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#+B2006 The Ishimans initial analysis of the rogue asteroid was correct: it was artificially created, and originated in the Cantharan system of Los Ran during the Boodan War. Further examination of the samples you retrieved reveals a sinister secret.
#+ The asteroid was saturated with a biomechanical virus, apparently designed to lie dormant within the asteroid until it collided with a living planet. The artificial virus, millions of tiny mechanisms, would then activate and seek out compatible life which it could infest.
#+ A relic of the Boodan war, the biomechanisms could have been some kind of weapon, but the method of distribution--on artificial asteroids--would have been too slow for any tactical use. Its purpose is obscure. #+ This Boodan Mechanism is beyond any known races ability. The ramifications of its discovery this far from Cantharis are staggering. It now seems the Cantharan Crusades have more to do with hunting down and harnessing this virus than they do with obliteration of the Unenlightened.
According to the Ares prologue, no known race created the Boodan Mechanism and the Ishiman/Human Cooperative could discern no purpose for its creation.
The only unknown race which is mentioned in Ares are the Grolk-apparently the creators of the Audemedon as well. However, an earlier Ares prologue says the Boodan Civil war was "centuries ago". Ares takes place in at least 2200 AD. Slug's "Before They Sailed" addon was set in 1400 and told how the Salrilians defeated and enslaved the Audemedons. Correct me if I'm wrong, but his timetable and plot were based upon "less public" information and should match the "Ares canon" If the Audemedons were created and became conscious only fifty years before they were enslaved, then that puts their creation at 1350 AD or earlier.
I think we can resonable assume that the Grolk were destroyed by their creation-after all, the Ishimans,according to the Level 16 Prologue did not know who created the Audemedon(or didn't share the information, hinting at a darker motive there as well...)
So if the Grolk were exterminated in 1350 AD, they disappeared from the scene at LEAST 850 years before Ares takes place. In that case, why would the Ishimans have not said "close to a millenium" rather than "centuries ago" The fact that "centuries" is used hints at the Boodan Civil War-and the construction of the Boodan Mechanism-being AFTER the enslavement of the Audemedons and the destruction of the Grolk. This is also supported by the fact that the Cantharan Order had conquered merely "dozens" of systems such as Earth on their crusades. If the Order's crusades were in fact merely to follow the Boodan Mechanism as the Ishimans speculated and knowing that they took place after the Civil War, I'd say that perhaps the Boodan Civil War can be fixed at 1900-2000 AD-just enough time to conquer "dozens" of systems assuming heavy resistance on the ground that was not dealt with using weapons of mass destruction such as nukes, antimatter, etc.
So if the Grolk and their experiments can be ruled out, is there another "superrace" lurking in the background, waiting when the time is right for Ares 2 (hint, hint) Or have the Ishimans simply vastly underestimated the Salrilian and Audemedon technology?
------------------ "It could be argued that MacOS X is less of an operating system and more of a screen saver (puts up pretty images for you to stare at while preventing you from actually getting work done)." -mcb
I don't think it could be Salrilian in origin only for the fact that its course and location could be predicted by the Ocular net and found immediately. Unless of course the Salrilian were hiding or keeping its location from the Cantharans... It does seem like the Salrilian to have extremely long term goals.
Living machines sounds like Audemedon technology...
How did the Ishiman determine where it was created? Was there a sticker on one of the pieces that said "Created in the Los Ran system"? (If so it was rather lucky that one of the chunks you collected had that sticker on it )
How did an asteroid get that far out of a system in only centuries? One would think that the system that it was when you found it is many light years away from the Los Ran system.... Would that imply that it had been moved since being created?
------------------ Listed in the top 15 Ares plugin developers by Brookeview Technologies Worldwide. And apparently not very well liked by Joveia for reasons unknown to me... Ares plugins to date: Earth's Journey Back To The Stars, Scenario Contest and Cantharan vs. Ishiman. Ares plugins in development: Star Trek: Ares, Viva La Resistance.
(This message has been edited by brookeview (edited 06-15-2002).)
Nathan Lamont spilled this to me about a year ago:
ahem
Once upon a time there was a Cantharan scientist on the world of Bood. Cantharans are the only known species to be naturally multiconscious (as opposed to artificially like the sals or auds). Anyway, this scientist developed a way to enhance the Cantharans' already immense inteligence. Cantharans are pretty stubborn about themselves as being perfect so,the the Ruling Council didn't respond to kindly to this scientist's enhancment. In fact, the sacked the colony of Bood. Sensing his impending death, the scientist hatches a way to prevserve himself: a biomechanical virus which, upon entering a suitable planet's atmosphere, would activate and rebuild him, in hopes that he would someday "wake up" on a new planet. The Order tracked down every asteroid saturated with this virus, and invaded every plnet they crashed on, holding them under quarentine for fear that this scientist would make his way back into the order. This whole operation was disguised as the holy war of enlightenment and expansion.
------------------ (url="http://"http://www.dissectional.com/swf/index.html") Dig a little deeper (/url) (url="http://"http://www.axisnet.f2s.com")=Axis Software Integrated=(/url)
Interesting. How did that turn into a civil war?
What is 'multi-conscious?'
------------------ There are only 3 kinds of people: those who can count, and those who can't.
Well, I think it was more of a "civil sacking."
When I was talking to Sarg about this, we each had our own ideas about multiconsciousness. My theory is essentially telepathy with other members of the race, and his is the ability to perceive the unconscious parts of the brain as well as the conscious. The Admiral hasn't confirmed either.
------------------ "Welcome to our Pirate outpost. Please enjoy your stay, and realize that any irregular actions can and will be used against you in the afterlife."
Telepathy is usually collective consciousness but I accept your point. Multi-conciousness is intriguing - and also interesting. I think any truly advanced species would have control over both portions of their brain. On the other hand 'artifically conscious' implies a guiding hand. So, perhaps it's the Sals that are unconsciously conscious and the Cantharans more like us.
Originally posted by Sargatanus: **Nathan Lamont spilled this to me about a year ago:
**
So thats the answer, eh. So I take it Earth was hit by one of these asteriods at some point? And if the humans therefore liberated it and broke the quarantine...could the scientist pop up again?
***U.E. Admiral smells a sequal or plug comeing soon.......
------------------ Insanity has its advantages
I doubt it was hit by an asteroid. I think the Cantharans are just completists (after all, haven't they conquered and occupied the Los-Ran selactos line and all that? Leaving out Earth would be rather a chink their defenses.)
A plague planet would probably be blasted into nothingness. But that's just me...
Actually, I believe Nathan mentioned that Earth was hit. And it wouldn't really be a plague since the virii don't really infect anything.
Does that affect humanity in any way at all?
This Bood person must be pretty #)(*$ing brilliant. Discovering in a life time what the Sals, Auds couldn't do in a few centuries. Also, I think the Ishimans must be pretty 'enlightened' themselves. Is there a secret to their advanced technology?
Hahah, in respose to Patrick:
Way back before BTS was scrapped, I hadn't talked to Nathan and so a lot of the facts I used in the story were made up. In my usual shallow-sidedness, I thought of it as "The Boodans rising up in rebellion and the Cantharans wiping out their race with a plague of nanites delivered by bombing the planet with virus-saturated asteroids" (that would be a hell of a cool plot, though, and I'm saving that for some other project of mine in the distant future).
Actually, the story's how Sargatanus says it is. Blargh, why did you have to ruin the suspense?
As for the Grolk-Audemedon-Salrilian relationship, it was a romantic concept thought up entirely by myself with no evidence the Grolk even Belong in the Ares Storyline. For those of you who (gasp!) don't know me, I thought of it this way:
The Grolk were the first civilization to rule the galaxy in the early days in creation. Great Engineers and Scientists, they explored the galaxy in search of companionship of other intelligent races, but were disappointed to discover no other intelligent races had evolved. In their loneliness, they created an Artificial Intelligence, something different, named Audemed. This Intelligence spawned a race of machines that awed the Grolk, but one day, Audemed announced it no longer needed the Grolk. In a matter of days the Glorious and Mighty Grolk Civilization at it's Zenith, had been annihilated by the massive revolt.
This is all utter cockamy I made up off the top of my head years ago, but it's still a good story, no? In BTS the weak-ass Grolk ships you see in "Capture the Flag Pod" are supposed to be refugee ships, remnants of the glorious Empire. Bah, where was I now?
And the reason for the invasion of Earth, well where there's fire there's smoke. You can't proclaim a crusade and only invade a few random "infidel" planets, you've got to play along and take over the universe! Besides, you've got to have a good story for the game
------------------ Time is the best teacher, yet it kills all of it's students.
I am a bit confused
The Ares prolouge says that the asteroid virus would "seek out compatible life which it could infest," but Sargatanus said that the purpose of the virus was to re-create the scientist, and that when it hit Earth, "it wouldn't really be a plague since the virii don't really infect anything." So how, exactly, was this re-creation (or cloning, if it happened on multiple planets) supposed to work??
------------------ "God is a comedian playing to an audiance that is too afraid to laugh." --Voltaire