Ringworld 256 (IC, ATTN League of Mechanocracies Only)

[Novum Alexandria]

"Vell, I'm sorry to hear that your allies turned on you. That must not have been a good experience.

But, I'm glad to hear zat diplomatic talks were apparently successful, and combat was therefore avoided. And I wish you all good luck vith this merging with another nation.

Vhich nation is it that you are merging with, on that subject?

"Such information is not as easily given, I am afraid. Something to be told another time."

In an elaborate gesture, they dismissed the topic at hand. The simple, silent suggestion carried much more weight and persuasiveness than it should have. No doubt, one of the products of Alexandria's experiments in assimilation.

"We thought it appropriate to extend the offer of a banquet to our fellow, technologically oriented sisters and brothers. OW- That is, Oasis World- OW Aura would serve as the dining location."

[Aeiouia]

The Aeiouian Overseer raises a brow at the Alexandrian's gestures. Clearly noticing that something is up. She still remains diplomatic, and responds shortly afterwards:

"Vell, I apologize for asking ze question, then. If you do not wish to share certain pieces of information, zat is perfectly fine, after all.

As for this 'Banquet', I suppose zat I can go... Or rather, one of my avatars like zis one can, unless you're hosting it in a large spacecraft hangar or something. Just one question; do we have to bring our own beer, or is it already available on the premises?

... Although, I'm not sure how many of the others still eat food. Despite being an AI, I myself still retain the ability to eat and drink solely for entertainment purposes. I know zat a number of nations here, notably the PTFS, probably do not, though.

[Novum Alexandria]

"You insult our capability as hosts!" They quipped playfully. "Unlike some more autocratic states, we have few to no restrictions on what one may consume for their..." The Alexandrian's visage split into a broad grin. "For their pleasure. The exact specifications of the location have yet to be produced, but I assure you, it will be mossssst enjoyable."

"As for food, well, we are a sensuous people. There is plenty to do at an Alexandrian banquet... Other than eat or drink. Some warnings may need to be passed around regarding the more addictive practices that some Synthetics do enjoy luring others into, though."

[Singaporean Transhumans]

OOC Bump.

[Excidium Planetis]

Yonkers was in one of the many docking bays on the ring world, observing the Excidian ships that had arrived prepare to land in the station and load the Raffles walker shipments, as well as the Hardline phosphorus shipment, aboard. Yonkers didn't technically have to be there, but it was good to observe it, make sure everything went as planned.

Yonkers did not expect a fellow Counselor to debark a Gladius that landed in the docking bay, however.

Counselor Michael Mercer walked with a Military air: fitting for a man who had served as an Excidian Fleet Commander for 6 years. He was now retired, content to command the Council rather than a Fleet, but he still acted as if he was in the Excidian Guard.

"It's great to see you here Yonkers. Had enough of the Machines yet?"

"Yeah right. You just want to steal my glory, as always."

"No, actually I'm here for the combat simulations."

"Combat simulations? What are you talking about, Mike?"

"The station features combat simulations. We are here to brush up on our strategy, tactics, and general combat prowess. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to see an approximation of the forces we might face in the future. If these AIs are really as superior as they say, we should be easily defeated in the sims, no?"

"Bah. I'd like to see them face a cyborg."

"We shall see... Advisors, assemble!" Mercer shouted. several uniformed officers ran down the Gladius' ramp, and lined up near Mercer.

"Squadron Commander, Brigade Commander, take command of your aids, follow me. We'll ask one of these bots where the sims are..."

[Novum Alexandria]

"Do you think they would be against us playing around with the prey after we catch it?"

The Automaton sighed. They sighed the heavy, displeased sigh that hanging around Synthetics for too long always caused. If it was not for this one being a Throne Guardian, the fleshy bastard would have found his head removed by way of war scythe.

"I am not certain. You will have to find out for yourself, Agent Shizuka." The Automaton wanted to add on, "If I hear one more musing about our allies' capabilities as lovers, or test subjects, or 'entertainers', I will execute you." Unfortunately, Throne Guardians outranked him.

The duo walked onward while the Synthetic continued speaking of the very things that aggravated the Automaton. They had been dispatched to this location as the brains behind the Alexandrian forces that would soon enter into the virtual war games.

[Singaporean Transhumans]

Somewhere on the Ringworld
"Dudes, we gotta build this fast." groans an AI, operating a nano-fabricator constructing what seems to be a massive supercity. All the geography, specific coordinates of houses of specific shapes, must be done from right off the blueprints. There was no room for laziness or ambiguity.

Blue particles fluttered in the sky, organizing into various shapes, these shapes organizing into the outline of structures. Then, actual matter emerged, laying itself on top of the nanite-constructed outline. After a sensation of weird and disturbing sounds, most of which are crackling ones, a building, an arcology, a bunker, a railway station, a corporation headquarters, etc, will be complete. The same repeated over and over.

A military simulation was soon to take place between LoM member and observer states. It would be an unmissable opportunity for not only the PTFS, but also other political entities out there, to learn the capabilities of their possible friends or foes, while checking their own abilities against completely unknown ones.

[Aeiouia]

The Aeiouian Overseer returns to the Ringworld lobby, with two other projections in tow. Both seem to be of light Aeiouian aerial drones, not too unlike the Dragonfly Drones used by the PTFS. After nodding to her two companion automatons, the Overseer speaks:

"Aeiouia officially has its simulations ready for the program. We are not going to be deploying much, but zis is still an excellent opportunity for all of us to put our armor to the test. Hopefully we can all come out of zis with some better technical data on our war machines and tactics. Good luck to everyone participating.

[Blakullar]

"Excellent," the still-seated Stahlrim says. "We've been waiting for a proper opportunity to test our troops on an enemy other than the European Federation. I'm sure that it'll be a good fight, assuming our bullets don't just tickle the bad guy or bounce right off of his armour and slap our own troops in the face!"

[The Transcended Darkness]

The Omnidroid was inspecting its surroundings, continuing to gather data for Omnius. When it heard of simulated wargames, it was immediately interested. One of its most important tasks was to find out about the military capabilities of their new allies, and it was already constructing a simulated force to test the mettle of these other civilizations.

[Novum Alexandria]

The Alexandrian military personnel were assembled for simulated conflict with speed that made their enthusiasm abundantly clear. Or at least, the enthusiasm of their commanding officer, a Throne Guardian by the title of Agent Shizuka. They interrogated the nearest Singaporean with questions that went something along the line of, "When we begin the battles... Am I allowed to play with my food?"

[Singaporean Transhumans]

The Alexandrian military personnel were assembled for simulated conflict with speed that made their enthusiasm abundantly clear. Or at least, the enthusiasm of their commanding officer, a Throne Guardian by the title of Agent Shizuka. They interrogated the nearest Singaporean with questions that went something along the line of, "When we begin the battles... Am I allowed to play with my food?"

"Define 'food'."

The AI's logical test needed clarification for an variable.

[Novum Alexandria]

The Alexandrian military personnel were assembled for simulated conflict with speed that made their enthusiasm abundantly clear. Or at least, the enthusiasm of their commanding officer, a Throne Guardian by the title of Agent Shizuka. They interrogated the nearest Singaporean with questions that went something along the line of, "When we begin the battles... Am I allowed to play with my food?"

"Define 'food'."

The AI's logical test needed clarification for an variable.

Agent Shizuka licked their lips in contemplation of this request, then turned to one of their subordinates. "WHO ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?"

The subordinate restrained a sigh of contempt. "The forces titled as 'OPFOR', Lady Shizuka."

Agent Shizuka turned her gaze back to the Singaporean. "Food being anyone that is on the team that... Isn't OPFOR."

[Singaporean Transhumans]

"Define 'food'."

The AI's logical test needed clarification for an variable.

Agent Shizuka licked their lips in contemplation of this request, then turned to one of their subordinates. "WHO ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?"

The subordinate restrained a sigh of contempt. "The forces titled as 'OPFOR', Lady Shizuka."

Agent Shizuka turned her gaze back to the Singaporean. "Food being anyone that is on the team that... Isn't OPFOR."

"It's all but a hologram battle. Nothing to be excited."

The AI sighs.

[The Transcended Darkness]

"Define 'food'."

The AI's logical test needed clarification for an variable.

Agent Shizuka licked their lips in contemplation of this request, then turned to one of their subordinates. "WHO ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?"

The subordinate restrained a sigh of contempt. "The forces titled as 'OPFOR', Lady Shizuka."

Agent Shizuka turned her gaze back to the Singaporean. "Food being anyone that is on the team that... Isn't OPFOR."

"We will see about that..." Said 725-V2-Hydra, as emotionless as ever. "I have already prepared my simulated force."

[Novum Alexandria]

Agent Shizuka licked their lips in contemplation of this request, then turned to one of their subordinates. "WHO ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?"

The subordinate restrained a sigh of contempt. "The forces titled as 'OPFOR', Lady Shizuka."

Agent Shizuka turned her gaze back to the Singaporean. "Food being anyone that is on the team that... Isn't OPFOR."

"It's all but a hologram battle. Nothing to be excited."

The AI sighs.

Her eyes narrowed as the implications of this statement slowly made their way through Shizuka's mind. "I was aware the combat would be simulated, but do you mean to say that components like pain and pleasure will be removed from the equation?"

The Synthetic Alexandrian twitched uncomfortably at the mere thought.

Agent Shizuka licked their lips in contemplation of this request, then turned to one of their subordinates. "WHO ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?"

The subordinate restrained a sigh of contempt. "The forces titled as 'OPFOR', Lady Shizuka."

Agent Shizuka turned her gaze back to the Singaporean. "Food being anyone that is on the team that... Isn't OPFOR."

"We will see about that..." Said 725-V2-Hydra, as emotionless as ever. "I have already prepared my simulated force."

The Alexandrian eyed this interjecting creature briefly, considering their statements with intelligence that contradicted the attitude they carried. "We will see, indeed."

[Singaporean Transhumans]

"It's all but a hologram battle. Nothing to be excited."

The AI sighs.

Her eyes narrowed as the implications of this statement slowly made their way through Shizuka's mind. "I was aware the combat would be simulated, but do you mean to say that components like pain and pleasure will be removed from the equation?"

The Synthetic Alexandrian twitched uncomfortably at the mere thought.

"We will see about that..." Said 725-V2-Hydra, as emotionless as ever. "I have already prepared my simulated force."

The Alexandrian eyed this interjecting creature briefly, considering their statements with intelligence that contradicted the attitude they carried. "We will see, indeed."

"How do YOU know what a hologram feels?! Yes there will be pain and stuff but I doubt any of the participants are particularly fantastic at that."

[Aeiouia]

The Aeiouian Overseer turns to the Agent, with a slightly disappointed look on her face.

"Yeah... I've tried eating simulations before myself. Zey're not edible, sadly. Best just to stick to the regular and delicious baseline Humans-Err... I mean... Um... Cookies? People eat zose, right?"

[The Transcended Darkness]

Her eyes narrowed as the implications of this statement slowly made their way through Shizuka's mind. "I was aware the combat would be simulated, but do you mean to say that components like pain and pleasure will be removed from the equation?"

The Synthetic Alexandrian twitched uncomfortably at the mere thought.


The Alexandrian eyed this interjecting creature briefly, considering their statements with intelligence that contradicted the attitude they carried. "We will see, indeed."

"How do YOU know what a hologram feels?! Yes there will be pain and stuff but I doubt any of the participants are particularly fantastic at that."

"That would be correct. Our forms do not possess an equivalent of a nervous system."

[Novum Alexandria]

Her eyes narrowed as the implications of this statement slowly made their way through Shizuka's mind. "I was aware the combat would be simulated, but do you mean to say that components like pain and pleasure will be removed from the equation?"

The Synthetic Alexandrian twitched uncomfortably at the mere thought.


The Alexandrian eyed this interjecting creature briefly, considering their statements with intelligence that contradicted the attitude they carried. "We will see, indeed."

"How do YOU know what a hologram feels?! Yes there will be pain and stuff but I doubt any of the participants are particularly fantastic at that."

They didn't provide any further speech to the Singaporean. As soon as their questions were answered, they were no longer interested in so much as acknowledging the existence of the AI.

The Aeiouian Overseer turns to the Agent, with a slightly disappointed look on her face.

"Yeah... I've tried eating simulations before myself. Zey're not edible, sadly. Best just to stick to the regular and delicious baseline Humans-Err... I mean... Um... Cookies? People eat zose, right?"

"Humanssss serve much better as pets than food, but I can attest to both their deliciousness, and the deliciousness of... Cookies." A toothy grin dominated her visage.

[The Transcended Darkness]

The Aeiouian Overseer turns to the Agent, with a slightly disappointed look on her face.

"Humanssss serve much better as pets than food, but I can attest to both their deliciousness, and the deliciousness of... Cookies." A toothy grin dominated her visage.

"Consumption of 'food' is unnecessary. Internal power generation is far more efficient."

[Aeiouia]

"Oh, yes. Internal power generators are much better zan food processing systems. But eating people-I mean food, is so much fun! Zat's why I'm an advocate of using both!

[Singaporean Transhumans]

"Humanssss serve much better as pets than food, but I can attest to both their deliciousness, and the deliciousness of... Cookies." A toothy grin dominated her visage.

"Consumption of 'food' is unnecessary. Internal power generation is far more efficient."

"Like bio reactors."

A hologram of an anatomy of a transhuman was displayed, focused on a machine in the stomach of the figure. Bio-reactors provided enough energy for Singaporean cyborgs to go around, without requiring food consumption.

[The Transcended Darkness]

"Consumption of 'food' is unnecessary. Internal power generation is far more efficient."

"Like bio reactors."

A hologram of an anatomy of a transhuman was displayed, focused on a machine in the stomach of the figure. Bio-reactors provided enough energy for Singaporean cyborgs to go around, without requiring food consumption.

"Your advances in biotechnology are fascinating. It is not a path we have explored."

[Novum Alexandria]

"Oh, you silly machine, you." They snickered at the Omnidroid's words. "The most powerful bodies are acquired by a union of organic and mechanical."