Penny

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Atoms aren't defined solely by humans, but also by their properties. Ethnicities and races are abstract, not tangible, which makes defining them in objective manners virtually impossible. But go ahead and ignore my points whenever it suits you.

@catchamber

Exactly. Mainstream physical anthropology does not recognize race as a meaningful category. Ethnicity is largely a social construct. But I somehow doubt a bunch of angsty racists are going to let that color their misconceptions.

Going back to the Mars thing:

Taking the thought experiment in the spirit in which it was intended. I do think that an ethnostate anywhere would be immoral. Arbitrarily discriminating against people is an immoral act at an individual level and by extension a state which is constituted explicitly around the idea of such discrimination is also immoral regardless of where it happens to be located.

It maybe gets a little murkier when you talk about freedom of association, like religious congregations and what have you but its less problematic because you generally don't derive your legal rights from membership in some voluntary subgroup.

Grim Galaxy: Shots and Chances

Junebug narrowed her eyes speculatively. It wasn't a completely crazy notion, their big advantage was their tech and the locals apparent supernatural awe of them. Even if Wetumpkah was willing to risk their 'wrath' for personal reasons, it was highly doubtful the rank and file would be so bold.

"Alright," she said, zooming the map display out and panning across to the area the village was located in. Despite the fairly significant size of the structures the thick jungle had obscured them completely from the Highlanders optics during the landing approach. Now that she knew what she was looking for though she could roughly place the native settlement on the map. She tapped a finger to her lips in thought.

"Taya think you can set up a repeating station to patch a signal through from here to the village?" she asked. The girl started clearly surpised to be included in the planning. The girl had technical skills, particularly with comms and data but it went deeper than that. As an officer Junebug knew that the morale of her team was important and Taya had been having a rough go of it and she needed a win.

"Uh sure, I could set up a laser link to any one of those hilltops if you have the equipment on board, and then use a radio transmitter from there, because their is too much foliage for laser or microwave."

"Good we can use radio detonators."

"Ok, lets split up Taya get what you need for the comm links, Ill leave you to love birds to discuss theology or whatever and I'll prep the pyrotechnics."

"We have about 9 hours to local nightfall, which will be our go time," she concluded. They all nodded agreement and stood up to attend their own portions of the task.

"Birds?" Zalli asked in confusion as Neil lead her from the room.

@POOHEAD189

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Oh hey another school shooting.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Allegedly at least, the origins of the day appear a little murky because there are three St Valentines (all martyrs) whos deaths are associated with Feb 14 and the festival of Lupercalia.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

So what I'm hearing is he was a dangerous subversive who was endangering the peace and good order of the Empire.

Grim Galaxy: Shots and Chances

Junebug nodded and downed the last of her coffee, wincing at the bitterness of the cheap brew she had collected on Fornax. Over the years she had performed hundreds of briefings, some informal around tables like these, other times crouched in a circle of watchful armored vehicles. This was a different beast though more akin to a planning group in which she had usually participated only as a junior partner.

"That is good news," she agreed, "but it still leaves us with the problem of actually lifting to orbit." She touched a control on a wall panel and a schematic of the Highlander flashed into view. Three of the eight reticulated thrusters were in green with an other in a dark yellow, the remaining for were in red.

"We need to repair the thrusters but we cant do that while they are submerged in water," she went on rolling a vernier control to draw back to a view of the small embayment in which the ship floated.

"Building a retaining dam around the ship is still the best bet and we can use the centrifugal pumps to drain it."

"The problem is that our native friends," - now that Zalli might understand she refrained from using 'indig' or 'yokels' or some other derogatory term - "Aren't likely to leave us alone long enough for us to finish the project."

"Wetumpkah, or whoever won that little fracas at the games yesterday, isn't likely to leave us alone." Zalli, who had been gazing dreamily at the projection screen, which to be fair must seem like magic, started at Wetumpkah's name. Taya lay a hand on the girls arm calmingly.

"So we either need to come up with a plan to neutralize them, or better yet convince them to help with the dam." Although it was true that the crew could complete the work themselves, it would take days, maybe weeks with just the four of them. A rain of spears from the forest would add to that time considerably of course. There were other options of course. In Junebugs minds eye rock flashed into white gouts of flame as she raked the ziggurat with cyan jets of plasma. Huts burst into flames as the locals fled in terror into the woodlands to escape the hell light firestorm. SHe blinked her eyes suddenly snapping back to the real world and aware that others had been speaking while she zoned out.

@POOHEAD189

Grim Galaxy: Shots and Chances

Junebug felt comfortable for the first time since Fornax. After a few hours sleep, and a shower so hot that her skin was still warm minutes later, it felt as though a veil had been lifted. She sat at the galley table sipping hot bitter coffee and chewing determinedly toast which had been blackened to within a few degrees of ash. The clothes helped immeasurably too, few things were as subltey disorienting as strange garb, now she wore fatigue pants, combat boots and a tan brown cotton PT shirt.

"Take that brush and pull it through the ring," she instructed, gesturing with a piece of imitation bacon. Taya, seated across from her and wearing some of Sayeeda's spare close, picked up a piece of the disassembled pistol spread on the table and started to scrub the capacitor ring.

"Like this?" the girl asked. Junebug nodded her approval as she chewed her fakeon and took another swig of the bitter coffee. The smell of gun oil and cleaning products was a familiar and comforting one to the veteran and she picked up the stock of her own plasma rifle, a far more complex weapon than the one Taya was practicing with, and began snapping the pieces back together. Checking weapons and gear was a routine task but she couldn't pretend that her malfunctioning submachine gun hadn't made her a little more enthusiastic than usual.

"Hi-lo," came a sultry voice from the bulkhead door. Junebug looked up to see Quetzalli, clad in a gray jumpsuit, sniffing at the air. The girls eyes were wide and continued to dart from wonder to wonder. Junebug felt a pang of sympathy. Entering the Highlander would have been jarring for her under the best of circumstances but she had also taken a REM learning program while she slept. Sleep learning a language wasn't a matter of going to bed one night and waking up fluent. The technology provided equivalency to existing linguistic connections, it made learning a new language far easier than unaided study but a full course took weeks and relied on practice to consolidate the knowledge. Scrambling brain connections also left the student disoriented and made it hard to focus. Mercenary units enroute to theaters frequently used the technique to pick up enough local dialect to get by. Of course their primary concern was usually booze and companionship which were pretty much human universals.

"Hello," Junebug replied gesturing the girl into the compartment.

"Come, eat," she directed, pointing to the plate of bacon and toast in the middle of the table between the broken down weapons. She finished reassembling her rifle and clicked through the automated diagnostic before propping the weapon in a corner and wiping the tabletop clear of the minor detritus of the task.

"First officer," she said formally before taking a mouthful of coffee, the word tripping the shipwide communication circuit.

"Please report to the Council of War and Breakfast in the galley."

@POOHEAD189

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

*watches a pile of asphyxiated frozen racists grow on the Martian surface*

Grim Galaxy: Shots and Chances

The night was clear and quiet again save for the heavy breathing of all concerned. With a weary effort Junebug pressed one hand to the ground and lifted herself to her feet, taking care to keep her weapon free. Smoke drifted slowly from the barrel of the weapon as she scanned the jungle. Taya trembled, holding Neil's smoking pistol in both hands. The girl's eyes were like saucers and Junebug gave it even odds that she was about to throw up. With meticulous care she refastened her patrol sling and slung the submachinegun before picking her way up the slope. With a slow deliberate motion she plucked the pistol from the young woman's unyielding hands, cracked the chamber, closed the weapon and put the safety on before handing it back to Taya. Zalli stood not far away, forearms slicked in blood from the knife she held in a reverse handed grip. The native girl's chest heaved with exertion and excitement which Junebug was objective enough to concede was distracting. She didn't try to take the knife, the girl obviously knew enough to handle the weapon.

The large creature lay sprawled against a grayish boulder projecting from the ridge, greenish blood flowing into the volcanic red dirt. Up close the thing appeared to be more cat like, though given a weird aspect by the unusually long front legs. Its mouth was filled with long razored teeth as well as cartilaginous spurs that ran from the things joints. There was a strange smell too, like a combination of cinnamon and ammonia. Junebug wondered if the things were venomous. Turning her flashlight on she illuminated the things paw and was relieved to find claws but no obvious venom.

"Well," Junebug commented, voice seeming oddly loud in the quite the followed the moments of frenetic action.

"Let's get the fuck out of here."

In the aftermath of the ambush no one was enthusiastic about making camp and they marched through the night, stopping briefly at dawn to eat a quick meal of fruit foraged by Zalli and Neil. Taya marched resolutely head down and grip tight on the gun, though what she thought it would accomplish with no rounds was any ones guess. An hour later Taya stiffened suddenly and Junebug lifted her weapon.

"I have a ping from the Highlander," she said, the first words she had spoken in some hours, voice cracking for want of a drink of water. She seemed to focus for a moment and then turned a few degrees to the north.

"Got a bearing," she reported happily. Another hour later, guided by Taya's radio beacon they climbed over the low rise and looked down upon the crippled ship, still moored to the bank and unmolested.

@POOHEAD189

Post a random fact about yourself.

I'm a qualified Dive Master (Dive mistress?)