bickando

F ā l ' s W o r l d With its wanton festivities over, Fāl's World returns to business as usual - that is, little happens on the cold, arid military planet other than the continued drilling of its armies. In the stars above, the Heavy Cruiser The Coin watches traffic with an eager eye, ready for the next Vennendalic shipment to legally prey upon...or to let through, for a sufficient bribe... [5000C] - A huge chunk of the planet's economy is diverted into searching the once-fort planet and still-hyperlane chokepoint for any Imperial Naval Reserve ships still in the system or on-world, mothballed somewhere long-forgotten... On a side note, Soen and Cor-ne are kept in the highest levels of security after the disaster at Orteau, protected by thousands of Remnant Guards and much of the XXXIVth in the capital of Orsia. Htun, the middle brother, is kept under slightly less guard, presumably because he's ugly enough to go unnoticed. [3768] Taxes done separately because I already hit execute turn.

He had heard of it two years ago, of course, because he was part of the Haenser government-sponsored terrorist organization that had massacred all Orenian men, women, and children witnesses after launching an Intercontinental Black Magick [ICBM] at Dobrov.

As [ELFSKI1] beheld the carnage, a shiver went down their spine. How far had the Haensers fallen, to have launched black magick bombs at the Empire and slaughtered innocents en masse? Were they not all Humans beneath GOD?

I couch-surfed with Father Temesch! Now I raise my sword to defend him from the taxman! says tiuthwyn fervently.

"Why are they calling her Princess Ivarielle the First if they don't recognize her...?" asked a curious tavern-going elf garbed in loose red travel-wear, to nobody in particular. "Surely they should have given her some deprecating nickname instead..."

F ā l ' s W o r l d = | + | = Halfway across the Mid Rim, the Vennendalische government panicked and cursed the name of Fāl's World as the ERTC blockade was honored. On the crossroads of the Inner and Mid Rims, however, one of the biggest parties Fāl's World had ever seen was being hosted in celebration. First came the ERTC tankers, laden with spoils equivalent to their new, distant colonies - ships full of oil, ready to power the planet's industry. Then came the treasure ships, filled with rare and exotic animals, gemstones, drinks and drugs - enough to pay for Legion XXXIV on its own. As they transferred the newfound resources on-world, the Legion officials, after conferring with their Governess-General, made an executive decision. They'd use some of their new wealth. = | + | = [25,000C] - In lounges, bars and officer clubs across the capital, exotic liquors and drugs, imported Inner Rim hookers and unique dishes flood their tables and bars, bought and paid for by the Planetary Command Center for a self-indulgent week of festivities, nearly every figure of note from mayor-up, and definitely every attractive figure on the planet, in attendance. The ERTC representatives, in-system to assist with the blockade management and act as a liason for the yearly resource transfer, are invited to the very best - the hotel bar in the Command Center itself, which had been turned into a giant nightclub specifically for the occasion, and in which every important adult on Fāl's World let loose for the wee. Of course, only those with reservations are allowed into the Orsia Command Center's actual restaurant. Great sea urchin ceviche.

In the halls of a palace in the sky, a pretty princess sat on a bench, bittersweetly ready to greet her best friend (and first favorite lover, not that she had any!!!).

F ā l ' s W o r l d Breaking News - Vennendalische Forces invade peaceful merchant enclaves? "We're standing aboard The Pierce'n'Pierce with Commander Dai-si of the Imperial Navy. Lieutenant, can you tell us a little about what our infallible leaders might be thinking?" "Well, Lieutenant Sera, let me show you something." At that, the well-built Dai-si turned, aiming a laser pointer at a previously-unseen projector screen, on it a map of the old Empire. "As you can see, here we are." She pointed to the center of the map, where Fāl's World sat upon a clearly important-looking hyperlane. "Imperial forces are still in control of the majority of the Inner and Outer Rims, seen here," At that, she aimed her pointer at the Imperial and Republican-controlled territories. "But, as we all know, Irik hold the Core. One warlord, Vennendal, up here," she pointed her cursor past the northern sectors of """Imperial""" control, towards a menacing, gray blob, "Has recently attacked an Imperial trade company that had been charged with containing the Irik. As such, along with the Imperial forces in the Outer Rim, we have no choice but to prevent their ships from entering or leaving our space, or else they'd jeopardize the grain shipments that the Eastern Rim Trade Company provides." Sera nodded along, flashing a perfect newscaster smile to the camera. "There you have it folks. Back to you, Sergeant Ji." "Thanks, Lieutenant Sera," spoke another well-built man in the Valentiin suit nearly every Fāl's Worlder officer, commissioned or not, wore. "Next; HIH Penden's tearful goodbye ceremony as she boards a ship to sunny Orteau. Then, can you guess HIH Cör-ne's new favorite scope? Later, squadron training is beginning in the academies - learn what that means for your young cadet!" = | + | = Perhaps the House of Fāl has grown skittish, with the warmongering in their new allies along the Irik border; perhaps they simply have a soft spot for merchants. Whatever the case, Fāl's World announces that it is taking up ERTC bounties and blockading Vennendal-affiliated shipping through its hyperlane, both in an attempt to promote stability in the Core-close region of space and to prevent the Republican turmoil from reaching the Inner Rim. Penden, the very pretty middle sister of the House of Fāl, boards a ship bound for Orteau guarded by 100 Remnant Guards. [12M, 40,000C] - The two state academies on Fāl's World are replaced by four naval industrial-facilities. Order for the Supreme Lord: -Commworld: 8 Comm Districts, 1 State Academy -Miningworld: 10 Refineries

F ā l ' s W o r l d i have an airplane to catch after work today and a lot of work to catch up on sorry boys

i think something must be wrong, your forum tag says nation leader

@Monkee

F ā l ' s W o r l d "It is the opinion of this panel that nothing and nobody worth knowing has ever come from Fāl's World." -Imperial Commission for Cultural Studies, 10305 AE = | + | = What defines an imperial backwater? Is it the listlessness of a population bound in servitude to a corrupt governor, bound forever to work far harder for far less than others? Is it the Outer Rim frontiers, where a glass of Kaumai Crystal costs more than its weight in crystal? In the relatively peaceful years after Rän-var's ascension, as the Empire reorganized itself and sought fresh talent to repopulate the academies of the Core Worlds, a Commission was created to answer this exact question. The answer? That its best example was Fāl's World, a cold, arid planet known best for the exile of an Emperor's third son and as a glorified refuelling station for Rän-var's fleet on its way to reconquer the Core from a Senate that had long overstepped its bounds. Here was a perfect example of a world that enjoyed a station far too high above its worth; its capital, Orsia, was populated primarily by tourists from the Outer Rim, there to see the spectacle of (distant) members of the Imperial House that seemed to have been a diplomatic gift from the Emperor himself, that they might feel closer to him. Of course, this white lie was well-known to the actually powerful of the Empire; by 10305, five hundred years had passed since the death of the aptly-nicknamed Coin Emperor for whose son the planet was named; Rän-var was more closely related to a dozen admirals and a hundred generals than he was to his Orsian cousins, and all parties involved were clear on the subject - make no trouble, and the children of Fāl could retain their secondhand prestige. They were even allotted an attachment of Imperial Guards, though this was definitely by tradition rather than actually protecting - or protecting the Empire against - anyone with ambition and claims. The second largest demographic of Orsia was Legion XXXIV and its auxiliaries; the legion had served with distinction in the Imperial Restoration, and in turn was granted the important - but more importantly, fairly cushy - job of guarding the fastest hyperlane from the Inner Rim to the Outer. The general population was spread out across poor farms and refinery-cities, and held a mixture of the Outer Rim near-worship of the Imperial House and Core World self-preservation instinct that made for the perfect citizen; loyal to the Empire to a fault, well-fed enough not to starve, poor enough not to get too dangerous an education. Orsia itself was centered around the Orsian Gardens Building, an ironically-named structure - for it was a barren, step-pyramid-shaped structure, a fortress so outdated many assumed it to have been built when the Inner Rim was still the Outer Rim, and not upgraded since. At its center was a skyscraper, stout on any Inner Rim city-world, barely the size of a normal building on any Core World, but positively looming here - the Command Center, to which the Governor had been granted one of the first hereditary commands in the Empire, in a time when the Senate was still cowed by the tyrant Hiå-vek. From here, they were also the General of the XXXIVth Legion - a formality, it seemed, given their lack of skill so apparent their name hadn't been noted in the dissertation. The rest of the city had, generally, two or three stories aboveground and five or six below, for the surface temperatures rarely grazed 10C (50F), and frankly it was cheaper to build and maintain a sprawling network of underground roads and tunnels than it was to keep the city heated. The chief industry of the city was to cater to the paychecks of the Legion; of the planet, to resupply the Legion. Its second largest industry, of course, was also tourism; while the planet itself was devoid of anything unique whatsoever, what other world in the Inner or Outer Rims had the Imperial House, Imperial Guards, and a famous legion? So it could certainly be said, and indeed was certainly said, loudly and clearly to the assembled Senate of 10305, that further funding of Fāl's World was not only pointless, but that even the incidental boons granted in passing or by unfortunate, centuries-old accidents, were likely too much benefit to it... = | + | = And so, for another hundred years, just as for the five hundred before, Fāl's World was forgotten. Imperial Census-masters did not bother to come, instead fudging the books from the comfort of more central city-worlds; Admirals stayed in orbit only long enough to have the XXXIV Legion's Signalling Corps send psykic messages as required; Lords and Governors stayed only long enough to refuel their ships on their way to far more important worlds. Yet this state of affairs was not bad for the planet; as generations came and went, so too did the economy of the otherwise desolate backwater catch up due only to the incidental. A pair of State Academies was built, both by alumni of the Legion that wanted better educations for military brats; and as the Legion went from new warfighting equipment to the slow burn of maintenance, industries were build up around them to compensate for fewer and fewer requisitions being approved from the Core. Legion XXXIV, commanded by the descendants of Fāl, became the primary tool of the Governor General, and most state expenses were in its continued training and maintenance. In a stroke of strange luck, it was thereby able to stay at the stringent standards of the Imperial Core even as the Empire fractured. When the Civil War finally came, both sides' junior generals and commodores made the same executive decision; it was not worth it to land on Fāl's World when there were far better targets in all systems around it. The Orsian Imperials had a single ship in their mighty arsenal and had declared neutrality - but more importantly than their neutrality, their Guards and Legion too declared their support for the planet's Governor-General, Lwin, who made it clear that the cost for taking his barely-even-income planet would be both its native legion and at least two of similar quality - and why glass a staunchly human planet when it gave full rights to its lanes? So, as the months came and passed, fleet after fleet chased each other back and forth across the system, the planetary defenses kicking in when either side came too close to the planet but, as promised, left them alone so long as they skirted it. Seeking more and more minute advantages, the civil war fleets swept further and further from the planet's orbit and began to glass each others' border systems; by its end, Fāl's World rested in the ruined wastes of a once-prosperous hyperlane, but had yet survived. Lwin lived to see his planet begin to prosper as an uneasy peace was forced between the two, but forty years after the end of the Civil War, an insane Aokigahara thought that he needed to sacrifice someone of the Imperial House to usher in the apocalypse (which, frankly, many others believed was already happening...). That someone was Lwin, captured on a rare trip without Guards - his only in the last half-century. His wife followed him soon after to the grave, believing their cause lost without the veteran governor. = | + | = Aokigahara's...incident, has changed little about the position of Fāl's World, in the grand scheme of things. Governor-General Lwin's eldest daughter, Soen, was born and raised in the Orsian First Imperial Academy, her teachers commanders and lieutenants, then majors and colonels. The descendants of Fāl were the darlings of their Legion, and the Legion their most prized possession; grand (as grand as the world could afford), solemn processions marked the accession of the then twenty-seven year old Soen to the Governor's Office of the Command Center. Frankly, little changed - only that Soen cracked down on piracy, to the extent of using the main battery of her flagship, THE COIN, to shoot down undocumented vessels attempting to pass through her system. This has included, but not been limited to, eighth-degree subordinates of the Pirate King, small-time pirate crews, Imperial spice smugglers, Republican trade ships that were carrying a hundred more units of cargo than declared, relief vessels that had moved at such speed that they arrived before their documents announced, refugee transports fleeing from the Irik scourge in the Core, and otherwise... On the other hand, however, so long as vessels had adequate papers for every unit in their ship, irregardless of whether it was slaves or drugs or guns, if the vessel was approved by the Republic or ERTC and one of the neighboring Imperial warlords on the opposite end of the hyperlane, it was waved through with a rubber stamp. Actions The Governess General's thirty-second birthday is marked with a small chocolate mousse, itself a delicacy whose ingredients had to be brought from off-planet, and purchased for her against her will by Paal Alln d'Orsia and a few other subordinates... Fāl's World has once again either spent its money on maintenance or put it straight into the treasury. Budget

Fāl's World "Fāl's World? Why would you want to go there? Huh? Who cares how hot their women are when they're all Legion-nuts?" History & Culture: The story of Fāl's World truly begins with the sinking of the Hi-nui and the beginning of the War of Twelve Claimants. The first son of Fāl was weak-willed and bookish, prone to the deceits of overly-ambitious governors. His father's untimely death led to catastrophy; the poorly named Rūr-vai XXIV lasted only two days on his throne before the Senate declared its own Emperor and, in time, ten other claimants stood for the Starcast Throne. Among these were not only cousins and uncles, but the more far-flung relations of those that had mere drops of Rūr-vai XXI's blood. Half a millennia had come and gone since Rūr-vai XII ascended to the throne atop the carcass of the Republic and burning ruins of the Core; his blood was spread wide. Only the third-most-popular claimant was Rūr-vai XXIV's third brother, Thein (stylized Fāl-uhr), a child that had begun to display Psykic powers, propped up by a portion of the Imperial Guard and Psykics loyal to the late Emperor Fāl. Neither Rūr-vai XXIV nor Thein would control the Starcast Throne, in the end - as the Empire would vividly remember in the years to come, Governor Kur'skan rampaged through the Core and burned Kaumai to take it. Rūr-vai XXIV was among the candidates in talks among Kaumai's many palaces; his death, and the death of half the other claimants, was used to solidify the newly minted Hiå-vek's rule. Thein, however, was offworld - visiting his mother's family among the larger governorships of the Inner Rim. More importantly, the child was popular among the Guard and the Psykics - so in a rare act of pacification, he was allowed to live so long as he gave up his claim and the claims of all his descendants. Given a child's toy, a puzzle, in trade, the young boy accepted. With a single squad of Imperial Guards and ten Psykics, he was declared governor of Orsia, a remote and boring refueling star between the Mid and Outer Rims. This was the birth of Fāl's World - named truly after Fāl-uhr, Thein's would-be regnal name, that refueling star grew over the centuries into a minor beacon of pilgrimage between the outskirt rims of the Empire. Thein's descendants, after all, were true blood of Rūr-vai, after all, regardless of their growing distance to the throne's figurehead. Here, the unfortunate descendants of a failed claimant were allowed to continue their existence, and even continued to receive reinforcements to their allocation of Imperial Guards. Thanks in part to its good positioning, the relatively barren planet slowly grew in population with the popularity of pre-Hatī-min stories told among the Absolutists, and soared when Rän-var used it as a secondary staging point as he mustered his fleets in the Outer Rim. Fāl's World became a designated Imperial base, complete with legions and a small garrison fleet, and even after Rän-var took the Starcast Throne, the planet stayed as such. Thein's descendants renewed their declaration of abandonment of claims, and in turn they retained their long-since hereditary governorship, finding use as a signalling station as fewer and fewer Psykics were sent to the territories of the Outer Rim. With the growing instability of the Empire, however, and its rendering in two by the machinations of Republicans and Loyalists, the hyperlane that Fāl's World occupied became the site of a staring contest between the two in the Civil War. As the scope of the war grew, however, invasions were launched, and the systems bordering Fāl's World were decimated or glassed in retaliation by vengeful warlords, one by one. Fāl's World was saved only by the timely intervention of Erasmis - the abrupt end to the Civil War left the declared-neutral planet miraculously intact, and its Signalling Corps has since been used as a diplomatic middleman between the Republic and Southern Imperial Warlords. Also one of the only truly safe hyperlanes between the Republic and the Middle Rim, given the volatility of the EGPA and overrunning of the core, its capital of Orsia has become a neutral physical meeting grounds and port otherwise, overseen by a disinherited and visibly unambitious branch family of the Royal Bloodline - their only real demand to be left alone. The past fifty years has seen the planet avidly continuing its military training and defense buildup, preparing for the grim possibility of either or both sides invading to use as a staging ground for the other - while at the same time, doing its best to ensure that the system's peaceful nature is clear, that any such war might avoid catastrophic damage to the system. While the planet's culture is remarkably similar to a Core World, given its historically-present legion and ruling bloodline, it has made necessary changes based on circumstance - there are few lavish parties on the cool, arid surface of the planet, and its military-run academy system (originally the primary, and now only, feeder planet into Legion XXXIV) rations not just food but nearly every moment of a young citizen's life, from birth till graduation. The best are selected to serve as comrades of the governor, members of Orsia's garrisons and stations otherwise - the rest, condemned to a life that, while not uncomfortable, has neither upward movement nor great prospects otherwise. Even if they could afford to move to the unstable Republic or even less-so Middle Rim, however, few do - after all, to serve even as a citizen cog on Fāl's World is to serve divine blood, an increasingly rare and increasingly glorified distinction in the modern, chaotic galaxy. Notable Characters: Governor Soen Descendant of Thein, and therefore a direct descendant of the Royal Bloodline, Soen is the hereditary governor of Fāl's World and General of the XXXIV Legion. Her late father guided Fāl's World through the Civil War with a mix of diplomacy and pragmatism; she, however, was raised not by the remnants of the Signalling Corps, but by the Remnant Guard on-planet. Her militarism in academy was well-known, but her father's death in a hostage situation-gone-wrong orchestrated by the Pirate King (and her mother's subsequent suicide) made her far moreso - she's most well-known for shooting down an unauthorized-but-unarmed Republic-bound refugee ship that had been fleeing from the Core the moment it entered her system. While she is a very young and unmarried 32-year-old, her three siblings, a brother and two sisters, are even younger - Htun (the ugliest of the bunch, and therefore the black sheep) and Penden (the dumbest of the bunch, and therefore prime material to be sold off) are still teenagers in private tutelage in the palace-tower, known colloquially as the Orsia Gardens Building, while Cör-ne is only twelve. Commander Paal Alln d'Orsia A native to Fāl's World, his family has stewarded its capital of Orsia for the children of Fāl for as long as they have ruled it. Has a special penchant for space urchin ceviche. He doesn't know it, but distantly-related Paddrik Baderman d'Orsia, who is far, far uglier, thinks of him as a nemesis. Unique Military Units Remnant Guard The Remnant Guard was previously three squadrons of Imperial Guards, allocated ceremonially to the distant branch family for seven hundred years. While those sent by the Core had long since grown old and died, a mixture of their descendants and the very best genetics that could be mustered from among the population is trained from birth to serve the bloodline - post-Empire, they have been called the Remnant Guard, though they are still officially the XIII Guard. No matter the investment into their continued upkeep, however, Fāl's World is no Core planet, and its political abandonment has left it lacking in heavy weaponry. To compensate, their guardians have become heavily invested in on an individual basis, with lifelong training and experimental cybernetics, but lacking in such things as power armor and the heavier ordinances that accompany them. Their manuals and still-unimaginably tough training, a combination of what the Imperial Guard was once taught in Kaumai and other, dirtier street fighting taken from frontier worlds, prevents the Remnant Guard from obsolescence, and they have rested comfortably at the top of the local food chain since. Legion XXXIV Signalling Corps - Psykics Pre-Civil War, Fāl's World was used by the Empire as a collection point for requests from the Outer Rim, and so its Legion was host to a Psykic Signalling Corps - Psykic membership, three at the time. While the Civil War and its aftermath may have dwindled the numbers, all the requisite equipment, manuals, and otherwise useful guidance for the aspiring Psykic is readily available, should one become apparent on the planet. Since the end of the Civil War, Legion XXXIV's Psykics have been used as a go-between for Imperial and Republican warlords, both above and below the table, partially because they are infamously loyal only to their governor, and no governor of Fāl's World has ever given away a secret. Of course, they are also part of the Legion; and so they have been trained in its fundamental psykic interrogation and counterespionage skills... National Idea The Hi-nui Coin | The ruling bloodline of Fāl's World is, as the name and lore imply, the descendants of Emperor Fāl's third son. They famously have the 'Hi-nui Coin' to prove it, the perfectly round coin made of booster engine displayed once every five years by the Remnant Guard and Governor before being returned to an impenetrable vault deep beneath the capital of Orsia, one that can only be opened with both the Governor's seal and the bloodline of Fāl. Debuff to compensate: I start with one planet. A letter:b

"Free Seventis"

Tiuthwyn cordially sent her now-worn pickaxe to the Lord Marshal of Savoy - a letter of warm regards and offer to join the Haelunorians for the demolition of Aaz Hahdrim attached. "Next, the village!" she prepared for after the skygods allowed them to infringe upon the settlement.

what happened why have you posted this

A gentle breeze rolled over the warm northern beaches of Haelun'or. There, accompanied only by quietly lapping waves and the occasional call of seagulls, a blonde high elf waited patiently for a friend destined never to arrive.

"Carry on, Carrion!" exclaimed the nine-year-old Mardon 'the Beast', child of Franz - the nickname having been given to her by her aggrieved maid.

Mardon Tuvyic prepares their best thinking cap and era-appropriate bloodpact dagger to attend Dumapalooza with!

Niccolo ind d'Ana smiled the sun's smile.

Tiuthwyn Harriel found nir'vana upon reading the document.

Tiuthwyn nearly spat out her tea upon reading about the horrific cultural appropriation.