Chief Chad Isif has made his return, now showing how he could be a good family man, as well as a leader. This explains why there were no guards though; can’t be looking weak in front of his men. He even manages to control his reaction when he recognizes another leader has seen him that way. On top of that, his tactic of “act like this is very natural” managed to confuse Tarva enough for her to likely keep the secret.
Moving on to his interaction with Tarva, that went about the best it could have. Having a candid discussion while both make concessions to each other is a great start to cooperation. I especially liked how Isif took the time to learn Venlil tail language to make a better impression. We might not have our Tisif yet, but it could be on the horizon.
I can't imagine Tarva getting into small-talk with many other Arxur, so I doubt she'd mention this to them directly. Any non-predators she tells it to are unlikely to talk to other Arxur about it (and she might avoid doing so since it's terrifying). Most of the humans she speaks to are politically sensitive enough to avoid embarrassing the chief hunter.
We now have Tarva realize how much Meier has hidden from everybody and the consequences for that. I know that he was doing it to try and not push the Venlil away, but hiding too much is not a good sign. For Pete’s sake, Meier not telling Tarva about the possibility of a riot was what got him killed in the first place.
Continuing on with the train that humans have hid things from their allies, Tarva learns some key things about human’s while being very ignorant of others. When Isif makes a great display of trust by showing Tarva his home world, she remarks that humans wouldn’t proudly display their hunting, a funny remark to anyone who’s played tag before. Additionally, Isif brings up the great news that Cannibalism exists. Tarva looks to Sara for relief only to be met with embarrassed looks and awkward stares. I guess that Sara will need to show Tarva some things to help her understand.
Beyond just tag, there are definitely humans who hunt for sport, and who keep mounted heads and such on their walls. There clearly hasn’t been an open discussing of hunting! Hell, Tarva figured out the persistence bit on her own…
Agreed. I was just trying to figure out something almost everyone has done. Additionally, it would be the closest match to what Tarva described the children doing that I thought of.
Yeah, Sara need to pull out the internet and show her that humans do display our hunting. As interim ambassador, she has the right, especailly considering what hiding everything got Meier.
Yeah. I can understand Meier hiding stuff at first but by the point of the battle of Earth he should’ve revealed more info to the Venili about Humanity and our cultures.
I do wonder how many people go out hunting in this timeline though, considering every human POV so far has stated a "preference" for lab-grown meat or vegetarianism when asked about food.
I can definitely see the Bezos' of the time insisting on eating "real meat" for prestige reasons, but the cultural attitude painted so far doesn't seem likely to be very favourable to sport hunting outside of maybe culling prey populations in areas without native (surviving) predators.
Every human POV so far except Noah and Sara has been screened by the UN staff to be involved in alien contact, for which vegetarianism is one of the things they check. How common vegetarianism actually is on Earth we don't have an unbiased view on.
I think you're underestimating the implications of widespread adoption of lab-grown meat. If anything, the relative number of vegetarians might be much lower than today because it largely eliminates the ethical argument against eating meat. But more importantly, people are much less likely to view killing animals for food positively when it's possible to get a cut of vat-grown meat that never lived at all from any supermarket.
It also skips over the part where killing animals for food is part of a healthy ecosystem. So hunting is likely still alive and well, since the animals populations frequently need culled before they run into overpopulation issues. Especially since you can't have a healthy predator population in populated areas without running into other problems(such as cougars going for the family dog and killing the kid in the process). Hell, you even get similar problems with herbivores(car accidents skyrocket if the deer population isn't culled on a regular basis).
Factory farms might have decreased in frequency, but I doubt they all vanished. Especially given growth vat meat is liable to be quite difficult outside cities, not to mention transport costs(which is what causes supermarket meats to grow more expensive, transporting it across the country for butcher, then back again for sale). So the only likely industry impacted by growth vat meat would be factory farms, everything else probably still exists in similar numbers.
As stated by a group of people(in story) who have explicitly lied about anything they consider the darker side of humanity. Factory farming may largely be irrelevant to economic superpowers, or first world nations, I doubt they managed to get rid of it globally(when have we *ever* been able to eradicate any practice globally). Hell, we consistently fail to eradicate horrible practices even *in* first world nations. It was only half a decade or so that evidence came to light that an extremely isolated region of the bayou was still practicing slavery(chattel iirc). Most(if not all) first world nations still have problems with sex trafficing(including children).
Also, consider a very common theme in NoP...unreliable narrator. The author leans heavily into PoVs having a flawed narration, he hasn't explicitly shown the humans to be unreliable narrators, but he also hasn't excluded them from it either. Theres been several times where the PoV narrator is certain about something being a certain way, only to be proven wrong later in the story. Especially since he's been leaning hard into a "nobodies hands are actually clean" situation. So some human characters PoVs saying factory farms don't exist anymore, only means *they* don't think they exist, not that it's actually true.
I would think that there probably is still some sport hunting. To me the cultural preference would be geared more towards avoiding factory farms and culling large numbers of livestock living in poor conditions while some people would still view hunting as part of their tradition and would be willing to do so viewing such meat as ethical sourced.
Tarva thought Is hunger the only reason needed to put aside morality, while be a governor and never needing to make that call.
Isif believes in survival at all costs, while his people starve.
She need to see the balancing act, of staying moral vs living.
The argument about starvation is an interesting one, when your food literally grows on trees. The mental leap that your foodsource is not a guaranteed thing has to be made and understood by Tarva before the issues can be resolved. Also, plain cannibalism is not even the final step, self-cannibalism is. A herbivore has to starve if there are no plants arount, but a carnivore has food in sight all the time. I'm afraid unless federation species understand the paradox of carnivores, there will never be lasting peace.
I would argue it isnt, unless you are talking about your body eating itself.
There is no need to cut up yourself to eat some meat, because your body eats itself in dire enough situations
Part funny number is here! Tarva visits Earth for the first time to meet Chief Hunter Isif…and finds the Arxur playing with Nulia. We learn a bit about Arxur life and culture, while Isif deflects the conversation on sapient-eating to human cannibalism. What do you think of Tarva and Isif’s interaction? Was it a fair and polite dialogue, as Meier hoped?
Also, Tarva has been co-opted into building meat-growing factories, which might not play well at home. This was definitely something she’d prefer humans took the lead on. Perhaps other Arxur would disagree with Isif’s methods as well, though he doesn’t seem to care about the stigma. Will the cattle exchange finally be able to proceed as planned?
As always, thank you for reading! 70 will be here on Wednesday, and we’ll return to Sovlin.
You could have the Federation members that surrender to the Humans also help grow meat or raise earth livestock. It will drive home that these people messed up, while preventing more suffering. It can be a good model for how Isif can prevent the consumption of Sapients.
speaking of burgers i still wanna know how Slanek would react to a vegi-burger, particularly if they he was given it to try only knowing it was made from plants and after eating it finding out it's meant to mimic the taste and texture of meat. i mean picture if they liked it just to find out that, the level of shock horror ect. would be amazing in the funniest of ways. with how he thinks of eating meat i could see him waking up later from a dream where he was eating the rotting maggot filled corpse of Marcel.
Wtf you're telling me ocean creatures can't taste anything but *salt*???
I would have assumed they can't taste salt, on the grounds that anything they eat in the ocean would be salty. Like, what is the utility of the salty taste in the ocean?
I am shocked and confused.
The conversation was marked by stuttering and immediate dislike of each other, but I think it went spectacularly, considering that Venlil usually lose all of their reasoning capabilities upon sight of an Arxur, and considering that most Arxur haven't interacted with other aliens without the interaction being combat or eating. It really shows how far they've both come.
As long as the stigma isn't something that's going to get Isif executed or removed from his position, I see why he doesn't care. If the food exchange goes forth, a lot of Arxur are going to be fed, and if something long-term involving non-sapient livestock or meat printing gets established, a lot of Arxur are going to be very happy. Cannibalism being something that the government has to crack down on does not bode well for how well-fed they are, and neither does all food being rations.
Question: What does working in "Betterment" mean? Does that mean breeding, or scientists analyzing everyone's genomes? I would tend to think that a high percentage of the population being involved in it would mean breeding, but I'm not sure. Does that include everything surrounding raising children too, like teachers?
Great work as always :)
In the Arxur's defense, they had an extinction to avert. To do so they had to collapse their population to a sustainable level, while maximizing that population's ability to feed itself via warfare. As disgusting as eugenics is, it actually seems like the right tool for the job.
I feel dirty just for saying that.
it sounded to me like the war they were having before was essentially WW2 but their hitler won, with the starvation happening later, followed by the uplift and betrayal causing them to use the federation as a new source of food.
The uplift and betrayal is what caused the starvation. IIRC the Arxur were around the level of tech we had in the late 50s, early 60s. They were just barely able to put the tech they got in the uplift to use, and stave off extinction by bringing feds home to eat.
Keep in mind that fed species seem to have universally wrecked their ecosystems by wiping out native predators, so there weren't any non-sapient animals for the Arxur to eat.
IIRC they had some kinda disease running through their cattle at the time of the uplift and the Feds “cured” their cattle causing the troubling famine to turn into actual mass starvation
_A rogue ship of Arxur make and extremely untasteful paintjob jumps into the Sol system_
Traffic op: "Err, Arxur(?) ship, please state your business here, we're currently busy dealing with-"
Arxur: "With nuclear fallout from getting bombed by the overgrown chickens, yeah yeah, we know, we're here to move on in permanently to either Luna or Gaia, I believe is what you call your moon and homeworld 😚"
Op: "What?"
Arxur: "You see, humanity is a bit of an entertainment niche on Wriss (Arxur homeworld, btw) for a few decades now, we learned of you from some sociological scientists among the enslaved herbivores and kept an eye ever since. We're a small band of 8 big fans in particular who have come to join our true calling as humans born in the wrong world! 🤠"
Op: "Wait, we're TV in Wriss?!"
Arxur weeb: "The best there! Arxur media wishes they had a tenth of the entertainment value you guys naturally have! 😃"
Op: "I think I'm gonna puke..."
Weeb: "What's happening, friend? Did you eat poisonous or rotten fruit? Silly fella, we can help you learn to differentiate good and bad fruit, we became herbivores with self-developed supplements to make up the rest like your vegans 😝"
Op: "I'm calling the Space Force"
The plan to build meat growing factories are gonna go from "we make no promises on the plan" to "Let's get this show on the road, NOW" in less than a week.
describing it like this gave me a "slave vs serf" vibe
the big question on my mind rn tho is how the Federation will react to this once operations are at full steam
Yeah it definitely has the vibes of becoming a client species, but that's until they become more self sufficient and then it can turn to trade for resources.
I’d argue it is more “salami vs serf”. Are they equals? Absolutely not still. But a client species is orders of magnitude better then being seen as essentially less than sentient livestock suited only for consumption.
Based on what we have seen with isif, it doesnt seem like the prey animals are seen exclusively as "less than sentient livestock" and that most arxur have morals enough to realise the horrible nature of eating another sapient being, however since their hands are so forced they have probobly forced themself to see the prey animals as less than sentient, purely to help with the mental image of eating a sentient being
Think we’ll ever get a Nulia POV chapter? It’d be interesting to see if she’s ignoring some instincts or if they just were never there without indoctrination.
Should your budget open up a bit, tiers are $3, $5, and $10 per month, and all of them give you the bonus and early chapters.
And as a bonus, there's no sheep-I-mean-Venlil-fucking on the Patreon. Pretty sure I can't say the same about the Discord.
> And as a bonus, there's no sheep-I-mean-Venlil-fucking on the Patreon. Pretty sure I can't say the same about the Discord.
But without the surprise gay furry porn can we even call it a proper NoP fanbase?
There’s also the idea of letting the Arxur hunt wild/feral boars and other animals that are of a good size and are causing problems due to overpopulation.
_Somewhere down under, years after the Commonwealth establishment:_
Isif on vacation: "HOW THE HELL DID YOU PUNY HUMANS MANAGE TO COEXIST WITH THESE MANIC BEASTS"
Bogan: "Dunno, crocman, we lost a war against them even"
Isif: "NO SHIT"
Hey, actually, that's a good question -- how did Isif find out about cannibalism so fast, especially before the likes of the Venlil? Do they have unrestricted access to the internet? Are humans willingly chatting to them? Especially about such taboo topics... Or did I miss Meier bringing it up earlier?
It’s implied by Tarva even (with him not questioning the bombing and saying we “conveniently avoided” taking about lab-grown meat) that Isif found his own Internet access, since he seems to know things he shouldn’t 🙏
Most signals we use at the moment are not even notable on the moon. it was only a short time that we used signals that were strong enough to penetrate space notable. most of the current signals try to stay so close to the noise level that in outer space they are not notable, except the ones we use to and from the far away probes. and those are so tight beam that you will not find them.
You just *know* someone has already enacted rule 34 with the Arxur, current circumstances be damned. I'm enjoying picturing all of Isif's possible reactions to such content if he's found unrestricted access to the internet. lol
This chapter is without a doubt my favorite so far. The continuing slow reveal that Isif isn’t just a mindless predator (*surprise*) and is capable of not just playing with herbivores but enjoys it(!) is awesome. Interestingly, it seems Marcel may not have made that connection yet, but that could be a trauma response.
The discussion seems to have gone well, maybe even better than expected.
Excellent as always.
Marcel could know they aren't mindless but either not trust them or doesn't want Nulia to get the idea of coming up to any Arxur even if he knows Isif wouldn't do anything.
Don't talk to strangers is a normal thing we teach children because you never know what someone might do if they aren't well in the head, same case with them but we know what they would do if they could get away with it.
Honestly, what I'm most worried about right now is the reaction of the Arxur leadership. Their hold on power seems to ultimately be dependent on the food crisis and the war, and suddenly guaranteeing a stable food supply could be incredibly destabilizing. With how authoritarian they seem to be, I could easily see them sending out a commissar to 'rectify' the situation.
Might be a tad trickier than expected. Their society, by necessity, is geared around the military and those in power remain that way by controlling the food supply. By Arxur standards, a military commander who brings in several cargo ships of food ought to be extremely powerful. And, after several generations, it wouldn't surprise me if the Arxur leadership were true believers and vastly underestimated the prey species.
I want to see Sovlin witness Venlil knights mounted on Arxur steeds breaking Krakotl lines backed up by charging human infantry. With Gojids running ammo.
Maybe at first. But who *wouldn't* want to charge into battle with tactical space chinchilla screaming battle cries and dumping mags while riding on your shoulder? I mean, I'm down.
First off - I hope you get to the next funny number!
I love this universe and don't want to see it come to an end!
Now, Tarva has no way of knowing this, but no "corpses" or "bodies" or anything resembling a living creature will be grown, unless foodtek took a very weird turn in your reality.
Meanwhile, in the real world, there is this:
[https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/economy/1639915740-israeli-cultured-meat-company-raises-347m](https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/economy/1639915740-israeli-cultured-meat-company-raises-347m)
I could not find a newer article, at least in English, but I am certain I read a few month ago they are ready for production and are seeking FDA approval so they can start selling their stakes to restaurants.
It is still more expansive than real animal product and the finished thing has 50% plant matter, but they apparently had a tasting with a bunch of reporters, and everyone loved it.
It even looks fairly real, at least on the published photographs...
That said, I think Isif will be pleased and Tarva horrified if they ever get their paws on some 1950's cultural materials.
From innocent kids playing "Cowboys and Indians" to a father getting his belt out...
Ok, their ingrained hatred/disgust of meat consumption is there, but it always seems to be wrapped up with the prey feels. I don’t see how they would, from a logical(probably to much to ask) standpoint, be so against lab grown meat. Lab grown was never “alive.” It never felt fear or had thoughts.
It’s basically like being able to grow organs for transplant. Now, most transplants require the death of a human. But if we could grow/clone organs then life is only saved not lost.
I do think the revelations that were learned/broadcast last chapter may help the governor’s case. It doesn’t look like she has heard about that yet.
I look forward to seeing how this all plays out. Thank you Wordsmith!
So now Nulia has given us "Mawsle," "Tawva," and "Siffy." [***Protective instinct intensifies***]
And now Isif is known to be a great family man. What a gigachad. Also, you're creating, in some \*certain* people's eyes, the perfect "daddy" character. You want R34 bara Isif? Because this is how you get R34 bara Isif.
We both know some see it as a bad thing. For the record, I'm not one of those people. While I don't swing that way, I think it would be pretty funny to see it get posted.
*"It felt like a betrayal of everything the Federation believed in…"*
Ohhhhh noooooo. Better not do it!!! Better keep up with those oh-so-high Fed moral standards!!!! They'd NEVER steer you wrong....
I mean, not to give Tarva a hard time, I think she's the most openminded and tries the hardest of any herbivore species, but ma'am... What, exactly, about the Federation do you still honestly believe in at this point?
To be fair, Tarva doesn't know what we know about the Feds yet and, while having been around humans for a while has helped a bit, she was still brought up with the Feds teachings. I imagine that once Cilany's video reaches Venlil Prime her opinions might change.
Even disregarding what we learned in the talks Sovlin had, she knows the Fed attacked and bombed her ally basically uncontested for no reason or justification other then "predator bad".
**edit:** Also that (in her mind) possibly maybe the Fed might have started the beef with the Arxur and perhaps attempted to genocide them from the get go.(when we know that was 100% the case)
Once the news gets around we are in line for reactions to the news to be requested, even if it will likely be one person reacting and all others in post news discussion phases.
The question is whos reaction would be the most impactful. Chances are we already got the most extreme one already.
Isif makes a good point, if the federation had given the Arxur clone meat tech, instead of death, they likely would have been their greatest champions. Now Tarva needs to gather a bunch of scientists who lost people and point out this will save millions of Venil.
Also it's good to see Nulia is do well, and overcoming any predator fears.
>Also it's good to see Nulia is do well, and overcoming any predator fears.
It's almost like the fear of predators is a cultural thing she didn't have enough time to fully absorb on the Gojid Cradle before finding Marcel.
Absolutely this. Any conditioning she might’ve gotten probably got thrown out the window when they saved her, too. “They can’t be that bad if they saved me!”
It will be interesting to see if her real scavenger/predator instincts will surface when she is living on Earth and isn't conditioned like others of her species.
Using her spikes as weapons, play hide and seek, police and criminals, catch me if you can, and other hunting games.
I've been saying that since the series started. Caution is always there when an animal meets another animal for the first time, but fear of predators at the level the feds show isn't natural.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpwXehSV0Uk
To be fair, the Federation didn't have clone meat tech. Sure they had the technology to make cloned animal tissue for testing purposes, but had no reason to develop industrialized methods to make large amounts. Granted they could develop such methods if they tried, but it wasn't an off-the-shelf solution and it wouldn't necessarily be palatable.
We've been able to lab-grow "meat" for decades, but it has only recently become economically viable for niche markets and is still significantly more expensive than the real thing. Feeding a planet with explosive population growth requires a refined process. Humanity has figured it out already, so tooling up shouldn't be as difficult a task.
I do think there is more reason for the Arxur to build meat factories than the Venlil. Heck, considering their past I can't imagine the Arxur would 100% trust Federation-made meat.
It goes to show that the Gojid are certainly *capable* of sanely interacting with "predators". Which means that stampede reflex has been externally imposed. Which, yes, we already knew, but... damn.
Stampeding is a collective instinct. When one starts to panic and flee the panic spreads to others. The more panicking individuals, the greater the instinct comes to the surface in a feedback loop until everyone in the crowd is affected. An individual can flee, but a herd of one will not stampede.
Similarly, most humans in a riot would never act the way they do in a riot without the situation driving them to such behavior. It's the feedback loop that magnifies their anger and aggression. We don't know how Nulia would react if placed in a panicking crowd.
>*The Venlil extermination officers will say it’s a slippery-slope to enabling wildlife murder.*
My dudes, you're already engaging in wildlife murder.
>They would never think about hunting for fun.
Hmm... I'm not sure how prevalent hunting is in the time period this is set in, but I would imagine that it happens. Maybe we wait for the explanations of carrying capacity and other such ecosystem knowledge, since I think in the US at least permits are given out with that in mind.
I wonder how Fed/Venlil play instincts work. All sorts of animals have play instincts, usually to practice skills they need as adults. Arxur need to know how to hunt, ergo their play involves a lot of hunting practice. Maybe Fed races practice running or hiding instead?
>worrisome practices I continued to uncover from any that were “desperate.”
I feel like Tarva is overestimating how desperate we have to be to start eating each other. It's not like "oh man I skipped lunch, better eat my coworkers", or even simple food shortages, it only happens when the options are eat other people or die. I bet if Venlil could digest each other, they'd eat each other too if they were starving, at least before the extreme anti-predator culture was provided by the Federation.
Lastly, I'm proud of Tarva for these talks. Yes she's stuttering, but she showed up anyway, and is holding a conversation with an Arxur where they both act like reasonable people and don't just insult each other the whole time. I bet if Venlil had been around nonhostile Arxur for as long as they've been around humans, they'd be able to hold normal conversations like they do with humans, even if the baggage wouldn't evaporate.
It was mentioned in bonus content, but without specifics, a lot of Venlil games involve building things.
Tarva is definitely trying! She’s the only Fed who’s referred to an Arxur by gendered pronouns. She did it before this meeting, even if she slipped for a second when she thought he was eating Nulia.
>a lot of Venlil games involve building things.
Minecraft: Herbivore Edition seems like less of a meme now.
So stuff like Cities: Skylines, Simcity, Space Engineers (minus gunz), Cooking/Restaurant games (minus meat recipes), and sim games in general would be greatly appreciated by them.
peaceful mode factorio would probably have to be outlawed by the venlil like drugs, that game is already addictive to us!
actually, it probably doesnt even need to be in peaceful mode since the biters are predators, and you can use flamethrowers as defense/offense
Honestly, if you remove the bugs, you could get away with just refactoring the Pollution mechanic to degrade equipment (in high enough quantities) and maybe trigger environmental effects that would be bad for the player/machinery, maybe add a Heat management system for additional complexity in factory construction (to add sufficient complexity without combat/defences in the mix).
Yeah, a "Cracktorio: Vegan Edition" sounds feasible.
Wait until they discover the game of hide and seek. literally all about seeking about and finding your prey. and hiding from predators bigger than you.
Honestly a lot of games kids play could be considered "predatory". Can't speak for other cultures' games, but hide and seek is about "prey" hiding from a "predator" trying to find them. Tag is about running away from a "predator", in dodgeball you're throwing objects at other people to try to "kill" them, some games are straight-up roughhousing like wrestling, king of the hill or certain sports.
Games do help us develop useful skills. Maybe we aren't learning how to hunt antelope on the savannah, but we learn social skills, dexterity, aim, endurance, and some basic physical skills by playing physical games.
I bet aliens would have a hard time playing endurance-based games, and possibly throwing-based games depending on how good the aliens are at that.
Given that our evolutionary niche was formed by our intellect, endurance, *and* throwing skill all combined, I would guess that the number of herbivore species that fit the bill are incredibly low. I think it's noted in the early chapters that humans seem to have much better aim than anyone else, even without a targeting computer like the Feds seem to rely on. And given Kalsim's reaction to our endurance, we are probably high-percentile when it comes to that, too.
In summary, when it comes to things like dodgeball and other human sports, there's probably very few where we'd expect another species to have a good chance of beating us. Arxur win in strength contests, but likely gas out comparatively quickly. Venlil likely only have advantages in non-contact sports that favour agility (might beat us in things like hurdles or long jump, I imagine they can jump pretty well). Krakotl can fly, but have terrible bone density and thus would fare badly in most human sports. The rest I don't think we know enough about, but we can be confident are unlikely to outshine us at our own games, at least most of the time.
"it would be betraying everything the federation believed in"
Tarva, dear, I fought you would have understood by now that everything the federation preaches is bullshit.
And the extermination officers making a fuss about wildlife murder? That's literally their job.
SIFFY. Oh my lord Siffy that's precious.
Also noooooo, the Arxur don't have cities. That puts my fanfic in "irreparably far from canon". I knew I'd learn more if I waited before continuing it. Oh well < w>
> Also noooooo, the Arxur don't have cities. That puts my fanfic in "irreparably far from canon". I knew I'd learn more if I waited before continuing it. Oh well < w>
Isif could've just shown a picture of were he grew up, maybe that's a town near an actual center of industry, or some suburbs.
Cities could still exist but since the Arxur are solitary by nature they (the cities) could be viewed as undesireable to live in, populated only by the Arxur who need to live in them to work in whatever industries are there, those industries could even be stuff that *has* to be together, if only to greatly decrease logistical complexities.
In short, Arxur cities could be much more industrialized, but still more "roomy" as far as streets go, and with a lot of rail/skyrail connections between factories/foundries/etc to be as eficient as possible and to keep the minimum amount of Arxur needed to run things as low as possible.
> Cities could still exist but since the Arxur are solitary by nature they (the cities) could be viewed as undesireable to live in, populated only by the Arxur who need to live in them to work in whatever industries are there, those industries could even be stuff that has to be together, if only to greatly decrease logistical complexities.
So... the poor and unfortunate have to live in cities, and the rich get country estates? Well **that** sounds familiar... ;)
Also with how it seems like the govenment controls the population their cities likely aren't as populated as ours, so more space but more dwellings closer together than what was shown.
He could be showing her his family as I'd imagine as Chief hunter he would be able to provide decent housing.
I won't be surprised if the Arxurs return all the Venlil and it causes a MASSIVE famine because there are too Many "herbivores" at the same time on the same place.
Of course there is a Easy answer for Tarva, give the Humans on Venlil Prime actual employment and let them do the growing. She has a sentient workforce doing nothing but consuming resources, and apparently bomb manufacture. Humans would not object to animal protein, and with helping the Arxur, whose actions saved the part of Earth that the Federation had not gotten to yet.
>The Venlil extermination officers will say it’s a slippery-slope to enabling wildlife murder.
Oh Jesus they treat random wild animals in the woods with the same moral agency/weight as sapient's don't they?
Which makes the whole 'burn infant predators alive' thing even more hypocritical.
Yes, there was a case where a aircraft crashed in some snowy mountains and while awaiting rescue the survivors were forced to eat the bodies of the dead passengers and crew or else they’d starve. Even then, it has a very negative effect on the human mind, but self preservation comes above all else.
Obviously the news and truth about The Federations long running genocides and war crimes haven't reached Earth or the Venlil.
Can't wait to see the fallout of the bombshell dropping on everyone
I think Isif might be my favorite character. Previously, I was concerned he was playing the long game, but seeing him interacting playfully with a prey child has convinced me otherwise.
Also, Isif mentioned having a ‘mother’, which disproves the Federation’s claim that Arxur abandon their young immediately after birth. I wonder how their family units work? It actually makes a lot of sense to compare them here to alligators, as they’re one of few reptile species that cares for their young.
Depends on just how much they favor solitary life, I can see their "family unit" being a mother raising children until they're independent and then pushing them out of the house.
Isif is growing on me more and more. Kinda curious on how he will react to the federations misdeeds.
Im pretty sure once word gets out humans arxur venil gojid and a bunch of other species are gonna band together and kick some ass.
It probably won't effect him that much. He already knows what the Federation did to his species (possibly even believes a worse story than the actual truth). I doubt he very much cares what the Federation did to other Federation species, given that he, you know, *eats* them.
It's funny Tarva takes issue with being called a 'prey' species when it's the federation, including Tarva, that pushed that narrative in the first place. That she suddenly finds it insulting shows a lot of growth, even if she hasn't fully realized it yet. It's also a bit 'throwing stones in glass houses' to criticize cannibalism for survival in extreme circumstances when 1.herbivores couldn't survive that way in the first place so wouldn't even have the option and 2.stampedes where they panic and kill each other seem relatively common in circumstances much less dire than when people resort to cannibalism.
While I understand Tarva's political concerns, after all she can't do anything if she's deposed, I think we might be a *bit* past optics at this point. I think if she brings the Venlil 'cattle' home that should be enough to excuse the growing of meat, at least if the Venlil are half as empathetic as they claim to be. That being said I think a pre-emptive political maneuver against the extermination officers might be in order since they seem to be the primary political force Tarva is worried about opposing her. Perhaps they can be made to look bad by playing some recordings of what they *actually* do which is normally kept out of the public eye, especially when the news from the Federation drops. Even better as governor perhaps she could twist their arm into *helping* with the meat production with the excuse that of all the Venlil they'll have the strongest stomachs for dealing with meat, conveniently making them complicit in the process. Whatever form it takes I definitely think undercutting their perceived 'moral high ground' is a priority in order to maintain the support of the people. I'm sure some human politicians would be willing to help her craft a strategy, we do have experience with dirty politics after all.
> 2.stampedes where they panic and kill each other seem relatively common in circumstances much less dire than when people resort to cannibalism.
THANK YOU. This is an **excellent** point.
"You semi-sapient fucktards kill each other in droves if someone sneezes too loudly and startles the wrong person. I don't think you've got a lot of room for moral posturing here, lady."
Tarva cooked up the lie of the “humans” so that we could have first contact with friendly “predators” and it inevitably results in an attack on a memorial for the lives lost on the supposed “attack on the human homeworld”, this was not an accident, this was planned, Tarva is using the attack as an excuse to increase security so she could oppress us, she is going to use the ships supposedly sent to the “humans” to take over our nation BY FORCE if we don’t do anything about it, TARVA DID 10/26 HUMANS ARENT REAL SHE IS DESTROYING THE VENLIL REPUBLIC SPREAD THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS
To be honest, I can easily see this backfiring on Isif more than anyone else. Tarva's made her general alliance and predator-friendly stance obvious for months now, but the Arxur's *Chief Hunter* returning home with Fed-sourced lab meat rather than human grown livestock? Idk, seems like the average Arxur has very strong feelings about the LAST time they got a "gift" from Feds... and it only takes one disgruntled Venlil to mess with what they hand over.
And on that note, tbh, it's pretty bold of him to demand anything of her. Granted, he's right the Arxur have been facing extinction and this is the pragmatic answer, but they've still been terrorising and victimising people like the Venlil for decades at the very least. If my home was getting raided on the reg and then, as semi-"peace talks," the guys doing it demanded my labour to feed them, I would probably be rather unhappy with that, lol.
> but the Arxur's Chief Hunter returning home with Fed-sourced lab meat rather than human grown livestock?
I think if it's mostly talked of as a gift by the humans it will probably be fine.
Feeding people and stopping hunger wins you a LOT of protection against ideological backlash.
The spoiler art was right. Isif and Nulia are adorable.
In other news, Isif and Tarva both make good points, and we continue to see more of Sara.
Wonderful chapter!
Minor comment. Civilian officials do not return salutes. Retired Lt General Mark Hertling made that point on Twitter when retired General, now Sec of Defence Lloyd Austin had to restrain himself from returning the salute from his honor guard.
> Civilian officials do not return salutes.
As a generality, they're aren't *required* to return salutes; they may do so if they want to, but don't have to nor are they prohibited from doing so. It's optional on the part of civilians. There are some specific situations, like military funerals where civilians are expected to *not* salute, but that's a matter of etiquette than forbiddence.
“The Venlil extermination officers will say it’s a slippery slope to enabling wildlife murder” has to be one of the biggest examples of cognitive dissonance in the entire series. Something ironic about a profession literally called an “extermination officer” being worried over the idea of spilt blood.
***The Commonwealth Weekly***
***A World of Eternal Fire and Ice***
***October 15th 2176***
**Aboard the Autonomously Operated Scouting Ship CWS Canberra it's sensors picked up a planet with an incredibly large and highly Eccentric orbit named officially as "CWP-14A-1711" with the nickname of "Inkanyamba"**
**According to computer simulations it experiences has a period of incredible desert and slushball world conditions that span over 100 earth years each with spring and autumn conditions being present for 200 years in its 600 year orbit**
**"it's an incredible feat that life not only has developed but thrived in such extreme conditions" said in a Press Release by the Commonwealth Institute on Xenobiology**
**The hunt for "Extremely Elliptical Habitable Planets" continue as the Commonwealth continues its expansion of its borders and it's accumulation of knowledge**
*insert obligatory comment on chapter number here*
Okay, now that I'm done giggling like a schoolboy about the number 69 (snort) *ahem* It's nice to see Tarva and Isif opening a proper dialogue like reasonable Sapients. And Nulia is just too cute for words.
I would also like to second a thought put forth by one of my esteemed colleagues down here in the comment section: let the human refugees on Venlil Prime work in the factories producing the artificial meat. I promise they'd prefer to be doing *anything* over *nothing,* and bored humans is how you get more I.E.D.s, probably
They were going through their own world War when the Federation came, so I'm assuming there was some industry. Eugenics was also a thing just getting started, so some knowledge of genetic inheritance must've existed (never thought I would ever type this). I'm just going to guess that their weapons tech and basic science was far more developed than their architecture. Why build fancy houses when a simple hut works?
there's a combination of unreliable narrator, different standards of living, and the reality of a species wholly mobilized for total war.
Some people lived in huts (peripheral and far rurals for example) in the USSR during world war 2 while the bleeding edge of industry pumped out aircraft, analogue computers, rocketry, and gigantic metallurgic foundries. Proliferation of tech is not equal.
It seems less like they lacked the tech for other buildings, and more that they prefer solitary or smaller living spaces, well spaced out from each other. To be fair, they're apparently not naturally social beings like humans, so this seems like their compromise on that.
I wouldn't be too worried about the cannibalism thing, Tarva. If anything, the priority list on cannibalism would definitely place Venlil at the bottom and humans at the top.
...
Okay, maybe the Krakotl go above humans at least for a while.
Anyway, if we're stranded on a snowy mountain or something with limited supplies, I'm sure the Venlil are going to be grateful that humans even *can* eat the dead instead of the food available to them.
Isif is right. People can act as dignified as they want when their tummies are full and their homes are cozy. Wonder how many Federation races would be able to endure hunger during an emergency like that?
In fact, let's make it a social experiment. A human and a few Federation races have to survive for an extended period of time on meager rations. The human gets an extra "meat ration" though, and has to place their vegetarian rations out in the open. If the Federation races resort to stealing his share out of hunger, they'll be complicit in making him "resort to cannibalism" when his only remaining option is the meat rations.
I'm not sure how good these aliens are at coping with hunger, but I'm willing to bet several of them will fail the challenge.
Hmm. So the Arxur homeworld is named Wriss. Which means "rock".
So very close to "Earth", is it not?
For some reason, I'm imagining a lion lazing away the day on a large rock outcropping while soaking up the sun. I imagine that's the kind of rock the Arxur were thinking about when they named their homeworld: a home or comforting place to rest.
Once again Isif impresses me with his tact and willingness to work with just about anyone in order to achieve a lasting peace. Educating himself regarding Venlil body language, despite not having prior knowledge that Tarva would be visiting, shows a level of consideration surpassing even that of some of the humans.
He is a very valuable ally to be sure; I just hope nothing turns him against us, as that same intelligence would make him a nightmare of an enemy. Also, getting some insight into Arxur architecture and society was an interesting treat. It makes sense that solitary hunters would prefer to have their homes far apart, and makes me wonder what it is like in a large Arxur manufacturing city. Does being forced into close contact with many of their own kind wear on their psyche? Could humans help lend efficiency and automation to their production facilities to help ease the tension along with the promise of widely available non-sapient food sources?
I think it is clear, now more than ever, that the Arxur need humans nearly as much as we need the Arxur. What we lack, presently, in military might, we make up for with our adaptability regarding supply lines and material acquisition. If there is one thing we seem to have over some of the xenos species, it is that humans tend to value efficiency and logistics to a high degree; largely because the role such things have had in shaping the nature of our own conflicts of yesteryear.
As always a fun read, and I very much look forward to the inevitable hilarity of Isif trying to play nice with other federation dignitaries.
Edit: I am also proud of Tarva for not immediately fainting after coming upon a scene that initially very much looked like an Arxur mauling a Gojid child.
Cant wait for the backlash of that video confession from the prev chapters but knowing the federation they'll stirr up some other bullshit to cover it up.
[TNOP Abridged](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureofPredators/comments/yhv9qg/ok_so_get_this/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), now brought to *you!*
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*69* ~ Glorious Tisif content! Governor Tarva and Chief-Hunter Isif have a civil chat about their circumstances and what to do going forward. Beforehand, we get to witness Isif playing with Marcel’s Dark Vessel, her mind warped by corruptive magic to the degree that her fear response has been eroded into nigh-suicidal anticipation and exhilaration. Adorable!
A good way for her to convince the Venlil people is to propose growing the meat as a form of even better quality insurance for their human comrades. Now anytime a Venlil sees a human eating meat they can know *they* made it, and thus it's not from a farm. It might not be the most moral thing for them, but it's better than "letting the humans be humans". Play up the prejudice just a small bit to be able to form an even stronger cultural bond between the two alien allies. It allows the Venlil populace to feel like they are helping humanities "predation" while also give Humanity a new food factory in a time that they desperately need imports due to the attacks on earth.
Y'know, I wonder if there's been some sneaky bioengineering done on the prey races to enhance their fear response since the start of the war with the Arxur in an attempt to make diplomacy difficult if not outright impossible. Because here on earth you'll still see predator and prey species just coexisting peacefully without the prey panicking. Just look at watering holes in Africa. You'll see lions and zebras just chilling out, drinking and relaxing next to eachother.
Chief Chad Isif has made his return, now showing how he could be a good family man, as well as a leader. This explains why there were no guards though; can’t be looking weak in front of his men. He even manages to control his reaction when he recognizes another leader has seen him that way. On top of that, his tactic of “act like this is very natural” managed to confuse Tarva enough for her to likely keep the secret. Moving on to his interaction with Tarva, that went about the best it could have. Having a candid discussion while both make concessions to each other is a great start to cooperation. I especially liked how Isif took the time to learn Venlil tail language to make a better impression. We might not have our Tisif yet, but it could be on the horizon.
I can't imagine Tarva getting into small-talk with many other Arxur, so I doubt she'd mention this to them directly. Any non-predators she tells it to are unlikely to talk to other Arxur about it (and she might avoid doing so since it's terrifying). Most of the humans she speaks to are politically sensitive enough to avoid embarrassing the chief hunter.
Isif seems to be the smartest living thing in the whole damn story
What's "Tisif"? It kinda looks like... Oh. Oh no...
It's a spaceship!
Chief Chad Siffy
Chief Chad "Siffy" Isif.
We now have Tarva realize how much Meier has hidden from everybody and the consequences for that. I know that he was doing it to try and not push the Venlil away, but hiding too much is not a good sign. For Pete’s sake, Meier not telling Tarva about the possibility of a riot was what got him killed in the first place. Continuing on with the train that humans have hid things from their allies, Tarva learns some key things about human’s while being very ignorant of others. When Isif makes a great display of trust by showing Tarva his home world, she remarks that humans wouldn’t proudly display their hunting, a funny remark to anyone who’s played tag before. Additionally, Isif brings up the great news that Cannibalism exists. Tarva looks to Sara for relief only to be met with embarrassed looks and awkward stares. I guess that Sara will need to show Tarva some things to help her understand.
Beyond just tag, there are definitely humans who hunt for sport, and who keep mounted heads and such on their walls. There clearly hasn’t been an open discussing of hunting! Hell, Tarva figured out the persistence bit on her own…
Agreed. I was just trying to figure out something almost everyone has done. Additionally, it would be the closest match to what Tarva described the children doing that I thought of. Yeah, Sara need to pull out the internet and show her that humans do display our hunting. As interim ambassador, she has the right, especailly considering what hiding everything got Meier.
Yeah. I can understand Meier hiding stuff at first but by the point of the battle of Earth he should’ve revealed more info to the Venili about Humanity and our cultures.
I do wonder how many people go out hunting in this timeline though, considering every human POV so far has stated a "preference" for lab-grown meat or vegetarianism when asked about food. I can definitely see the Bezos' of the time insisting on eating "real meat" for prestige reasons, but the cultural attitude painted so far doesn't seem likely to be very favourable to sport hunting outside of maybe culling prey populations in areas without native (surviving) predators.
Every human POV so far except Noah and Sara has been screened by the UN staff to be involved in alien contact, for which vegetarianism is one of the things they check. How common vegetarianism actually is on Earth we don't have an unbiased view on.
I think you're underestimating the implications of widespread adoption of lab-grown meat. If anything, the relative number of vegetarians might be much lower than today because it largely eliminates the ethical argument against eating meat. But more importantly, people are much less likely to view killing animals for food positively when it's possible to get a cut of vat-grown meat that never lived at all from any supermarket.
It also skips over the part where killing animals for food is part of a healthy ecosystem. So hunting is likely still alive and well, since the animals populations frequently need culled before they run into overpopulation issues. Especially since you can't have a healthy predator population in populated areas without running into other problems(such as cougars going for the family dog and killing the kid in the process). Hell, you even get similar problems with herbivores(car accidents skyrocket if the deer population isn't culled on a regular basis). Factory farms might have decreased in frequency, but I doubt they all vanished. Especially given growth vat meat is liable to be quite difficult outside cities, not to mention transport costs(which is what causes supermarket meats to grow more expensive, transporting it across the country for butcher, then back again for sale). So the only likely industry impacted by growth vat meat would be factory farms, everything else probably still exists in similar numbers.
I have a few minor disagreements, but also factory farming is *explicitly* no longer a thing in the story.
As stated by a group of people(in story) who have explicitly lied about anything they consider the darker side of humanity. Factory farming may largely be irrelevant to economic superpowers, or first world nations, I doubt they managed to get rid of it globally(when have we *ever* been able to eradicate any practice globally). Hell, we consistently fail to eradicate horrible practices even *in* first world nations. It was only half a decade or so that evidence came to light that an extremely isolated region of the bayou was still practicing slavery(chattel iirc). Most(if not all) first world nations still have problems with sex trafficing(including children). Also, consider a very common theme in NoP...unreliable narrator. The author leans heavily into PoVs having a flawed narration, he hasn't explicitly shown the humans to be unreliable narrators, but he also hasn't excluded them from it either. Theres been several times where the PoV narrator is certain about something being a certain way, only to be proven wrong later in the story. Especially since he's been leaning hard into a "nobodies hands are actually clean" situation. So some human characters PoVs saying factory farms don't exist anymore, only means *they* don't think they exist, not that it's actually true.
I would think that there probably is still some sport hunting. To me the cultural preference would be geared more towards avoiding factory farms and culling large numbers of livestock living in poor conditions while some people would still view hunting as part of their tradition and would be willing to do so viewing such meat as ethical sourced.
They are all city dwellers, not farmers, or foodies.
Yeah, population control is gonna be a weird conversation to have
Tarva thought Is hunger the only reason needed to put aside morality, while be a governor and never needing to make that call. Isif believes in survival at all costs, while his people starve. She need to see the balancing act, of staying moral vs living.
The argument about starvation is an interesting one, when your food literally grows on trees. The mental leap that your foodsource is not a guaranteed thing has to be made and understood by Tarva before the issues can be resolved. Also, plain cannibalism is not even the final step, self-cannibalism is. A herbivore has to starve if there are no plants arount, but a carnivore has food in sight all the time. I'm afraid unless federation species understand the paradox of carnivores, there will never be lasting peace.
I would argue it isnt, unless you are talking about your body eating itself. There is no need to cut up yourself to eat some meat, because your body eats itself in dire enough situations
Part funny number is here! Tarva visits Earth for the first time to meet Chief Hunter Isif…and finds the Arxur playing with Nulia. We learn a bit about Arxur life and culture, while Isif deflects the conversation on sapient-eating to human cannibalism. What do you think of Tarva and Isif’s interaction? Was it a fair and polite dialogue, as Meier hoped? Also, Tarva has been co-opted into building meat-growing factories, which might not play well at home. This was definitely something she’d prefer humans took the lead on. Perhaps other Arxur would disagree with Isif’s methods as well, though he doesn’t seem to care about the stigma. Will the cattle exchange finally be able to proceed as planned? As always, thank you for reading! 70 will be here on Wednesday, and we’ll return to Sovlin.
You could have the Federation members that surrender to the Humans also help grow meat or raise earth livestock. It will drive home that these people messed up, while preventing more suffering. It can be a good model for how Isif can prevent the consumption of Sapients.
“We put a McDonald’s on every friendly world, and turns out Isif and his people FUCKING LOVE the Golden Arches.”
speaking of burgers i still wanna know how Slanek would react to a vegi-burger, particularly if they he was given it to try only knowing it was made from plants and after eating it finding out it's meant to mimic the taste and texture of meat. i mean picture if they liked it just to find out that, the level of shock horror ect. would be amazing in the funniest of ways. with how he thinks of eating meat i could see him waking up later from a dream where he was eating the rotting maggot filled corpse of Marcel.
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Wtf you're telling me ocean creatures can't taste anything but *salt*??? I would have assumed they can't taste salt, on the grounds that anything they eat in the ocean would be salty. Like, what is the utility of the salty taste in the ocean? I am shocked and confused.
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The conversation was marked by stuttering and immediate dislike of each other, but I think it went spectacularly, considering that Venlil usually lose all of their reasoning capabilities upon sight of an Arxur, and considering that most Arxur haven't interacted with other aliens without the interaction being combat or eating. It really shows how far they've both come. As long as the stigma isn't something that's going to get Isif executed or removed from his position, I see why he doesn't care. If the food exchange goes forth, a lot of Arxur are going to be fed, and if something long-term involving non-sapient livestock or meat printing gets established, a lot of Arxur are going to be very happy. Cannibalism being something that the government has to crack down on does not bode well for how well-fed they are, and neither does all food being rations. Question: What does working in "Betterment" mean? Does that mean breeding, or scientists analyzing everyone's genomes? I would tend to think that a high percentage of the population being involved in it would mean breeding, but I'm not sure. Does that include everything surrounding raising children too, like teachers? Great work as always :)
Betterment encompasses anything that “culls” the weaker populace and/or leads to selective genealogy 🙏
hmmmm, sounds like tau philosophy mixed with a dose of only the strong survive,... This worries me
In the Arxur's defense, they had an extinction to avert. To do so they had to collapse their population to a sustainable level, while maximizing that population's ability to feed itself via warfare. As disgusting as eugenics is, it actually seems like the right tool for the job. I feel dirty just for saying that.
it sounded to me like the war they were having before was essentially WW2 but their hitler won, with the starvation happening later, followed by the uplift and betrayal causing them to use the federation as a new source of food.
The uplift and betrayal is what caused the starvation. IIRC the Arxur were around the level of tech we had in the late 50s, early 60s. They were just barely able to put the tech they got in the uplift to use, and stave off extinction by bringing feds home to eat. Keep in mind that fed species seem to have universally wrecked their ecosystems by wiping out native predators, so there weren't any non-sapient animals for the Arxur to eat.
i thought they had started to starve before the uplift, but that makes more sense.
IIRC they had some kinda disease running through their cattle at the time of the uplift and the Feds “cured” their cattle causing the troubling famine to turn into actual mass starvation
Wasn't it clear from the start that the Arxur were practicing eugenics because they didn't have enough food to eat.
Arxur weeb mechs when?
_A rogue ship of Arxur make and extremely untasteful paintjob jumps into the Sol system_ Traffic op: "Err, Arxur(?) ship, please state your business here, we're currently busy dealing with-" Arxur: "With nuclear fallout from getting bombed by the overgrown chickens, yeah yeah, we know, we're here to move on in permanently to either Luna or Gaia, I believe is what you call your moon and homeworld 😚" Op: "What?" Arxur: "You see, humanity is a bit of an entertainment niche on Wriss (Arxur homeworld, btw) for a few decades now, we learned of you from some sociological scientists among the enslaved herbivores and kept an eye ever since. We're a small band of 8 big fans in particular who have come to join our true calling as humans born in the wrong world! 🤠" Op: "Wait, we're TV in Wriss?!" Arxur weeb: "The best there! Arxur media wishes they had a tenth of the entertainment value you guys naturally have! 😃" Op: "I think I'm gonna puke..." Weeb: "What's happening, friend? Did you eat poisonous or rotten fruit? Silly fella, we can help you learn to differentiate good and bad fruit, we became herbivores with self-developed supplements to make up the rest like your vegans 😝" Op: "I'm calling the Space Force"
Basically "Betterment" = "Eugenics" and with the Arxur, it's Nazi style.
The plan to build meat growing factories are gonna go from "we make no promises on the plan" to "Let's get this show on the road, NOW" in less than a week.
No matter how you slice it "factory made meat = protection not just from but provided by the Arxur" is a pretty fucking good deal.
Jep, the arxur will defenetly start defending their source of food.
describing it like this gave me a "slave vs serf" vibe the big question on my mind rn tho is how the Federation will react to this once operations are at full steam
Yeah it definitely has the vibes of becoming a client species, but that's until they become more self sufficient and then it can turn to trade for resources.
I’d argue it is more “salami vs serf”. Are they equals? Absolutely not still. But a client species is orders of magnitude better then being seen as essentially less than sentient livestock suited only for consumption.
Based on what we have seen with isif, it doesnt seem like the prey animals are seen exclusively as "less than sentient livestock" and that most arxur have morals enough to realise the horrible nature of eating another sapient being, however since their hands are so forced they have probobly forced themself to see the prey animals as less than sentient, purely to help with the mental image of eating a sentient being
Think we’ll ever get a Nulia POV chapter? It’d be interesting to see if she’s ignoring some instincts or if they just were never there without indoctrination.
There already is, it's a Patreon exclusive tho
Shoot
Not quite. It's a Tyler POV chapter where he takes care of Nulia.
Wait there are patreon exclusive chapters?
Several. And a miniseries.
Damn. Wish I had the spare cash to get in on that. I could use some extra chapters
Should your budget open up a bit, tiers are $3, $5, and $10 per month, and all of them give you the bonus and early chapters. And as a bonus, there's no sheep-I-mean-Venlil-fucking on the Patreon. Pretty sure I can't say the same about the Discord.
> And as a bonus, there's no sheep-I-mean-Venlil-fucking on the Patreon. Pretty sure I can't say the same about the Discord. But without the surprise gay furry porn can we even call it a proper NoP fanbase?
There’s also the idea of letting the Arxur hunt wild/feral boars and other animals that are of a good size and are causing problems due to overpopulation.
Yeah, I bet they'd get a kick out of hunting kangaroos
And Emus
Polar Bears folks, Polar Bears.
Those are endangered. Emus and wild boars are insanely fast breeders though.
Emu War 2: Arxur Boogaloo
_Somewhere down under, years after the Commonwealth establishment:_ Isif on vacation: "HOW THE HELL DID YOU PUNY HUMANS MANAGE TO COEXIST WITH THESE MANIC BEASTS" Bogan: "Dunno, crocman, we lost a war against them even" Isif: "NO SHIT"
I now picture humanity turning Australia into one giant hunting grounds “park” for Isif and his crew haha
Hey, actually, that's a good question -- how did Isif find out about cannibalism so fast, especially before the likes of the Venlil? Do they have unrestricted access to the internet? Are humans willingly chatting to them? Especially about such taboo topics... Or did I miss Meier bringing it up earlier?
It’s implied by Tarva even (with him not questioning the bombing and saying we “conveniently avoided” taking about lab-grown meat) that Isif found his own Internet access, since he seems to know things he shouldn’t 🙏
Not to mention that, by story time, we'd been sending every form of signals into deep space for 200 years.
Most signals we use at the moment are not even notable on the moon. it was only a short time that we used signals that were strong enough to penetrate space notable. most of the current signals try to stay so close to the noise level that in outer space they are not notable, except the ones we use to and from the far away probes. and those are so tight beam that you will not find them.
I know believe Isif stole a phone off a human body and is browsing wikipedia with a very rough idea on how to read English
You just *know* someone has already enacted rule 34 with the Arxur, current circumstances be damned. I'm enjoying picturing all of Isif's possible reactions to such content if he's found unrestricted access to the internet. lol
Between The « Humouth Challenge », the « spining Siffy » and « rule 34 », we need an chapter or a fanfiction about internet and aliens !
Oh no... unlimited access to the internet? That poor lizard...
This chapter is without a doubt my favorite so far. The continuing slow reveal that Isif isn’t just a mindless predator (*surprise*) and is capable of not just playing with herbivores but enjoys it(!) is awesome. Interestingly, it seems Marcel may not have made that connection yet, but that could be a trauma response. The discussion seems to have gone well, maybe even better than expected. Excellent as always.
Marcel could know they aren't mindless but either not trust them or doesn't want Nulia to get the idea of coming up to any Arxur even if he knows Isif wouldn't do anything. Don't talk to strangers is a normal thing we teach children because you never know what someone might do if they aren't well in the head, same case with them but we know what they would do if they could get away with it.
That is a really good point and a perspective I hadn’t considered.
Honestly, what I'm most worried about right now is the reaction of the Arxur leadership. Their hold on power seems to ultimately be dependent on the food crisis and the war, and suddenly guaranteeing a stable food supply could be incredibly destabilizing. With how authoritarian they seem to be, I could easily see them sending out a commissar to 'rectify' the situation.
hopefully a ciaphas cain type commissar instead of the guncrazed type
Might be a tad trickier than expected. Their society, by necessity, is geared around the military and those in power remain that way by controlling the food supply. By Arxur standards, a military commander who brings in several cargo ships of food ought to be extremely powerful. And, after several generations, it wouldn't surprise me if the Arxur leadership were true believers and vastly underestimated the prey species.
Looking forward to seeing more of Sovlin's mental breakdown and existential crisis.
I want to see Sovlin witness Venlil knights mounted on Arxur steeds breaking Krakotl lines backed up by charging human infantry. With Gojids running ammo.
I get the feeling the Arxur would find that demeaning, but other than that it sounds absolutely perfect.
Maybe at first. But who *wouldn't* want to charge into battle with tactical space chinchilla screaming battle cries and dumping mags while riding on your shoulder? I mean, I'm down.
Alright, you do have a point. That would be awesome.
Nice!
Nice
First off - I hope you get to the next funny number! I love this universe and don't want to see it come to an end! Now, Tarva has no way of knowing this, but no "corpses" or "bodies" or anything resembling a living creature will be grown, unless foodtek took a very weird turn in your reality. Meanwhile, in the real world, there is this: [https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/economy/1639915740-israeli-cultured-meat-company-raises-347m](https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/economy/1639915740-israeli-cultured-meat-company-raises-347m) I could not find a newer article, at least in English, but I am certain I read a few month ago they are ready for production and are seeking FDA approval so they can start selling their stakes to restaurants. It is still more expansive than real animal product and the finished thing has 50% plant matter, but they apparently had a tasting with a bunch of reporters, and everyone loved it. It even looks fairly real, at least on the published photographs... That said, I think Isif will be pleased and Tarva horrified if they ever get their paws on some 1950's cultural materials. From innocent kids playing "Cowboys and Indians" to a father getting his belt out...
Will there be another chapter from Captain Kalsim's POV?
Not for awhile! There’s a lot happening
Ok, their ingrained hatred/disgust of meat consumption is there, but it always seems to be wrapped up with the prey feels. I don’t see how they would, from a logical(probably to much to ask) standpoint, be so against lab grown meat. Lab grown was never “alive.” It never felt fear or had thoughts. It’s basically like being able to grow organs for transplant. Now, most transplants require the death of a human. But if we could grow/clone organs then life is only saved not lost. I do think the revelations that were learned/broadcast last chapter may help the governor’s case. It doesn’t look like she has heard about that yet. I look forward to seeing how this all plays out. Thank you Wordsmith!
NoP Part ^nice
So now Nulia has given us "Mawsle," "Tawva," and "Siffy." [***Protective instinct intensifies***] And now Isif is known to be a great family man. What a gigachad. Also, you're creating, in some \*certain* people's eyes, the perfect "daddy" character. You want R34 bara Isif? Because this is how you get R34 bara Isif.
you don't think that was planned with this chapter number
Who knows, maybe SP15 [saw this image](https://i.redd.it/6vz5kyl8iuj91.jpg) and became determined to make Daddy Isif for chapter 69.
With that image in mind Istif is now 10000% more daddy material.
was that typo an intended pun?
>You want R34 bara Isif? Because this is how you get R34 bara Isif. You say that like it's a bad thing.
We both know some see it as a bad thing. For the record, I'm not one of those people. While I don't swing that way, I think it would be pretty funny to see it get posted.
Unfortunately fair enough. Definitely would be funny to watch though.
***calling on*** u/Yoylecake2100 ***to do something ;)***
Why did you feel the need to give people the idea.
\*Evil laughing*
Give my my big hunky bara daddy Isif ***NAOW***
lol There you are. The space nazi daddy bara croc thirst is real.
*"It felt like a betrayal of everything the Federation believed in…"* Ohhhhh noooooo. Better not do it!!! Better keep up with those oh-so-high Fed moral standards!!!! They'd NEVER steer you wrong.... I mean, not to give Tarva a hard time, I think she's the most openminded and tries the hardest of any herbivore species, but ma'am... What, exactly, about the Federation do you still honestly believe in at this point?
To be fair, Tarva doesn't know what we know about the Feds yet and, while having been around humans for a while has helped a bit, she was still brought up with the Feds teachings. I imagine that once Cilany's video reaches Venlil Prime her opinions might change.
Even disregarding what we learned in the talks Sovlin had, she knows the Fed attacked and bombed her ally basically uncontested for no reason or justification other then "predator bad". **edit:** Also that (in her mind) possibly maybe the Fed might have started the beef with the Arxur and perhaps attempted to genocide them from the get go.(when we know that was 100% the case)
She probably hasn't gotten the news from Aafa yet.
Once the news gets around we are in line for reactions to the news to be requested, even if it will likely be one person reacting and all others in post news discussion phases. The question is whos reaction would be the most impactful. Chances are we already got the most extreme one already.
Isif makes a good point, if the federation had given the Arxur clone meat tech, instead of death, they likely would have been their greatest champions. Now Tarva needs to gather a bunch of scientists who lost people and point out this will save millions of Venil. Also it's good to see Nulia is do well, and overcoming any predator fears.
>Also it's good to see Nulia is do well, and overcoming any predator fears. It's almost like the fear of predators is a cultural thing she didn't have enough time to fully absorb on the Gojid Cradle before finding Marcel.
Absolutely this. Any conditioning she might’ve gotten probably got thrown out the window when they saved her, too. “They can’t be that bad if they saved me!”
It will be interesting to see if her real scavenger/predator instincts will surface when she is living on Earth and isn't conditioned like others of her species. Using her spikes as weapons, play hide and seek, police and criminals, catch me if you can, and other hunting games.
I've been saying that since the series started. Caution is always there when an animal meets another animal for the first time, but fear of predators at the level the feds show isn't natural. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpwXehSV0Uk
To be fair, the Federation didn't have clone meat tech. Sure they had the technology to make cloned animal tissue for testing purposes, but had no reason to develop industrialized methods to make large amounts. Granted they could develop such methods if they tried, but it wasn't an off-the-shelf solution and it wouldn't necessarily be palatable. We've been able to lab-grow "meat" for decades, but it has only recently become economically viable for niche markets and is still significantly more expensive than the real thing. Feeding a planet with explosive population growth requires a refined process. Humanity has figured it out already, so tooling up shouldn't be as difficult a task. I do think there is more reason for the Arxur to build meat factories than the Venlil. Heck, considering their past I can't imagine the Arxur would 100% trust Federation-made meat.
At last, the new adventures of Nulia the Utterly Fearless.
It goes to show that the Gojid are certainly *capable* of sanely interacting with "predators". Which means that stampede reflex has been externally imposed. Which, yes, we already knew, but... damn.
Given what we saw those stampedes do to innocent children, the introduction of that reflex is probably enough to be tried in the Hague all by itself
Stampeding is a collective instinct. When one starts to panic and flee the panic spreads to others. The more panicking individuals, the greater the instinct comes to the surface in a feedback loop until everyone in the crowd is affected. An individual can flee, but a herd of one will not stampede. Similarly, most humans in a riot would never act the way they do in a riot without the situation driving them to such behavior. It's the feedback loop that magnifies their anger and aggression. We don't know how Nulia would react if placed in a panicking crowd.
>*The Venlil extermination officers will say it’s a slippery-slope to enabling wildlife murder.* My dudes, you're already engaging in wildlife murder. >They would never think about hunting for fun. Hmm... I'm not sure how prevalent hunting is in the time period this is set in, but I would imagine that it happens. Maybe we wait for the explanations of carrying capacity and other such ecosystem knowledge, since I think in the US at least permits are given out with that in mind. I wonder how Fed/Venlil play instincts work. All sorts of animals have play instincts, usually to practice skills they need as adults. Arxur need to know how to hunt, ergo their play involves a lot of hunting practice. Maybe Fed races practice running or hiding instead? >worrisome practices I continued to uncover from any that were “desperate.” I feel like Tarva is overestimating how desperate we have to be to start eating each other. It's not like "oh man I skipped lunch, better eat my coworkers", or even simple food shortages, it only happens when the options are eat other people or die. I bet if Venlil could digest each other, they'd eat each other too if they were starving, at least before the extreme anti-predator culture was provided by the Federation. Lastly, I'm proud of Tarva for these talks. Yes she's stuttering, but she showed up anyway, and is holding a conversation with an Arxur where they both act like reasonable people and don't just insult each other the whole time. I bet if Venlil had been around nonhostile Arxur for as long as they've been around humans, they'd be able to hold normal conversations like they do with humans, even if the baggage wouldn't evaporate.
It was mentioned in bonus content, but without specifics, a lot of Venlil games involve building things. Tarva is definitely trying! She’s the only Fed who’s referred to an Arxur by gendered pronouns. She did it before this meeting, even if she slipped for a second when she thought he was eating Nulia.
>a lot of Venlil games involve building things. Minecraft: Herbivore Edition seems like less of a meme now. So stuff like Cities: Skylines, Simcity, Space Engineers (minus gunz), Cooking/Restaurant games (minus meat recipes), and sim games in general would be greatly appreciated by them.
peaceful mode factorio would probably have to be outlawed by the venlil like drugs, that game is already addictive to us! actually, it probably doesnt even need to be in peaceful mode since the biters are predators, and you can use flamethrowers as defense/offense
Honestly, if you remove the bugs, you could get away with just refactoring the Pollution mechanic to degrade equipment (in high enough quantities) and maybe trigger environmental effects that would be bad for the player/machinery, maybe add a Heat management system for additional complexity in factory construction (to add sufficient complexity without combat/defences in the mix). Yeah, a "Cracktorio: Vegan Edition" sounds feasible.
Wait until they discover the game of hide and seek. literally all about seeking about and finding your prey. and hiding from predators bigger than you.
Honestly a lot of games kids play could be considered "predatory". Can't speak for other cultures' games, but hide and seek is about "prey" hiding from a "predator" trying to find them. Tag is about running away from a "predator", in dodgeball you're throwing objects at other people to try to "kill" them, some games are straight-up roughhousing like wrestling, king of the hill or certain sports. Games do help us develop useful skills. Maybe we aren't learning how to hunt antelope on the savannah, but we learn social skills, dexterity, aim, endurance, and some basic physical skills by playing physical games. I bet aliens would have a hard time playing endurance-based games, and possibly throwing-based games depending on how good the aliens are at that.
Given that our evolutionary niche was formed by our intellect, endurance, *and* throwing skill all combined, I would guess that the number of herbivore species that fit the bill are incredibly low. I think it's noted in the early chapters that humans seem to have much better aim than anyone else, even without a targeting computer like the Feds seem to rely on. And given Kalsim's reaction to our endurance, we are probably high-percentile when it comes to that, too. In summary, when it comes to things like dodgeball and other human sports, there's probably very few where we'd expect another species to have a good chance of beating us. Arxur win in strength contests, but likely gas out comparatively quickly. Venlil likely only have advantages in non-contact sports that favour agility (might beat us in things like hurdles or long jump, I imagine they can jump pretty well). Krakotl can fly, but have terrible bone density and thus would fare badly in most human sports. The rest I don't think we know enough about, but we can be confident are unlikely to outshine us at our own games, at least most of the time.
"it would be betraying everything the federation believed in" Tarva, dear, I fought you would have understood by now that everything the federation preaches is bullshit. And the extermination officers making a fuss about wildlife murder? That's literally their job.
besides, they’re not growing actual carcasses so ur simply eating something that is nonliving ie never having lived at all
I wonder how they would feel about giving ham over, knowing how dangerous pigs are, that they would kill and eat them without a thought.
They'd obviously see them as predators and wouldn't count
SIFFY. Oh my lord Siffy that's precious. Also noooooo, the Arxur don't have cities. That puts my fanfic in "irreparably far from canon". I knew I'd learn more if I waited before continuing it. Oh well < w>
> Also noooooo, the Arxur don't have cities. That puts my fanfic in "irreparably far from canon". I knew I'd learn more if I waited before continuing it. Oh well < w> Isif could've just shown a picture of were he grew up, maybe that's a town near an actual center of industry, or some suburbs. Cities could still exist but since the Arxur are solitary by nature they (the cities) could be viewed as undesireable to live in, populated only by the Arxur who need to live in them to work in whatever industries are there, those industries could even be stuff that *has* to be together, if only to greatly decrease logistical complexities. In short, Arxur cities could be much more industrialized, but still more "roomy" as far as streets go, and with a lot of rail/skyrail connections between factories/foundries/etc to be as eficient as possible and to keep the minimum amount of Arxur needed to run things as low as possible.
> Cities could still exist but since the Arxur are solitary by nature they (the cities) could be viewed as undesireable to live in, populated only by the Arxur who need to live in them to work in whatever industries are there, those industries could even be stuff that has to be together, if only to greatly decrease logistical complexities. So... the poor and unfortunate have to live in cities, and the rich get country estates? Well **that** sounds familiar... ;)
Also with how it seems like the govenment controls the population their cities likely aren't as populated as ours, so more space but more dwellings closer together than what was shown. He could be showing her his family as I'd imagine as Chief hunter he would be able to provide decent housing.
Think US urban sprawl is horrendous? Try Arxur :P
a city full of shunned extorvert Arxurs.
I won't be surprised if the Arxurs return all the Venlil and it causes a MASSIVE famine because there are too Many "herbivores" at the same time on the same place.
That would actually be fairly hilariously ironic. :D
Of course there is a Easy answer for Tarva, give the Humans on Venlil Prime actual employment and let them do the growing. She has a sentient workforce doing nothing but consuming resources, and apparently bomb manufacture. Humans would not object to animal protein, and with helping the Arxur, whose actions saved the part of Earth that the Federation had not gotten to yet.
>The Venlil extermination officers will say it’s a slippery-slope to enabling wildlife murder. Oh Jesus they treat random wild animals in the woods with the same moral agency/weight as sapient's don't they? Which makes the whole 'burn infant predators alive' thing even more hypocritical.
They treat random wild *herbivores* with the same moral weight.
Yes, there was a case where a aircraft crashed in some snowy mountains and while awaiting rescue the survivors were forced to eat the bodies of the dead passengers and crew or else they’d starve. Even then, it has a very negative effect on the human mind, but self preservation comes above all else.
The Donner Party. The Ukrainian Holodomor. The Chinese Great Leap Forward.
So many sieges...
Obviously the news and truth about The Federations long running genocides and war crimes haven't reached Earth or the Venlil. Can't wait to see the fallout of the bombshell dropping on everyone
The return to Sovlin next chapter will tackle the fallout!
Oh sweet Anarchy, how i love thee.....
Oh, man. That's gonna be interesting, I suspect. Tarva: \*turns head to Isif\* "So... wanna go kick their asses together?"
>“Yes, roar! Roar at that Venlil! It’ll be funny!” Nulia is the best confirmed. >If I understood how scent worked, Venlil are not snakes confirmed
I think Isif might be my favorite character. Previously, I was concerned he was playing the long game, but seeing him interacting playfully with a prey child has convinced me otherwise. Also, Isif mentioned having a ‘mother’, which disproves the Federation’s claim that Arxur abandon their young immediately after birth. I wonder how their family units work? It actually makes a lot of sense to compare them here to alligators, as they’re one of few reptile species that cares for their young.
Depends on just how much they favor solitary life, I can see their "family unit" being a mother raising children until they're independent and then pushing them out of the house.
Mama Isif: "GET OUT OF MY SWAMP"
You got me good with that bait & switch, space man; I was scared that the Arxur were gonna be the bad guys again.
Isif is growing on me more and more. Kinda curious on how he will react to the federations misdeeds. Im pretty sure once word gets out humans arxur venil gojid and a bunch of other species are gonna band together and kick some ass.
It probably won't effect him that much. He already knows what the Federation did to his species (possibly even believes a worse story than the actual truth). I doubt he very much cares what the Federation did to other Federation species, given that he, you know, *eats* them.
Hmm isif seems a little different and i think it would make him despise the feds even more, but maybe redirect it to the responsible species.
It's funny Tarva takes issue with being called a 'prey' species when it's the federation, including Tarva, that pushed that narrative in the first place. That she suddenly finds it insulting shows a lot of growth, even if she hasn't fully realized it yet. It's also a bit 'throwing stones in glass houses' to criticize cannibalism for survival in extreme circumstances when 1.herbivores couldn't survive that way in the first place so wouldn't even have the option and 2.stampedes where they panic and kill each other seem relatively common in circumstances much less dire than when people resort to cannibalism. While I understand Tarva's political concerns, after all she can't do anything if she's deposed, I think we might be a *bit* past optics at this point. I think if she brings the Venlil 'cattle' home that should be enough to excuse the growing of meat, at least if the Venlil are half as empathetic as they claim to be. That being said I think a pre-emptive political maneuver against the extermination officers might be in order since they seem to be the primary political force Tarva is worried about opposing her. Perhaps they can be made to look bad by playing some recordings of what they *actually* do which is normally kept out of the public eye, especially when the news from the Federation drops. Even better as governor perhaps she could twist their arm into *helping* with the meat production with the excuse that of all the Venlil they'll have the strongest stomachs for dealing with meat, conveniently making them complicit in the process. Whatever form it takes I definitely think undercutting their perceived 'moral high ground' is a priority in order to maintain the support of the people. I'm sure some human politicians would be willing to help her craft a strategy, we do have experience with dirty politics after all.
> 2.stampedes where they panic and kill each other seem relatively common in circumstances much less dire than when people resort to cannibalism. THANK YOU. This is an **excellent** point. "You semi-sapient fucktards kill each other in droves if someone sneezes too loudly and startles the wrong person. I don't think you've got a lot of room for moral posturing here, lady."
Tarva cooked up the lie of the “humans” so that we could have first contact with friendly “predators” and it inevitably results in an attack on a memorial for the lives lost on the supposed “attack on the human homeworld”, this was not an accident, this was planned, Tarva is using the attack as an excuse to increase security so she could oppress us, she is going to use the ships supposedly sent to the “humans” to take over our nation BY FORCE if we don’t do anything about it, TARVA DID 10/26 HUMANS ARENT REAL SHE IS DESTROYING THE VENLIL REPUBLIC SPREAD THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS
#Humanarentreal #WakeupSheepie
To be honest, I can easily see this backfiring on Isif more than anyone else. Tarva's made her general alliance and predator-friendly stance obvious for months now, but the Arxur's *Chief Hunter* returning home with Fed-sourced lab meat rather than human grown livestock? Idk, seems like the average Arxur has very strong feelings about the LAST time they got a "gift" from Feds... and it only takes one disgruntled Venlil to mess with what they hand over. And on that note, tbh, it's pretty bold of him to demand anything of her. Granted, he's right the Arxur have been facing extinction and this is the pragmatic answer, but they've still been terrorising and victimising people like the Venlil for decades at the very least. If my home was getting raided on the reg and then, as semi-"peace talks," the guys doing it demanded my labour to feed them, I would probably be rather unhappy with that, lol.
> but the Arxur's Chief Hunter returning home with Fed-sourced lab meat rather than human grown livestock? I think if it's mostly talked of as a gift by the humans it will probably be fine. Feeding people and stopping hunger wins you a LOT of protection against ideological backlash.
the Venlil aren't part of the federation anymore, the Arxur probably consider their planet as "occupied" by humans
The spoiler art was right. Isif and Nulia are adorable. In other news, Isif and Tarva both make good points, and we continue to see more of Sara. Wonderful chapter!
I woke up literally five minutes ago and the first thing I see on Reddit is this.
Minor comment. Civilian officials do not return salutes. Retired Lt General Mark Hertling made that point on Twitter when retired General, now Sec of Defence Lloyd Austin had to restrain himself from returning the salute from his honor guard.
> Civilian officials do not return salutes. As a generality, they're aren't *required* to return salutes; they may do so if they want to, but don't have to nor are they prohibited from doing so. It's optional on the part of civilians. There are some specific situations, like military funerals where civilians are expected to *not* salute, but that's a matter of etiquette than forbiddence.
“The Venlil extermination officers will say it’s a slippery slope to enabling wildlife murder” has to be one of the biggest examples of cognitive dissonance in the entire series. Something ironic about a profession literally called an “extermination officer” being worried over the idea of spilt blood.
Humm... Isif seems like our key to some semblance of a happy ending here. I'm definitely jinxing it, but how's he going to die?
Nulia is the most precious character and must be protected at all costs. Thanks for the chapter mate!
Always my pleasure!!
***The Commonwealth Weekly*** ***A World of Eternal Fire and Ice*** ***October 15th 2176*** **Aboard the Autonomously Operated Scouting Ship CWS Canberra it's sensors picked up a planet with an incredibly large and highly Eccentric orbit named officially as "CWP-14A-1711" with the nickname of "Inkanyamba"** **According to computer simulations it experiences has a period of incredible desert and slushball world conditions that span over 100 earth years each with spring and autumn conditions being present for 200 years in its 600 year orbit** **"it's an incredible feat that life not only has developed but thrived in such extreme conditions" said in a Press Release by the Commonwealth Institute on Xenobiology** **The hunt for "Extremely Elliptical Habitable Planets" continue as the Commonwealth continues its expansion of its borders and it's accumulation of knowledge**
You had to have had this pre-written, cuz *damn* thats fast.
Even u/SpacePaladin15 comment story summaries are pre written
Well yeah, he’s the author :) You on the Patreon?
*insert obligatory comment on chapter number here* Okay, now that I'm done giggling like a schoolboy about the number 69 (snort) *ahem* It's nice to see Tarva and Isif opening a proper dialogue like reasonable Sapients. And Nulia is just too cute for words. I would also like to second a thought put forth by one of my esteemed colleagues down here in the comment section: let the human refugees on Venlil Prime work in the factories producing the artificial meat. I promise they'd prefer to be doing *anything* over *nothing,* and bored humans is how you get more I.E.D.s, probably
You know, Arxurs living in huts really makes me wonder how their technological progression was before they were uplifted.
They were going through their own world War when the Federation came, so I'm assuming there was some industry. Eugenics was also a thing just getting started, so some knowledge of genetic inheritance must've existed (never thought I would ever type this). I'm just going to guess that their weapons tech and basic science was far more developed than their architecture. Why build fancy houses when a simple hut works?
there's a combination of unreliable narrator, different standards of living, and the reality of a species wholly mobilized for total war. Some people lived in huts (peripheral and far rurals for example) in the USSR during world war 2 while the bleeding edge of industry pumped out aircraft, analogue computers, rocketry, and gigantic metallurgic foundries. Proliferation of tech is not equal.
It seems less like they lacked the tech for other buildings, and more that they prefer solitary or smaller living spaces, well spaced out from each other. To be fair, they're apparently not naturally social beings like humans, so this seems like their compromise on that.
I wouldn't be too worried about the cannibalism thing, Tarva. If anything, the priority list on cannibalism would definitely place Venlil at the bottom and humans at the top. ... Okay, maybe the Krakotl go above humans at least for a while. Anyway, if we're stranded on a snowy mountain or something with limited supplies, I'm sure the Venlil are going to be grateful that humans even *can* eat the dead instead of the food available to them. Isif is right. People can act as dignified as they want when their tummies are full and their homes are cozy. Wonder how many Federation races would be able to endure hunger during an emergency like that? In fact, let's make it a social experiment. A human and a few Federation races have to survive for an extended period of time on meager rations. The human gets an extra "meat ration" though, and has to place their vegetarian rations out in the open. If the Federation races resort to stealing his share out of hunger, they'll be complicit in making him "resort to cannibalism" when his only remaining option is the meat rations. I'm not sure how good these aliens are at coping with hunger, but I'm willing to bet several of them will fail the challenge.
Isif's footage of an average Arxur settlement is literally a quaint Asian village with a forest dojo.
Hmm. So the Arxur homeworld is named Wriss. Which means "rock". So very close to "Earth", is it not? For some reason, I'm imagining a lion lazing away the day on a large rock outcropping while soaking up the sun. I imagine that's the kind of rock the Arxur were thinking about when they named their homeworld: a home or comforting place to rest.
69 hehe
Also, Isif playing with Nulia is absolutely adorable
Nice
Once again Isif impresses me with his tact and willingness to work with just about anyone in order to achieve a lasting peace. Educating himself regarding Venlil body language, despite not having prior knowledge that Tarva would be visiting, shows a level of consideration surpassing even that of some of the humans. He is a very valuable ally to be sure; I just hope nothing turns him against us, as that same intelligence would make him a nightmare of an enemy. Also, getting some insight into Arxur architecture and society was an interesting treat. It makes sense that solitary hunters would prefer to have their homes far apart, and makes me wonder what it is like in a large Arxur manufacturing city. Does being forced into close contact with many of their own kind wear on their psyche? Could humans help lend efficiency and automation to their production facilities to help ease the tension along with the promise of widely available non-sapient food sources? I think it is clear, now more than ever, that the Arxur need humans nearly as much as we need the Arxur. What we lack, presently, in military might, we make up for with our adaptability regarding supply lines and material acquisition. If there is one thing we seem to have over some of the xenos species, it is that humans tend to value efficiency and logistics to a high degree; largely because the role such things have had in shaping the nature of our own conflicts of yesteryear. As always a fun read, and I very much look forward to the inevitable hilarity of Isif trying to play nice with other federation dignitaries. Edit: I am also proud of Tarva for not immediately fainting after coming upon a scene that initially very much looked like an Arxur mauling a Gojid child.
Cant wait for the backlash of that video confession from the prev chapters but knowing the federation they'll stirr up some other bullshit to cover it up.
I feel like isif is the NOP equivalent of thrawn
Hello
Hello 👋
Knocking on the door would have been polite...
The prion disease is good world-building!
[TNOP Abridged](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureofPredators/comments/yhv9qg/ok_so_get_this/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), now brought to *you!* - *69* ~ Glorious Tisif content! Governor Tarva and Chief-Hunter Isif have a civil chat about their circumstances and what to do going forward. Beforehand, we get to witness Isif playing with Marcel’s Dark Vessel, her mind warped by corruptive magic to the degree that her fear response has been eroded into nigh-suicidal anticipation and exhilaration. Adorable!
A good way for her to convince the Venlil people is to propose growing the meat as a form of even better quality insurance for their human comrades. Now anytime a Venlil sees a human eating meat they can know *they* made it, and thus it's not from a farm. It might not be the most moral thing for them, but it's better than "letting the humans be humans". Play up the prejudice just a small bit to be able to form an even stronger cultural bond between the two alien allies. It allows the Venlil populace to feel like they are helping humanities "predation" while also give Humanity a new food factory in a time that they desperately need imports due to the attacks on earth.
Y'know, I wonder if there's been some sneaky bioengineering done on the prey races to enhance their fear response since the start of the war with the Arxur in an attempt to make diplomacy difficult if not outright impossible. Because here on earth you'll still see predator and prey species just coexisting peacefully without the prey panicking. Just look at watering holes in Africa. You'll see lions and zebras just chilling out, drinking and relaxing next to eachother.
Upvote -> read! Let’s go!!