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Nikolai

Basileus Romaion
78 Badges
Jun 17, 2001
23.666
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“Fifty years.”

Executor Gapra Taras smiled.

Tx8JDnW.png


“What a ride it has been.”

She turned to the man in the sofa.

“I am glad you are the one to write down these memoirs. A true Triech. A true patriot.”

She nodded.

“Yes. Well, I guess I will start with the advent of star travel. We did not know then, about the dangerous galaxy that awaited us.”

OaSLm1f.png


She smirked.

“Not a war yet, but I am certain it will come soon.”

She sighed.

“So many enemy aliens. And not one truly friendly.”

She snorted.

“As is to be expected.”

Grinning, she stretched her body.

“But what a ride it has been. From one star system to almost fifty now. From being alone in the universe, our slaves and us; the enlightened Triech. To this.”

dyYF0Zj.png


She waved to a nearby screen.

“All those aliens. Encroaching on us, threatening us. But I will not allow us to fall!”

She laughed.

“No. The Triech species will prevail. I have plans to expand.”

ErWVNST.png


She arched her brow.

“That is confidential, of course. For now. But the rest…yes, the rest of our conversations you are free to record for publishing. I understand you rather than a book want to write it as time goes by, in articles on the Holonet. Most interesting.

She waved her hand.

“No matter, I am sure you and PR knows what is best. I am old fashioned though; I like my books. Well, then. I guess I should paint the picture for you on how our Empire looks at this point of time. Shall we?”
 
Oh, I'm excited for this.
 
Oh, snap! @Nikolai is back!

I do love this opening. It kinda reminds me of the "Commission an Epic" events in Crusader Kings 3. History's about to be written.
Glad to have you onboard! Happy the start was liked. :) I'm about a century into the game, and this story will cover the time until then, at the minimum. Game is already slowing to a crawl, but it has given some good stuff to write about already! I plan to write as long as the Executor lives, at least. :)
Oh, I'm excited for this.
Welcome back, Cora! Glad to have you onboard!
 
Please vote in the Q1 ACAs 2021, which has the voting period ending 20.00 CEST Sunday May 9th, 2021. :) This work is of course not eligble, but many great works across the PDS games catalogue is, and AARland needs you to honor the many great works out there! :D Please go here and vote if you haven't already: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/q1-2021-acas.1465470/
 
“That is confidential, of course. For now. But the rest…yes, the rest of our conversations you are free to record for publishing. I understand you rather than a book want to write it as time goes by, in articles on the Holonet. Most interesting.
A serial! Much like... an AAR!

I'm excited for this.
 
Xenos - part 1
“Xenos. Neighbors.”

Executor Gapra Taras waved her hand dismissively.

“A menace, even the more friendly ones.”

She sighed.

“But a reality. One must cope with it as well as one can.”

She nodded.

“But I promised a picture of our Empire. Sadly, the xenos are part of that picture.”

She pointed.

sogrnUs.png


“To the galactic north lies the Insatiable Sibulan Provisioners. Ghastly birds, the lot of them. They are the strongest of our neighbors, but they are also suspisously peaceful. We will need to deal with them at some point, but for now I have commanded our only hyperlane to border them to be secured with a strong as possible station.”

Taras furrowed her brow.

XZPEtFi.png


“I have also ordered our intelligence agency to monitor them, but so far we have had problems getting an asset there. We have cracked enough of their codes to know they are equal to us both in fleet power, economic power as well as technological prowess.”

She sighed.

dyYF0Zj.png


“Which is concerning. We need to improve, ever improve. As you can see of the chart I supplied earlier, our economy is strong. But it needs to be stronger! The galaxy is a dangerous place. We need to be ever vigilant.”

A knock on the door.

“Right. It seems my aide needs me. I will be back in a minute. In the meantime, please have a drink from the cabinet. I wager we will both need it as I detail the other xeno empires surrounding us.”
 
Heh, from thundrous applause to thundrous silence. Anyone still with me? :p
 
Heh, from thundrous applause to thundrous silence. Anyone still with me? :p
I'm still here. I just can't distribute vaccines and comment at the same time. Lots of Sergeants and Officers have line of sight to my screen. :p
 
I'm still here. I just can't distribute vaccines and comment at the same time. Lots of Sergeants and Officers have line of sight to my screen. :p
Good! :D Got a bit worried here, never had zero comments after three days before I think.
 
I'm sorry, Nikolai, I'm still reading!
 
Might come an update later today. :) Depends on how long today's shopping takes. :p
 
Also still here. Sorry for the lack of commenting. I go through cycles with that.
 
I, meanwhile, somehow forgot to click the Watch button! Sorry about that.

I like how disinterested the executor seems to be in political propaganda. Most politicians are very excited to talk about themselves. Whereas for Taras it's very much a "well, if I have to," attitude.
 
Also still here. Sorry for the lack of commenting. I go through cycles with that.
No worries, glad you are still reading. :)
I, meanwhile, somehow forgot to click the Watch button! Sorry about that.

I like how disinterested the executor seems to be in political propaganda. Most politicians are very excited to talk about themselves. Whereas for Taras it's very much a "well, if I have to," attitude.
Hehe, it happens. On the other hand, Taras is quite dismissive of the xenos and their worth. She is elected for life, I guess she has that attitude from that. :p
 
Xenos - Part 2
“The Enlightened Kingdom of Zuhn.”

aOURxUK.png


Executor Gapra Taras sighed.

“We don’t know much about them at this juncture, to be honest.”

She waved her hand dismissively.

TXQ03TK.png


“Other than that they are by all accounts a large Empire, and quite religious at that.”

She smirked.

“First contact we had, they implored about our gods and whether we followed The Path. When we answered we didn’t know this Path, they withdrew with what I can only call righteous fury and a selection of bad words about “heathens”.”

She winked.

“In any case, we fortified our only hyperlane bordering them and let them sulk.”

She pointed towards a map.

HRXaqrU.png


“To the galactic south, however, we met the United Bodranite Sovereignty. Filthy zenos. Ugly looking lot. We don’t know much about them either. But.”

She held up a finger.

“They are tempting targets. Not yet, but soon. I have ordered expansion towards them down east, and we are fortifying the north-west. While we don’t know much about them, they seem to be isolated diplomatically.”

71sNrse.png


She smiled.

“And they are close to the galactic rim. If we secure their systems, we should have one less border to worry about.”
 
In any case, we fortified our only hyperlane bordering them and let them sulk.”
I laughed out loud at this one, mostly because I've been on the receiving end of this move.

I was teaching my dad how to play Stellaris multiplayer and he thought that closing borders with me would also mute my microphone. XD

This was years ago, and I'm still sulking...