Arxur much easier, since they're disorganized and blowing each other up. They'll probably also be willing to trade/cooperate with others (at least the humans) if it gives them an advantage over other Arxur. 2) Make fighting the Arxur much more difficult, since the destruction of their food supplies and infrastructure by each other will make them more desperate.
On the other hand, us rolling out the cloned meat buffet just as they all start starving again from the infighting is a GREAT way to finally break them.
That or the new Marshall Plan off just strategically orbital inserting gigantic crates of hogs.
Its pretty much the holy roman empire.
I mean more like the Unholy Roman Empire. But that being said then the solution is to make like the Normans in Sicily and Lombardia: Capture the Pope and don't let him go till he grants a bunch of territory to Humanity as a "Papal Duchy" and Chief Hunter Zhao takes over a major border territory of the Dominion.
No. It isn’t. It is far more like medieval France. The authority of the God Appointed Emperor and his relationship to the church is clear The church can’t interfere with the succession of the emperor and it’s likely the emperor has less authority over the church than he’d like. The church can do fuck all about the chief hunters and emperor Meanwhile, while the chief hunters technically owe loyalty to the emperor. They are too powerful to give much beyond lip service. Something the church is fine with since it increases their power at the expense of the emperor
So the Feds tells uplifts that "competition" is unnatural, which implies that they think war is unnatural But do they all think that? I had the impression that some of them recognized that war for resources was a thing of the past that thanks to the "ilustrated" Federation efforts for "peace" doesn't happen anymore
Hmmmm, competition is a normal state of affairs, 'unrestrained competition' can lead to 'aggression', a trait the Federation actively tries to suppress in most individual species. The only *sanctioned* aggressive behavior I've seen is the imposing of veganism on omnivore xenos.
Recel seemed aware of some struggling for resources, but then claimed it was different from human wars. That’s the official story, anyways!
Well yeah, how else are the much more established Kolshians institutions meant to rob the other species blind?
OF COURSE IT'S POSTED AS SOON AS I LOOK AWAY!
I halfway expected them to be playing Call of Duty Modern Black Ops 52.
The yotul are suprisingly good at throwing if he managed to shatter a controller
***The Terran Sentinel*** ***The Ghost of Grifters Past Haunt Once More*** ***September 4th, 2157*** **Just a few hours ago, Trillionaire and Industrialist, Varna Maxwell has been arrested on grounds of Insider Trading, Fraud, Bribery, Political Collusion and Corruption and Money Laundering** **She was arrested in the Bahamas by the local authorities on behalf of the UN and the Galactic Commonwealth just mere hours before when she said in an interview that she would not get arrested** **With her closest accomplices also being arrested but are willing to cooperate with the authorities against Varna for a shorter sentence in prison** **She is said to be facing nearly 125 years in prison for defrauding thousands of investors and quite possibly undermining democracy for profit**
How is this possible, this was uploaded just now. Not even the creator could outmatch you
The problem with moving faster than light, is that you always live in the dark...
Have you seen what it's like during a VOHLE jump? Hardly.
Ah yes. NoP time
NoP?
**N**ature **O**f **P**redators
Definitely seeing the themes of “there are good and bad deeds” vs “there are good and bad people” at play here. Humanity very much on the side of people are capable of good and bad deeds, and the federation on the side of there are good and bad people. Until Solvin escapes the latter mindset into the former, I doubt he will have much progress on his pain.
\*explosion sound\* now today if i arrive early >:)
Alright lets go, its been confirmed the Yotul are more like traditional Earth herbivores - sure they eat mostly plants but are territorial and can kick your ass if you mess with them enough. The straightfowards charge in and beat shit up mentality further confirms that. I also suppose their tails are pretty prehensile if Onzo could hold and balance a controller with it while using his paws to interact with the buttons. My only concern is that Tyler has been trying to play a shooter with Onzo when he'd clearly do better with a fighting game like Street Fighters - watch him become a button wizard and clean house easily. Also double not surprised people are modding aliens into their games, I imagine V-tubers got a kick out of the reveal of aliens being real, with accurate references for models to boot.
oohhh, Onso has anger problems with *The Clash of Proxima,* and a confrontation between the Arxur and the UN is brewing
Heh, perhaps patience is not a commonly cultivated virtue amongst the Yotul. 😏
Well needed chat. It also Seems like Christianity and its themes of redemption are going to do well in Gojidi space, that and we did kind off take there army for ourselves post battle for the Cradle. I’m sure most ship captains threw their lot in with us in the aftermath. Heck, might even see Saint Sovlin
Human Religious Missionaries would be awesome. We just have billions of aliens who discovered they are actually not herbivores and their religions are Federation fakery. Meanwhile, human religions are clearly federation fakery and they do fine to contain "Predator Urges". Its Religious Real Estate
As bad as it would be for everybody involved I am very excited to see us take on the Arxur next
It’s hard to see a way out of conflict with the Arxur at this point!
If they're paying attention at all they should see that they have to corral humanity immediately. A few months ago humans couldn't even protect their homeworld, and now they're capable of defeating multiple fleets of the Federation's combat specialized species. That's a horrifying development speed.
We shouldn't forget that the Federation might as well be spreading thin thanks to so many new separatist. Don't get me wrong, we are awesome, but falling asleep on the top only means that eventually someone will catch you off guard
Does this mean the beginning of Isif’s rebellion soon?
With how clannish the Arxur are, a few skirmishes might actually work in our favour: showing that whilst we may be bloodied we're still more than capable of defending our "kills".
My view on this whole Sovlin redemption thing: “Your actions can never be forgiven, but you *yourself* can.”
now, as one that loves melee combat in console games, Onso did nothing wrong.
Solvin seriously needs therapy. Despite everything he still sees eating meant as monstrous.
Eating ~~meant~~ meat as monsterous?
Onso is best boi. Early lunch for ~~Konzu~~ Onso!
Sovlin needs sooooooooo much therapy. Don't think there's enough therapists left in the universe to help him with his issues. Thanks for the chapter mate!
You might be wondering, after the ‘humans’ made first contact, why have SO MANY perfectly upstanding venlil suddenly went insane and started being FRIENDS with them, but I have FINALLY found out why, the federation always hated us venlil, they wanted an excuse to get rid of us, so when tarva made up the humans for her little stunt, the federating put DRUGS in our water supply to induce mass hysteria, giving them the excuse to start the war with us to FINALLY get rid of us! They made us think that their made up ‘predators’ were our FRIENDS so that they had their excuse! And we fell for it!
Post is 10 minutes old with 15 comments. That's quality content.
Gojid gaming
33 allies! That’s a good turnout! Wonder about the neutral. An Arxur mod. Bet that took less than a week to appear. And the Yotul have the throwing instinct! A Yotul baseball is possible! Now, let’s kick Nazi Lizard ass.
Updoot and First
YES
Someone needs to sit down on camera and explain the concept of a complete, well-rounded person, then give that recording to every former-federation citizen. They keep latching on to one tiny detail and running wild with it.
Onso is a Titan main, I see.
It seems the Yotul truly haven't succumbed to the Federation's brainwashing and revisionism. It's no wonder they aligned themselves with humanity so readily, in most ways they seem to be the most like us.
Tyler is a dummy, but well-meaning. Indefinite latrine duty sounds about right. At least there was no dishonorable discharge or anything like that. Though I guess humanity can't really afford that right now anyway. Onso the gamer rage lemur is very funny. I wonder if Doom got any more remakes at that point? That seems like the sort of FPS that suits Onso's marsupial brain. Full aggro, charge in and rip resources right out of your enemies. Well, it might be a bit gory for him, but worth a shot. It's a shame our industrial complex is going to be locked to military for a while. The federation races could really use more ergonomic video game controllers. Well. That's assuming the aliens don't each already have their version of video games with already-designed controllers. Come to think of it, I wonder what sorts of games they even have? Farming sims?
Slanek didn’t seem too familiar with video games, but I guess interactive simulations might be possible! They might consider that a separate genre
>In-fighting wasn’t a luxury our underdog coalition could afford. A might bit ironic considering what the Arxur might be considering, unless that abnormal movement is from Isif and the few Zurulians from the previous chapter.
I fear humanity is gonna regret clashing with the Arxur. Also it seems unlike Zao to sacrifice human lives for two alien worlds.
What does a yotal look like? The hippo thing threw me off. I had an alien kangaroo impression... Is it both?
I’m comparing to the Yotul’s temperament with the hippo comment. They’re capybara-like head shapes with red-fox ish coloration
I'm sorry but are you saying that it's the year 2136, and they still have loading screens that last long enough for someone to explain the controls?? Balderdash!!
:D
>Officer Cardona [oh god no](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Cadorna)
I'm hoping the Arxur are about to fuck around and find out.
Wonder if we should introduce some of the aliens to Dead Space, feels like they'd find it more comfortable you're fighting mindless monsters--that we do in fact find predators scary.
Thank you for the chapter and great story!
It’s my pleasure!
OK, but someone needs to tell Slovin nit to use the phrase "rug tussle", because it may give connotations that get him a different kind of attention, if you know what I mean.
I really want to see what happens with glim and the arxur
Glim is next!
Ok yotals are by far my favorite species here. Due to their recent introduction to the fed, they don’t have any preconceived bs and are pure animals! Herbivores but true and true animals. They understand competition (as Onso demonstrated) and know that what the Fed considers predatory is basically the just normal behaviors
> Nature is indifferent to any of our morals. The Gojids probably did the same thing, before the tentacled-freaks remade you.” ROASTED
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Good work wordsmith. I am still impressed by the way you convey broken people. I hope it's just keen observations.
Yeah you convinced me, i will start this again and forget i was on some random EP
>“Together, we’re unlocking the secrets of physics, and kicking ass!” I have been wondering for a couple days now if the Yotul get along with the Humans so well because Humans see them being a walking race of Steven Fucking Hawkings and now I am wondering less. That >!anti-shield emp thing!< was new and the Yotul knew about it... Who knows what else those magnificent squirrely fuckers have up their sleeves.
I have a theory. the squid people made plagues that killed off the entirety of the greys livestock right. they also induced that meat allergy. so they probably have some kind of bioweapon for the greys to if they are that familiar with the greys biology. so me thinks that perhaps the squids could end the "Great Arxur threat" at any time. even if the greys are now spacefaring the squidboys have far better biotech than them. I smell a strawman. Who has time to challenge leaders when your family is getting eaten. I wonder how many squid worlds get lost to the arxur.
Still waiting for a space portal to open and a UN from a different dimension coming to save the day
That could go well, middle ground, or horribly wrong. Good scenario: UNE from Stellaris. Middle ground: UNSC from HALO. Bad: Imperium of man from WH40k Really bad: A portal to a place worse than hell opened. And hordes of demons come out. No, not the demons from doom. Worse. Lawyers. The worst: Hi, we've been trying to reach you about your vehicle's extended warranty...