#humanity's truth

[josephschmoldoff]

A DEATHWORLDER’S WAR PT. 2

Humanity’s truth universe.

From the memiors ambassador Gruxalon of the vanai-ashti.

After discussing the particulars of human involvement in our war with the Xinali myself and two envoys joined the Human delegation to return to their homeworld of Terra and continue discussion with Human leadership.  The other five members of the delegation were sent home to relay a message that would doubtless fill our people with hope and joy despite the misgivings and warnings from the Alliance:  The strongest known military force in the galaxy was giving us direct military aid despite the objections of the council.

As I entered the repurposed destroyer vessel the humans used as a diplomatic vessel, I noticed it was staffed by individuals who all wore the same clean cut uniform with only minor differences to denote ranks and achievements.  One of the similarly dressed individuals who was present with the human delegation stood straight and pulled feet together raising his hand to his mouth before bellowing:

“Officer on deck!” 

As he did this all the men present stopped their duties and seemed to turn like one, as though controlled by a single central mind, the sound of their boots all hitting the ground at same moment as their arms snapped up, their hands barely touching their foreheads in what i assume was a salute, was deafening.  The ambassador raised his arm slightly and bellowed back:

"As you were.” and the men visibly relaxed, released their salutes and returned to their work.  Even among our own kind I have never seen such a display of discipline.

The flight to Terra took a few days, even in FTL, and the ambassador and I had a good deal of time to speak about the issues my people faced and how I, and my fellow envoys believed we could best be helped.  Our largest issues were the Xinali willingness to use biological warfare and the fact they could survive a good number of shots from our projectile weapons before going down.  The ambassador asked a few questions and then sighed resignedly.

“What’s wrong?” I asked 

“Nothing is wrong,” Orillion answered. “It’s just… based on your descriptions I have to assume your enemy the Xinali also come from a deathworld, which means they’ll be a bigger pain in the arse to fight.”

"What makes you think they come from a deathworld?” I asked.

“Their biological warfare uses a gas that causes you immune system failure, yet doesn’t seem to affect them, despite no protective gear,” he answered “this combined with the fact they can handle several hits and keep going whilst unprotected means their blood is probably clotting, together that probably means they have an adaptive immune system.”

“An adaptive… I’m sorry I’m not sure I understand.” I answered, an immune was an immune system wasn’t it?

Orillion gave me a tense look “Okay, i’ll share this with you, but don’t go talking about it for now, the consulate gets pretty upset with how open we are about it.”

I bobbed my head up and down in consent and Orillion gave me an odd look before I realized that I had used a cultural gesture he wasn’t aware of.

“Sorry,” I said, “I will bear this information with utmost secrecy until you tell me otherwise.”

“Okay,” Orillion answered “although if i’m right and you ARE fighting deathworlders then this will all end up being considered ‘necessary tactical information’ anyway.”  he continued “An adaptive immune system basically takes in a pathogen and throws everything it can at it, learning how to fight what is accosting it until it has figured out how to eliminate the pathogen efficiently enough to eradicate it from the body.”

“What!?” I asked “It just eradicates any pathogen?  You mean to tell me that the xinalli are immune to sickness!?”

“Well no,” Orillion answered “Humans have an adaptive immune system as well, but there are still pathogens that can weaken or kill you faster than your immune system can figure out a solution, or sometimes your body can mutate and the mutated cells can end up draining your body of resources until it quite literally starves to death.”

I blanched “that sounds horrible.” I said.

"It is," Orillion answred "Only a few species have.adaptive immune systems, and all of them are deathworlders.  Fortunately for you we are the most advanced ones."

From the memiors of general Vineset hetroix of the Vani-Ashri 

My men continued to fight, but the Xinali were like like a flood, like a plague, it was only a matter of time.  A lieutenant carrying communications equipment rushed to my command tent on the surface, he begged permission to enter and show me a transmission, i granted it.  

The transmission was grainy, but showed the ambassador to the Galactic alliance and two beings quite a bit taller than him with rough, pale skin and tufts of fur on the tops of their head.  The ambassador began:

"General i have excellent news, we have secured military aide at long last, our people may have hope now."

One of the aliens stepped forward, he wore a clean and pressed outfit, clearly designed yo impress delegations, not for war.

"I am major Darek Hallsman of the 987th division of the Terran Marines." The alien began with a gesture I assumed to be a salute "I am under the impression you are fighting the enemy as we record this message.  I wish to inform you, reinforcements are on there way, and they will arrive soon, within the standard week.  Hold the line, don't let those bastards take what isn't theirs." The recording ended here, the lieutenant informed me that the "Terrans" as the aliens had identified themselves had wished to hurry home to rally their troops, and had thus left theur transmission short and to the point.

"What do we know about these Terrans?" I asked my lieutenant.

"They are apparently quite isolationist, and do not generally get involved in the affairs of others, save for interstellar trade.  I do not know what the ambassador promised them to change that attitude, but they are one of the largest military forces in the alliance, worst case: we get a ton of cannon fodder."

I sighed, there really was no point in expecting better than the worse case.  His people had learned this the hard way during this war, the enemy outnumbered us, out gunned us, even out gene pooled us. But i couldn't say cannon fodder would have been unwelcome, so of course I called the men together to give them the news.

"Gather your courage!" I told them showing them the transmission "Steel yourselves, because in a few days you're gettin' backup!"  A loud cheer rippled through the ranks bubbling and bursting "Let's not let our new allies down boys HOLD THE LINE!" 

Came the answer: "SIR YES SIR!" 

Nearly 5 full days passed, but we held the line, we fought with everything we had, we burned and buried our flak cannon shrapnel rounds into Xinali strikers and brawlers as we pushed with all our might against their battle lines.  The Xinali must have sensed something was off, they began to pull back, as though preparing for something.

It was then we received another transmission broadcasting on an open channel 

"This is Captain Nethaniel Braddock of the T.C.S. retribution clear that battleline general, you've troop and weapons drop in 2 minutes."

Troop drop? I had wondered at the term, but assumed ships would be landing yo let troops out on the battleline, at the time i could not imagine why the terrans would willingly risk troop transports by forcing them down on the front lines.  But two minutes later my questions were answered.

A massive metal monstrosity covered stem to stern in guns and still bleeding fire from re-entry burst through the cloud layer.  We looked up in awe at a vessel that made our warships look like children's toys. And then with a vast array of thuds metal containers hit the ground slamming into the dirt and sinking a few inches.  Several of these pods burst open and soldiers in metal armor strode out into the battlefield with bellowing weapons that flattened the opposition.  One of the men approached us and had us open the smaller containers explaining the weapons within and urging us to these rather than our own flak guns.  They bore names we did not know: S&W, H&K, Kalishnikov.  As these were explained to us the dropships came, carrying the regular marines, while the orbital drop troops held the line and protected their reinforcements.  Terrans in nearly ten Secron tall metal battlesuits, firing weapons with rotating barrels pushed forward while others, near 7 secrons tall in plated and camouflaged body armor marched behind using the metal suits of the drop troopers as cover while they blasted away at Xinali soldiers and flyers.

The terran Concord's soldiers were the most efficient killing machines I had ever seen.

The Terran weapons were vastly superior to our own, some of their marines even carried weapons that fired viscous plamatized bolts.  The "bullets" as the Terrans called them quickly overcame the Xinali's thick skin

[josephschmoldoff]

A DEATHWORLDER'S WAR PT 3

From the memoirs of ambassador Gruxalon of the Vani-Ashti

The human homeworld of Terra looked like a massive smooth gemstone of blue and brown and green from the window of the space station that orbited it.  I had been told the blue was water and had been disappointed when i learned that the planet's gravity would likely be too much for me to bear very long.

The humans had a massive room aboard the station that through transported sand, dirt, plants and animals, as well as holographic depictions of the sky simulated a terran archipelago at lower gravity for visiting dignitaries.  If this was what earth was like, it was breathtaking.  I was told many such rooms existed in the station simulating various environments.

But today we sat in a meeting room, also kept at low gravity for our sake.  The table and chairs were made from Terran trees and had a slightly reddish hue, I was told it was called mahogany wood.  The attending delegates included myself, my two envoys, ambassador Orillion, Primarch Deaton of the Terran Union's high council and Theatre Admiral Johnsonburg of the United Terran Expeditionary Forces.  The Primarch wore a blue uniform that had gold trimmings and dangling bits, tge Admiral's uniform was white with gold bordered red trim and a gold bordered red sash across his chest with several medals and bars denoting various battlefield and command accomplishments.

The Ambassador briefly introduced his colleagues then spoke to them in the Terran language for a few minutes, whike i did not know what exactly was said the reception of the two delegates was quite positive.  Ambassador Orillion then announced in Galactic common that the remainder of this meeting would be held speaking only common and opened the floor for me to lay out our plea to the Terran Union for aid.

I cleared my throat and spoke: "delegates of the Terran Union i have come with a most pressing request.  Approximately two decades ago we encountered a species of Avians called the Xinali.  These Avians are zealous followers of a religion with eight natural elements and a god for each.  The Xinali worship primarily the god of air.  To them all creatures must be of one element and to mix elements is strictly forbidden, any creature of multiple elements is considered an abomination that must be destroyed in the name of order.  We, being an amphibious race, are considered a race with a mix of earth and water, and they summarily declared holy war upon us and seek to wipe us from existence in the name of their elemental gods.  We are many, and currently hold eight systems, having lost three to the Xinali over the past two decades.  We estimate that without outside intervention, the Xinali will accomplish their goal in a little over a century.  They are more numerous than us and their weaponry is far more advanced.  They are difficult to kill and show no qualms about the use of targeted biological warfare."

The Terran Ambassador stood as I sat "thank you Ambassador Gruxalon", he said "Primarch, Admiral, as you both know we of Terran Union have long sought the opportunity to atone for the vile actions our species partook in upon our first outings beyond our home system.  The memory of the Cthir haunts us still, a lingering ghost of our monstrous past.  I see with the Vani'Ashti an opportunity to finally exorcise this ghost and forever put the past behind us, that we as a species may move ever forward, with clear conscience, into the great beyond."

The other delegates looked at each other briefly.  The Primarch stood "I am confident that the peoples of the State of Brazil will support you, we shall put to vote among our people your plea for aid, and given a positive reception we shall bring our proposal to the high council,  the council of judiciary integrity and the council of social protections."

The admiral stood next and tipped his head towards us. "We have heard your plea and we sympathize with you.  A temporary expeditionary force has been sent to your battle lines with orders to prioritize defense of current holdings and make every attempt to establish a positive diplomatic intercourse with the Xinali, and attempt to negotiate a ceasefire."

I gurgled my throat in disapproval at this statement. "You will not help us take back our lands?"

Primarch Deaton responded "we personally want to, but our law requires it be put to vote, and the action be reviewed by judiciary and social experts to ensure that it does not infringe upon the rights of the Terran people, or demand an unreasonable amount of resources.  Many governments of the past became corrupted and trampled the rights of their peoples, our government is constructed to avoid such corruption to the best of our ability."

I gurgled again in disappointment.

"Bureaucracy always takes time, nobody likes it, but it is better than rule by dictators." Orillion stated.

The Primarch and Admiral stood and promised to try to move this issue forward as quickly as possible.

Ambassador Orillion sighed and turned to me as they left.  "I'm sorry i cannot give you more now, this process usually takes several months."

"But why!?" I asked impassioned "our people's very existence is at stake here!  You would not spend months debating if it was your people that faced extinction!"

"The council would do exactly that." Orillion said with such certainty that I balked in surprise.  "Though to be fair, the citizenry would not be so patient."

"You see!" I shot back angrily

Orillion smiled "our soldiers cannot do more than defend… but I do believe that part of the emergency defensive orders were to share high tech human battle armor and weapons to allied soldiers, who have no such restriction."

I shot Orillion a look for a moment before realizing what he meant.  The Vani'Ashti were no longer out gunned, and their worlds were defended by a far superior military force.  They could take their worlds back!  The war could be won!

[josephschmoldoff]

A DEATHWORLER'S WAR PT 1

Hunanity's truth universe

From the memiors ambassador Gruxalon of the vanai-ashti.

We were, at the time, the newest members of the Galactic Alliance, the 97th race to be admitted.  Upon our admission myself and my fellow ambassadors were invited to the alliance's primary meeting ground, a massive spaceborne station in a system officially owned by no one, meant to be a nuetral ground.  Here we were given an orientation of sorts that lasted several weeks, this was understandable as this orientation included detailed dossiers on each of the 96 species as well as the history of the Alliance itself and the responsibilities and laws we would be expected to uphold as a member of it.  During our time there we were greeted by ambassadors and congulated on our appointment to the council.  Most were cordial, but clearly unhappy with our new position.

This was expected, we had asked to join solely to seek military aid against the Xinali, a hostile race that had made it their mission to drive us to extinction because we were amphibians and they believed amphibians were an unnatural abomination.  We were not close to that looming possibility yet, but it was clear that Xinali had superior numbers and firepower to our own, and our war, if left unaided, would eventually become nothing more than delaying the inevitable.

As to the reason we were inducted despite our less than diplomatic purpose, it was our communications and kinetic barrier technologies, they were far and above better than anything anyone in the alliance had, except the humans anyway, THEY had blown science fiction energy shields, but they had steadfastly refused to share that technology with the alliance.  They were a bit distrusting and isolationist as I understood it.  I remembered their dossier fairly clearly for two reasons, firstly because they were considered the strongest and most disciplined military power in the galaxy, secondly their homeworld had come up when discussing the concept of "deathworlds."

"Deathworld" was a designation granted to any habitable world that housed significant dangers to habitation by sentient species.  About 12 of the now 97 member species hailed from deathworlds.  Deathworlds had a classification system that went from category 1 to category 10, I don't remember exactly how they differentiated the categories, but i do remember that the larger the number, the worse the planet, I also remember that of the 38 known deathworlds in existence only one rated above a category 4, the human homeworld of Terra was a category 9.  Sentient species that evolved to become dominant on such worlds are usually aggressive and militaristic, and they are ALWAYS predatory, humans added isolationist and closed off, to that list of quirks.

As a result it was considered normal that the humans did not always send delegates to alliance meetings, most of the time the topics to be discussed had little to do with them, at least from THEIR perspective.  So it came as quite a surprise when I first met one.

We were pleaing again for the Galactic alliance to send military aid and were receiving the typical nonchalant disapproval, these proceedings continued for done tine before the human delegate stood and addressed his camera.  Everyone fell silent, it was known that the human delegate was not often present, and when he was, he rarely addressed the council, I had, to that point, never heard him speak.

"What the hell is wrong with you people!?" He opened aggressively "What's even the point of a council if you're not going to act on the behalf of a member.  It wouldn't even bd all that difficult or resource intensive to help them!"

I was taken aback I had certainly not expected support to come from the absentee and isolationist human delegation.  In truth they had a reputation for not really wanting to get involved in the affairs of others, it had been the primary reason we made no attempt at diplomacy with them.  

"Perhaps for you deathworlder, but for most of us a war is a very serious affair!" Another delagate answered.

"And you believe it is not one for us?" The Human diplomat replied. "Do you think it easy having such power at our fingertips?  Do you think we wish to abandon diplomacy and turn a prestigious place like this to dust, simply because we can?  We are NOT so petty.'

At this point the Consulate rose in the center platform of the space, placing himself between the two arguing races.

"Enough with this consternation." He said "I think we all know the true reason the humans are so adamant about this.  This is about the Cithir incident, isn't it ambassador?"

The human hung his head low, he looked remorseful and defeated "yes Consulate, we have waited a long time for such an opportunity."

My spines rattled a bit at that statement, opportunity for what?  His race would not be used for some dark deathworlder experiment.  

"If that IS the case, then i suggest leaving the issue of military intervention in the hands of the humans, the ambassadors in question may hash out the details between themselves."  This was met with raucous applause.  "In the meantime!" The consulate continued silencing the crowd "we will discuss the sending of foodstuffs and supplies to the Vanai-Ashti, because if i can speak plainly ambassador Orillion had a point, we DO exist as a community to help one another, and if we are unwilling to do so in any capacity, then we will have failed as a community AND as a council, we are responsible to do at least this much, agreed!?"

Less enthusiastic applause this time, but nearly twenty ambassadors offered to sue for aid from their homeworlds.

I was nearly swallowing my own throat afterwards, I had never met any deathworlders much less the apparent worst of them.  These were predators, powerful predators, I acquainted myself with their dossier as I waited for their ambassador's arrival at our diplomatic suite.

They averaged a meter taller than us, they possessed shielded, gun covered ships, their homeworld's gravity was five times our own, and they were, apparently, nigh unkillable monsters.  Their bodies produced something called "adrenaline" under stress, it essentially reversed the function of going into shock, rather than killing them this caused them to become numb to pain and unable to feel fear, it gives a burst of energy and sharpens their senses.  This substance is the reason the Galactic alliance is able to treat shock, i single litre of it can treat over a million people, and humans trade it for information, technology, passage through territory rights etc.  It is SO potent that they can refuse to share their shield tech and still make more money than nearly any other member species.

A tapping at the door caused me to jump out of my seat, i put away the dossier and answered, as the human looked down at me i must've have done poor job of concealing my fear.  Because he knelt down to my level and assured me he meant me no harm.

"Maxwell Orillion," he said, "nice to meet you."

"Gruxalon of the house fùrl," I answered "it is likewise nice to meet you." 

"So what kind of creatures are these…" he tapped at a screen on his wrist "...Xinali?"

They are an Avian race." I answered keeping information short.

"Not to sound unhratefull, but you and Consulate Grak mentioned something called, 'the Cithir incident' and you said humanity has waited for this opportunity.  What exactly do you plan to DO with us?"

"What do you mean DO to you?" Ambassador Orillion looked genuinely confused.

"Well I don't expect you intend to save our asses with no compensation." I replied a bit indignantly.

"What…?" Orillion stared at him in bewilderment for a moment begore something clicked behind his eyes "oooooooooh, you're new, you wouldn't know yet, I'm terribly sorry I'm just so used to everyone knowing." He said.

"Knowing what?" I asked.

"Uh… hmm… this is rather delicate, understand, it's kept out of dossiers for a reason."

"Okay…" i said.

"When we tried to colonize outside our home system for the first time, we ran into and insectoid race called the Cithir, to simplify matters a bit oyr people were split in how wanted to handle the Cithir, the larger group wanted to make contact and attempt peaceful negotiations, the smaller, but more powerful, and rich group wanted to kill them off so they could divy up the planet and sell the land to the highest bidder.  That group succeeded, we eventually caught them and made them face judgment.  But the fact that humanity genocided an entire race, doesn't sit well with us and we have been looking for an opportunity to atone."

I took this all in, it was a lot… it took me a few minutes, no wonder everyone was so afraid of them. I cleared my throat.

"So if i understand this… you committed genoside and by stopping the Xinali, you see that as like… undoing that?"

"No… what we did cannot be undone." Abassador Orrilluon said, "but we hope it can be forgiven." 

[josephschmoldoff]

HUMANITY'S TRUTH PT. 9

Transmission 6:

-AS PER THE AMICABLE AGREEMENT OF SHARED INFORMATION THE FOLLOWING IS TO BE SENT DIRECTLY TO OFFICES OF THE POTENTATE OF THE RAKASH AND THE GALACTIC COUNCIL'S CONSULATE FOR TRADE AND CULTURE- 

THE FOLLOWING IS A REPORT SUBMITTED AS REQUESTED FOR USE IN DETERMINATION OF THE POTENTIAL TRADE WITH AND/OR THREAT OF SENTIENT SPECIES #78439.

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS OR USE OF THIS FILE SHALL BE MET WITH THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE PUNISHMENT UNDER GALACTIC LAW.

-BEGIN TRANSMISSION-

In my studies I have found something interesting, and disturbing about the human race.  Their homeworld is a deathworld, at least a category 4 deathworld, possibly higher on the scale, I would have to visit the planet in person to be sure.  But this does adequately explain their penchant for standofishness and violence.  

The human homeworld is officially called Terra, a word who's etymology reaches back to ancient dead language called Latin, once spoken by the Roman Empire before its fall.  It means "Earth" in their current language, from what i gather the word "Earth" has several meanings but generally refers to ground, soil or dirt.  Though when used as the Proper noun for their homeworld it holds an air of reverence, almost as though the word is sacred.

I will begin with the most obvious categorized threats i know of on their world, starting in the atmosphere and moving my way to the ground and oceans.  The first are massive storm systems present over their oceans, which account for an abnormally large amount of planetary surface, nearly 80% of the surface to be exact.  These storms have varying categories, the largest and most dangerous storms are called "Hurricanes" or "Typhoons" depending on which direction they rotate.  Despite humanity's impressive technology level they lack energy shield technology and so the storms always cause destruction and loss of life in large amounts anytime they hit coastal settlements.  These storms have 5 categories, with class 5 hurricanes and typhoons being the worst.  Just beneath hurricanes and typhoons are "tropical storms" which as I understand it are simply hurricanes and typhoons that are not yet large enough to be officially recognized as such.  They are less deadly than their larger counterparts.  

Terra is also home to abnormally common and violent tectonic activity, this has been correctly identified by them as a marker os not very old.  These tectonic activities result in phenomena the Humans call "earthquakes"  they have a scale they call the Richter scale for measuring these. the largest recorded earthquake was a 14 approximately 75 terran years ago and it completely flattened a major city and caused very serious damage to two others.  All three were major trade centers on the western coast of a continent on Terra's northern hemisphere.  All told, the earthquake killed 20 million humans.  If an earthquake occurs on the ocean floor, it sometimes results is massive abnormal waves crashing into coastlines and islands, these are formally referred to as Tsunamis however an ancient and somewhat inaccurate nickname for them persists to this day: "Tidal Wave" despite waves having little to nothing to do with Tidal forces.

As Terra is a relatively young planet, cosmically speaking, it is also host to many magma vents, which the humans usually refer to as "Volcanoes" I'm told this word's Etymology links back to an ancient human Deity named "Vulcan" who was a deity of fire and war, apt.  These are not as dangerous as the storms or the massive waves, so long as you give a wide berth.  Though some of these "Volcanoes" come with cracks in ground for several secedrons around them that can leak poison gasses into the lower atmosphere, nearly instantly killing anyone exposed.

With the largest and most unavoidable threats out of the way we can move on to flora and fauna, mostly fauna.  Most species of flora are relatively normal, inanimate and not dangerous, so long as you do not ingest them, though three species in particular known widely as "poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and poison Sumac" have a malicious chemical oil that coats their leaves and stems, for humans, and indeed most Terran fauna, this causes burning and itching rashes to develop, somewhat like an Allergic reaction.  Another set of dangerous flora are called "cactus" or "cacti" apparently certain species among this group can detonate a biological explosive of sorts and use this to propel round spiked orbs at anyone who gets close, best to avoid.

Fauna gets much more interesting, there are several species of large predatory felines on this planet, they are all relatively similar, though there are visible indicators as to which you are dealing with.  The two obvious are Tigers and Leopards, the former is a bright orange color (with an arctic subspecies that bears white instead of orange) with striking black stripes, these enjoy water, which is abnormal for felines, they feed on grazing animals mostly and usually only attack humans if desperate, they are reletively solitary.  The latter boasts a drab yellow covered with freckles and round black spots.  They are faster and more ferocious that Tigers and will atrack most large creatures on site.  

Lions are native primarily to the continent called "Africa'' in fact there is a rather dense population of more deadly creatures on the continents of both "Africa'' and "Australia." Lion Males have large furry manes around their necks, both males  

And females bear a light brown color, but females have no mane, the females do most of the hunting. Another African Feline predator is the cheetah, it is the fastest land animal and hunts primarily a savanna grazing species called "Gazelle."  It is also yellow with black spots, though its spots are smaller than that of a leopard's 

 "Pumas", "cougars" and "mountain Lions," are, if I understand correctly, all names for the same species.  They live everywhere in the western hemisphere, are light brown, have no markings. And are fiercely territorial.

These are but a paltry amount of the dangers this world has to offer, i will further data in the next tranmission.

-END TRANSMISSION-

[josephschmoldoff]

Humanity's Truth Pt 2

Transmission 1:

-AS PER THE AMICABLE AGREEMENT OF SHARED INFORMATION THE FOLLOWING IS TO BE SENT DIRECTLY TO OFFICES OF THE POTENTATE OF THE RAKASH AND THE GALACTIC COUNCIL'S CONSULATE FOR TRADE AND CULTURE- 

THE FOLLOWING IS A REPORT SUBMITTED AS REQUESTED FOR USE IN DETERMINATION OF THE POTENTIAL OF TRADE WITH AND/OR THREAT OF SENTIENT SPECIES #78439.

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS OR USE OF THIS FILE SHALL BE MET WITH THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE PUNISHMENT UNDER GALACTIC LAW.

-BEGIN TRANSMISSION-

As per protocol we shall begin with my undercover persona and her duties.  So that accurate exfiltratration, collection and/or disposal can be carried out should the situation call for it.

To the humans I am Anne Orion, recent Anthropology graduate from Oroborous University on planet Namiel in the New California System.  Anne has just arrived on planet Tülar in the Navadia system to study the effects of human occupation on a previously unoccupied, but habitable, world.  She will begin her duties near the beginning of the next Solar period of Tülar's Rotation.  These duties appear to consist of observation of superiors during their work, the review of various documents for the purposes of finding and removing linguistic mistakes, and a janitorial duty to her work station.  Given mission parameters this is an acceptable list of duties, I shall update it if it changes.

Anne is under the employ and tutelage of one Dr. Jamie Daniels an Anthropologist and Naturalist, though the humans do not use this term instead referring to him as "Botanist."

Transition and insertion went smoothly and without any major hiccups.

Something I learned about humans during the process is that they occasionally open their mouths and inhale an abnormally large amount of air, which they call "yawning"  when one human yawns, anyone who sees or hears it feels a sudden urge to yawn as well, they claim this is some form of evolutionary artifact from their days as pack animals.  There is a gene that does not feel this urge apparently as multiple team members expressed jealousy that I must have it, as I did not feel such an urge.  It is apparently not incredibly common, but not terribly uncommon either.

-END TRANSMISSION-

[josephschmoldoff]

Humanity's Truth pt 1

Transmission 0:

Recorded by Captain Tu'Lani of the Rakash for posterity.

-BEGIN RECORDING-

This recording officially does not exist. It is made for the posterity of the Rakash and to give context to the recordings of transmissions to follow. My name is Tu'Lani born to house Dalmanar of the Rakash, one of 86 races admitted to the galactic council. At the time of recording I have achieved the rank of captain in the Galactic Council's expeditionary scout forces. I have been given an assignment to study sentient species #78439 as a potential trade partner for the council. The race calls itself "human."

My study of the humans is not the first attempted by the council nor the first attempted by my people. The council has historically picked the Rakash as observers and diplomats to humans due to our physical similarities. Like the Rakash humans are upright, bipedal, omnivorous mammals with similar bone and muscle structures. Read "less elaborate disguises required." Though we do have our physical differences most of them are easily covered up and holographic shrouds can be used to alter the rest, especially for females.

Our attempts to study the Human race reach back several centuries, to a time when humanity had barely managed to limp to their moon on the nose cone of a rocket. Both the Rakashi potentate and the galactic council eventually deemed these efforts unnecessary wastes of resources as humans were clearly no threat to either. However after their war with the Raiik'Ashaäl (resulting in human holdings reaching over twenty star systems and the complete destruction of Raiik'Ashaälla leadership) they are no longer a race the council, the consulate, or the potentate can afford to ignore.

I must admit I am frightened, the Raiik'Ashaäl were legendarily competent warriors. A sturdy reptilian race that could take quite a bit of punishment before going into shock. They were fast, efficient and ruthless, their holdings numbered thirteen star systems, the largest single empire ever encountered by the council… until now. The council feared the Raiik'Ashaäll, now they fear humanity even more.

Perhaps the most frightening thing about it is the effect the humans had on the warrior race they defeated. They no longer call themselves the Raiik'Ashaäl, they call themselves "The Ragathi" the word means "regretful ones." The Raiik'Ashaäl do not regret, I did not even know they were capable of regret. Even when they lost a war for territorial expansion, they never showed regret, they were far too prideful for that. Humanity did not simply defeat the Raiik'Ashaälla in combat, they broke the reptilian's spirits. This frightens me more than anything else.

Humans may well be monsters, or demi-gods for all I know. I do know their decisions going forward will shape the cosmos, for better or for worse. Let us all pray for the former, and prepare for the latter.

-END RECORDING-

[josephschmoldoff]

Humanity's truth pt. 5

Transmission 3:

-AS PER THE AMICABLE AGREEMENT OF SHARED INFORMATION THE FOLLOWING IS TO BE SENT DIRECTLY TO OFFICES OF THE POTENTATE OF THE RAKASH AND THE GALACTIC COUNCIL'S CONSULATE FOR TRADE AND CULTURE- 

THE FOLLOWING IS A REPORT SUBMITTED AS REQUESTED FOR USE IN DETERMINATION OF THE POTENTIAL TRADE WITH AND/OR THREAT OF SENTIENT SPECIES #78439.

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS OR USE OF THIS FILE SHALL BE MET WITH THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE PUNISHMENT UNDER GALACTIC LAW.

-BEGIN TRANSMISSION-

Never before have I seen a species history so rife with war and conflict.  Every historical era begins in war, and every Era so ends.  Even their Current era begins with a war against an insectoid race they realized too late were sentient beings.  Though in an effort to maintain objectivity this war is regarded by them as a colossal mistake, a sin whose stain they will bear forever, it seems they value sentient life quite highly.  If this seems a strange stance considering their war with the Raiik'Ashaäl it is not.  The humans believe themselves mostly blameless as they were not the aggressors of this war and have records maintained of several attempts prior to, and during the conflict, to make peace with them.  Dr. Daniel's states it is "humanity's curse" that nothing can ever be solved peacefully, no matter how hard they try.  When pressed he said that there is always someone who wants more than they should, and everyone else is made to pay for it.  Is this the common human's view of their governing powers?

Regarding the ancient civilizations mentioned before, they existed thousands of years before humans began to venture into space.  They are regarded as important because they were conquerors, but also because they encouraged art and culture to grow in the realms they came to rule.  The Roman's in particular pioneered plumbing and advancements in medicine and construction technology.  The designs of marble pillars created by the Greeks continues to adorn modern edifices, this library as well as the local governor's office are surrounded by them.  They are enamored with their past, believing that true culture was crafted then, they often view their own modern culture as… lacking.  I am not yet certain if this is cause for concern, ancient humans fought wars far more frequently than their modern counterparts, but they also did advance culture in seemingly larger chunks.  The philosophies of many of their deceased ancients still persist, many even older than Rakashi philosophies.

I have made headway into my investigation regarding the Empathic potential of humans.  These beings value empathy a great deal.  Those among them incapable of feeling empathy are regarded as ill or broken.  Strangely those lacking empathy seem to possess some sort of natural instinctual understanding that this is not normal or right and tend to seek ways to gain empathetic capacity.  These can be separated into two groups, those that seek psychological or medical aid, and those that seek to assuage their loss through the torment of others.  The latter group are known as "sociopaths" and are widely regarded as evil by other humans.  In the interest of Objectivity I wish to point out that Empathetic capacity and Empathic capacity are not, in fact, the same.  The Rakashi people also value Empathy, most sentient races do, this does not mean we have Empathic abilities or "powers."  At this time no direct evidence exists to point to humans having such abilities either, however I will endeavor to continue my research in this area until there is no doubt left to be had.  To this end I shall continue my inquiries into human history, psychology and biology.

-END TRANSMISSION-