Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Travellers (Semi-Open RP between Tara and Catrin)

Tara smiled, "I do have a regard for my personal safety!"

"No...no.. you really don't mistress..." The AI said in a pained voice, "You really, truly, honestly don't."

Tara sighed and shook her head, "Well, anyway... there's not much to tell. I was born on the colony world of New Mytheia in the core worlds of the Third Kingdom one thousand and ninety seven years ago. My family is of the Aedrimar Line, and so my parents found themselves best suited to be explorers and story tellers. My own mother was a Loremaster, a person who memories the entire history of my kind; all the stories and songs and plays. It is their task to forever remember and recount the sacred histories, and to safeguard that knowledge should ever our people again fall into ignorance and darkness. My father is a captain of an exploration ship with the Third Exploratory Fleet, he seeks out new stars and new worlds." She smiled fondly, "I was brought up on tales of new worlds, new adventures and ancient histories and songs. I loved it all and I had an aptitude for study. For the first fifty years of my life I learned all I could from my parents ad when I came of age they sent me to Aerin, the birth-world of our kind and I was taken before one of the Elder Councils who would decide what my aptitude in lie was and what I should study. They sent me to the Institute of Knowledge, and for a century I stayed there and learned to be a Xenoanthropologist. When I graduated I began to do field work and eventually my papers got noticed. I grew in importance in the academic world and was eventually given a chair on the Faculty of Xenosociological Study."

The AI continued for her, "Mistress used her new position to buy a ship and she began to study cultures much further out, on the edge of Senate Space, cultures untouched by outside influences. Eventually she saved up enough money to buy this yacht, so she could travel in comfort and, after trying out numerous AIs on this ship, none of which were fluent in enough languages or program her very exact specifications into the food processor, she eventually found and chose me, and we have worked together ever since."

"Because AIs are sapient, they can't be purchased on the market unless its a blank copy with no actua sapient personality as of yet. Instead, I had to go to the Royal Archive on Aerin were AIs without a position are kept in a databank, a kind of virtual world for them. It took me awhile, but I found that I quite liked the old battleaxe." Tara said.

Catrin listened to Tara quietly, occasionally nodding or smiling. When Tara was done talking, she smiled. “That was fascinating. Story tellers and explorers, huh? Well, you're doing both now, in a way. And such a long time for growing up...” she trailed off, then she cleared her throat and went on. “Thank you for sharing this with me. I don't want to flood you with more questions. Is there anything you'd like to ask me? Or is there something else you were planning after you show me the take-off?” Catrin asked Tara with an encouraging smile.

Tara smiled and nodded, "I think it's only fair you get to flood me with questions, considering it's all I ever do to other people."

"Mistress, I have initiated the artificial gravity and inertial dampening fields. We are approaching the first Lagrange Point near the moon. If you wish, I could alter our course and perform a micro-jump. I calculate that on our present trajectory the jump would bring us close to the gas giant."

"Oh, well. If it'll shave some time off, why not?" Tara said, "Alter course by mark seven five."

"Yes mistress." The AI said.

Tara turned to Catrin, "Whilst he's doing that, wny don't you tell me about yourself? Do you have family back where you came from? And where is it anyway? What's it like? Is the physics there weird, or like our universe? Is the culture-" She stopped herself, "Oh! Sorry!" Her tail twisted around her arm and she fiddled with the tip; it seemed she always played with her tail when she was embarrassed.

(A Lagrange Point is a area of space where the gravity wells of two objects cancel each other out, there are several between the Earth and the Moon for example. Their people have their own name for it, but I'm translating it to a Human term for convenience's sake.)

(Thanks for the explanation! )

Catrin shrugged. “There's too much to tell, really; I do have a family, more like a couple of them. My mother and father were from two feuding worlds, and they weren't married, so when my mother's family found out who the father was, things got ugly. My mother didn't survive, and I don't remember much of my childhood. I was only allowed to stay alive for line continuation purposes – my mother had sent me away and when I was found, I was a teenager and the only surviving member of my House.

In the end, I connected with my father, too, but we had... conflicts, to put it lightly, although it got better later on. I had a son to continue my mother's line, and he has children and grandchildren now – we don't see much of each other. And my father is still alive and keeps having children, so I have a lot of half-brothers and sisters. There's a lot of fighting for power and backstabbing involved among them, though. I'm... called upon for policing them sometimes, without them noticing. Some of them don't even know I'm their sister.” Catrin's tone of voice was matter-of-fact, but she obviously didn't consider the situation optimal.

“I do have other children... but never speak about them, for their own safety.”

She smirked. “I can't really tell you where the world is – quite far away from here, though, through many, many universes. And the physics of my mother's homeland are weird and weirder – I really doubt there are any physics at play there. The landscape changes randomly and so anyone hoping to survive there has to be a shapeshifter.

My father's land is neater, more pleasant to live in, a picturesque town by the sea, surrounded by lush forests. The struggles for power in both places are... taxing. It doesn't help that both my mother's and my father's lines are very strong power- and magic-wise, which is why my grandparents were scandalized in the first place. A child born from the union would prove to be too powerful, and with the madness that runs in the families, no-one could be sure what it would do,” Catrin said, quite distantly, being deep in memories.

Then she smiled at Tara. “So yes, I do have families, large ones, but I am a bit of an outsider, called upon for the dirty work a lot. Theoretically, I have a high standing, with my mother being a noblewoman and my father a king.” She gave Tara a wry smile. “Overall, it's a lot of power struggles, unstable individuals, killing and murder being quite commonplace, everything can change at any minute... lethal and full of surprises. Some enjoy it, some don't,” she finished with a shrug.

Tara listened with fascination as Catrin talked, she smiled slightly, "I've always wondered what it would be like to have a big family. Terelains don't have large families usually..." She sighed softly, "I myself don't have children, I don't even have a mate waiting back home." She frowned slightly, "My parents nag at me sometimes to settle down."

"They worry about you, mistress." The AI said, "Remember that Terelains have few children, and that to bear children is considered to be a duty and a thing of celebration. It is rare for one of your age to have not found a mate, or to have not borne at least one child."

Tara shrugged, "I'm married to my work."

"It makes people wonder, mistress. There are those of your friends back home that worry about your lack of interest in settling down to a family."

"I have plenty of time for that." Tara said, "I'll live forever."

"Terelains are Ageless, not Immortal. That is far from certain." The AI said.

"Who made you my father anyway?" Tara asked irritably.

"Your father." The AI responded, "He told me to keep an eye on you, and that's exactly what I intend to do."

Catrin smiled at Tara. “Well, it's usually more peaceful than mine. My children... I had to bring them up one by one – it takes us about 16 to 20 years to reach adulthood. So I've never had a large and functional family, either.” She tilted her head slightly, in thought. “Well, you could always be lucky and marry a fellow xenoanthropologist. Then you could both be busy and sometimes set appointments to meet each other. Or is it common for married people to be around each other a lot? Also... how long does it take to gestate a child? Would you have to stop working to raise it? Can you be a single parent, without a mate?”

Catrin cleared her throat. ”Also, is there an age when parents are supposed to stop nagging one, or giving covert orders to one's AI?” she said drily while shooting a reproving look to a nearby wall.

Tara chuckled, "Oh parents always nag. Terelains are incredibly overprotective about their children... I mean, seriously, it's the national berserk button. You hurt a Terelain child and my people will come after you and tear you apart." She thought for a moment and then said, "As for how long it takes for a child to gestate, about the same length of time as an Aerain year, about four hundred and thirteen days of twenty seven hours each. The children then take fifty of those years to mature physically, but they aren't full adults until their first century."

"This, coupled with their scarcity, makes Terelains fiercely protective of their children. The surest way to die a terrible death on any Terelain world is to hurt one of their children. The laws are clear on this and it is something you would do well to avoid. Even if you flee to another universe, rest assured that they won't stop hunting you until they make you pay." The AI said grimly.

"And I could be a single parent without a mate, but that is something I would wish to avoid. It isn't exactly frowned upon, but it is considered to be... a non-optimal situation." Tara said, "And it is often the norm for mated couples to spend much of their time together. A bond such as that is one not easily severed and it is not entered lightly. Bear in mind that by committing to each other in this way, two individuals are pledging to remain together for the rest of eternity, quite literally. The actual phrasing of the vows contains the phrase 'And we swear to uphold each other's honour in the face of all adversity, never to abandon each other nor take up another as lover, we swear to forever be bound, body and soul, until the last star fades from the sky and all things return to Chaos.'" Tara smiled slightly, "It is a vow not lightly given, nor lightly broken, and when it is made, married couples are often near-inseparable for some time, for pat of the magic binding their vows deepens their bond, their love, for a time and neither can bear to be apart from the other."

"Marriage is traditionally held to emulate the love between Terel and Tara, the First Terelains, mother and father of all their kind." The AI said, "A love so great that when Tara was murdered and Death entered the world, Terel rose up against the Gods themselves and struck them down. It is said that after he founded the First Kingdom he went into eternal exile, seeking always to find Tara and return her home... An exile the Terelains believe will continue until the ending o the universe itself. It is this devotion that they admire, and it is this they wish to instill in marriage."

Catrin smirked. “Well, it's a good thing I don't tend to harm children.”

Then her eyes widened in horror when Tara and the AI explained about the marriages. “And your parents would try and push you into such a commitment? What would you do if it turned out you didn't like him all that much a hundred years later? You'd have to stop stop doing what you love, too. And those wows... I would never take any so binding of this kind. Don't any lower ideals exist? This whole thing just seems like too much.” Catrin paused for a moment. “Or does really everyone wish to stay with just one mate, forever? What if one of them changes? What if they no longer love each other? Is it even possible to promise eternal love?”

She took a deep breath. “So now you carry Tara's name. Is it common to name children Tara, or Terel?”

Tara shook her head, "No, not common... and never in all the years of our kind has any other been named Terel but the first, that name is too old and too sacred to be used for any other... Tara... well... none of the Firstborn ever bore her nae, the memory was too raw, too deep and Terel still lived among them in those days... It was not until much later, in the waning years of the First Kingdom, that the name Tara was ever given to a child. Since then there have been some others, not many but some. It is.. an honor and a responsibility to bear her name, for Tara was ever known as the symbol of what all females should aspire to be."

"As for marriage... it is never forced on another, never. The vows are too binding for that... but parents do push their children to look for one who will one day make them happy, but they are very cautious of actually consenting to allowing a marriage until they are sure of the pairing. Terelain engagements can last for centuries..." The AI said.

Tara nodded, "Indeed. but don't concern yourself Catrin. We understand how difficult it is to obtain our ideals, and how binding our vows are. It is never something lightly done... There are many tales in our histories of those who found love so deep but waited many centuries for marriage. The founders of the Third Kingdom, for instance, King Nathaniel the Exile and Queen Nariel, The Queen Who Was Not, loved each other deeply for all of their youth, and then, when the Second Kingdom fell and they were drive out, Nathaniel spent more than three centuries looking for her, wandering in exile. When they were finally reunited they returned and drove out the Gillorians and established the Third Kingdom and spent centuries together before their marriage and the birth of their twin children. They live still, thousands of years later, rarely leaving their abode in the wilds beyond Oberoth on Aerin."

"They became something of a modern example of what Terelains should aspire to in marriage. They suffered greatly in their lives and waited for each other, even after their reunion they were hesitant to begin a relationship, for three hundred years is a long time and they had both been changed by hardship." The AI said, "Terelains aspire to it, but they are wise enough not to have too high expectations of their partners. Whether or not it is possible for there to be eternal love, many Terelains seem to be willing to give it their best shot."

Catrin smiled, slightly uneasily. “Well, if you're able to make it work... I just find the idea of aspiring towards something that has already existed to be a potential waste of something new emerging. But, it's your culture.” She shrugged and then frowned in thought. “But I still think people should be able to make their decisions without parents' interference. How can they be truly adult otherwise? And surely it must strain their relationship, being nagged for hundreds of years.”

She gave Tara an apologetic smile after that. “My son Nicholas is three thousand years old and I'd never dream of nagging him to do anything. In fact, it seems like it's a basis of our unusually respectful relationship.”

Tara smiled, "Oh, they usually nag in subtle ways, and they don't actually interfere... they just... keep an eye out. My parents are a little more cautious than most though. I had an elder sibling, a boy named Reisha... he died." She looked sad for a moment, "He was only young, barely into his second century. He loved to travel, like me, but he became an ambassador rather than an anthropologist... he was very gifted, or so I'm told. He was our ambassador to the Sithrimni Collective, but he was caught up in an attack by the Xin'Ta'Faxi Imperium. Th eXin'Ta'Faxi and Sithrimni come from the same star system. Their homeworlds are a binary planetary system; they orbited each other. One was Xi'Teleath, the other Talath. The Xin'Ta'Faxi hate the Sithrimni with a passion, a terrible hatred. They believe that the Sithrimni are abominations before their god, The Guardian. They sought to wipe them out and drove the Sithrimni out, casting them into the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Even though thousands have years have passed since then, the Xin'Ta'Faxi still hate the Sithrimni. The Sithrimni, for their part, are a peaceful, pacifistic people. The world my brother was on didn't stand a chance against the Xin'Ta'Faxi fleet that attacked it... nor against the Purgatio Luminarium Titan they used to destroy it."

"Reisha died alongside the entire populace of the planet. The planet itself was pulverized into a debris field. Tara's parents go there every year to mourn the loss of their son and all others who died there. The death of our ambassador and the slaughter of an entire world caused a minor war." The AI said, "It is unfortunate that the Xin'Ta'Faxi have such influence, their homeworld, Xi'Teleath being one of the few Ecumenopolis worlds, a city-planet, and the second most important world in the Galaxy except for the Senate's own capital. If we declared total war on them, then it would cause the most terrible war in all of history, for the other Senate Races would join the Xin'Ta'Faxi, though some might side with us. It would tear apart the very fabric of galactic society."

Tara nodded, a sad smile, "Ever since Reisha died, my parents have been... concerned... about my own well-being... especially when I went to study the Xin'Ta'Faxi themselves."

Catrin leaned back, feeling slightly uneasy. “Such a mass of people believing in one god is rather unusual, especially if there are no proofs of his or her existence. And the hatred... Plus you're saying that most Senate Races would join them... are they so afraid they might be their next victims?”

Catrin blinked in surprise after Tara told her that she went to study them. “And the Xin'Ta'Faxi were OK with it?”

Tara smiled slightly, "I can be very... persuasive. And as for the other races... it is not that they fear they will be next. To all other races, the Xin'Ta'Faxi are very diplomatic, polite. The other races respect them greatly, or fear their military. It is well known that of all the Younger Races, the Xin'Ta'Faxi produce the finest ships, elegant, beautiful, and terrible in their power."

"As one of the founders of the Senate, and one of the races with the largest territory in this region, the Xin'Ta'Faxi hold great political and economic power. If the Xin'Ta'Faxi were to suddenly be destroyed, for instance, it is possible the shockwaves would destroy the Senate." The AI said, "The Fact is, the other races fear the Sithrimni just as much. They are a group mind; each individual is telepathically linked to every other individual in a vast intelligence called the Mind of Sithrim. The Mind constantly seeks knowledge and it is the belief of the Sithrimni that only when all races are united under the Mind will there be a lasting harmony and peace in the galaxy. They are not warlike, but the Mind is seductive. Many would willingly go to join the Sithrimni, for there is no war, nor poverty nor inequality within the Collective."

"The other races are afraid of losing heir identity to the Collective, afraid of losing their power. For their part, the Sithrimni are generally understanding o this. They have never, to my knowledge, ever forced an individual to join with them, nor have they ever began a war. They are alien and therefore a danger. That is what most others think. My people sympathize with them and we protect them when we can. Although, no Terelain has ever joined the group mind. I once spoke with the Mind of Sithrim herself." Tara smiled, "It was... a unique experience, to speak to the collective consciousnesses of an entire culture; not just Sithrimni, but of all races who joined with their mind."

Catrin smiled. “Yes, I can imagine you are.”

After Tara's explanation, she nodded. “I see now. And yet... such hatred.” Catrin shook her head, a little sadly. Then she smiled. “The Mind is a she, huh? What was it like, to speak to her?”

Then she smiled, although it still held some sadness. “But I keep enquiring while there must be some database full of information around here somewhere, and taking up your time. What would you normally be doing right now? Am I interrupting it?”

She realized she was starting to get a little hungry. “I think it's high time for me to give another try to that food creator of yours.”

Tara chuckled, "Well, there is a database, the AI can show you later. As for what I should be doing... pretending to fly the ship whilst the AI here does it all for me."

"Yes. Not to disparage her piloting skills, but I much prefer to fly myself. That way I know we're not about to be crashed into some random star that she thought looked pretty." He ignored her mock-offended look.

Tara shook her head, "But the Mind is a she... well, technically an 'it' but it has a feminine persona, so it prefers to be called 'she'. Anyway, it's weird. The Sithrimni speaks, but there are so many voices whispering beneath its voice and... It feels like talking to a multitude, there's a presence when she speaks, the presence of countless minds thinking at once."

"The Mind of Sithrim is a curious phenomenon. She doesn't speak to many, Tara can claim to be one of half a dozen people still alive to have spoken to her."

"The last time she spoke, she did it before a full assemblage of the Galactic Senate." Tara said, "It freaked them out. I think the Xin'Ta'Faxi Representative might have soiled himself actually."

"Ahem, anyway, you know where the food processor is, Miss Catrin. Feel free to make use of it whenever you wish. Mistress, if you wish to accompany her I shall continue on our course and I will inform you when we entered the gas giant system."

Tara nodded with a smile, "Thank you."

Catrin chuckled as Tara described what she would normally be doing, then her face lost expression as she went deep into thought about the Mind. Speaking with her seemed like another item on her potential “to do” list. She wasn't worried about not being allowed to speak with her. A mind so complex should have no difficulty discerning what she was, after all.

Then she unexpectedly burst out laughing when Tara mentioned the Xin'Ta'Faxi Representative, and continued laughing for a few moments, only calming down when the AI spoke. She nodded gratefully, and got up, turning to Tara. “Thank you for telling me about it. Would you like to lead the way? For me, it will be breakfast, but where in your sleep cycle are you? I take it your sleep earlier was a nap you had to take because of exhaustion, and not a full cycle of sleep?”

Tara shrugged, "Well my sleep-cycles are pretty messed up right now. I've got to re-adjust to ship-time and not the day cycle of the planet I was on. Ship-time here is the standard Aerain day, twenty seven hours, so that nap messed up my acclimatization."

"Mistress will be falling asleep at odd times for the next few days as she adjusts." The AI said, "Her cycles will be different from yours' however. Terelains are felines, night-hunters, and they are mostly nocturnal,"

"I'm more active during the ship's 'night' than the 'day', but I don't sleep for the entire 'day' cycle, so I'm sure it won't be a problem."

Catrin shrugged. “Three hours a day are enough for me, although I'm capable of sleeping much longer. So I'm usually up for most of the night, unless I decide to oversleep in the lovely bed the AI made for me.”

She stepped towards the exit while looking at Tara to see if she'll follow her out. “And how many times per day, or night, do you usually eat?” she asked with curiosity.

Tara followed her, smiling, "Well, it depends on how hungry I am. Usually four or five times a day, but only two large meals." When they reached the lounge area she sat in her seat, stretching luxuriously; she almost looked like a very large house cat in that posture, "Most of my meals are meat, with some vegetables. Terelains are mostly carnivorous you see. Hunting's a big sport on our homeworld still. We use a bird called an Aetherhawk to help us. My father owned a prized Aetherhawk once. It's chicks sold for nearly a million sovereigns, about one million two hundred thousand credits at the time." She shook her head, "The Aetherhawk was a present from a well-to-do admiral who owed a debt to my father."

Catrin smiled when Tara stretched in her seat – it reminded her of a content cat, ready to take a nap. “Well, one million two hundred thousand credits sounds like much, but I have nothing to measure it against. How much was this ship, for instance? Or how much do Terelains earn in a year?”

She walked over to the food processor and started browsing through the menu. She spoke to Tara while doing that. “A lot of my family members like to hunt, too, but we don't have any technology, so going about it using horses, spears, arrows and such is not only traditional, but almost the only way of doing it.”

She bit her lip in thought at the hugeness of the menu and turned back to Tara. “Any recommendations?”