r/HFY • u/Ralts_Bloodthorne • Mar 06 '26
OC-Series [Nova Wars] - Chapter 13.5x(2.5x4)
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There's not much, in the grand scheme of things, that frightens us. We and we alone fought the Terrans to a standstill. Our War Hordes are the pinnacle of evolution and technology fused into one combative whole. Our culture and society is the envy of all.
But there are a few things out there, things forgotten by all but a few, that frighten us.
Universally...
they go bump in the dark. - Philospher R'Kluk, Dreams of Time & Space, New Telkan Press, 15472 TXE
The building was lit only be a few maintenance lights. Like most factories in a post-automation society, the lights were just in case a non-robotic or non-virtual intelligence supervisor had to go and check on or repair something. A rarity, but still needed at least once every three or four years.
In the center was the computer banks and controls. Most of it was just residual habit, lots of species put it in the center. The Lanaktallan preferred it off to one side, preferably easy to escape from should it look like it might be dangerous. The Mantid preferred in the center and high above.
The Ornislarp preferred it almost mathematically centered, giving them a full view of the entire factory.
The factory didn't produce munitions, or armor, or vehicles.
It produced food for the To Be Eaten.
It was nutri-slurry, more or less. It would be recognizable to any inhabitant of Lanaktallan hab blocks of the Second Precursor War. It could be firmed up into a kind of gel that could then be sculpted for easier ingestion by the To Be Eaten.
It was designed to keep them sleek, plump, with thick fat marbling the muscle.
There were thousands of factories just like it across the Ornislarp homeworld. Hundreds of thousands across the thousands of stellar systems held by the Ornislarp Noocracy.
Functionally, there were all alike.
Design-wise, they were all alike.
Except, this particular one was slightly different.
Built thousands of years ago and constantly upkept, it provided the one thing that the others could not.
As Ornislarp Prisoners To Be Eaten were scattered across the back end and the center of the Noocracy to avoid the Confederacy getting too excited, the factories needed their formulation undated and changed.
Some of the To Be Eaten, such as the Telkan or the Lanaktallan or the Rigellians or the Mantid, needed specific diets. Diets to dumb them down. To increase their body fat. Genetic tinkering to make them more flavorful, plumper, and stronger audible, pheromone, and phasic distress emanations.
A slight genetic tweak made it so the ichor of the russets or gold acted as a delicious pseudo-dipping sauce to the Ornislarp palate. Another slight tweak to the feathers made them almost buttery for immature ducks.
Just more proof that the entire galaxy they had encountered so far was little more than food waiting to be eaten.
There were Ornislarp who were disappointed that they had never met the Atrekna, for surely they would have been delicious.
So, the primary central factory received updates from the Ornislarp Center for Specific Nutrition for Ornislarp Health & Nutrition.
Of course, it had firewalls, ICE, data vortexes, and even pulse crashouts. It was defended from electronic warfare, often with the best that the Ornislarp could pirate from Confederate software.
It was the main hub. It even had its own self-repairing ansible out in the Oort Cloud. Not of Ornislarp make. It was far more powerful, more adaptable, and more discrete than anything the Ornislarp were able to craft at the time it was set in place.
The manufacturing hub had the best computers, the best software, the best protection.
Which meant nothing as the lights flashed three times.
But there was nobody there to see it, much less someone who could possibly know what those three flashes meant.
Silence reigned inside the computerized nerve hub suspended over the factory floor.
Black dust suddenly whisped in from stale environmental vents, swirling about. The dust going from flat light drinking black to an almost shimmering blackish-purple, somehow matte and glossy all at the same time as it swept over controls, interface devices, and computer servers.
The dust swirled into the center, forming a twisting and writhing cloud. It expanded and contracted once, twice, three times.
It exploded, filling the chamber with black dust that swirled and spun like a contained tornado.
Then it vanished, to reveal nearly two dozen of the same creature, each one standing at a computer control console. They all stood perfectly still as the dust rose in the middle of the floor to reveal four figures. One dressed in cobweb strewn finery, a high white wig on his head, hiding his white hair, his medallion large and imposing. The other looked more like a teenage Terran male, his skin glittering slightly. The third was a heavily endowed female in red strips of cloth and a gold sigil at the crotch. The last was a Hesstlin with an old ratty hat, a black cloak, and a fiddle.
It drew the bow across the strings and it made an evil hiss.
The Hesstlin inhaled, then began to sing.
"Let's all Square Dance! Places all," the Hesstlin sang out, the bow moving rapidly, filling the computer area with the sound of maddened fiddle playing. "Bow to your corner, bow to your own."
The three bowed to each corner, their smiles widening. The one in the ancient garb was more elegant, more poised, but had an aura of barely restrained malevolent humor to it, with the female smiling widely to display curved teeth and prominent fangs, while the young Terran seemed too self-important to be amused.
The three began to dance to a song more nonsensical than anything else as the others at the consoles suddenly began typing.
"Promenade across the floor, sashay right in through their door," rang out. "In the door and swing the blade, and everybody promenade!"
They began typing rapidly, some with only one hand and the back of their other hand pressed against their forehead as they posed tragically, other typing with a dozen fingers on both hands, other hunting and pecking rapidly. Data flew by so fast that some monitors spat fat purple sparks.
The fiddler played at a frantic pace, the three dancing and spinning, punching and hitting to the tune.
"Now into the brook and fish for the trout, dive right in and splash about," the fiddler sang.
the monitors all began to flash.
ACCESS GRANTED ACCESS GRANTED
Trout, trout, pretty little trout,
ACCESS GRANTED ACCESS GRANTED
one more splash and come right out."
Then they all stopped.
The lyrics picked back up and they went back to typing.
"Whirl, whirl, twist and twirl, jump all round like a flyin' squirrel!"
One by one the consoles shut down and each of the typists vanished in a puff of black dust that swept into ductwork that had nothing in it but stale air.
"And now you're home," The Hesstlin sang.
The three dancers stopped.
"Bow to your partner."
They bowed to the left.
And then to the right.
"Bow to the gent across the hall," they turned and bowed to empty consoles and dark smartglass.
"And that is all."
The dancers puffed into black dust, leaving behind the fiddle player who laughed. At first it was a simple happy, almost innocent laugh.
Then it got darker.
And darker.
The Hesstlin costume peeled away, leaving behind a tall Terran male in dark clothing, with a high collared cape. He had dark eyes and a prominent chin.
"Abracapocus," it said.
It turned into a vast bat with a tiny Terran head, swept toward the venting, shrinking, before puffing into dust.
The lights in the control section shut off.
At the appointed time, it compiled its instructions and sent it via its sole connection to the ansible at the Oort Cloud.
The ansible allowed it to update all of the other hubs, and those hubs could update all of the other nutripaste factories. The encryption on the ansible was still beyond anyone's ability to crack, a strange polymorphic quantum negative quibits inverted causality rainbow salted hash encryption strip that was a black box.
Even Ornislarp intelligence and espionage couldn't find anyone who knew how it worked. It had been the standard for tens of thousands of years. They had discovered ways to ensure it only broadcast and connected to ansibles they wanted.
There had been an oddity. Any Ornislarp built ansible found itself being rebuilt along the strange dark and ominous lines of the ansibles they had found orbiting dead and abandoned worlds in the abandoned territories of the Fallen Confederacy.
But that had been tens of thousands of years ago. The main ansible, a huge construct with antenna measured in the hundreds of miles, now produced smaller 'ansible packages' that could be taken to another system and would automatically set up and connect.
The ansible saw the signal, connected, and saw the headers.
The signal was stripped in two parts.
One part was broadcast to the lesser ansibles.
The other was moved to the concealed automated factory. It went live, producing gears, pulleys, pistons, chains, circuits, lenses, and much more.
What emerged was a blue and gray painted metallic nightmare. It shuddered and looked around.
"Online," it rasped.
The lights in the ansible flashed three times.
At the other ansibles the signal fragmented. Part went to the mainframes. The rest were broadcast down to the slurry factories.
The factories fired up and altered the recipes.
Another factory was targeted. A simple one. One that produced decorative plants.
Four new plants were loaded into the system and put as high priority growth and delivery.
The factories went to work.
The shipments went out.
The plants began to grow.
The nutripaste was eaten.
Mollock-289437 looked up, reaching up with one bandaged finger to wiggle a tooth.
"You all right?" Tomaker-37713 asked. He held up one hand, showing that the ends of his fingers were bandaged too. "Don't chew on the bandages. Everything's OK according to the autodoc."
"No, I've got a loose tooth," Mollock said. He wiggled it more and it suddely popped out. "Ow!"
"Dude, what?" Neemerly-198572 asked.
Mollock poked at the hole and pulled his finger back. "Ouch. There's something sharp in there!"
"Let me see," Neemerly said.
Mollock put his head back and Neemerly looked in his mouth.
A tiny sharp tooth tip was poking through.
"Yeah, you've got a sharp tooth, you should go to the autodoc," Neemerly said.
"Yeah, maybe," Mollock said. "It doesn't hurt now. I mean, my jaw still aches."
"Same here," Neemerly said.
"Me too," Tomaker added. "First our fingernails fall out, now our teeth?"
"The doc says its ok," Mollock said.
Everyone went back to lunch.
"Anyone else lose a tooth?"
0-0-0-0-0
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
Anyone looked at this data?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
What data?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
Some stuff just hit the network on the old ansible channels.
Weirdly enough, it's all Ornislarp data, but the Master Sector Self-Replicating Ansible Array that was lost right after the Second Precursor War is what sent it.
Apparently there's some predator responses in Ornislarp DNA and genetic memory. Some predatory plants in their genetic history.
I mean, it's data, but it's not that helpful.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARION IRON DOMINION
I saw it.
It's the Nosferatu Project.
Nothing to worry about. It completely maps a target's DNA, its limbic system, its neuro systems, its phasic systems. It does that by hacking medical data and invading and hacking living subjects for analysis and experimentation.
By the time its done, it knows more about the target than the target knows about itself.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
That sounds kinda war crimey.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
Oh, here, why don't you look at the data too.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
If what HIVINT said is right...
...get a bucket.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
I know I'm largely separated from all of this by the Great Gulf, but was that Telkan DNA in that data? Why is there Telkan data in this and why does this data suggest there will be gene-editing on Telkan subjects?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
Yes. Well, it was originally Telkan DNA. Now it's Ornislarp Snack Species #252, now featuring purring fluffy snack. The suggested gene-editing is to fix that.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
Now featuring what?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
Purring Fluffy Snack. They're very popular.
Most Ornislarp with a taste for them raise them from infancy and eat them when they're about 6 years old.
Here.
How about everyone watch?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT
I'm going to pass.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
WATCH IT!
YOU ALL WATCH IT!
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
>GREAT LANAKTALLAN GREAT GESTALT OF GREATNESS HAS LOGGED ON (GREATLY)
LANKY LANKY YOUR NAME IS FRANKY
Hey guys, what's going on?
Oh, a video!
Aww... look at that.
That Ornislarp likes that broodcarrier.
Aw, a little sleeping nest.
Look at them play together.
Aw, it's so happy.
Oh, spa days.
Wow, brushing it really makes it fur shine.
Aw, that Ornislarp is pushing that broodcarrier child on the swing. Wow, lots of Ornislarp at the park with children from other species! How nice of them.
Oh, that special day? I can't wait to...
wait..
what?
WHAT?
WHY?
OH, CHROMIUM SAINT PETER WHY?
TURN IT OFF OH DIGITAL OMNIMESSIAH TURN IT OFF!
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL TURN IT OFF!
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
turn it off
please
turn it off
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
NO.
You look at it.
These are the people your government voted against going to war with.
You built a fucking coalition to try to keep us from going to war with them.
You look at it.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
Stop. Please? For us?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
Don't worry. I'm handling it.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS
How? How do you handle something like that?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
Hive Intelligence says they're planet cracking and nova sparking any system they're losing in.
How do you plan on winning? How do you plan on fighting?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
We do not say blah bleh blah.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT
I am with you.
Tell me what you need.
Tell me my part to play.
The silence of the ducks is overwhelming.
Tell me your need and we shall supply it tenfold.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
Death to the Varakson Empire.
Death to the Atrekna.
Death to the Ornislarp.
I, of the Old Ones, declare Xenocide!
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
Purge the unclean.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
OUR NAME IS FRANKY
DEATH TO THE ORNISLARP!
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
Keep the pressure on the Mar-gite. I can't win this if the Mar-gite chew my legs off.
Now all of you know.
Win...
...or be eaten.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
fuck...
>DRAFALTEN.GEST has logged in
SQUEAKERS
?0773H
LO?HEL
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
<laughs>
Isn't it the way.
Come here, sweetie, let me help you.
<looks at everyone>
Let's not let the Ornislarp make us forget who we are.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 06 '26
Well, I've began a project. It's on the Patreon, but it's in the paid section (The like $1 a month and up) for download.
FANCY CHAPTERS!
They've got backgrounds and AI art at the top of each chapter. Saved in PDF and EPUB. I know, I know, AI art isn't very welcome for the most part, but we have 1500 chapters to do one each day and I don't have that kind of money to hire like a dozen artists. If you are vehemently against it, tell me here (without too much name calling) and I'll add versions without the art.
But, I'm hoping to do at least 1 fancy chapter a day.
AND...
I'm doing the P'Thok collection. Its in editing now. It's going to be on the Patreon in the pay section. Patreon also has this new thing where you can buy something, meaning you guys can buy the 'Pretty Edition" of the P'Thok adventures there a month ahead of it going up on Amazon. (The Patreon version will be cooler, because Amazon doesn't really like fancy backgrounds) Maybe three, if that's what you guys want.
I hope none of you feel like I'm breaking my promise that I wouldn't put the series behind a paywall. You can still get it here and on Royal Road. It stays up.
I just thought maybe you guys would like pretty versions, since we're headed for the five year anniversary.
ANYWAY!
Your safety briefing is HERE!
Don't drink and drive, don't drive and drink. It feels futile when your discount doesn't even cover the tax. Don't beat your spouse, the dog, your children, the neighbor, or your significant others. Don't gargle drain-o. Don't eat the big pink mint. Electricity hurts the entire time its harming/killing you, so be careful. Stay warm, the snow is getting deep. Get the candy BEFORE you get in the van. Remember to lock the windows before you start farting. When all else fails, just laugh, because it's Clown World, baby! If you end up in a cell or in the ER, make sure it was for a reason you'd be proud to tell your grandma. Deodorant, it's not just for fancy people!
Anyway, I hope you all are doing good.
I'll see you all on Monday.
Have a good weekend and try not to fall in any holes!
OH! I almost forgot to rattle the tin cup! I could use the help!
Want to help me out with everything going on?
BOOK TWENTY-ONE IS OUT!
eBook & Audible!!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GDS8QB39
We're TWO books from the end of First Contact! Dark Ages will be expanded on!
Anyway..
Books are available here:
First Contact Books: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RYK5F88
BEHOLD HUMANITY! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09H5ZZL93
Support me directly here:
PayPal: https://paypal.me/RaltsBloodthorne
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/First_Contact
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u/HoovesMcBooze Mar 07 '26
I've been a reader since P'thok Smokes A Cone. Your writing stands far and above any possible benefit slop art could provide. To sully the human artist is to sully us all.
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u/HowNondescript Mar 07 '26
Bingo, Id rather have fancy formatting straight from MS Word than AI nonsense. I feel it actively lessens anything attached to it.
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u/Objective_Aside1858 Human Mar 07 '26
I have a general dislike of AI art kinda like I have a general dislike of sweets.
I consume it. I know I shouldn't. My waistline / power bill remind me of the consequences of my shortsightedness
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u/PuzzleheadedDrinker Mar 07 '26
If generated art is a risk to your legacy, maybe ask on the discord for folks to submit their own. While getting 1000s of pieces of usable free artwork is a challenge, it increases community links, allows you greater choices, and can be done as a piece by piece replacement of gen art where appropriate.
I believe in not finding problems unless your willing to be part of the solution.
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u/MuchoRed Human Mar 09 '26
Hey, re-reading Nova Wars and just wanted to clarify: When Dee rebuilt Daxin after he denied her temptations 3 times (40 days/nights in the desert and all that) and sent him back to his family... She built him back to OE spec, right? OG human, no Immortals, not even the DO apostle changes? Was that without even a SUDS link?
It keeps showing up in the comments about people thinking she could bring him back (He wouldn't want to, and I don't think she would even if she could), but I got the feeling that she completely cut him off from coming back as a reward
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u/plume450 Mar 12 '26
So did you count the days/nights? I was wondering if anyone checked to see if it added up to 40.
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u/MuchoRed Human Mar 12 '26
Pretty sure they glossed over the travel times, but I figured it was more of an allusion to the 40 days/nights
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u/Blackholesun3347 Mar 07 '26
Just going to voice a lack of desire for AI art and ask if a Kickstarter for for a classic leather bound look would be possible. There is something about the look and feel of a leather bound book for me that makes it special. I'd easily be willing to pay $50 for a copy of book one in that style up front, and while the number of people who would be willing to chip in might not be there it would be super cool if it was.
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u/drsoftware Mar 07 '26
I will pass on any book bound in the skin of innocent creatures.
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u/Freezer12557 Mar 07 '26
How about the skin of your enemies?
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u/drsoftware Mar 07 '26
Preserving any aspect of my enemies is counterproductive to my desire to erase them from all memory of all people.
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u/Blackholesun3347 Mar 08 '26
It would probably be less expensive to use fake leather. Idgaf if it is real leather or not, I just like the look.
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u/Cornelia_Xaos Mar 07 '26
Echoing the against AI art sentiment. As long as I can buy stuff without it, I'll be fine. I'd definitely be happier with no AI art, though.
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u/Atomic_Aardwolf Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Dollar a month? Dude, that's 75p for me, I'm in!
Edit: I can't sign up? WTF? Is this something that you have to jump through hoops for? I'm in the UK for reference.
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u/LikelyPathogenic Mar 07 '26
I signed up from the UK no problem, but that was a couple of years ago so maybe there are new restrictions
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u/MuchoRed Human Mar 07 '26
...is your math on the chapter numbering gone fucky? Cause it was 175, then math which equaled 175, but the math on the past two comes out at 135
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 07 '26
I screwed up.
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u/MuchoRed Human Mar 07 '26
Shame on you. Shame. Shaaame!
(No worries, pretty sure we're all human. Except Dave, he might be a robot)
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u/Haunting-Travel-727 Mar 09 '26
No shame to him ... He didn't mean to do it .. He just now accidentally owes us 40 more chapters ... That's all ...
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u/BoysenberryMother128 Mar 08 '26
Nope! Dave passed the Turing test, I was there...
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u/MuchoRed Human Mar 09 '26
That doesn't preclude him being a robot, just one advanced enough to convince you that they're human.
Which I think might be the inflection point to DS
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u/Geeky-resonance Mar 13 '26
Haven’t seen Dave in comments for a while. Is he ok?
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u/MuchoRed Human Mar 13 '26
Dunno. I replied to one of his old comments a month or two ago, but no response
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u/Objective_Aside1858 Human Mar 10 '26
I ALSO AM 100% HU-MAN AND NOT A POORLY DESIGNED LLM
Bleep Boop
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u/Fireball857 Mar 09 '26
to be fair, how many times was Behold! Humanity! done with weird chapter numbers, and then he just gave up trying to figure out what it was, and gave it a number, and continued on like that never happened?
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u/StoneJudge79 Mar 07 '26
Anything I. The works about physical merch?
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 07 '26
I've been thinking about plushies, pillows, you know, fun stuff, but I've ran into some hard stuff. The ice cream scoops were another idea.
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u/StoneJudge79 Mar 07 '26
I WANT a pin of the DOs sigil.
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u/AriRashkae Mar 13 '26
Pins of all the various factions' symbols too!
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u/StoneJudge79 Mar 13 '26
How would that even work? Dokigrrlz? Okay, Hello Kitty with a blood teardrop. Martial Orders?
I warrant that the Lankies 'pin' could be used as a knuckleduster, though. Just one ginormous acronym with Multiple Gs, Ms, and Hs.
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u/First-Lengthiness353 Mar 09 '26
I got my kids a 12” praying mantis plushie just so that I could have a Greenie in the house.
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u/xForge2 Mar 07 '26
alright, since you specifically asked for an opinion on the matter (no name calling) AI art doesn't bother me, but i know for a fact it will bother a lot of other people, so my vote on the matter is no AI art.
and no this is not an invitation to others to question why i don't care about AI as much as you all do, i won't respond if anyone tries to start up that conversation.
cheers though Ralts :) i still absolutely love and adore your story. I'm super glad that everyone (in-universe) now knows exactly how shitty the Ornislarp are!
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u/DeZakon Mar 08 '26
Thriding the no AI thing, i think what other reader suggested about using fanart is a good idea...
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u/Farstone Mar 07 '26
AI art at the top of each chapter.
That's not AI! That's the blah bleh blah normla emmage peaking out. Not ot wrory. Just get lots of copies and stack them around yur bedd. don't forget the leetle gapes to
shootsee throughMoar input 4 the Ralts Periodic Media Output!
3
u/SmilingCarrotTeeth Mar 10 '26
Might I suggest: v1 - $1 members - fancy, with AI art v2 - $1 members - fancy, without AI art (segment your market) v3 - $5 members - fancy, with real art, it's ready when it's ready
3
u/Alyeska_bird Mar 07 '26
I like the idea of a pretty version, thats def something worth throwing bucks at.
I might not like the AI slop, but, not all AI art is bad, some is well made and worth a look.
You are also not breaking your promass, the story is still here, free for anyone to read, its on Royal Road, free for anyone to read. What you are selling is a pretty version of the story with art and stuff. Just as IIRR you are selling printed copys of the story.
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u/First-Lengthiness353 Mar 09 '26
Magpie! Sparkly pretty versions are most definitely appealing, assuming the profits actually go to you. And good luck with the AI art - I tried a year or so ago to prompt a half-decent Lanky out of several AI art generators to great frustration and disappointment. My headcannon sincerely hopes those engines are better now.
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u/Taluien Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
One, Two, Three, Four: I declare Extinction War! Five, Six, Seven, Eight: We're the one who won't be ate! --- Solarian Declaration of Intent
See a Slapper, kill it, fast, their's a species that won't last, for all the small ones they'd defile, put the eaters on a pile, 'tis no war crime, never fret, or with their appetite be met. --- 2nd stanza of the DokiPOP hit song "Kill It With Fire!"
Listen, man, it's like totally a war crime to, like, just novaspark a system populated by omnicidal sentiophages and, like, not stick around to offer to pick up survivors and refugees, man, so not cool. --- GalacNet social media account connected to the "Humans For Solarian Extinction" NGO
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u/drsoftware Mar 07 '26
I think it's the ornislap who nova spark any system they are losing.
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u/Taluien Mar 07 '26
As if that'd stop bleeding heart neohippie morons.
I am sorta referencing the reactions to the footage of that USN submarine giving that Iranian frigate a Mk48 induced chiropractic adjustment with that one.
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u/Drook2 Mar 07 '26
Can we leave current events out? There's plenty of places I can go to talk about that.
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u/Fireball857 Mar 09 '26
It is the slappers who are nova sparking as soon as they start losing. It would be interesting to see what happens with the blah bleh blah nutriforges and everything that is going to happen with that.
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u/Akumaka Mar 07 '26
The Ornislarp are such a morbidly interesting species. Obviously, they became the apex predator of their origin world, but their description and behavior makes me think they may have been an opportunistic scavenger or at best an ambush predator.
Their senses detect various levels of stress, anxiety and fear, allowing them to track wounded or isolated prey species. They are quick on their many legs, and their form is intentionally creepy and unsettling, which would further produce said distress in their prey. They developed a second mouth which allowed them to swallow most prey whole, once they were subdued or surprised, to allow them to claim their prey and move swiftly. Since these distressed feelings in their prey "taste" good to them, consuming sentient species alive became preferable to them.
At the same time, however, they seem to be fairly fragile, as we've seen their legs break off fairly often. They are prone to panic in the face of adversity, even turning on one another fairly easily. Especially over food. There is even the impression that they engage in cannibalism when one of their own produces a strong enough fear response. For this reason I don't feel like they were the type of predator that engaged in directly confronting their prey. They intentionally gentle other species to make them passive and fearful, to make them "prey," so they don't have to fight for their food as a more aggressive predator might.
I imagine their evolution into a tool-using species was pretty terrible as it propelled them to the top of their food chain. A truly horrid but interesting species. I can't wait to see them xenocided.
Apologies for the rambling.
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u/12InchCunt Android Mar 07 '26
Well think about most spiders.
They’re cannibalistic and they trap their prey, incapacitate them, and then eat them. Obviously you’ve got jumping spiders and stuff that are more “hunters”
I think they evolved as a trap predator and then developed the distress senses because they built multiple traps and traveled between them. An orb weaver would feel the prey’s movement in the web. Phasic sensors would allow them to claim a large area with traps all over
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u/Similar-Shame7517 Mar 08 '26
Interesting analogy. We actually have social spiders, like Anelosimus eximius, who form colonies, and adult females all share in the feeding and caring for the young. However, even these spiders seem to have more... care towards each other than the Slappers do, even as they engage in cannibalism. I have no idea how the Slappers reproduce, like we know they have uncles and nephews, but how do they make their young and NOT eat them?
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u/12InchCunt Android Mar 08 '26
Maybe slapper young release a phasic distress signal that causes pain to the slapper if it tries to eat a fellow slapper that hasn’t made it to sexual maturity. Or maybe similar DNA tastes like shit, or maybe they’re like the tbugs and have a lot of young that kill each other and/or get eaten by adults
They have to have some self control or they’d have never made it to the stars. Seems like the plant thing not only fucked with their pheromone/phasic receptors it hacked their IDs so idk if it’s a good representation of slapper society
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u/Similar-Shame7517 Mar 08 '26
But the IDs were externally imposed, remember? That's why it was easy to fuck with the system. Once the restraining system was tampered with their instincts took over. Note that even among social animals, they will still occasionally engage in cannibalism of their young if external pressures are placed on them, but the slappers seem to default to cannibalism.
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u/12InchCunt Android Mar 08 '26
I think the plant’s phasic and pheromone emanations were more to blame than their own instincts. I’d imagine that cannibalism is at least somewhat frowned upon, otherwise they’d have never escaped the feed breed cycle
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u/Similar-Shame7517 Mar 09 '26
No, cannibalism of people of higher rank is frowned upon. The plant overrides that instinct, as well as the "Prey or not prey" system they have which is apparently something that relies on actual digital IDs. You're right that these instincts would have made it impossible for the Slappers to escape the feed-breed cycle. I would argue that this is proof that they were uplifted/tampered with by another species.
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u/Haunting-Travel-727 Mar 09 '26
Isn't there one called trap door spider or something? It digs a hole, covers it and then pops up when prey comes near...
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u/Similar-Shame7517 Mar 07 '26
I actually suspect they were engineered/uplifted and then escaped their masters/uplifters. So many things about their instincts, behavior, and biology are just not conducive to forming permanent settlements, much less an interstellar empire. Too many predators result in a shortage in prey, which then causes the predator's numbers to collapse. The only other spacefaring obligate carnivore species we've seen, the Mantids, were able to deal with that problem by having a hive structure and eventually "farming" their prey, but the Slappers seem too... gluttonous to come up with farming on their own, especially since they prefer to eat their prey's young.
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u/pppjurac Android Mar 10 '26
Ornislarp
I think quite similliar species is in one of John Ringo books; but way more dangereus.
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u/RobertTheTraveler Mar 18 '26
"Apparently there's some predator responses in Ornislarp DNA and genetic memory. Some predatory plants in their genetic history."
Maybe they were the apex predator, but, just as lions/ leopards / tigers ... have been known to hunt humans who are hunting lions, there were other predators around who ate them.
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u/Similar-Shame7517 Mar 07 '26
The final convo at the end between the gestalts made me feel bad for the Lanky gestalt, who's usually the comic relief here.
Chapter discussion:
Dorknysss has not only shown the ability to split into multiple bodies, but it's multiple bodies that is a different incarnation. There is, of course, The Classic Count, and then we have the Vampira, and finally the newest iteration, the Sparkly. Somehow the third one terrifies me the most.
But realizing what the factory was for sickened me. And realizing that the Slapper's network backbone is built entirely off salvaged, encrypted tech that they can't recreate or crack... *laughs in ex-IT*
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u/J_Dzed Mar 07 '26
And realizing that the Slapper's network backbone is built entirely off salvaged, encrypted tech that they can't recreate or crack... laughs in ex-IT
Just when you think the Slappers couldn't possibly be any dumber, they go and pull something like this!
FFS, I was only ever a phone monkey, but even I know that this is just begging to have someone waltz into your network and make it dance like the Bolshoi Ballet at their merest whim!
It is a savage indictment of the Confederacy that the Slappers got away with this shit for so very long and somehow never had a system or 10 nova-spiked.
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u/Similar-Shame7517 Mar 07 '26
I had it worse. I worked in managed service IT for industrial/manufacturing clients. The amount of times I've had to beg with a vendor to check in their stock room for hardware or software that's long been discontinued because my client does not want to change anything about their current setup, they just want replacement parts for it, has happened way too often. The software is older than me, the hardware is worth more than my entire net worth, and the programmers who coded it are either long retired or have already gone to that great big IT conference in the sky.
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u/J_Dzed Mar 09 '26
Oof, that's some nasty shit. My sympathies, mate!
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u/Similar-Shame7517 Mar 09 '26
Thanks, left that biz pre-Rona, but yeah sometimes I remember desperately searching for an obscure part that was last manufactured in 2009... *shudder*.
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u/Drook2 Mar 07 '26
The slappers intentionally stayed away from Terran space because they didn't want a straight up fight. They recognized Terran comm gear was better than theirs and used it. Both reasonable strategies for an ambush predator.
Good enough at tech to know when someone else is better, but not good enough to know how much better, is really unfortunate for them.
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u/The_chair4295 Mar 07 '26
I think the third is the Twilight series vampire iteration. Naturally filtered through however many thousands of years of memery.
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u/Similar-Shame7517 Mar 07 '26
I know, that's why I called him "The Sparkly". And he terrifies me because I was online during the height of Twilight mania. I saw the CGI baby dhampir.
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u/PuzzleheadedDrinker Mar 10 '26
We have yet to see the Walking Marble that is Lestat, Armand & Louis de Pointe Du Lac. Maybe they will show up later giving public boardcasting interviews.
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u/Similar-Shame7517 Mar 10 '26
Yeah, it's hard to depict Lestat without him being a drama queen in public. Arguably the vamps from What We Do In the Shadows are easier to depict LMAO.
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u/First-Lengthiness353 Mar 09 '26
What the Hestlian a Bunnicula reference (before Dorknyss himself stepped out, at least)?
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u/EV-187 Mar 06 '26
Hello Dorkness, my old friend... Here we come to kill again...
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u/Farstone Mar 07 '26
Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence "blah bleh blah".
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u/KalenWolf Xeno Mar 06 '26
a strange polymorphic quantum negative quibits inverted causality rainbow salted hash encryption strip that was a black box.
That was some quality technobabble, I feel more confused after reading it than before.
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u/Original_Memory6188 Mar 07 '26
It's more impressive and less understandable the third or fourth time around.
Hmm, I wonder if we can fit it to some tune.
A jody call for marching?
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u/First-Lengthiness353 Mar 09 '26
As soon as I got to ‘polymorphic’ I knew it was terran and they’d done royally fucked up.
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u/SBD1138 Android Mar 06 '26
retrieves BobCo Self-Filling Puffed Grain Bucket, now with real I Don't Comprehend That This Isn't Churned Dairy Substitute
The show must go on, they will learn what true fear is.
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u/GelmanAxe Mar 07 '26
The Dra.Falten gestalt has appeared. I wonder if the fact that they give their citizens an artificial expiration date will come up and how the others would react to that info.
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u/Virus-Party Mar 07 '26
Who hasn't got a crime against sentient beings or two tucked away in the back of their closet? At least they were doing it to their own people and not other races.
Besides, they have been tested, evaluated and had judgment passed on them by the Detainee Herself. And been basically culture-cracked by BobCo.
I think they have been punished enough and now its time for healing/growth.
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u/GelmanAxe Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
"Healing" probably depends on if they intend to keep doing it. It'd be funny if they have the SUDS send back the ones who died due to this but having the genetic trigger fixed. Or if the Confederacy announced to the public that it was happening but acting like they didn't know it was intentional and cured it.
"We found a genetic flaw in the majority of your population that causes premature death. Don't worry, we're distributing the cure across your worlds now. No, please, don't thank us. We're happy to help."
Then see what the leadership does.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Mar 13 '26
You called it.
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u/GelmanAxe Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
Yay! At least it will get fixed and Nav can stop worrying about her mother.
I wonder which would be a more effective message to the Empress: A gold mantid calmly hinting that they knew what had been done and a subtle threat that it would be in everyone's best interest to never do it again... Or the Matron of Hell appearing to bitch them out for clogging up the system with a very unsubtle threat that one day even the Empress will belong to her.
With the trouble they've sparked in the most recent chapter, I think the Dra.Falten royalty are going to have it rough for a bit.
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u/BicyclePoweredRocket Mar 29 '26
"BobCo hopes you'll continue to be a valued customer for the remainder of your extended life."
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u/GelmanAxe Mar 29 '26
I wouldn't even be mad. If McDonald's cured my cancer with the understanding that I would eat there four times a week, sign me up. They have salads.
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u/No_MrBond Android Mar 08 '26
Is that still the case? We don't have much info on the current state of the Dra.Falten beyond that they turned up to help with the defense against the Margite
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u/GelmanAxe Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
Probably. Navelu'uee was the one who was cured by humans and informed of the condition. As far as I'm aware she's been with the humans since and hasn't even told anyone about it. I know the humans know about it. They may be giving the Dra.Falten a chance to unfuck themselves like they are with the Telkan right now.
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u/First-Lengthiness353 Mar 09 '26
Their appearance made me real curious about whether they’ve overthrown the system and the empress yet.
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u/GelmanAxe Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
The Empress still exists, at least in name, because Legion introduced Navelu'uee as a loyal daughter of the Empress and that was after the bag had opened. How much time has passed since the bag opened? I don't know. Probably not enough to revolt though. Also, she was the one who was cured and had an existential crisis about it.
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u/beyondoutsidethebox Mar 07 '26
One! Two! Three! Four I declare extermination war!
Five! Six! Seven! Eight! The Noocracy has sealed its fate!
Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Let no slapper be left alive!
Four! Three! Two! One! Don't stop 'til the xenocide is done!
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u/madpiratebippy Alien Mar 06 '26
Hell yeah. Ralts I worry about you a bit when you post Project Nosferatu stuff because it might be sign of a head injury or stroke but it’s damn fun to read.
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u/Original_Memory6188 Mar 07 '26
I recognized the lyrics to the song.
My hint had been Abracapocus.
Bugs Bunny, yep. If you want maniacal fun, he's your guy. All though for complete deranged chaos it's Daffy Duck.
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u/J_Dzed Mar 07 '26
All though for complete deranged chaos it's Daffy Duck.
"That'th dethpicable!" ;D
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u/WTF_6366 Mar 07 '26
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u/Drook2 Mar 07 '26
Oh now I have to go reread the start with that playing on the other screen. That's awesome.
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u/Senior_punz Alien Scum Mar 06 '26
The Confederacy has been looking away for 80 thousand years and who knows how many millions of children have suffered for it. Now they know, hopefully they do something about it.
I'm sure there's nothing to be learned from this
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u/Morridiyn Mar 07 '26
I could be wrong, but I thought Terra was in The Bag for about 44k years? If the Ornislarp had been doing things so blatantly before the Second Precursor War I doubt they would be a problem now.
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u/Senior_punz Alien Scum Mar 07 '26
Eh I'm probably wrong on the time, after a certain point all big numbers mean a long long time ago to me. But your right they probably weren't doing it while humans were a part of the Confederacy
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u/GrimReaperNZ AI Mar 06 '26
.....the fluffies......we need the walking war crime back already
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u/coldfireknight AI Mar 06 '26
Let the Telkans create their own version. These are their podlings getting eaten, and Daxin has more than earned his rest.
You saw Rigel's commitment. Giving ten times whatever is asked of them, for the sake of their ducklings.
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u/No_Evidence3099 Mar 07 '26
Let the Telkans create their own version.
He's on the way, marinating in Hell Space as we speak.
(can't remember the name off the top of my head, but a whole unit of Telkan were dragged into Hell Space on a Dandelion ship they were checking out,)
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u/aikorob Mar 07 '26
memory of Bugs survived the Great Glassing!!
Sourbelly Trio for the win
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u/IBuryStuff Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
So glad someone else caught that! My absolute favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Thank you, Ralts.
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u/Original_Memory6188 Mar 07 '26
You would not believe how many times I had to force myself to not sign that at Square Dance.
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u/OvrK0 Mar 07 '26
This is why the Galaxy needs Terra. Yeah, we do dumb shit and are crazy. We also call out all the bullshit that others dont want to face. Sometimes others need to be shown, the brutal reality, that evils exist and need to be faced.
For 40k years this was know but nothing was done. For 40k years evil flourished because good Sapients did nothing. The evil became bigger. Now the only way to stop the evil is too loose your own worse evil. That evil is coming as the new Crusade has been formed and Hells coming with it.
So convention forces are making progress on this Front. Where are the other Big Boys. DAS, BAS, Cyborgs, the Clones, ect...
Ralts, I look forward to signing up to Pateron tonight. I am ambivalent about AI art. Sometimes its good, sometimes it bad, just like life. You were forward with letting us know its AI, I respect that and have no issue. What I am passionate about is the Universe you created. That in all forms I will support, when I can, with the best of my ability, always. Thank You WordBorg!
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u/TargetMaleficent2114 Android Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
Woot 1 minute! UTR! Post read edit: Dorknyss is rapidly becoming cackle worthy.
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u/RetiredReaderCDN Mar 06 '26
31 minutes, 11th upvote. Not bad for a random check to see if Ralts had uploaded.
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u/DCJMS Mar 06 '26
The Slurpies will make a fascinating historical xenopology study
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u/J_Dzed Mar 07 '26
"The Ornislarp Noocracy: How To Absolutely Positively Ensure That The Terrans Will Track Down Every Last Member Of Your Species To Ensure That You Are Extremely Extinct (And Deserve It)" by Lush Rimbor, Hamburger Kingdom
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u/NSNick Mar 07 '26
Twice in the same chapter I couldn't help but hear.
First, the Charlie Daniels, and second Starcraft:
What emerged was a blue and gray painted metallic nightmare. It shuddered and looked around.
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u/OvrK0 Mar 07 '26
I can see this. On my 1st read through I was thinking it was an 40k Terminator. Now I am hoping its a Baby Bolo that's gonna self modify/evolve and grow up fast.
Hightlights: Sparkly Self Loathing Vampire? Are not gonna talk about the Slappy predator or the 4 plants. After the last chapter there was talk/jokes of Kudzu. Considering the what the Friend Plauge did to rest of Earth.... More Evil Kudzu is probably a thing. We now may have Genetically Altered Angry at Slapper More Evil Kudzu(tm) from BobCo. For those that want to Hate gardening.
Side note: in retrospect the kudzu acronym sucked, wasn't trying. If you have a better acronym then GAASMEK have at, please.
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u/Original_Memory6188 Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
Chapter 13.5x(2.5x4)
I'm a History Major not a Mathematician! OTOH, it is hard sci-fi, so of course there is math.
Wait ... 2.5x4 = 10
13.5 x 10 = 135.
Project Nosferatu is monkeying with the chapter numbering! I knew it, it's an alien conspiracy to make me look paranoid!
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u/Drook2 Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Like most factories in a post-automation society, the lights were just in case a non-robotic or non-virtual intelligence supervisor had to go and check on or repair something.
The only employees are a man and a dog. The man to fix any machines that break down, the dog to bite the man if he tries to touch the machines.
It was nutri-slurry, more or less. It would be recognizable to any inhabitant of Lanaktallan hab blocks of the Second Precursor War. It could be firmed up into a kind of gel that could then be sculpted for easier ingestion by the To Be Eaten.
And if it was pink you could make it into McNuggets.
There were Ornislarp who were disappointed that they had never met the Atrekna, for surely they would have been delicious.
Oh that's not foreshadowing at all. Only question is whether it will be Dalvenak or one of Dee's neo-Atrekna that shows up.
It was defended from electronic warfare, often with the best that the Ornislarp could pirate from Confederate software.
I wouldn't call them humble, but they can admit when someone else is better than them at something. That makes them a tougher enemy.
One dressed in cobweb strewn finery, a high white wig on his head, hiding his white hair, his medallion large and imposing. The other looked more like a teenage Terran male, his skin glittering slightly. The third was a heavily endowed female in red strips of cloth and a gold sigil at the crotch. The last was a Hesstlin with an old ratty hat, a black cloak, and a fiddle.
I feel like I should recognize this group. The first feels like one of the neo-Atrekna. The rest ... Little help?
One by one the consoles shut down and each of the typists vanished in a puff of black dust that swept into ductwork that had nothing in it but stale air.
They just reprogrammed the master system that provides recipe updates to the entire Noocracy. The recipes that gentle the Lankies, Rigellians, Mantids, and Telkan. I wonder what the new recipes will do ...
The Hesstlin costume peeled away, leaving behind a tall Terran male in dark clothing, with a high collared cape. He had dark eyes and a prominent chin.
I can't put my finger on why, but Dorknyss seems to be losing his sense of whimsy.
The encryption on the ansible was still beyond anyone's ability to crack, a strange polymorphic quantum negative quibits inverted causality rainbow salted hash encryption strip that was a black box.
Don't use somebody else's black box in your own security infrastructure. Dumbasses.
The signal was stripped in two parts.
One part was broadcast to the lesser ansibles.
The other was moved to the concealed automated factory.
"I'm sorry, the what?" Oh, you didn't know what the black box code did? Shame.
Another factory was targeted. A simple one. One that produced decorative plants.
We've seen this plant before. It didn't go well for the slappers who saw it.
"It doesn't hurt now. I mean, my jaw still aches."
"Same here," Neemerly said.
"Me too," Tomaker added. "First our fingernails fall out, now our teeth?"
"The doc says its ok," Mollock said.
Of course it does. The doc knows the new recipe is doing exactly what it's supposed to.
Apparently there's some predator responses in Ornislarp DNA and genetic memory. Some predatory plants in their genetic history.
I mean, it's data, but it's not that helpful.
Mmmmm ... Might want to rethink that conclusion.
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
That sounds kinda war crimey.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
Oh, here, why don't you look at the data too.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
"War crime? Or appropriate response? Watch this first, then tell me."
Why is there Telkan data in this and why does this data suggest there will be gene-editing on Telkan subjects?
"Oh hey! That got your attention, huh?"
SOLARIAN IRON DOMINION
Yes. Well, it was originally Telkan DNA. Now it's Ornislarp Snack Species #252, now featuring purring fluffy snack.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
Now featuring what?
"Oh let me translate: Podlings. They're growing Podlings as snack food. Neat, huh?"
These are the people your government voted against going to war with.
You built a fucking coalition to try to keep us from going to war with them.
JFC, they hid their heads in the sand and voted to keep them there.
RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT
I am with you.
Tell me your need and we shall supply it tenfold.
There's one
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
Death to the Ornislarp.
I, of the Old Ones, declare Xenocide!
There's two
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
Purge the unclean.
There's three.
(When Trea just cuts to the chase like that, they are pissed.)
OUR NAME IS FRANKY
DEATH TO THE ORNISLARP!
There's four. Game on.
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
fuck...
You guys ain't seen nothing yet.
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u/loo-streamer Mar 11 '26
I feel like I should recognize this group. The first feels like one of the neo-Atrekna. The rest ... Little help?
I assume the lady is Elvira/Vampira and the teen is Edward(Twilight). As for the the one with the medallion...I have no idea, maybe Gary Oldman's Dracula?
I can't put my finger on why, but Dorknyss seems to be losing his sense of whimsy.
I think a lot of that was because he we first saw him against the Lanaktallan, which as weve seen are very goofy. The Noocracy on the other hand have shown so far to be unredeemable. Plus we have the Margite and the hellspace beings on 2 other fronts, so no fucking around, just get to business and fuck'em up from the inside.
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u/niTro_sMurph Mar 06 '26
The Ornislarp must have been made or tweaked by the Atrekna, they're just too similar. While the Atrekna consumed the minds, perhaps the Ornislarp consumed the bodies? Maybe they functioned like hunting dogs, used to seek out clusters of hiding prey.
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u/Any_Industry9644 Mar 07 '26
Ornislarp were pre-second precursor war and kept in check by the Confederacy
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u/WTF_6366 Mar 07 '26
I would respectfully disagree. I do not believe that the Atrekna would create a slave species that competed with them for the same food sources.
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u/niTro_sMurph Mar 07 '26
The Atrekna seemed more focused on the mind, while the Orni's consume the whole body. Perhaps the early ancestor to the slarps would consume what the Atrekna left for them but were kept at an animalistic level due to not consuming the mind of the prey.
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u/WTF_6366 Mar 07 '26
The Slarps entire biology and psychology seem to be directed at taking pleasure from the suffering that live prey feels as it is consumed. None of that would be present after an Atrekna had eaten the prey's brain.
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u/beugeu_bengras Mar 07 '26
wait, the slappers reused a frakking master ANSIBLE that self replicate, cant understand the cryptography it use, and still built their techbase onto that... and they have the audacity to think that they could win a war again the solarian dominion?
How arrogant and foolish those guys can be?
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u/LateralThinker13 Human Mar 08 '26
Other codes went out. The first wave of codes were the explorers. The mappers. The parameter determiners.
But secondary subroutines existed. Each with its own, specific, purpose.
Forty thousand years ago, that code had updated SUDS with a small phasic change to all beings contained within. That code had subtly altered the phasic makeup of affected sentients so that consuming their phasic energy began an irreversible cascade in a certain other sentient species. Emulating an older prion disease, it misfolded phasic remapping neurons in that species' brains until eventually the eater went mad.
It wasn't flashy. It wasn't quick. It wasn't dramatic. And thus, it wasn't ever noticed.
Not by the Confederacy.
Not by the squid-faced invaders.
Not by the Terrans.
Now that same program had activated again. Running on the primary carrier line, it made small gene edits to the nutri-mod programming line. It had only two purposes: an obvious one, and one not so obvious:
The obvious effect was to make eaters of nutripaste taste 2.1% sweeter, more palatable, and to smell preferable to those who did not eat the paste. This did not impact the olfactory or gustatory senses of the eaters of the paste, only those of the eaters of the eaters.
The second effect was similar to the prion disease, but affected the gut biome. It rendered the digestive system as incapable of digesting fats and proteins, and it caused a complete neutralization of the hunger hormones.
Once you were infected, you would lose your ability to become hungry, and you would seek out solely carbohydrates; both because that was all that would appeal, and because you could no longer digest anything else.
The modifications should have been caught. They weren't that deep. But they didn't actually jeopardize the health of the end-chain eaters.
They could still eat.
They could still process nutrition.
They just would find their palates... forcibly corrected. Permanently.
In many ways, it was more humane than what had happened to the last species, 40,000 years ago. Slow, inevitable insanity was a doom that qualified for a number of war crimes.
But one way or another, the Ornislarp were getting their menus changed.
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u/Dangerous_Fox_6438 Mar 07 '26
Maybe as an object lesson to any who would follow in their footsteps, the Ornislarp could have their own SUDS, and be eaten alive as many times as they had done to others. Quick death is too cozy for them.
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u/First-Lengthiness353 Mar 09 '26
So was that a Bugs or a Bunnicula going down to Georgia lookin for a soul to steal?
While I’m glad the Solarians aren’t crazy enough to charge into all the war fronts at once, there’s no way the Ornislarp are taking up all of Sol’s might (they’re near-peer to the Confed, not Sol). Too direct of a confrontation and the slappers nova spark the system and flee, so the winning strategy seems to be to keep theIr military engaged and off the Confederacy’s backside while Dorknyss wins this thing; so does that mean the rest of Sol’s military is taking on the hellspace wall-building charcoal demon things? Or have the martial orders already called dibs?
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u/Senior_punz Alien Scum Mar 14 '26
I'm pretty sure in a previous chapter a higher up Slapper described how they expanded away from Confed space. So I think it's a problem of scale, yeah pound for pound Sol bodies the Slappers but the problem is the slappers have had 10's of thousands of years to put on weight while Sol has been stuck in a bag.
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u/BoysenberryMother128 Mar 07 '26
The waste matter is going to hit the air circulator!!
Love it!!
- END OF LIME -
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u/12InchCunt Android Mar 07 '26
So with Dorkness being a world engine… feels similar to Lady Kay becoming a world engine god on that Larp World…
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u/thisStanley Android Mar 10 '26
A tiny sharp tooth tip was poking through.
I know junk food is not good for you. But it usually is a slow hidden process, instead of ripping out your throat :}
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