[Fan Fiction] Looking forward to the Mirror (Completed)

[Namaphry]

Joan of Arc was very clever, brilliant even. The records from her trial, at least, are proof of that. Though men commanded her soldiers, she was still in attendance at war councils, and she gave good advice to unit commanders, which they listened to, believing that it was divinely inspired--not just because it came from her, but because it got results. Though she didn't do much of the actual fighting, she did get shot twice, had a rock fall on her head during the siege of Paris, and jumped seventy feet out of a prison tower into a dry moat during one of her (numerous!) escape attempts, all without significant injury. Joan was very tough!

Frontal assaults weren't the only tactic she advocated, she was also a genius, by the standards of the time, when it came to how to use cannons and other siege weapons to their best effect. I imagine it's a bit like with smart phones today--a teenage girl has ways of understanding their use better than a fifty-year-old engineer. Or Alexander the Great, who learned out to use his companion cavalry, to devastating effect, at around the same age, at a time when they were still a novelty on the Greek battlefield.

Joan of Arc wasn't 'just' inspirational, she wasn't just a pretty girl on a horse filled with platitudes. She was a soldier, in armour, in the trenches at Paris; she was an adjutant in the war councils. She wasn't a damsel in distress after her capture, she was a competent, canny, prisoner of war who made her best effort to clear her name during one of the most absurdly corrupt trials ever held, and astonished her opponents with her ability to avoid falling for the traps they set up for her during questioning--all this, despite being an illiterate peasant!

It's true that she transformed the war into a fight for freedom instead of a petty squabble between different branches of the same family, but her role in this was as far from passive as it is humanly possible to be, because she was involved in as much of it as humanly possible--including the war-planning, and the war-fighting! Her keen intelligence and great stamina were vital to her success and the future of France, it wasn't just a matter of girlish, passive charisma and politics, despite all the attempts to revise every female role to look like it.

While the Amazons of Greek myth never existed, there were historical cultures where men and women fought in about equal numbers. But their exploits were largely not written down. During the Renaissance, and even the High Middle Ages, historical revisionism ran rampant, and only men got to make the revisions. Even if you only look at male warriors, being immortalized by history is not actually that good of an indicator of how well they fought or how skilled they were as commanders, especially during the feudal era. It has a lot more to do with them being in the right place at the right time, and being successful in politics--things that women have almost universally been forbidden from, and have to go to extremely convoluted lengths to justify socially, even when defending their own homes.

On the rare occasion that their contributions become undeniable, their stories get rewritten because most parents would rather their daughters be pretty princesses, and not quarrelsome scrappers. Though Amelia's Earhart's parents were thankfully immune to this, her publicists weren't! The reality of gender differences really isn't as stark as what's imposed on us culturally. In real life, 'unmanly' men and 'unwomanly' women are a lot more common, and a lot less dysfunctional, than depicted in popular media. Though we're probably even more oppressed, most of the time.

[dragoongfa]

I think that you are mistaking the 'damsel in distress' with what I said about Jeanne d'arc. She wasn't useless, far from it, what she offered and how she offered it was what turned the war. The point I am trying to make is that she wasn't a general and a battlefield commander. Smart and Charismatic certainly but not the person who won the battles, even if the battles would be impossible to be won without her. In a way she was a force multiplying weapon, an undeniable and crucial to the war effort weapon at that.

As for the Amazons, all women formations did exist and were known for their 'ruthlessness', in particular the Dahomey 'Amazons':

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahomey_Amazons

Other cultures where women had a martial role were the Scythians and the ancient Minoans, in particular, this was a unique trait for the Minoans among Greeks, even when compared to the militarized societies of Sparta and the cities that copied their system.

I disagree however that historically successful women were 'hidden' by men or had their exploits somehow lessened. In the renaissance and afterwards, when the European historical sciences thrived such attempts would not be able to become widespread. There were far too many different schools of history, in different countries and with different ways of doing things. All of them doing this at the same time would be impossible. The truth is that there were too few and far between with their biggest limitation being their bodies and what the 'enemy' does to captive women.

Historically speaking all nations have several examples of heroic women, who showed inspiring 'manly' behavior. Greeks have Laskarina Bouboulina from the Greek war of independence (she was a fleet captain and was later posthumously named an admiral of the Imperial Russian navy):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laskarina_Bouboulina

Politically speaking, strong female figures, with a warrior stripe, have been the greatest propaganda tools for centuries. See the various paintings of the French revolution, the democratic leaflets of the Spanish civil war and some propaganda leaflets of WW2. The Soviets had to use women in the field and milked them for propaganda for all their worth, some of them getting the title of 'Hero of the Soviet Union' (many of them actually were worth of such an honor). Such units include the infamous 'night witches', several tank crews and many snipers. The problem was that such units were practically slaughtered in the field of battle and although useful for propaganda, the Soviets quickly moved these units for rear guard duties because of how detrimental they were for morale.

The Israelis, who also have a draft for women learned the hard way what happens to female captives and quickly moved all female conscripts to rear guard and support duties. Personally I am a supporter of including women in the Greek conscription system, provided that the example of the Israelis is followed to put them in support roles.

In the end, the truth of the matter is what the Israelis learned the hard way and went to great lengths to hide. In war soldiers will get killed and captured regardless of their gender. Female soldiers captured by the enemy will first be gang raped and if they are lucky and the enemy is 'civilized' they will be sent off to a POW camp where they will only have to worry about the guards. If the enemy is not 'civilized' like what the Israelis face, well, what the Israeli soldiers did to palestinian prisoners and civilians after several female POWs were rescued was rightfully decried as a war crime. Rumors of what those women had ended up like spread like wildfire and nearly caused a complete collapse in discipline within the Israeli army and their commanders took extreme measures in order to restore discipline and cover everything up.

When that female US soldier was captured all those years ago the US army acted so quickly because they wanted to avoid what the Israelis went through and this is the reason why despite all of the political pushing the US army forbids women from being accepted in the Infantry and actively avoids sending women in dangerous missions.

[Namaphry]

'Men do, women are' is a terrible, ubiquitous cliché. The classifications it about people are wrong just as often as right, and it causes just as much harm to men as it does to women. Joan of Arc did help win battles, and not just by being, but also by doing. Meanwhile, those who officially commanded the army in her presence listened to her. She was no Sun Tzu's, but she still filled a role hair-splittingly similar to that of any other 15-year-old general.

My point about the Amazons was that there's no clear example of a historical human society where women dominated men the same way men often dominate women. The most matriarchal culture I know of, the Iroquois, considered women to be more important than men, because women contributed more to the food supply given their distribution of labour by gender. Men still dominated their military, the reason the society seemed matriarchal was because women dominated civilian society, and warriors were not in charge. Their neighbours, the Algonquin, were extremely patriarchal nomadic hunters, the situation was reversed because hunting was their main source of food and women were expected to do other things.

Using the term 'successful women' brings us straight to the problem. The standards expected of women are different. The requirements demanded by women are different. By the time women get classed as 'successful' or not, they've already been subject to unfair circumstances so that even the most exceptional women are likely to fail, and even then, the most objectively successful women are dismissed because they're being measured up to a feminine ideal that considers things like 'killed seven men in single combat' to be abhorrent rather than impressive (or laughable if you replace 'men' with 'women', which is another problem.) Their stories don't get retold fairly, don't get written down fairly, don't get revived and reviewed fairly, and are easily forgotten. The main reason that stories exist is to pass culture on through the generations, and storytellers always bias the stories they tell toward the culture they wish to promote, most often the one they were born into.

I won't deny that female heroes appear to be few and far inbetween, or that depending on your definition, were rare to begin with. But I'll definitely deny that the reason for this is anything other than that they were supressed. There's tales of would-be women heroes who failed they were never taught how to handle a crisis, despite their bravery, while the men, who'd been raised on a diet of action heroes and mock duels to the death were nowhere to be seen.

I'll call out this double standard right now: Not only do men die, and get tortured and slaughtered in war, they even get gang-raped, at times. Excluding women on the basis that they'll face the same risks is insulting, and if they're specifically targeted because they're women, that's a flaw in the enemy to exploit and expose, not a flaw in women to excuse keeping them hidden, and forbidden from taking action. Many nations around Israel enemies are particularly infamous for how they treat women, including those in their own families. It's tragic if Israeli men don't have the grace to treat their female comrades as soldiers who serve their nation, and even more tragic if the abuse of Israeli women, in some perverted way, made it somehow seem reasonable to them to commit abuse in retaliation.

Yes, it might be our reality that many world cultures are so screwed up that they're outraged when their women are hurt and placid in comparison when it's only men who suffer unimaginably, but it's not a fact of life, or biology. It's just cultural insanity, part of an effort to maintain power structures from thousands of years ago that sprang up alongside agriculture and cities, and the corresponding rise in population and decline in average life expectancy. I've met many women who are still bound by these chains, and become very depressed because their family protects them and shelters them, while they feel they can't contribute.

Back when these practices were new, women subjected to them would be constantly doing housework and supporting a half-dozen children or more, who would remain nearby and follow her instructions. Now there's no farms, families are small, technology makes housework easy, and even the few children we still have spend most of their waking hours attending public school. There's no place for women to stay at home doing 'womanly' things anymore, and the idea has been increasingly invalid, its mandates in decay, yet still animated like a shambling zombie, for centuries. In some ways we're back to where we were before agriculture and domestication, where the big world is out there and everyone has to explore and find some way to contribute. Big game hunting parties were still male-dominated in most types of terrain, but a war isn't just one big hunt. Keeping women in only rear echelon roles is an unnatural extension of ancient practices that were never universally relevant in the first place, and yet people still treat it like it's just 'the way things are', the way the world was made to be by some divine. It wasn't. The idea is decrepit nonsense, and it has to end.

[dragoongfa]

I disagree and I hate going off topic so I will try to be brief even if I believe that we will have to agree to disagree on this subject.

The reason of this imbalance is primarily biological, not societal even if certain social taboos over inflate the behavior itself. Both sexes are doers but on completely different fields, men primarily rely on their physical strengths and women primarily on their non physical strengths. Evolution dictates that both sexes would be programmed as such so the physically weak but valuable females would take on roles that would be non violent. Yes the cliche has been that women are primarily 'family takers' but that is not the only biologically safe 'field' that has been widely acceptable throughout human history.

Priestess, teachers, medical caretakers/nurses and even philosophers were, as a rule of thumb, either primarily female or evenly split on nearly all non abrahamic religions/cultures (see the ancient Greeks and Romans for some western examples), despite the near universal lower social status of women. The social fall of women in western societies had two causes, the radicalization of early Christianity (which even Christians know that it was extremely damaging) and almost continuous warfare which demanded a secured breeding populace by societies. Currently Europe and the West in general is at the most peaceful that it has ever been in history which is the main reason behind the social changes.

In the end however its our biological differences that shape our societies to the greatest degree, we are suppressed by them and only by them in most gender imbalances. It's a double standard but we are biologically programmed to accept the torture and brutal deaths of males as 'business as usual' (as a man I don't like it either but I know my 'programming'), men are biologically expendable, a populace can lose a large percentage of their male populace and come back. Historically most nations have gone through such loses, jumping back up in a decade or so. Losing a large percentage of women however was always disastrous, few populations if any have survived after losing 25% of their breeding age women, which is what brought forth the need to protect women and the deep psychological mandate to protect them at all costs for males.

Societies that now try to equalize the field will find the biological programming extremely hard to ignore. The Israelis at first didn't believe that what would happen would be so disastrous, they are for all intents and purposes a very advanced and liberated society, a western nation in all but location. They couldn't overcome this and it cost them dearly.

In my opinion, shaped through my hobbyist research I believe that the primarily reason of everything you describe is our biological gender dimorphism. Men and women are the same species and mentally equal but have different psychologies and bodies. A successful society would act and use its assets according to their strengths and both sexes are very distinct but extremely important assets by all rights.

I disagree that it what kept women 'down' in many societies was some sort of societal suppression. What maintained those systems was biology.

[Razor One]

Well, this thread derail escalated quickly.

I think that the truth lies between the two positions personally. There are definite biological differences that feed into why males are dominant in physical combat situations and that in turn leads to asymmetrical results, but there are also sociological factors that inform our behaviour and treatment towards women. Case in point, a man striking a woman is abhorrent, a woman striking a man is comedy. I don't think there's a biological factor there that informs our behaviour, but rather a socialised one. We're raised to think striking women is inherently a bad thing, and that in turn takes its cue from the fact that men do have a biological advantage that makes striking a woman more damaging than the reverse.

Historically speaking, yes, women fighting and holding their own are the rare exception that proves the rule. I won't argue that point as the facts speak for themselves. However, there are factors that do contribute towards women being written out of history. Not systematically or in an organised fashion, mind, but rather as a general millieu that transcends individual cultures and predisposes them all towards a particular bent. There's also a lot of lost history where records were either simply not kept or were actively destroyed, so we'll never really know the hard truth about the heroes of the past and the full extent of their exploits.

I need to take off and head to work, so I'll have to cut it off there. Suffice it to say, I think I'm in the middle when it comes to this. You both have good arguments, but I don't think that it's a black and white issue. There are both biological and social factors at play here.

[dragoongfa]

Thinking about it some more, I think that I am really closer to Razor One's position than I originally believed.

Biology is the primary factor but humans are not mere animals to be driven exclusively by it, the historical positions of women were indeed unduly inferior despite the historical and biological context. It could be that the biological imperative drove forward the societal imbalance but this imbalance was heavier than it should be.

Biological needs do push for the protection of women from physical harm but men and women always had very distinct and important roles that warranted gender equality in the terms of rights even with vastly different responsibilities due to physical differences. It could be that societal and religious pressures unduly reinforced the biological imperative to protect by turning everything to the extreme, instead of the natural balance that certain societies showed throughout time.

[Argron]

Interesting read, looking forward to the next few parts, should get very interesting

I partly agree with Namaphry, most of what keeps women from many positions is inertia from thousands of years of traditions that no longer make sense, and the stupidity / fear of many males. And while in the west many countries are creating the basis for these traditions to change, we are still far off, and it likely won't be a matter of even decades, but maybe centuries to reach true gender equality.
That is, in the west, most other areas of the world are thousands years away from anything close to gender equality, unless they suddenly change their ways, which they wont.

That said, the front lines of the army is probably a bad idea right now, as you guys have already explained, and also the interesting points this female soldier offers:
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/27/s ... e-veteran/
Maybe in 50, 100 years the most advanced nations military equipment makes the biological differences between men and women negligible, but not today for many front-line roles.

Basicly, what keeps the women from the front lines is first, male bias, then biology and finally the complete disregard for human rights from the vast majority of countries in the world, and how this backwards behaviour from the enemy has a very negative effect on male morale due to their own backwards traditions. None of it is the female's fault, but still both biology and army morale and deciding factors in excluding them.

[NuclearIceCream]

Basically, what keeps the women from the front lines is first, male bias, then biology and finally the complete disregard for human rights from the vast majority of countries in the world, and how this backwards behavior from the enemy has a very negative effect on male morale due to their own backwards traditions. None of it is the female's fault, but still both biology and army morale and deciding factors in excluding them.

I'm not terribly qualified to talk about this subject because I'm not a biologist or doctor, but I'm pretty sure even if we didn't have male bias or any other societal reason to keep women away from combat, we still shouldn't because of sexual dimorphism.

Unless and until we can give everyone exo-suits or powered armor we shouldn't put women in combat because as the woman who wrote in that little testimony said, she couldn't drag an injured man and all the equipment strapped to him back into cover. It would get people killed. Infantry combat is not and should never be considered equal opportunity. We should only let those who can handle passing high physical standards do the job.

Infantry is the only job in the Military I don't think we should be letting women have purely because of combat effectiveness.

[Argron]

Basically, what keeps the women from the front lines is first, male bias, then biology and finally the complete disregard for human rights from the vast majority of countries in the world, and how this backwards behavior from the enemy has a very negative effect on male morale due to their own backwards traditions. None of it is the female's fault, but still both biology and army morale and deciding factors in excluding them.

I'm not terribly qualified to talk about this subject because I'm not a biologist or doctor, but I'm pretty sure even if we didn't have male bias or any other societal reason to keep women away from combat, we still shouldn't because of sexual dimorphism.

Unless and until we can give everyone exo-suits or powered armor we shouldn't put women in combat because as the woman who wrote in that little testimony said, she couldn't drag an injured man and all the equipment strapped to him back into cover. It would get people killed. Infantry combat is not and should never be considered equal opportunity. We should only let those who can handle passing high physical standards do the job.

Infantry is the only job in the Military I don't think we should be letting women have purely because of combat effectiveness.

Agreed, what I mean with male bias is that even if females suddenly became as strong as males (due to the existence of cheap exosqueletons or something else), most military males would resist from accepting them in the first place due to sexism and tradition. Maybe not in advanced societies but in most other societies definitely.

[Sweforce]

I noticed two details in the last chapter. The first at the very start when the engineer is annoyed that his help is not wanted. His loroi colleges are working with alien tech with some trouble as suspected but I came to think about how I'll adviced it is to try to work tools meant for another standard, like metric tools in an inch environment for example. Adjustable tools exist but tend to be clumsy like the common adjustable wrench. I believe he would have brought his own toolbox with him to lend out fitting tools when needed, unless the emergency generator like IKEA furniture comes with the necessary fitting tools as a bonus.

The other detail is this phrase "Space is a natural insulator where heat is shed slowly so we knew that the debris was recent.” This is what TV-tropes call an " As you know" when stating the obvious to someone that should already know but the audience may be ignorant of this. A rephrasing to something like: "We knew that the debris was recent since space is a natural insulator where heat is shed slowly" for instance would say the same thing but the "as you know" effect would be milder.

Good work, I re read the entire story and noticed a lot of changes that I missed before, I reccomend others to do the same.

[dragoongfa]

I noticed two details in the last chapter. The first at the very start when the engineer is annoyed that his help is not wanted. His loroi colleges are working with alien tech with some trouble as suspected but I came to think about how I'll adviced it is to try to work tools meant for another standard, like metric tools in an inch environment for example. Adjustable tools exist but tend to be clumsy like the common adjustable wrench. I believe he would have brought his own toolbox with him to lend out fitting tools when needed, unless the emergency generator like IKEA furniture comes with the necessary fitting tools as a bonus.

The generator itself is closer with the 'IKEA' stuff of today, since it must be quickly disassembled and assembled in emergencies by personnel who although have some tech expertise (space sailors and all that) may not have the know how for something far more complicated. The tooling needed, and of course provided for, is basic and to no ones surprise the Loroi have very familiar equivalents since our manipulating appendages are identical. Its one of the things that I wanted the readers to figure it out themselves since it has already been established what the main attribute of such a generator is.

The other detail is this phrase "Space is a natural insulator where heat is shed slowly so we knew that the debris was recent.” This is what TV-tropes call an " As you know" when stating the obvious to someone that should already know but the audience may be ignorant of this. A rephrasing to something like: "We knew that the debris was recent since space is a natural insulator where heat is shed slowly" for instance would say the same thing but the "as you know" effect would be milder.

Nice catch . Remember that Shadowcloud is primarily an intelligence/diplomatic officer, to the mind of an 'elite' space engineer she may not know this simple fact so Lieutenant Litteauer thought it best to cover it since it was crucial for the discovery of the Loroi ship.

Good work, I re read the entire story and noticed a lot of changes that I missed before, I reccomend others to do the same.

Most of the stuff that changed were typos and some minor vocabulary corrections

Remember that this is still the first draft, the finalized draft will be properly edited and assembled once the story itself is finished.

[dragoongfa]

Chapter 10, part 1

It was an undeniable fact of spaceflight that no Umiak could escape jump sickness, no one ever did and no one ever would; as an Umiak, Kitiiikht-14-Tahkit-Tuk was no exception. There were ways to partially negate the sickness’s effects but they were wholly detrimental to the crew’s efficiency and thus unacceptable for the Hierarchy’s space forces, where everyone who served aboard wouldn’t even consider of lightening even slightly the load that was placed on their exoskeletons.

It was a harsh but noble duty, the noblest that any Umiak could dream of, for the Hierarchy needed warships to fight its enemies and spread ever onward; its noble mission demanding nothing less. It was only the Hierarchy that could be trusted to secure a future where everyone is equal to one an other but until that future could be realized everyone would have to carry their load because no one could be equal if they didn’t offer their due.

His head slowly cleared but his body still retched from the sickness at even the most minor movements; despite all this he pushed himself to focus on the task at hand even as he knew it would still be some time before he could properly assume command of the ship that he was entrusted with. He remembered how the new device had detected life on a system that should be none and as it was their duty he ordered to change their patrol route in order to investigate. It was an easy decision, dictated by his orders and by common sense.

According to the device it was a small number of life signs and only two jumps away from where they were at the moment of detection. A small number of life signs should be investigated and acted according to Hierarchy law while a large number should be followed, observed and reported by using one of the messenger ships that were stationed at set coordinates throughout the burned territories.

93 life signs was a small number, surely a small ship with a small crew. Alone the ship he commanded was more than enough for the task at hand. It may not be a frontline warship but it was still a heavy class ship with adequate weapons, armor and screens. Until recently they were patrolling the new, long tax routes between the core worlds of the Hierarchy and the newest additions to it, additions whose inhabitants had yet to realize the Hierarchy’s glory and still held some misguided notions of independence.

With his head clearing more and more he brought up the data of the system they were in. Ktahk-Tk was a Hierarchy system that was destroyed by the Enemy. Still feeling groggy and uncertain of his ability, he decided to occupy his mind by briefly feeding his curiosity about the past of this system and called the necessary data to read.

The system was initially called Komlak by the Tithric, a name that no Umiak could pronounce, who colonized it before they joined the Hierarchy in order to be protected from the Enemy. At the time of its destruction it was an thriving industrial colony with a 300 million population. The system was surrounded by numerous mineral rich systems, making it an ideal location for an industrial world despite the fact of not having a life supporting planet. Even at its height the Tithric never managed to properly develop everything, falling prey to inefficient infighting and profiteering. The Hierarchy would be able to fully develop it and turn it into a great industrial world which is why the Enemy destroyed almost everything here.

It was obvious a priority target for the Enemy but their forces were obviously needed elsewhere and after destroying most of the industrial sites they just left; leaving numerous other places practically untouched and with a large number of the population still living. The Hierarchy wisely saw that redeveloping the system would cost too many resources, resources that would be far better spent in annexing and developing new territories far away from the Enemy’s territory. The Hierarchy took what it could and left the rest as a testament of the enemy’s ruthlessness against the righteous.

Feeling comfortable after reading the history of the system he decided to see if he was able to assume command of the ship again. He reached and pressed the right button on his screen which was immediately flooded with the ship’s status updates. It was easily apparent that more than half of the ship was still run by its automated systems from the reports alone, the crew members assigned to each station still struggling with their sickness despite their obvious desire to return to their stations.

He checked the status report of the new device and unsurprisingly its operator Kt’rkrktkr-48-trkrk was still beholden by the sickness, which was made worse by him being connected to the device as a precaution in case the life signs were Enemies. Kt’rkrktkr-48-trkrk volunteered to do so himself despite the low odds, undoubtedly still blaming himself for his device’s insubordination and willingness to ignore the rules that it was beholden to.

Everyone who knew about the device’s inner workings knew that it could not have any form of loyalty to the Hierarchy if it was left on its own. By its very nature such device should never be trusted, it was inherently egoistical and perfidious, unworthy to even be considered a part of the Hierarchy. Despite its numerous failings however the device was useful and thus, wearily, they had to put it to use.

Considering the nature of the connection between Kt’rkrktkr-48-trkrk and the device it was understandable that he would consider its failings as his own, despite the fact that it couldn’t be any further from the truth. He was a loyal servant of the Hierarchy, created, born and raised to be a safeguard for these new devices. An ever vigilant guard that shared everything and anything with the device he was assigned with and was connected with it more often than not. His loyalty was secure by his very nature; when the device could never be really loyal.

Leaving the device aside he began checking each status report and was immediately assailed by another sickness induced migraine. Pushing himself to at least check the major systems he began reading the reports that were automatically flagged as crucial. Weapons were prepped and ready, just as they were before the jump, half of the gunners were still sick but the automated systems could fill up their place if need be. The reactors were also giving a machine assisted ready status, the crew assigned there was always hit hardest by the sickness and only a handful of them were at their posts. The screens were fully prepared, waiting only for the command to be raised, with a little less than half of their nominal crew still sick.

He felt pride for the ship when he saw the status report for the areas that were its heart and soul and the reason behind the peacekeeping missions that they were previously assigned with. The two shuttle bays, one at each side of the ship, reported full combat readiness. Four heavy shuttles, their pilots and their Hard-troops reported that they were ready for anything that would be asked of them.

He was proud of the Hard-troops, who had humbly accepted the cybernetic modifications necessary in order to serve the Hierarchy for the rest of their lives as what they were now. They were prepared for this task even before they were brought to life but all of them accepted the weight asked of them with humility and devotion. They gladly accepted the painful procedure of having their entire exoskeleton replaced by a cold metallic shell, never again would they feel a warm touch again or the sun shining on their exoskeletons. The metallic coldness and the humming of the hydraulics would be their lifelong comrades from then on. They all knew that this sacrifice would not be in vain since they would now be able to fight battles that no Umiak could previously think possible, bringing the Hierarchy’ glory to places and people were previously considered out of reach.

Before them, the Hierarchy had to use only its ill suited warships to bring lasting peace to those that needed it and didn’t know it yet. It was damaging and wasteful, many potential Hierarchy servants were needlessly killed whenever the warships were called in to pacify those fools who did not realize the many benefits of being part of It. Everything changed once the Hard-troops were brought into the pacification process, now only those who were acting against the peace died futile deaths, leaving the rest to live peaceful and productive lives right next to everyone else who wholeheartedly embraced the way of the Hierarchy.

It was no wonder that out of everyone else only the Enemy refused everything at every step. Every crew member, every Hard-troop, every Umiak to the last knew that the Enemy was wholly irredeemable and needed to be rooted out completely so the Hierarchy could expand in peace.

Only then could the Enemy’s many slaves, the so called members of the Union, prove themselves loyal to the cause. It was unfortunate that they too would have to suffer alongside their masters until the war was over but that was the price of not rising up and fight for all that is good and peaceful. Those who willingly serve their murderous masters would of course pay for their crimes but they too would in time become proper parts of the Hierarchy.

The Enemy's independent allies, the Historians and the Nissek, were troublesome as well. The Historians were almost as bad as the enemy but many of their numbers embraced the Hierarchy once they realized its glory, giving them much needed tech for the device and other technological marvels that could decide the war with the Enemy. Perhaps many more of them could be proven redeemable as well when their leadership would pay their price of their defiance.

The Nissek were a mystery, their location at the other side of the enemy’s territory making any and all information about them scarce. Of the little that was known about them was the fact that the Enemy didn’t trust them despite the fact that they were allied and have on occasions fought side by side against the Hierarchy. They would have to be dealt with accordingly once the Enemy was out of the way.

It was then that Kitiiikht-14-Tahkit-Tuk caught himself thinking of something other than his mission and immediately felt ashamed of himself. He had been entrusted with a Heavy warship in order to fulfill the task of bringing peace and order to a chaotic universe. With so much on his exoskeleton he shouldn’t think of anything other than his duty to everything that the Hierarchy stood for. For a fleeting moment he thought that his lapse of focus was due to the jump sickness but he felt greater shame for even thinking of such a petty excuse. Trying to ease his shame he pushed himself to try and bring the ship back to full readiness as quickly as possible.

Chapter 10, part 2: http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 625#p19625

[dragoongfa]

A monomaniacal superpower run by super humble beings who have natural exoskeletons. Nothing could possibly be wrong with that, right?

[Mr Bojangles]

It really hits home the fact that humanity is emphatically not in a good position. As you say, a monomaniacal superpower on the one hand and a superpower with a proven track record of genocide on the other. (Not that I think the Umiak are any less likely to commit such an act; just listening in on Kitiiikht-14-Tahkit-Tuk, I imagine the option would be kept on the table).

What to do when your choices are "bad" and "only slightly less bad if looked at from a different angle"?

[Grayhome]

have natural exoskeletons

Thought that wasn't rly anything other than a detriment. Alot of dead weight to carry around that made them weaker and slower and didn't offer any real protection unless tech upgraded.

[dragoongfa]

As the insider mentions, on low gravity worlds the Umiak are very nimble and quick which is the environment they evolved for anyway. In any case a natural exoskeleton is useful on many hazardous occupations, most manual labor accidents would be negligible if what took the brunt of the force was an exoskeleton that is stronger than bug chitin.

On the space era however, it starts being troublesome, worlds with stronger gravity become harder to colonize and since the majority of the habitable planets have a stronger gravity the Umiak are severely handicapped on their prospects. Which is probably a part of the reason as to their expansionist and enslavement policies, they may not be able to naturally colonize those worlds but the locals sure are able to fully exploit everything.

With some added cybernetic and biological modifications, a limited number of Umiak could also serve as some form of overseers early in their expansion. The key change in policies vis a vis their expansion probably happened when they became able to artificially reproduce (which what the numbers in their names probably are). Once they were able to grow themselves in a tank they opened themselves to a vast range of possibilities, now they could modify the artificial fetus from day 1 to have specific traits.

I imagine that for colonist they choose a mix of stronger muscles and somewhat lighter exoskeletons, cheap colonists for previously forbidding planets that can be pumped out at will. For Hard-troops, stronger muscles, strong immune system and the ability to accept a wide range of cybernetic enhancements, somewhat expensive but combined with what is essentially power armor they now have very formidable troops in large numbers.

With the above in mind the question becomes if the Umiak would pursue such technologies if they weren't constrained and limited by their exoskeletons? Such advances only happen when there is a very real need, so I imagine that their exoskeletons played a real part in how their technology developed.

The sky is the limit as far as the Umiak capabilities are in the way they are presented. Fortunately for everyone else, depending on the point of view, their war with the Loroi is a naval war where individual capabilities play little role when compared to superior tactics, technology and intelligence; categories in which the Loroi have some very distinct advantages.

[Zakharra]

Interesting. The device sounds very much like an organic device since its loyalty cannot be trusted and it can be subordinate. A computer would not be that. so it has to be organic. Very interesting indeed.

[endeavor]

Interesting. The device sounds very much like an organic device since its loyalty cannot be trusted and it can be subordinate. A computer would not be that. so it has to be organic. Very interesting indeed.

My wager is that it's a Loroi POW. Probably Farseer, maybe just some hard-lucked gal beefed up with gadgets handed over by some Historians.

[dragoongfa]

Interesting. The device sounds very much like an organic device since its loyalty cannot be trusted and it can be subordinate. A computer would not be that. so it has to be organic. Very interesting indeed.

My wager is that it's a Loroi POW. Probably Farseer, maybe just some hard-lucked gal beefed up with gadgets handed over by some Historians.

A Loroi prisoner of war would never cooperate with Umiaks on the level that the device does. I doubt that even if she was 'jacked in' Matrix style and pumped full of hallucinogenics that the Umiak would get much out of a Loroi POW.

Since I had already spoilered this at an other thread months ago take a SPOILER ALERT:

SpoilerShow

It's darker than this

[endeavor]

I doubt that even if she was 'jacked in' Matrix style and pumped full of hallucinogenics that the Umiak would get much out of a Loroi POW.

Actually my idea was of POW being jacked-in, maybe with some neuro-surgery. If it gets darker than that, it's pretty dark.

A Loroi prisoner of war would never cooperate with Umiaks on the level that the device does

Statements like "No X would do Y" are tricky. Between propaganda, torture and whatever other means of coercion are available in the setting, the outcome is not clear. However, it's your story and you get to tell it as you like