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So intelligent life will come to your home system, and this early? Man, what settings did you really choose? :D
 
You tought you can escape from me? Ha! Subscribed!
 
Part Two: First Contact (2202 to 2204)
Caravaners Fleet.jpg



A caravaners fleet. In ships just like these two different alien races of nomadic merchants visited the Cevant system in early 2202.

Part Two: First Contact (2202 to 2204)

The creature before Governor Rhass was bizarre. In shape at least it had the two arms and two legs of a Yldar but that was almost where the similarity ended. The Glost-Werheni, standing perhaps a head and and a half shorter than the average Yldar was covered with auburn fur like a ylirri, a long tail held aloft behind it, swaying and curling in almost hypnotic fashion. A total of four eyes in the being's face blinked at him.

Oddest
of all to the Yldar bureaucrat the Glost-Werheni had a strangely pleasant musk. One would think all that fur would smell strong and acrid, but no the mammals had a subtle and rather 'clean' smell. Unconsciously the Yldar flickered his long bluish tongue out to catch the novel scent, only stopping when the alien appeared to grow agitated.

'So we have a bargain?' the Glost-Werheni said slowly and in strange intonation as if it had only just begun learning the Yldar language - which of course it had.

'Indeed we do my friend, indeed we do.'

~~~~~

Two standard months into 2202 and a fleet of alien ships was detected coming out of hyperspace into the Cevant system. The confusion and hysteria among the habitats were doubled when a second fleet of slightly different design arrived fresh on the heels of the first. Quite understandably the first reaction of the Free Traders was to order the still small Yldar Star Navy on alert and instruct civilian shipping to seek shelter in the near indestructible bulk of the habitats. The unease lasted mere hours however as the 'invasion fleet' began broadcasting a message in Yldar, suggesting they had been receiving transmissions from the Three Daughters for some time. The message received by the Yldars was at once utterly unexpected and strikingly familiar. The aliens were not here to attack and they were not even here to explore. Rather they had detected hyperspace readings from the Cevant system and come to trade.

The strange alien fleets (a tautology but a fitting one) were both members of a coalition of nomadic merchant peoples in a distant corner of the galaxy, who operated caravans of trading vessels plying the stars for years on end. Though two different sapient species that arrived were distinct from each other and seemingly in competition they were also in this loose alliance, which was implied to contain even more species. The Numistic Order, who arrived in the Cevant system slightly before their allies/rivals were a religious fraternity whose members were mostly composed of a mammalian species known as the Glost-Werheni. The Vengralian Trium were fungoid peddlers, not so very different from Yldar society though transient rather than living in stable habitats.


Vengralian Trium.jpg


A hololog recording of first contact with the Vengralian Trium.

The Yldars found the Vengralians fascinating in that they were both profoundly different and yet understandable. They were bulbous beings, approximately a meter 'tall' with their eyes, mouth and limbs at the 'bottom'. Seemingly evolved from sapient fungi on a savanna dominated homeworld long forgotten even by themselves the Vengralians were buoyant from internal gas sacks, literally floating in the standard gravity aboard the Yldar habitats and propelled around by expelling (mercifully odourless) gas. Despite the utter strangeness of their physiology they were mentally quite compatible with the Yldar. On Pirgak's Freehold (where their ships docked) the Vengralian party that were escorted were met by a party of Yldar plutocrats who could scarcely retain their steely business sense in their desire to question the Vengralians. Savviness (or greed) won out over naked curiosity but it was a close run thing.

For their part the Vengralians seemed au fait when dealing with the Yldars, even though the snakelike humanoids were surely as exotic to the fungoids as vice versa. As Chairwoman Bemalona noted in her personal records: 'they may not have encountered us before, but in their long travels they have encountered species like us.'

Ultimately the business dealings with the Vengralian Trium proved affable but inconclusive. The Vegralians were interested in purchasing a Khaagul-class science ship sans crew, but their offer of an aerosol compound designed to enhance the air quality of a planetary body was of little use to the habitat bound Yldars. In any case while there was a certain warm pride in the interest the technologically advanced Vengralians had in Yldar shipping Chairwoman Bemalona and the others of the Board were not about to surrender control of either Hempest the Fearless or Mitgapp the Humble.


Numistic Order.jpg


A hololog recording of first contact with the Numistic Order.

Of the two the Numistic Order would prove to have the larger impact. The Order worshiped a goddess of trade and fortune named Numa and it was some bemusement that the secular Yldars greeted them when their vessels docked at Lastagarvin's Shelter [1]. The devotees, at least those the Yldars encountered were mammalian vertebrates known as the Glost-Werheni. Of similar build to the Yldar, though slightly shorter and less muscular the Glost-Werheni were very distantly descended from tundra dwelling ape-like beings from a homeworld as lost as that of the Vengralians (and indeed the Yldars.) Though they had some difficulty grasping unfamiliar concepts the Glost-Werheni struck the Yldar representatives as pleasant and curious. Unfortunately before business talks could truly take place two scandals erupted, leading to the rapid withdrawal of the Numistic ships.

Very soon after first contact the Winds of Fortune, the huge and ornate Numistic flagship had reported engine trouble and requested additional facilities and security. Governor Rhass, the omnipresent chief bureaucrat who actually ran the Three Daughters proved most obliging and for several days a throng of Glost-Werheni wandered the public districts of Lastagarvin's Shelter, drinking Yldar spirits in the cantinas and swaying their tails and heads to the music. The maroon uniformed officers of the Patrol had to escort them, less because of the threat of violence and more because of the rapid explosion of unregulated trade between Yldar petty merchants and hustlers that saw countless 'souvenirs' exchange hands.

Unfortunately while all this was going on on the surfaces hidden deals were taking place. The exact details would remain mysterious for some time but somehow much valuable material disappeared - and with it the Winds of Fortune and the rest of the Numistic fleet who abruptly broke of negotiations and left the system.


caravaneers thieves.jpg


Many facts about the great robbery of 2202 would not be known for years to come.

The Yldars were still trying to come to terms with what happened when a
second fleet of Numistic style ships arrived in system and began urgently transmitting towards Lastagarvin's Shelter. This fleet, unlike the sleek and efficient gold and silver merchant vessels that had come before were lumbering star freighters, scarcely spaceworthy and it was a minor miracle (of Numa) that they had survived a hyperspace trip to begin with. Even their holotransmissions were degraded and weak, scarcely receivable even by the powerful equipment available to Bemalona and the Board when the local administrators patched the plea through to Oros.

The second fleet once contact was established claimed to have no knowledge of their brethren who had just stolen various rare metals and materials. In fact the leader of the vagabond fleet, a young Glost-Werheni female named Soki B'Eren was very clear she and her people had nothing but contempt for the Order:

'We beg you noble Chairwoman allow us refuge! We are oppressed because we follow a different path to Lady Numa! Grant us sanctuary and we shall devote body and soul to your people! Help us!

Somehow the crumbling hulks under Soki B'Eren's leadership were crammed full of many millions of the aliens. If the Free Traders agreed to grant refuge they'd be increasing the population of the Three Daughters combined by at least 12% perhaps more, with the aptly named Lastagarvin's Shelter bearing the brunt of the sudden crisis.


Caravaneers local franchise.jpg


The sudden alien refugee crisis of 2202.

For days the plutocrats argued about whether to allow the refugees entry to the habitats. The arguments against were unblemished by sentiment but even those statements sympathetic towards the Glost-Werheni were based in hard headed pragmatism (or at least phrased as such.) The Glost-Werheni were from a slightly more technologically advanced culture than the Yldars, and every little insight helped the advance of science. Though physically unprepossessing all the available data suggested the Glost-Werheni would be hard working and loyal.

More than that though, however much the Yldars liked to think of themselves as coolly rational and above weak minded emotionalism there was a streak of xenophilia running through them, a burning fascination with the greater universe. In some like the Outsiders this verged on the mystical but even for those who life seemed dominated only by personal success and their credit margin the lure of the exotic, of the alien could almost be tasted. The Glost-Werheni were so fascinating it would be impossible to simply dismiss them entirely.

This swirl of complex factors - ruthless pragmatism, a patronising but sincere love of the strange and, perhaps, in some a secret flicker of sentiment - proved decisive. On the ninth day of Thirdmonth the Chairwoman officially granted the Glost-Werheni permission to stay. The refugees, who came in even larger numbers than might have been expected, poured in a continuous sapient tide of russet furred mammalians through the airlocks and docking bays into Lastagarvin's Shelter. About half would end up staying there with the other half split between the two other habitats. It would take years to fully understand what the addition of millions of aliens would mean for Yldar culture but in the short term credits were focused on living space and jobs. There was more than enough room on the giant habitats but whole new sections had to be expanded or altered a process which in itself would take many months. The Glost-Werheni had similar oxygen concerns to the Yldars, and were adapted to roughly the same gravity but they preferred cooler temperatures. Like the Yldars they were omnivores but while the reptilian diet consisted mostly of meat with rich spices, fruits and grains to provide flavour, texture and vitamins the Glost-Werheni diet was largely based around fruit and plant fibers with meat forming an important but secondary element. The mammalians also gave birth to live young and lactated, both of which were startling experiences for the first Yldar physicians to observe them.

The Glost-Werheni were also religious and this was a major difference to mainstream Yldar culture which was firmly materialist - even the Outsiders with their quasi-religious views of highly benign advanced alien progenitiers scoffed at supernatural thinking. The schismatic differences between the schismatic refugees and the main body of the Numistic Order were incomprehensible to most Yldars. However the Yldars were also not aggressively anti-religious so the quiet religious practices of the Glost-Werheni were tolerated. In fact several enterprising Yldar merchants were only too willing start producing 'genuine' alien spiritual trinkets for xenophiles who wanted a piece of exotica on their walls.

One other aspect of the aliens was harder to quantify and the government did not speak of it openly. Everyone could agree that the Glost-Werheni had a certain charisma to them that went beyond the simple Yldar fascination with the alien. The Vengralians had been even more alien but they had not captured the public fondness the way the Glost-Werheni had. As the aliens found their way into the workforce they ended up in numerous jobs, but the world of entertainment seemed to disproportionately call to them. Whether it be singing, acting, dance or other more arcane practices Yldar audiences seemed spell bound.

A scientific study in 2203 that was immediately suppressed by order of the Chairwoman suggested a cause. The Glost-Werheni exuded a musk, one so faint that they themselves were not even conciously aware of it. To the hyperadapted Yldar sense of smell the musk was detectable and acted as a mild euphoric on the Yldar brain - essentially the average Yldar was predisposed to like a Glost-Werheni. The effect was not powerful enough to rob a Yldar of his or her senses, cause last damage or be in any way obvious but it was there. In order to prevent a panic Bemalona quietly ordered the study sealed. The last thing she wanted to do was create a panic. She did however authorize the creation of a suppresent that she and other leaders could take. True the Glost-Werheni musk was completely harmless but she far preferred having all her wits about her.


Glost-Werheni.jpg


The new Glost-Werheni minority numbered in the hundreds of millions and constituted more than 14% of the entire population of Free Trader space.


Footnotes:

[1] The Free Traders had deliberately the alien caravans be quarantined to separate habitats to better deal with one in the event of a crisis.
 
I have to admit becoming a multi-species culture quite so soon wasn't on my plan but I decided to run with it, especially given the Yldar xenophilia!


~~~~

Another RossN Stellaris AAR?! Count me in! The new expansion is certainly rife with possibilities for storytelling (I'm having a lot of fun playing as the custodians of a ringworld), and you've captured the notion of a void-dwelling society perfectly.

Thank you very much. :)

I agree the new origins are fascinating - I really must try the ringworld scenario and I very nearly went for a 'remnants' AAR!

Love what you've done with this so far! Subbed!

Thank you and welcome! :)

These first steps into the Beyond are so full of promise ... and of everything else.

Very true. Of course sometimes someone comes to you first!

I like the way you've made the Yldar, their society, and their ambitions come to life. It's like a David Brin novel, which is great. :D

Thank you! I'm having fun with them. :)

I think the Chairwoman can be forgiven for showing a little bit of sentiment -- after all, who wouldn't want to have the chance to venture out into the unknown for the pure, simple joy of discovery? (And profit, of course; can't forget that.)

Indeed (and yes you certainly can't!)

A FedAARation of the void.

Perhaps someday! :)

So intelligent life will come to your home system, and this early? Man, what settings did you really choose? :D

Just normal ones honest!

You tought you can escape from me? Ha! Subscribed!

Heh, glad to see you! :D
 
Ah, som this scent is making them charismatic I guess? Don't remember the trait image, but sounds like these guys might become too leaders one day. :D
 
Every first contact presents itself with unique risks and opportunities. It's fortunate for everyone involved that these went off with relatively few complications, though I'm sure whoever owned all those stolen resource stocks probably isn't too happy about that.
 
Well that was unexpected, and the Yldar will truly never be the same again.
 
Traders and caravaners are never to be trusted! :p
 
I can see the more mystical elements of yldar society adopt the new trade goddess
 
That's a swift way to know about Xenos species! :eek:
 
I've never really got in to Stellaris, but with real life apparently creating some more free time for everyone, this might well be the time to try: And what better introduction could there be than a RossN AAR? Subbed! :)
 
Part Three: Among the 'Hammerheads' (2204 to 2220)
Kammarian.jpg


A Kammarian prince wearing his ceremonial court robes.


Part Three: Among the 'Hammerheads' (2204 to 2220)


Hannakona sat crouch legged in her personal chambers, breathing slowly in and out through her quartet of nostrils. Though she had no patience with the Glost-Werheni jabbering about their non-existent goddess she was willing to admit they had a certain something when in came to meditation. It really did calm her mind before she stepped outside the embassy walls into the 'open air' as the locals called it. Strange to think she still needed such tactics after half a decade on this rock but remembered all to well how it had been the first time she had set foot on a planet. The anxiety attacks, the low level discomfort of all that endless sky overhead, the bizarre uneveness of the land.

Being an ambassador was a dirty job but someone had to do it.

'Of course, there are compensations,' she thought to herself as she took to her feet and glided over to the mirror while one servant readied her shimmersilk robes while another prepared the delicate paints to refresh the dark facial markings on her silver scales. The personal attendants, the guards, the chambers themselves (easily five times the size of her home back on Oros) were pleasant rewards. No Yldar would ever grow to love being stuck on a dirtball but she had to concede planets came with space.

~~~~

Eat or be Eaten.jpg



The bizarre (and insulting) discovery in the Irriaimun system that led to first contact with the Kammarians.

In Fifthmonth 2204 YSS Mitgapp the Humble stumbled across an oddity tumbling through an asteroid belt in the Irriaimun system. Scans from the science vessel indicated bizarre metallic compositions, later identified as the remains of a starship of unknown origin. The ship had apparently been the victim of some vast interstellar predator. The wreck was far too shattered to salvage and even her computer systems could barely be recovered but what emerged proved fascinating if nauseating. The original species that owned the vessel (nicknamed the 'Gourmands' by Ketrilla in her report) were unknown to Yldar science and they clearly relished the flesh of other sapients and if the computer records were to be trusted had been behind the mysterious disappearances of an ore freighter in the western systems the year before. The 'Gourmands' had apparently also dined on both Vegralians ('bland yet nourishing') and Glost-Werherni ('tender if gamey') but it was the previously unknown Kammarians that had truly made them salivate. By careful study of the wreck Ketrilla and her crew trace back the path the 'Gourmands' had taken and by adjusting their sensor array managed to detect the faint transmissions of the Centralized Kammarian Systems.

Under normal circumstances it might have taken decades for the Yldars and the Kammarians to even learn of each other's existence. In galactic terms they were practically neighbours but what seemed so close on the map translated to a gap of hundreds of light years in reality, traversing uncharted hyperlanes. There was some hesitation among the Free Traders about trying to directly contact the Kammarians. Unexplored space could be home to many perils, like the enigmatic star creature that had swallowed and then regurgitated the 'Gourmand' ship. Indeed not long after Ketrilla made her discovery YSS Hempest the Fearless had an encounter with a strange and menacing 'void cloud' the size of a habitat and barely escaped.


Kammarian and Yldar Space 2204.jpg


The Yldar Free Traders & the Centralized Kammarian Systems in 2204.

Bemalona was the decisive figure, pushing for full contact with the aliens. At the very least the Yldar people could hardly remain blind to potential rivals. With greater optimism came the idea of fresh markets and exotic luxuries, rare technologies and all the wealth of interstellar trade.

It took every technological trick the boffins in the Three Daughters could muster but by the middle of the year the Yldars had managed to achieve contact with the Kammarians. The first stilted conversations transmitted across the void were enlightening and disheartening.

The Kammarians were a reptilian race native to the planet Kamdor, a world dominated by hazy teal skies and endless savannas of tall sharp rutha grass. The Kammarians had evolved from large herbivorous quadrupeds that had frequented the larger water holes of the eastern subcontinent, though like the Yldars they had become omnivores over the passage of time. They also shrank and were now of similar size to the average Yldar, if a shade taller. The most immediately notable thing about the species were their 'hammer' shaped heads, developed to give the species an evolutionary advantage through their increased range of vision. Kammarian society, as of the Twenty Third Century was ferociously autocratic and caste based with a planetary emperor and his family at the top and billions of slaves at the bottom. They were a proud and war like culture unified under a series of wars a century and half before they reached hyperspace and if their technology lagged slightly behind the Free Traders their warfleet was far more powerful.

Kammarian Contact.jpg


Initial contact with the Kammarians, 2204.

The Emperor Moz I was suspicious in these early negotiations. His people were new to the stars and had yet to encounter other starfaring species (or at least encounter and live to tell about it) and though not xenophobic they were an expansionist civilisation. The distant Yldar represented a sudden unknown blot on an ordered universe. It hardly helped matters that the Yldars were merchants - one of the lowest castes on Kamdor - and seemed more interested in wealth than anything else. The issue of slavery, a vital cornerstone of the Centralized Systems but illegal among the ferociously individualistic Free Traders also proved a volatile subject. As the Emperor's chancellor informed Bemalona in an early exchange:

'His Luminescent Majesty is interested in any slaves you wish to sell us trader. Nothing else you may offer intrigues us.'
The Yldars for their part were practiced negotiators and Bemalona had a shrewd instinct that the proud Kammarians were just as curious about the Yldars as vice versa and sooner or later they'd come sniffing around as soon as they managed to convince themselves they were not consorting with riffraff. Even when the aliens haughtily closed their borders to Yldar traffic during Sixthmonth 2204 the Chairwoman kept her cool. The closure of borders was the emptiest of gestures as neither the Yldars nor the Kammarians were capable of sending civilian shipping across such distances.

As an ambitious young merchant princess Bemalona had become a devotee of the card game known as gann. Great fortunes could be won and lost in some of the casinos in the leisure districts of the habitats but while the Chairwoman had always savoured the credits pushed across the triangular gaming tables in a win she had played more for the skill. It honed her insights into the minds of her opponents. Tellingly, no matter how cool the reaction from Kamdor had been it had never been anti-alien. That was something she could wait out.

Sure enough the Centralized Kammarian Systems reopened their borders in Ninthmonth 2206. As with the closure it was a symbolic gesture, the tyranny of distance defeating any rush of freighters crossing the inky void. Even so the Free Traders were encouraged and Bemalona who had championed a 'wait and see' approach saw her standing soar among the plutocrats. In Oros debate turned to sending a full envoy to Kamdor and establishing full relations and the Chairwoman had an individual in mind for this epic mission.


Hannakona.jpg


Hannakona, the official envoy to the Centralized Kammarian Systems.

Hannakona was a forty two year old Yldar. With gleaming silver scales and large jade coloured eyes she'd been known as a great beauty in her youth, but her much prized good looks hid a razor sharp brain and the streak of enlightened self interest so admired in Yldar life. She'd made her money in alloys and owned a small yet successful merchant fleet before the boredom of overseeing of every manifest detail made her look for other opportunities. She was not friends precisely with Bemalona but the two certainly respected each other. Briefly the Chairwoman had considered using her influence to help Hannakona take over Governor Rhass's post after his disgrace [1] but she had a feeling that her frenemy was after something with a sip of danger.

The decision to send an official embassy to Kamdor was not taken lightly. Biologically speaking the Kammarians were surprisingly close to the Yldars (closer indeed than the Glost-Werheni were to either species) so that was not an issue but journey itself was dangerous and long, pushing the boundaries of understood star travel to their limits. Assuming Hannakona and her staff made it to the alien world she still faced the daunting prospect of living on an unstable ball of dirt and rock, tumbling mindlessly through space and vulnerable to all the calamities that threatened a 'natural' planet. For most Yldars even the idea of setting foot on a planet was enough to induce a mild panic attack. The Three Daughters were self contained worlds, their interior spaces and climates calibrated exactly to fit the Yldar species. For a people who depended on sense of smell as much as the Yldar the threat of unfamiliar scents could be terrifying. Then there was the noise, he mud, the parasites, the sheer endless scope of a sky overhead. Before she departed Hannakona undertook a battery of exhausting physical tests and mental conditioning to ensure she could take the strain.

Arriving on Kamdor Hannakona was relieved to discover the Kammarians had set aside the palace of a minor baron for her, a building of sufficient size for a Yldar to walk around and breath freely even if it took her some time to adjust to the scenic view of the capital from her windows. She swiftly discovered two aspects of Kammarian culture that her extensive study of the official planet history had not told her. The first was that the Kammarians from highest to lowest were every bit as fond of gambling as the Yldars and the charming and witty envoy, with her skillfully applied facial markings and finely polished scales, her daring haute couture combining aspects of Yldar and Kammarian fashion and her surgical ruthlessness in diplomacy soon became a favourite with certain scions of the court. The second thing she discovered was that the despised merchant caste had managed to make themselves quietly indispensable in running the local economy and were happy to make friends.

The sheer difficulty of travel between the Three Daughters and Kamdor meant that once she arrived on planet Hannakona could expect to remain there indefinitely. There was the occasional courier run to supply her with delicacies from home or documents too valuable to be transmitted through standard frequencies [2]. For the most part Hannakona was stuck with her staff and whatever social circle she managed to build among the aliens.

She thrived.

Commercial Pact.jpg


The commercial pact of 2210, largely negotiated by Hannakona.

In 2210 after years of exhausting diplomacy by Hannakona the Kammarians suggested a commercial pact with the Yldar Free Traders. This was only the beginning as in the years ahead several other key research and economic treaties would be signed between the two powers. In 2215 the Kammarians offered a non-aggression pact, and in 2217 a full defensive pact. The great distance involved made implementing any of these details tricky but they indicated a remarkable shift by the Kammarian royals and a very promising future for interstellar relations. And by 2220 Hannakona was no longer one of a handful of Yldars onplanet. Not long after the commercial pact was signed an ambitious mining consortium based out of Pirgak's Freehold won a lease on promising ore veins in Kamdor's great polar mountain range. Most of the mining work was done by locals but a score or so of hardy Yldars arrived to oversee mineral extraction and the long trip back home. Naturally they looked to the envoy as their leader and teacher in Kammarian society.

In 2220 the Emperor Moz I granted Hannakona the honourary title of Lady of the Fifth Chamber. It was the lowest rung of the aristocracy but a commoner reaching such a rank at all was rare indeed. 2220 was the same year in which the role of Chairperson was put to the plutocrats for election and there was some excited buzz in the Three Daughters that Hannakona might be a candidate. The envoy politely demurred from the running, perhaps out of a shrewd appraisal that being absent from home for so long her fame would count for less than those who could keep their eye on politics and business. Perhaps though the charms of Kamdor and her position had made their mark.

Perhaps she just liked being the best card player in any given solar system.


Footnotes:

[1] Of which more later.

[2] By a strange coincidence most of these courier vessels were piloted by unusually handsome Yldar males willing to spend two or three nights on an alien planet.
 
Ah, som this scent is making them charismatic I guess? Don't remember the trait image, but sounds like these guys might become too leaders one day. :D

They are indeed Charismatic. I thought it made sense to factor that into the story to help account for their quick acceptance. :)

Every first contact presents itself with unique risks and opportunities. It's fortunate for everyone involved that these went off with relatively few complications, though I'm sure whoever owned all those stolen resource stocks probably isn't too happy about that.

Very true on all accounts. As I said I hadn't expected to encounter other sapients quiet so quickly, let alone become a multispecies society but it is an interesting angle. :)

And we may not have heard the last of those thefts...

Well that was unexpected, and the Yldar will truly never be the same again.

True. It wasn't a bad shock (except for the thieves! but still definitely a shock!

Traders and caravaners are never to be trusted! :p

Um... I am playing traders. ;) :D

I suppose it is only fitting that the Yldar would have first contact with other species that live solely among the stars.

That is a rather poetic way of putting it. :)

A fair point too. In some ways the planetbound, more traditional Kammarians are more of a shock.

I can see the more mystical elements of yldar society adopt the new trade goddess

That is an interesting idea. Yldar society is fairly materialist but they are also xenophiles. We'll see how this develops.

I love how you've captured the void-dwelling culture and society from the outset.

Thank you! I found the origin idea very interesting and wanted to see if I could make it work! :)

That's a swift way to know about Xenos species! :eek:

I know! :confused:

I've never really got in to Stellaris, but with real life apparently creating some more free time for everyone, this might well be the time to try: And what better introduction could there be than a RossN AAR? Subbed! :)

Thanks for the compliment and delighted to have you aboard! :D

Stellaris is a lot of fun. If you want to clarify anything about in-game events or anything I'd be happy to help, though I think there are people much more familiar with the play aspect than me!
 
[2] By a strange coincidence most of these courier vessels were piloted by unusually handsome Yldar males willing to spend two or three nights on an alien planet.
Heh. Imagine that. ;)
 
I very much enjoyed the opening little scene. That felt very verisimillitudinous.

So from a potentially disasterous contact matters have turned out pretty well so far with Kammarians, though one might imagine potential shoals ahead in the future.
 
Well... that's an interesting way to meet a fellow interstellar civilization. At least they turned out to be amenable to diplomacy.

Also, I enjoyed how you depicted the Yldar as so adapted to their habitats they need mental training just to live on a planet.
 
I'm impressed as always with the attention to detail, especially with the way you consider the psychological impact of going from living in a permanent enclosed, climate-controlled space to setting foot on an unfamiliar, uncontrollable planet. It definitely makes sense that the Yldars would have an agoraphobic strain as a culture.

The Kammarians as a whole might be fairly unpalatable to deal with, but at least they can be dealt with. The lack of overt xenophobia, at least, means that the Free Traders can get their foot in the door, and even if the regime itself isn't amenable to abolishing slavery outright at least the unofficial ties to the merchant classes might be useful in spreading a little beneficial cultural "contamination."