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The Codexian Saga LP
- Thread starter The Barbarian
- Start date
anus_pounder
Arcane
A heart warming tale of a young marianite commander who decides he wants a peice of cybernetically enhanced action?
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2002
- Messages
- 28,357
When we've achieved the military win by making glorious Codexia conquer theBethesdaLove said:
The Barbarian
Liturgist
Numberless apologies, comrades, the Barbarian has let you down again.
His free time has taken a battering, recently, and he is barely, barely keeping up.
Until such a time as the situation improves, the Barbarian will not in good conscience give any more tentative deadlines for updates. But he will not put the project on hiatus again, either. Instead, updates will most likely be a weekly pleasure for all involved, with ugly interruptions like this one, when crunch periods loom like the Sword of Damocles above Conan's testes.
His free time has taken a battering, recently, and he is barely, barely keeping up.
Until such a time as the situation improves, the Barbarian will not in good conscience give any more tentative deadlines for updates. But he will not put the project on hiatus again, either. Instead, updates will most likely be a weekly pleasure for all involved, with ugly interruptions like this one, when crunch periods loom like the Sword of Damocles above Conan's testes.
meeneque
Liturgist
Is this just me, opening this thread three times a day, waiting for barb?
anus_pounder
Arcane
Murk
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 13,459
how the fuck is that a "stock" photo?
who in the nine fucking hells thinks that anyone in the world needs that picture to be readily available for use as an example?
... actually I take all that back. Well done nameless internet denizens and you're strange web-based culture that is like the joining of aids, cancer, and annoying songs that get stuck in the mind.
who in the nine fucking hells thinks that anyone in the world needs that picture to be readily available for use as an example?
... actually I take all that back. Well done nameless internet denizens and you're strange web-based culture that is like the joining of aids, cancer, and annoying songs that get stuck in the mind.
The Barbarian
Liturgist
The Triumphant March
There was not a great deal that the FAITH or the New Phyr Dominion could do, once the Respublican government had decided to crush their fledgling domains. Though the bulk of the colonial armada and its lengthy logistical ‘baggage train’ was not made up of vessels of war, there remained a significant number of Space Force assets on hand to deal with emergencies. Besides, reinforcements were not that far away, relatively speaking. The resulting campaign was an intrinsically one-sided affair. Between June 375AU and August 376AU, Space elements amounting to perhaps a hundred odd platforms fanned out across the affected areas of the expanse and liquidated the insignificant forces available to the belligerent states. After the last-gasp Battle of Buchanan-Szemsil, where the remaining vestiges of FAITH’s military battered themselves to death against a vastly superior (and well shielded) foe, the ‘short, victorious war’ was effectively over. Their worlds were subjugated quickly, easily, and with only moderate collateral damage to the civilian population.
The aftermath of the conflict was somewhat predictable, and immediately foreshadowed by the arrival in-theatre of an aging Maxim Cassano – the fabled Terror of the Commonwealth – and his protégé, Lucius Roi Wandervelt. This terrible duo then set out to ‘work’ on the newest subjects of the resplendent Respublica. What they quickly discovered, however, was that pacifying the Commonwealth was one proposition, whereas pacifying the Phyr and the FAITH was to prove quite another. Base ideological differences aside, there was nothing truly setting the Respublicans apart from the Commos. They were both peoples of standard human stock, with only the most basic and unobtrusive modifications offered to their civilian populations. The FAITH (the people of that state were soon labelled as ‘the Tainted’) and the Phyr, on the other hand, were either so extensively modified as to barely be considered human – or were entirely alien, to begin with. Theirs was a mindset and an existence utterly foreign to the Respublican occupier and his inquisitorial overseers.
Breaking down such disparate socio-cultural nexuses required finesse and time, and the Respublicans were not particularly enthused about parting with either. Marianism, as a whole, in fact, was poorly suited to coping with xenoforms and xeno-cultures, despite its declared universal principles. Deciding how to deal with these creatures was to prove a significant decision for the Marianite leadership, over the coming years. Certainly, there was already a great deal of public backlash over their annexation to the Respublica. Though individual xenos were not unknown in Respublican territories, seeing a six armed so-called ‘human being’ proved to be too much for many of the pious. They grumbled and gnashed their teeth in frustration, reeling from the perceived assault on their core values. More importantly, however, many senior Marianite religious figures also took umbrage. It is not that they wanted to cleanse the universe of xenolife. Rather, their vision of the Respublica did not have a place in it for the malformed and the impure. After all, the Marianite essence was a human essence, was it not?
In any case, though the social implications of integrating the FAITH and the New Phyr Dominion posed serious challenges to the Venerable Respublica, most were confident that destroying these burgeoning states was the right decision, in the end. Who knows what they might have evolved into, given another century of explosive, uninhibited growth? With these rogue entities out of the way (figuratively speaking), the exploration and exploitation of the Dead Zone could continue, unabated. And so it did, after the initial furore over the discovery of the xenoforms. Dozens of new colonies were soon founded by enterprising Respublicans who carried the blazing torch of their faith far and wide. Between 376AU and 385AU, tens of thousands of hardy settlers moved across the old boundary between the human sphere and the Phyr, populating brave new worlds being added to the growing Respublican sphere of influence.
The harsh economic climate of decades previous slowly eased, and then markedly improved. The various real estate and mineral wonders of the Dead Zone fuelled somewhat of a boom, back home. Codexia’s moral economy, so long a stalwart of the regime during times of hardship, found it difficult to cope with the rising tide of plenty. In a system wherein no real middle class was ever envisioned, the rise of one during the 380s was to prove a cause for concern. Frugality was a celebrated value of the Marianite religion. That value was by 390AU being steadily eroded by numerous forces, not least of which was the flow-on effect from the integration of the market-oriented Commos. Though politically beaten down, they were by no means naive. By the time of the conquest of the FAITH and the New Phyr Dominion, Commo financiers were behind many of the independent initiatives across the Dead Zone, Commo merchants were transporting and disposing of goods and materials derived from the expanse, and Commo bankers were securing the transactions that stemmed from the above.
That is not to say that they were the dominant group in Respublican banking and finance – but they certainly took advantage of the skills imparted to them by the now-defunct, but previously open market system of the old Commonwealth. The relative abundance of capital, increasing overall economic prosperity and the effect of ‘outside’ influences slowly, subtly distorted the long-running Marianite status quo. Questions began to be asked, both at home and across the colonial territories. Broad, all-encompassing questions about the nature of Santi Maria and Marianism, generally. ‘Middle class’ also came to mean ‘people with enough money and education to indulge their delusions of socio-economic grandeur’. Though, in reality, the rise of the Respublica did not mean the extinction of the middle class as a whole, the 380s were the first point post-Civil War at which one could objectively identify a middle class, as opposed to a group of individuals. This was to prove a portentous development for the state; one that invited scrutiny from the Marianite leadership, as well as its inquisition.
And it was during this time that a number of choices made were to begin shaping the destiny of the Respublica for decades and centuries to come.
Option One
Do you... crush the middle class? They are infidels in all but name! Our moral economy has saved us time and again. Now, our respite from war threatens the very basis of our Grand Idea. How else can we preserve our hard-fought victories, if not by eliminating those who would render them meaningless? This scum is beyond contempt. Let them flower at your own risk.
OR
Do you... not rock the proverbial economic boat? We are doing well, are we not? Our economy grows, our people prosper. Marianism is strong – very strong, even. Let us rely on that strength, and not our force of arms, to decide the ideological battle. These merchants and officials may ask all the questions they want. Our religion will not be destroyed by platitudes. Better that we weather the battle of ideas, than suffer more instability and economic uncertainty.
OR
Do you... actively encourage the middle class? Why not reform the moral economy? It served us well during times of need, but we need a system better suited to success, now. The only constraints on our vitality are those in place because we put them there. Let us cast off dead wood. There might be some pain in the short term, but our long-term prospects will shine all the brighter because of it.
Option Two
Do you... take brutal measures against the Tainted and the Phyr? No more mutation, no more augmentation, no more xenforms. We have had enough. Let us sterilize those Tainted who cannot be salvaged, and strictly impose our laws on those who can. We must weed these monstrosities out, as soon as possible, lest the corruption spread. As for the Phyr... shackle them. We need no competitors, here. A few, select preserves, where their breeding is closely monitored is all the Phyr need – and all that we should offer.
OR
Do you... employ a hands-off approach? As long as they follow our laws where they count, and as long as they pay their taxes, we do not particularly care what these things do or how they do it. They have been neutralized, and let that be the end of it. There is no advantage to using brute force where a less costly and a less direct approach will work just as well.
There was not a great deal that the FAITH or the New Phyr Dominion could do, once the Respublican government had decided to crush their fledgling domains. Though the bulk of the colonial armada and its lengthy logistical ‘baggage train’ was not made up of vessels of war, there remained a significant number of Space Force assets on hand to deal with emergencies. Besides, reinforcements were not that far away, relatively speaking. The resulting campaign was an intrinsically one-sided affair. Between June 375AU and August 376AU, Space elements amounting to perhaps a hundred odd platforms fanned out across the affected areas of the expanse and liquidated the insignificant forces available to the belligerent states. After the last-gasp Battle of Buchanan-Szemsil, where the remaining vestiges of FAITH’s military battered themselves to death against a vastly superior (and well shielded) foe, the ‘short, victorious war’ was effectively over. Their worlds were subjugated quickly, easily, and with only moderate collateral damage to the civilian population.
The aftermath of the conflict was somewhat predictable, and immediately foreshadowed by the arrival in-theatre of an aging Maxim Cassano – the fabled Terror of the Commonwealth – and his protégé, Lucius Roi Wandervelt. This terrible duo then set out to ‘work’ on the newest subjects of the resplendent Respublica. What they quickly discovered, however, was that pacifying the Commonwealth was one proposition, whereas pacifying the Phyr and the FAITH was to prove quite another. Base ideological differences aside, there was nothing truly setting the Respublicans apart from the Commos. They were both peoples of standard human stock, with only the most basic and unobtrusive modifications offered to their civilian populations. The FAITH (the people of that state were soon labelled as ‘the Tainted’) and the Phyr, on the other hand, were either so extensively modified as to barely be considered human – or were entirely alien, to begin with. Theirs was a mindset and an existence utterly foreign to the Respublican occupier and his inquisitorial overseers.
Breaking down such disparate socio-cultural nexuses required finesse and time, and the Respublicans were not particularly enthused about parting with either. Marianism, as a whole, in fact, was poorly suited to coping with xenoforms and xeno-cultures, despite its declared universal principles. Deciding how to deal with these creatures was to prove a significant decision for the Marianite leadership, over the coming years. Certainly, there was already a great deal of public backlash over their annexation to the Respublica. Though individual xenos were not unknown in Respublican territories, seeing a six armed so-called ‘human being’ proved to be too much for many of the pious. They grumbled and gnashed their teeth in frustration, reeling from the perceived assault on their core values. More importantly, however, many senior Marianite religious figures also took umbrage. It is not that they wanted to cleanse the universe of xenolife. Rather, their vision of the Respublica did not have a place in it for the malformed and the impure. After all, the Marianite essence was a human essence, was it not?
In any case, though the social implications of integrating the FAITH and the New Phyr Dominion posed serious challenges to the Venerable Respublica, most were confident that destroying these burgeoning states was the right decision, in the end. Who knows what they might have evolved into, given another century of explosive, uninhibited growth? With these rogue entities out of the way (figuratively speaking), the exploration and exploitation of the Dead Zone could continue, unabated. And so it did, after the initial furore over the discovery of the xenoforms. Dozens of new colonies were soon founded by enterprising Respublicans who carried the blazing torch of their faith far and wide. Between 376AU and 385AU, tens of thousands of hardy settlers moved across the old boundary between the human sphere and the Phyr, populating brave new worlds being added to the growing Respublican sphere of influence.
The harsh economic climate of decades previous slowly eased, and then markedly improved. The various real estate and mineral wonders of the Dead Zone fuelled somewhat of a boom, back home. Codexia’s moral economy, so long a stalwart of the regime during times of hardship, found it difficult to cope with the rising tide of plenty. In a system wherein no real middle class was ever envisioned, the rise of one during the 380s was to prove a cause for concern. Frugality was a celebrated value of the Marianite religion. That value was by 390AU being steadily eroded by numerous forces, not least of which was the flow-on effect from the integration of the market-oriented Commos. Though politically beaten down, they were by no means naive. By the time of the conquest of the FAITH and the New Phyr Dominion, Commo financiers were behind many of the independent initiatives across the Dead Zone, Commo merchants were transporting and disposing of goods and materials derived from the expanse, and Commo bankers were securing the transactions that stemmed from the above.
That is not to say that they were the dominant group in Respublican banking and finance – but they certainly took advantage of the skills imparted to them by the now-defunct, but previously open market system of the old Commonwealth. The relative abundance of capital, increasing overall economic prosperity and the effect of ‘outside’ influences slowly, subtly distorted the long-running Marianite status quo. Questions began to be asked, both at home and across the colonial territories. Broad, all-encompassing questions about the nature of Santi Maria and Marianism, generally. ‘Middle class’ also came to mean ‘people with enough money and education to indulge their delusions of socio-economic grandeur’. Though, in reality, the rise of the Respublica did not mean the extinction of the middle class as a whole, the 380s were the first point post-Civil War at which one could objectively identify a middle class, as opposed to a group of individuals. This was to prove a portentous development for the state; one that invited scrutiny from the Marianite leadership, as well as its inquisition.
And it was during this time that a number of choices made were to begin shaping the destiny of the Respublica for decades and centuries to come.
Option One
Do you... crush the middle class? They are infidels in all but name! Our moral economy has saved us time and again. Now, our respite from war threatens the very basis of our Grand Idea. How else can we preserve our hard-fought victories, if not by eliminating those who would render them meaningless? This scum is beyond contempt. Let them flower at your own risk.
OR
Do you... not rock the proverbial economic boat? We are doing well, are we not? Our economy grows, our people prosper. Marianism is strong – very strong, even. Let us rely on that strength, and not our force of arms, to decide the ideological battle. These merchants and officials may ask all the questions they want. Our religion will not be destroyed by platitudes. Better that we weather the battle of ideas, than suffer more instability and economic uncertainty.
OR
Do you... actively encourage the middle class? Why not reform the moral economy? It served us well during times of need, but we need a system better suited to success, now. The only constraints on our vitality are those in place because we put them there. Let us cast off dead wood. There might be some pain in the short term, but our long-term prospects will shine all the brighter because of it.
Option Two
Do you... take brutal measures against the Tainted and the Phyr? No more mutation, no more augmentation, no more xenforms. We have had enough. Let us sterilize those Tainted who cannot be salvaged, and strictly impose our laws on those who can. We must weed these monstrosities out, as soon as possible, lest the corruption spread. As for the Phyr... shackle them. We need no competitors, here. A few, select preserves, where their breeding is closely monitored is all the Phyr need – and all that we should offer.
OR
Do you... employ a hands-off approach? As long as they follow our laws where they count, and as long as they pay their taxes, we do not particularly care what these things do or how they do it. They have been neutralized, and let that be the end of it. There is no advantage to using brute force where a less costly and a less direct approach will work just as well.
The Barbarian
Liturgist
This is not firm by any means, but the Barbarian wants to release the next update on Sunday night.
Nickless
Educated
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2009
- Messages
- 960
CAB;BA
Please consider my preferences for the first decision seperate from the second.
This is our chance to reform Marianism towards a more technologically tolerant bent. Although if I I had the option I'd vote to imprison the Phyr, and leave the tainted alone. Still, this is our best chance to have a techno AI god religion.
Edit: With a free market economy!
Please consider my preferences for the first decision seperate from the second.
This is our chance to reform Marianism towards a more technologically tolerant bent. Although if I I had the option I'd vote to imprison the Phyr, and leave the tainted alone. Still, this is our best chance to have a techno AI god religion.
Edit: With a free market economy!
The Barbarian
Liturgist
Indeed, that's the system we will go with.
CBA;BA
I'm all for short-term pain if it leads to long-term reforms. Ultra-religious superpowerism is well and good for a wartime civilization, but we need to embrace the decadence sooner or later or we'll stagnate and get overtaken by the Hi'in and Raumen.
I'm all for short-term pain if it leads to long-term reforms. Ultra-religious superpowerism is well and good for a wartime civilization, but we need to embrace the decadence sooner or later or we'll stagnate and get overtaken by the Hi'in and Raumen.
Nickless
Educated
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2009
- Messages
- 960
Ulminati said:
Or worse, revolution. I think our situation right now is analogous somewhat to Catholic Europe just before the rise of Protestantism. We can either accomodate and support this new class, which is a natural result of our prosperity, or struggle against it to either enter a new dark age or sow the seeds of a new revolution/Commonwealth.
LusciousPear
Savant
BCA;BA
I envision a revolution, riots, or a big amount of change. But it's better to change than to be made irrelevant.
The Plutocratic Theocracy has actually exceeded many of my expectations. Totally agree with the Catholic analogy.
I envision a revolution, riots, or a big amount of change. But it's better to change than to be made irrelevant.
The Plutocratic Theocracy has actually exceeded many of my expectations. Totally agree with the Catholic analogy.
laclongquan
Arcane
Lemme think about it~
This call for careful planning and no mistake.
This call for careful planning and no mistake.
Option 1
C
B
A
Option 2
B
A
C
B
A
Option 2
B
A
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