The lush or guilded temples are my preferences on landing site. I have a suspicion of which of the two the sirens may prefer however, and given I'm of the mind to avoid a hapsburg situation, the Lush Temple's my choice, if at least to keep the sirens on side. And I'd suspect keeping an eye on the chemical industries that would sprout up in the region would be a wise idea; Those compounds would be valuable enough that keeping a tight reign on their production and the subsequent profits from them would be a great boon.
Jasper's advice is also sound; A whole ceremony would make for good PR and ensure some formal recognition for our governorship. How else we proceed with settlement is... well, I have no idea that come to mind on that part.
No objections here to the Lush Temple District.
So I guess with that capacity and such, who are we throwing and where? And what the pecking order is between the slaves and the transported convicts.
Traditionally, slaves are more valuable because we own them, while convicts have more freedom to prove their usefulness. On a theocratic penal colony run by a pirate I'm actually not sure how much difference there is, though.
We also might want to send people to look at the sites we don't know about, as well as establishing diplomatic ties with the monks.
Definitely a priority. We don't even know much about the districts we have, let alone whatever else is out there.
Let's do something like:
13000 Slaves (the pretty ones) to Lush District. We'll turn this into a debauched resort and luxury center for the wealthy and powerful. This never goes poorly.
5000 Farmers to Terraforming District. They're probably fairly honest (or just haven't been caught yet), so they should be pretty trustworthy to look after the terraforming equipment and feed newcomers as this district grows in size.
9000 Criminals (the tough ones) to Guilded District. Hardened criminals handling our metallurgy under duress should result in a cadre of scarred, well-armed enforcers. And/or a gruesome coup.
5000 Farmers, 7000 Slaves, and 13000 Criminals to Terran District. A good wastebasket for whatever we've got left, anyone should be fine under familiar conditions.
Rovers: 100 to lush for construction duty, 50 to each other district for construction and farming, as the locals deem fit. Hopefully somebody knows how to operate them, even if not well?
Put Lina in charge of Guilded District. Tell her the Sirens will molest her if she does a bad job.
Put Elke in charge of sorting colonists for Lush and Guilded Districts. Tell her the Sirens will molest her if she does a bad job.
Invite Lady Mercury and her friends to stay with us in Lush District. Try to get a read on the prospects of a political marriage with her.
Alternative plan would be splitting the farmers evenly to make sure we've got professional food-wranglers everywhere, but I figure we're going to need other people to figure out farming at some point anyway. We could likewise hold back some vehicles for military use, but I doubt we'll need lightly armored tanks this early.
You inform Jasper that you wish for a formal ceremony and intend to personally settle the Lush Temple District. After a few follow up questions, and a brief exchange of pleasantries, the Congresscleric's hologram disapates, leaving you to your business.
---
Most of what you wish to accomplish can be arranged via a single meeting with one of your Chrono-Sirens. As you are in no rush, you cross the ship to the Sanctum of the Sirens, and wait for one of them that you trust with delegation duties an appearance. You get luck, and soon bump into Arch-Lady Amoy. The Sirens chaffe at order, and as thus lack any sort of true command structure, but at nearly four millennia of age Amoy is the wisest and most magically potent Siren aboard your ship, and perhaps the eldest remaining member of her kind.
She drags an awestruck slave into the sanctum by the wrist, and wears the coy smile of a successful huntress, but upon seeing you she cancles whatever drawn out playtime she had plan, and dispatches her partner with a thought; The slave dissolves away to dust and bleached bone right before your eyes in a matter of seconds. Amoy clutches her fist to grip onto a few of the poor man's finger bones while the rest of his remains clatter to the ground.
"I hope I didn't disrupt anything too fun, Arch-Lady." You muse.
"Ey, nothing o' importance. Plenty more of ta poor souls on this ship, no? And I always find the hunt ta be more fun than the kill anyway. Does ya need help with something, my child?" Amoy shakes her closed fist, causing the fingerbones she is holding to rattle.
"Just some delegation. Perhaps let my newfound sisters see the conclusion of your next hunt. Take your time with it. I have work for them, and I would like them to be properly motivated and warned of the consequences of failure.""Oh? What shall we be having the vat grown girlies do for us?" The Chrono-Siren tilts her head, and meets your gaze with eyes that have surely witnessed civilizations rise and worlds burn.
"Elke is to be put in charge of sorting the colonists. I want farmers in the shadow of the Terraformer, and the best looking slaves with me in the Lush District. I'm not sure if we can drive tourism out to this deserted corner of the galaxy in my lifetime, but turning my headquarters unto a luxury resort for the lecherous will at keep my transhuman sisters and aunties happy, no?"Amoy shrugs, before tossing the fingerbones onto the floor as if she were shooting dice. As they land she pauses for a moment, as if carefully considering their positions, before shooting you a wicked grin.
"Aye child. My sisters and I would very much like dat. But what of the other two districts?"I want all the colonists who are not in Cyrosleep off the Solo. Elke may send anyone she cannot find a suitable place for elsewhere to the area around Terran temple. As for the place with the metallic wildlife? Lets keep it rough and tumble. Elke will dip into the Cyropods for that. Send the toughest and most hardcore prisoners. My sister Lina will be responsible for running that settlement and molding them into proper enforcers. We can store the tank loadouts with them."The ancient siren seems to zone out as you talk logistics, but you are confident the important bits will be retained by her Transhuman brain. She bends down, and scoops up one of her victim's femurs, and shoots you an inviting glance. You return a defeated sigh and smile, knowing that you will spend the better part of the next solar day listening to your transhuman grannie's stories as she slow cooks you up a bowl of her famous bonemeal porridge.
"I'll join you in an hour or so, Arch-Lady. After it's in the pot. I have a few more matters to attend to, and I'd rather keep a buffer of plausible deniability between myself and cannibalism."---
You find Lady Autumn Mercury on what is supposed to be a private recreation deck for important bridge crew, the gravity here is turned off, allowing her to play a game of floatpaddle with one of her noble friends. You can tell at a glace that she was genetically designed to meet somebodies' standard of beauty. Her hair, long and everywhere in zero-g, is naturally a bioluminesent pattern of neon green, orange, and pink. Her athletic gear shows off her completely blemishless arms and legs, which strikingly manage to maintain a feminine appearance while being quite toned. One of her terrifyingly massive Golden Elk bodyguard stops you as you approach, but after you reveal your identity, he allows you to engage her in conversation once she wins the current volley.
The young noble is headstrong and quite savvy. As soon as you invite her to live at your headquarters, she graciously accepts, and begins volunteering the sort of information that would be useful when considering an arranged marriage.
"Did you know House Mercury traces its roots back to the height of the Terran Empire? We invented the Hermes class destroyer. In other human occupied corners of the galaxy, those ships are still produced and used, so my distant relatives are insanely rich and powerful. In confederation space, however, we are just another minor house jockeying for position. Most of us come of age, seek out some gene-bank that doesn't yet have House Mercury material on file, and make a donation for a sum of cash that will allow us to live comfortably for the rest of our lives."She shoots you a grin,
"but my hand in marriage would, hypothetically, come with a few boons and allies nonetheless. My uncle is governor of Ferriscane-""The governor of Ferriscane is a toothless puppet." You interject,
"The Coca corporations are the real power on that world, I used to buy from them.""Smart cookie, aren't you?" Autumn smiles, and performs a casual zero gravity 360 twirl,
"What you said is very true, but uncle Jeeves still commands two warships and a hundred thousand soldiers. Nothing to sneeze at compared to the strength of an infant colony, eh? There is also my brother. He is an auditor for the Confederation Department of Human Integrity, with the right to inspect any facility, public or private, involved in the creation of Transhumans. He's quite corrupt, and prone to sharing some of the on-the-job gifts he recieves with family." She casually raps on the radiant armor of her own Transhuman bodyguard,
"I'm sure if you attempted to make an honest woman of me, he'd make it worth your while.""Attempted?""I crave glory and adventure. Not much else. I have a hard time imagining myself leading a planet or raising a child. I'm not even entirely confident in my ability to be faithful in a monogamous relationship, really. But I really do try to do right by my friends; if you let me live in your headquarters I'll have my team serve you loyally in the field, and give you a heads up if anyone approaches me about using my blood in a coup against you. Married or not, if you ever urgently need to grow an heir in a vat, I'll gladly toss your kids a highborn X chromosome. If you decide a political marriage with me suits you, I'll do my best to avoid embarrassing you and be a part of our kid's lives, but I really can't make any promises."You nod.
"I appreciate your honesty, and I'll take all that into consideration. But it is a good thing you seek adventure. I want the woodlands around the three habitable temples explored and mapped. I'm assuming you will take the Lush Temple district on account of it being your new home, but get with the aliens and the engineers to figure out which crew explores where."The noblewoman gestures to her Golden Elk on the far side of the room.
"Brother Karl, take care of that for me. Also send one of my embroidered handkerchiefs to the Captain's chambers, and make sure everybody knows. I hear you are new to the whole nobility thing Conrad, but that is me formally giving you permission to court me. Should you decide to make me your bride, some might think less of us and our descendants if we don't at least pay lip service to doing things by the book."
---
The ceremony of pardon and ascension goes off without a hitch. A simple platform-like 'tree' house of sorts is built on one of the outermost stalk-plants of the Lush Temple Districted. Several thousand good looking slave colonists, all finely dressed in illusionary clothing cast by your Chrono-Sirens, gather in the sparse meadow that separates the alien forest and the not-yet-inhabitable bulk of the planet to watch the show. Jasper reads the rites to pardon you for your crimes and install you as governor of Silence IX, and everyone cheers. Jasper then gives a long winded speech, first touching on your leadership skills. He notes that as a Judgement Department official, he is supposed to frown upon your criminal deeds, but that as a member of The Church of the Blue Sorrow, he is permitted to exalt them, and that you are worthy of exaltation. He then reminds all that although the dangers of the frontier are many, the mighty Judgement department is committed to making this colony work, no matter how many lives must be ruined or ended for that to happen.
You have the opprotunity to give a speech here.---
About a solar month later, you take a briefing on the bridge of the
Solo. The meeting is dry, but you learn much.
Your new headquarters will be habitable in about a solar month. Complete in three.
Chief engineer Straton's group has the Bambi Temple district about 1/5th mapped out. They have yet to find anything interesting in the woods, but their adventure has brought them right up to the walls of the temple, and they have sent back pictures. The images excite both Jasper and the Chrono-Sirens, as the design of and text on the temple suggests that the basement hosts a repository of Hollywood Scrolls, rare relics of old Terra that contain audio and video files on the ancient patrons. The scrolls could be valuable, either at market or to any of the discovery monk compounds you have recently made contact with; Their purpose is to draw new sources of divine magic from new or rediscovered religious traditions, and a collection of Hollywood Scrolls could aid greatly in that quest. There is some concern on the bridge, however, that defiling a temple that seems to be sustaining the biosphere for the as-of-yet most hospitable chunk of your planet may be a bad idea.
Lady Mercury's group has the Lush Temple district about 1/4th mapped out. They have catalouged some new alien species, but have otherwise yet to find anything notable.
Chippy's group of has the Guilded Temple District about 1/2 mapped out. The aliens must march much faster than humans, as it is comparable to the other two districts in size.
Elke has got most of the colonists you asked her to settle settled. She has now taken it upon herself to administer personality and genetic tests to flush out the colonists suitable for various management positions.
Lina as exceeded all expectations, taking to commanding criminal like a fish to water.
The Trumpet of Revelation only carried enough kit to arm 5000 colonists, and Lina has decided to only train 4000 so as to keep some spare supplies. Her goons are already enforcing their will upon their peers. She is also working on figuring out who as the skills required to opperate the MTV's in a military capacity. At present, she tested 1200 criminal colonists, and found 44 Tank operators, and 6 Artillery specialists. The Chrono-Sirens have taken a shine to her, as she reminds them of you. They all sing the praises of her ruthlessness and courage. Her obsession with transhumans makes her loyal to the sirens, which in turn makes her loyal to you. This loyalty seems more than platonic, as the Chrono-Sirens jockey amongst themselves for the right to take Lina as a concubine should you not claim her.
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Topic: (SG) Penal Governor (Read 8530 times)