• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

IDS Yīnghuā - Log 1.0: Swift as the Wind and Quick as Lightning (風馳電掣)

Inside their virtuality, Hoshiko looked around, the expressions on everyone's faces ranging from too far jaded or incredulous to speak. It probably consumed less calories and processing power to at least message each other there, but there was some sort of comfort in talking in meatspace that wasn't present in their shared VR.

"I don't think neodrenaline is what Wen needs," the Tiger Princess tried to stay positive as she rummaged through one of the bodies. As Wen felt his heart go into MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE for the second time, Hoshiko popped a wax sealed cork and poured some of the somehow-hot-yet-not contents onto his head. "Just keep thinking about how you should be when you're healthy Wen." Having given Wen some of the Aos'Si 'secret formula', Hoshiko surveyed the scene. At worst, they suffered contusions and small - but painful - stress fractures or cracks in their bone.

Wen was probably the worst off, suffering plenty of the aforementioned, plus the lingering injuries from being close to several small explosions. His vision wavered in and out, with his helmet and suit giving a better picture. His bones ached, and the entirety of his chest was bruised over. Plus, his suit being water-blasted meant the camouflage was effectively destroyed. But the somehow hot, even itchy potion poured over his head changed that. Wen's pain dulled to aches, his sight steadied, and his hands felt like they had fallen asleep, which was an improvement.

Both Jun and Wu however, felt like they both had a 'very long day' in a very relatable way. Other than a few bruises and suit layer degredation, they were fine. Most importantly though, both the princesses seemed well enough. Hoshiko herself had regained most of her senses from the flashbangs, but was still relying on her suit sensors instead. Koyama looked less than pleased, but like her sister, came off relatively well with only some bruises.

As Xian walked over to the chunks of glowing red heartstone, the Aos'Si caster's intestines slithered and dragged her back together. Soon enough, there was a faint, low and long sobbing that came from the caster as the Tigress's axe was raised. And, when Xian's axe fell, the largest remaining chunk shattered. There was a flash of light, and the endless abyss of the ocean. The cold, crushing expanse of the deeps, and waiting for eternity.

Until -

__________________


Empire of Daqin,
Pínqióng (貧窮) System
The Forbidden City

"Uuuuuuuuugh," Hoshiko moaned, flopping onto a couch in their backroom lounge. "Do we have to do reward ceremonies mother?" Even though the Daqinren did it all in virtuality, award ceremonies didn't change in that they were still as unpleasant as they were important for marking a special occasion or moment.

"Of course!" the Empress delightedly smiled. "How else are we to gloat about our great achievements?" she clasped her hands together. From the ground as a soldier though, it was difficult to see just what they had actually accomplished.
 
"But do we have to do it in the military uniforms?" Jun asked, "I know its all about being samey but this is the one time we don't want to look Samey. We ... killed... a... space... monster?"

Jun wasn't quite sure what they did, but the important thing is that they did it and that people should be impressed by that!

"The people should know that it was us there... or at least that THE GREAT HOSHIKO was leading the group. How are you going to build your personal brand without something to help you stand apart from the others? Military people do that all the time and still stay in uniforms... Maybe a special hat? Or like... a cape? Maybe die your hair neon blue?

...

No wait that's awful. What's on the other end of the color wheel? Fuck... it IS blue? Maybe just use your golden hair alongside the blue on the uniform then? Maybe pump the saturation on those yellows? At least one of us should look good in these things."

Jun would quickly try out a few other outfits in the virtuality, and it wasn't hard to figure out what she was trying to accentuate. The armor constricted her chest AND was designed not to draw the eye anywhere specific while the dresses she was cycling through were clearly trying to draw attention elsewhere. Slits in the side to draw the eye up her legs and to her hips, or a plunging neckline to bring the eye to her chest.

She had a good understanding of where her best angles were.

"You should care less about what your lessers think of you. The important thing is that those who are important know your name." Xian replied, "They will be reminded of what you can do by this ceremony. Establishing ourselves and our deeds is more important than making sure we follow good color theory."

Xian's worry about being responsible for the loss of a princess was now long gone. Though she tried not to act like it, her excitement at having some new award to show off was reflected in just how freshly cleaned up her uniform had become.
 
Wen settled into a standard Daqinren Imperial uniform. By now, he fully recovered: combined with the effects of that exotic potion, along with top notch Daqinren medical care, it did not take long for the bull to nurse back to peak physical capacity again.

His uniform clung to his body perfectly, displaying the strong silhouette of his build without giving away excess detail of his muscular makeup. "I agree with the Princess," Wen remarked, though he silently conceded with Xian's remarks that some positive name recognition was likely a good thing for their reputation, especially his, as downtrodden as it was.

"Though, I am more interested with the intelligence we gathered from that Aos Si... Caster?" He continued. "Archaic as their technology was, it seems there are some things that we should exploit, such as those healing potions and that teleportation conduit, if that is what it was."
 
"Yeah, what WAS all of that?" Jun asked, "Obviously the space monster was bad but I didn't quite catch what was so important about that place."
 
"I don't mind if you try making modifications, daughter-Jun, but do share what you come up with first," The Empress encouraged the cow. "But don't forget your training sessions with Xian either. A Warrior Princess must be capable!" she proudly clenched a fist.

Inside the meatspace confines of her genetic therapy tank, Hoshiko rolled her eyes and huffed into her oxygen mask. At least her guts had stopped slithering from the 'mana' exposure.

"If I dyed my hair blue like you're suggesting Jun, the next thing I know, you'll be telling me to add some green and purple highlights to it, or maybe even add in a girly looking side-ponytail or something," The Tiger Princess protested. Despite that though, Hoshiko did look at her VR bodysuit and tugged on its fabric. Standing up, she banished some of the material with a swipe of an arm, a pleated skirt coming forth to form some of the most powerful Absolute Territory they had seen. She didn't stop there though, and removed most of the sleeves as well. "Hmm."

Hoshiko didn't sound quite satisfied though.

"Ā-la ā-la, an interesting change," the Empress politely clapped. "I could never convince the Balenciaga-Boss Consortium to collaborate with us on uniform design, but this makes me just as happy," she smiled. Even as the Empress said this, a certain cocky rooster leaned in closer to Xian to half-whisper to the Tigress.

"For a Princess of the Empire, appearances are a very important matter, especially since it will affect their standing in the Imperial Court," she reminded the soldier-warrior. "Everyone is trying to get a better position or favor after all, so the smallest bit helps, even if it's to nudge the gossip one way or the other," Sakamoto added, mischievously pinching the fabric over Xian's ample aft-section. She eyed Wen. "You two will learn sooner or later," Sakamoto smiled.

She wasn't the only one eying him though.

"Ā-la ā-la, yet another interesting topic." Snapping her fingers, a volumetric viewscreen appeared, the subject coming into focus as they.....lay on a couch, eating the finest of (totally not addictive) Imperial snacks made for the American market while Chongwu tended to their every whim and desire. "Viz Istenno, was it?" the Empress brought a finger to her lips in thought. "She was completely delusional after ingesting the Heartstone shards. Believes she's the embodiment of the oceans and water itself," Zhuli shrugged at the tragedy.

Xian could see the dark, endless depths. The forever blue of the ocean. The sun ray filled shallows and the roaring hurricanes that threatened to rip and flay apart anyth -

"Fortunately, her professional knowledge remains intact!" the Empress almost cheered. "Apparently, she's a part of a long line of information custodians. Lucky us," she slyly grinned, clasping her hands together. "I do know we are working on the potions?" Zhuli raised an eyebrow at Sakamoto. The rooster was too busy giving her Chongwu headpats and hugs however, and seemingly took a moment to realize.

"Ohhhh, righttttt..." she began, still more focused on pampering Wu. "The magic potions. The ones that heal really well but can't mass produce yet. The ones that we're currently trading goods and services with the Aos'Si for. Those ones." Sakamoto paused to pick up a luxurious hair brush for Wu. "We're making progress and building up an initial stock, but the Aos'Si are very rightfully guarding their secret formula," she admitted, now brushing the Chongwu's tail.

"As for the teleportation portal or 'Node' as the Aos'Si call it, we are making progress on researching the facility and the spacetime anomaly it houses. More importantly, it seems the facility disperses the mana pouring out of said anomaly." As though to emphasize this, the volumetric display switched its display away from the slovenly Aos'Si and to a hypothetical display, its numerous flow arrows indicating something being spread high into the atmosphere. "According to our new guest, this also prevents magic from spontaneously occurring on the environment or living creatures, ensuring we will not have to kill such anomalous creatures with extreme prejudice to defend ourselves."
 
"I am super capable, I shot Wen just fine and he's supposed to be a soldier-type," Jun bubbled to herself from inside of her tube.
 
Wen ignored Jun the dumb cow's annoying comments. Instead, he quietly listened to the Princess and the Empress as he adjusted his suit in VR, a somatic formality: his suit was already perfectly snug on him in the virtual world. Even imperfections were purposefully placed to avoid a sterile uncanny valley of perpetual, mathematical precision. Meanwhile, like Hoshiko, his real body settled into the medical solution that surrounded him.

"Magic potions" that could cure wounds at a rapid rate, guarded by the Aos Si
"Nodes" that facilitated instantaneous teleportation

His mind drifted to other matters.

The humans are too busy fighting between themselves in Atlantica
The Chongwu are still a security threat, but deemed necessary to influence human domestic affairs

"We need to pour every spare Bi 幣 we have in the Imperial budget into investigating these matters." Wen stepped forward in VR and declared. "Right now, we have the opportunity of a lifetime to gain domination over the human sphere while they are distracted with petty infighting, with both hard and soft power. Let me start off with the hard power: these "Nodes", the teleportation circles. Their danger matters not. Dangers can be dealt with shear manpower and firepower. The reward is worth an entire fleet of warcraft. If we can find more of these "Nodes", find those that connect directly to the heart of key human cores, then we can obtain major concessions by aiming guns directly onto their temples."
 
"Hey hey hey, I never said any of those things," Jun communicated, bringing up a color wheel and a closet full of clothing in the virtuality, "Updating your style should be done carefully. Only update one thing at a time so you feel comfortable. Don't throw in a bunch of colors all at once, you're not trying to turn yourself into a comic-book panel. Plus skip the high side ponytails you don't want to attract some pervs looking for high-school girls.

Stick with Blue and Gold for now, maybe add an accent piece later. You've got plenty to show off... maybe like small red jewels in your ear rings to draw attention to your face. A colorful corset piece would draw attention to your bust. Though add some color to the tops of those thigh highs or a nice belt and you'll have them focused on your hips! Sure a pretty face is great for conversation but they'll turn over their whole bank accounts once mesmerized by your hips!"

Jun would think a moment,

"Just what are you trying to get across? The military uniform should be for you know... shooting people and stuff. You can wear it out to other events but only when there is a real reason for it. It can look super tacky if you're trying to play up your military cred in the wrong places. If you're trying to draw attention maybe we should talk about your stripper outfit! I got your performance recorded from when we were meeting up with Wen!"

---

Xian 'watched' what was going on with Hoshiko quietly as Sakamoto pinched that fabric. Xian wasn't just a tiger form made for combat, she trained for it. She honed her body above and beyond what her gift of genetics gave her naturally. She also wasn't unfamiliar with higher stationed members of the empire deciding they could touch her ass... but this wasn't the time to start something. "I am not trying to outshine the princesses." Xian responded carefully. Her mother had taught her how to act in war, to always be on the forefront and pushing towards a goal... but acting in the imperial court took a bit more caution.

And it seemed that Wen had other ideas of how to conduct himself.

"Take care you do not exceed your station Wen. Suggesting a strategy is one thing, but making demands on how the budget is allocated is a privilege reserved for those with power." Xian would relay this to Wen directly, not wanting the others to overhear.

Her next comment would be addressed to the room.

"Do we know where this teleportation portal leads to?" She asked, wanting to focus on the military side of this. Certainly making the case for this treasure to remain highly guarded increased the likely-hood that it could be kept under control of herself or her mother. "The potential for an attack through the portal works both ways."

 
"For better or worse, our esteemed Tiger-warrior is correct," the Empress acknowledged Xian Guanxi's observation. "One of the first things that her mother, the esteemed Tiger General Xian Leang, had seen on the other side was the xeno-minions of the traitorous and wily Heram Wazu," she informed Wen. "Your zeal is appreciated though, and better applied to....other things," Zhuli smiled at them all. By now, they were becoming more familiar with Her Highness, and that smile carried meaning.

It had the faintest scent of mischief and cunning - she wanted something.

"Hmph. I'm totally not jailbait," Hoshiko grumbled, too cross at Jun's insult to notice.
 
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"I didn't say you were jailbait, I just said you shouldn't do the side ponytail because then it'll look like you're trying to be jailbait. You def don't need to be trying to appeal to creepy doods who go for that kind of thing. You're a mature, capable, sophisticated woman. Not one that doesn't know anything and is easy to manipulate. Know your worth!"

Jun would then follow up in a more private channel, including just the squad and less so much the Empress and the others, "Didn't you already... you know... Heram? Back during that Adlet thing? 100% you show him that skirt and he's going to be simping hard."

---

Xian tried to remain stoic, but her eyes widened hearing that her mother had already involved herself. She would quickly look up the mission report. "It would seem Heram's Grawla have taken an in interest in our node. The "peacekeeping" forces on Atlantica want to hold this prize too.... and some cancerous flesh-growth has taken hold inside of this node.

We can't let this node fall to anyone else. I would request to be assigned to our counter-attack to secure the node along with a bridgehead on Atlantica."
 
"Counter-attack?" Wen raised an eyebrow at his fellow officer. He didn't care much for the admonishment of social ettiquette; he was used to that. But "bridgehead on Atlantica" snipped his line of thinking. "Xian, are you trying to give the humans a reason for war? Right now the humans are staring daggers at each other in Atlantica. We should not give them a reason to stare daggers at us. Let us secure our side of this node, and go search for other nodes while they are not paying attention."
 
"Let the Diplomats sort out the hurt feelings after we secure the situation on the ground." Xian replied, "It is more important that we have Defacto control of the situation. We can use flamethrowers and excavation units to control this flesh-tumor growing out of control on the surface. What follows diplomatically will be a result of the reality we create on the ground."
 
"For that nerd? Bleh." Hoshiko stuck out her tongue and crossed her arms, still miffed about the incident.

"Āla-āla. Mother, like daughter," the empress noted with a smile. "General Xian Leang and I work together quite well precisely because she is the warrior, and I am the diplomat," she noted, quite pleased with Guanxi's demeanor. "Speaking of diplomats, I am in need of a few," Empress Zhuli continued to smile.

"Ara-ara. Hoshiko, sent to the International Relations Conference, yet again?" the cocky rooster teased. Despite being in the Mother-Empress's presence, Sakamoto's Nanmin tendencies were on display.

"Oh no, no," the Empress gently shook her head. "There's a much more important diplomatic meeting that is needed. I need someone to speak with the Aos'Si. We need to settle who owns this planet once-and-for-all."

The Empress continued to smile.
 
"Are there concrete objectives to accomplish? I would suggest we avoid trying to take ownership of areas of the planet that we don't absolutely need and secure the leadership of the areas that we do wish to control. A focused approach would help us avoid becoming too spread out." Xian replied, checking out what intelligence they had on the local Aos Si. "We would need to locate targets of interest and indicate that they would be best served by co-operating with our rule. Of course our approach would need to be tailored to what we intend to accomplish here."

"I'm just as excited for blowing stuff up as the next girl, but if we're gonna take the place over we just need to be more popular than whoever is running their thing. I mean they are LITERALLY living in trees or whatever right? We setup some nice living spaces with air conditioning and pina coladas, then we invite them to live there, and then all the Aos Sis are gonna be wondering why they wanted to live in trees in the first place. Then we uh..."

Jun looked over at the Empress.

"... What's the plan here? We get the Aos Si to pay rent? Is their drama that much more important than the International Relations stuff?"

---

In the private chat, Jun was more shocked.

"Oh? OH! The human isn't uh, satisfying? That's hugely embarrassing for the Assembly. No doubt human machines can't keep up with Daqin Bionetics!"
 
"I agree with Xian." Wen thought for a moment, choosing his words, before giving up and continued speaking directly. "The planet as a whole is not useful. Territory itself is more a burden to our defense strategy than a boon. We should only subjugate the Aos Si tribes that have what we want, and until now, they offer nothing but resistance and casualty numbers. However, now, some of them can offer node gates to explore and conquer, and items that have great strategic and tactical value."

Wen made the motion of rummaging through a backpack full of scrolls, before withdrawing a globe of Tiantang, setting it down on the ground, then enlarging it. On the globe depicted the great oceans and the jungle continents of the planet, masked over by colored blotches: the estimated regions of control of the various Aos Si tribes, hundreds of them, all with their own unique dialects and cultures.

"We need to figure find out which of these tribes give us value, then create puppet states. Call it the Heaven League or something. The humans had a Hellenic League thousands of years in the past: we can do much better, but I hate to admit, the underlying process is the same. Advertise it to the Aos Si as protection against the new threats to their current livelihoods. Send advisors to keep an eye on them and spread our culture."

"Discovering unknown Aos Si technology will require ground work, which will take long, but perhaps detecting nodes will be faster from orbit if we can learn their properties, or their influence on the surrounding environment upon their formation."
 
"Ugh, knock it off," Hoshiko grumbled back at Jun in private, having decided to change her text colors since her mother was here. "Nothing happened!"

"Astute observations!" The Empress quietly mini-clapped with her hands. "Well. Mostly," she briefly paused, making sure not to look at the person in question. "These are all very reasonable approaches, but fortunately for us, much of that work has already been done." With a theatric wave of her hands and a wink, Empress Zhuli stepped aside to present the world of Tiāntáng. "Gūdú Shì (孤獨市) already has a large diaspora of Aos'Si who wish for coexistence living outside of its walls," she explained, tapping the city that they had visited a short while back. "Getting them to teach us everything they can in exchange for niceties is the easy job, so I will send Xiǎojiě Sakamoto and her pet, Wu, since they are already acquainted."

Sakamoto's eyes lit up with anticipation as she bowed respectfully to the Empress, only to give Wu a playful headpat and a hug.

"And I assume we have the more challenging task?" Hoshiko put a hand on her hip.

"Precisely," the empress continued to smile. "You need to, very specifically, trade recognition of the planet belonging to the Aos'Si in exchange for whatever you can get." Her golden scaled tail gently wagged with anticipation.
 
"I assume that will fall to Princess Hoshiko," Wen replied, "And that Xian and I are to serve as escort."

No mention of the dumb cow.
 
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Hoshiko REALLY wasn't going to gossip about the most gossip-able thing she's done in the last few years! There was TEA here that Jun needed SPILT but just harassing her about it wasn't going to do anything.

"Oh! I have a question!" Jun asked, flash transitioning to a nicely pressed white button down shirt and a plaid skirt that looked like it was only just barely meeting whatever modesty requirement existed for this imaginary private school that she was now a part of. She also happened to be sitting in a desk, hand raised as if she was desperate to be called upon. "What does that mean?"

...

Jun thought she better clarify so she didn't come off as a dumb cow.

"I mean, does trade recognition of the planet belonging to the Aos'Si come with any benefits? Or are we selling them a fancy title that means nothing? Also Who is in charge of the Aos'Si on the planet? Also are they the ONLY Aos'Si in charge of the Aos'Si or do they have a whole Council of Gondor thing going on where we'd need to make sure that all of them are happy with what we're offering to whoever is going to be their leader?"

Had Jun actually read that old book? No. But had she played the Virtual game about it? Also no. This wouldn't be the last time she mangled a reference.
 
The empress paused for a moment to think about what was said by the two cows.

"As compatriots, it is only fitting to give constructive feedback and advice," Zhuli explained to the non-royalty. In meatspace, their tanks began to decant as their genetic repairs finished. "Besides trying to hand over a largely symbolic-nothing to the faction hostile towards us, getting them to be at least non-confrontational would be nice, while actual cooperation would be stellar." The Empress then steepled her fingers as she dropped the difficult part on them. "The problem is that they and their council - The Last Alliance of Saentheas - subjugated any Aos'Si city-states interested in cooperation or coexistence, then enacted a no-communication-no-contact-no-cooperation policy following the siege of Gūdú Shì (孤獨市)."

By now their tanks had fully emptied in meatspace, and the warm auto-rinse and dry process had started.

"Mother-empress, it's almost as though you're saying they accurately recognized us as an existential threat, and prepared accordingly," Hoshiko remarked.

"Precisely!" Zhuli then clasped her hands together. "And we're the aliens who are lagging behind several turns." Hoshiko grumbled at that thought, or the cooler breeze of air as her tube opened up in meatspace. As her physical body got out and got dressed with the others, she rubbed her temples for a moment knowing how bad this was.

But there was another way.

"Is anyone here up to talking to that Caster we brought back?" Hoshiko wrinkled her nose.
 
It was a no-brainer. Princess Hoshiko should do it. She is the highest ranking official here besides the Mother Empress herself. She has the highest diplomatic standing. She will talk to the Aos Si prisoner, and he will stand guard and be ready to punch the prisoner's brains out if the alien decided to try any of her witchcraft---

"I will do it. I will talk to the Caster." Wen spoke up in virtual space as he got dressed in real space, at first wearing a poker face, but then followed Hoshiko's lead and wrinkled his own nose.

他媽的, why did you volunteer yourself?!
 
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