Fwurg

[Jaicen Hedoss]

"Agreed, nice list"

[Storyteller (Brend)]

((OOC: I'm going to fast-forward you all to the meeting with the Duke on sunday, unless Darones objects before then.))

[Darones Rei]

"At present I have nothing to add," Darones stated, "we'll see what further questions arise at the audience."

[Storyteller (Brend)]

Four hours later the groups meets the duke in person after flying over to the moon Neomea, where the duke holds residence.

After landing in the courtyard of the Duke's large villa the group is escorted by several guards to the throne room. The duke is immediately recognizable, as the portly bearded human sits on a wooden throne atop a slightly raised platform. A younger, and strikingly beautiful, human woman sits on the smaller throne next to him. The pair wears expensive clothing. Arrayed around the platform are several older men and women of several species all wearing different styles of clothing. They carry themselves with an air of importance, and are most likely advisers and members of the United Moon Council.

The throne room itself is long and wide, with sculpted columns supporting the roof. A small assembly of other people is also present in the room, as well as several guards and servants. It is clear that no single race is favoured here for important positions, though the assembly seems to favour humans, most likely due to the duke being a human.

As the Jedi are escorted in, a small silence falls as the assembled advisers and politicians take measure of the newcomers.

"Arriving at the court of Duke Xeironymous the sixth... Master Foreign Investigator Danar Gistor of the Union!", the announcer loudly introduces the official. "Jedi Knight Ariana Danacia of the Praetorian Empire! Jedi Padawan Darones Rei of the Sundarian Federation! Jedi Padawan Jaicen Hadar!", the announcer continues to introduce each of the relevant members of the delegation as they enter.

The duke and duchess get up from their thrones as the delegation approaches.

"Greetings, Danar Gistor and Jedi of the Union.", the duke speaks with a clear yet deep voice and a smile on his face, "Let me be the first to welcome you all to the United Moons of Tunuarana. Many welcomes from myself, my wife Euphrosyne, and all the peoples of Tunuarana!"

The pair sits down again, and one of the nearby advisers hands the duke a datapad.

"Now, let's see.", he glances at the datapad. "Let me offer our thanks for the humanitarian help the Union is willing to provide. In the past we have rejected the friendly offers to join the Union, and it gladdens me to see that this has not soured our relationships. We accept your aid most humbly and we will not forget it lightly. My advisor of foreign affairs, Grand Bishop Nanteek Adool of shall Chaundra, shall coordinate the effort."

He reads the next point from the datapad.

"I agree that the exchange of contact information is necessary for our peoples to remain in contact. Again, my advisors of foreign affairs shall handle this. Though, given that you are now here, it appears that everything is in order, is it not?", he asks with a slight undertone of concern.

Once more, the duke checks the items on the datapad.

"I see you seek to investigate the cause of the earthquakes? Feel free to investigate. We are certain that it is the work of the gods, but clarity is still needed to see which god is responsible. The Jedi are a highly spiritual order, and we would be most honoured if you were to discover the identity of the deity that has visited these quakes upon Kons.

The clergy has no definitive answer on the reasons behind this act of the gods. Whether this is punishment for past transgressions, a test placed upon the moons, or the smiting of an enemy of the moons is not known. Be forewarned, the gods do not favour those that seek to undo their works.", the duke spoke in seriousness, "Nor do we."

"Now then, what else do you seek?", the duke states as he hands off the datapad to his advisor.

[Storyteller (Brend)]

The duke looks at the Jedi with apparent growing impatience.

[Ariana Danacia]

"I have nothing else to add. We thank you and your people for the cooperation and hope that this is a start for a prosperous future that we can enjoy together. "

[Jaicen Hedoss]

((OOC: I am sorry, I wanted to answer, but I felt that as a padawan I should not be the first to answer......))

"I Agree with Ariana, thank you for the opportunity to get to know your people. Are there already any leads to which god might be responsible which we could follow up on?" Jaicen looks around as if wondering if his next question is appropriate. "Furthermore, since we are a spiritual order, I'd like to learn more about your religion, are there any significant texts I could obtain, from which I could learn more?"

[Storyteller (Brend)]

The duke looks at Jaicen for a moment, trying to judge his intent.

"We do not have any leads as to which god or pantheon is responsible, but I have been assured by my many religious advisers that it is most certainly a divine act. Of course, seeing how the quakes hit Kons this time, it would be logical if this was the work of a god native to Kons...", the duke left the sentence hanging, as if intending to say something more but then changing his mind. "I suggest starting your quest on Kons. If you are serious about finding which god is responsible, our team of investigators is surely willing to point you in the right direction."

The second question brought a smile to the duke's face. "Of course! We have many texts, written over centuries. Texts about popular pantheons, texts about great gods, and even some texts on defeated deities. The moons have been the host of many gods in the past, and will surely host many more in the future. Feel free to visit the great library on Chaundra, the order of Mer'eka'tir'a maintans the largest collection of religious scrolls in the system."

((OOC: For your information: The provided additional options are just that: additional options. Just know that they are all side-quests. Together with speaking with the nomads, this makes for a lot of options. If multiple players are interested in one or more of them, feel free to pursue them.

Of course, you people are perfectly capable of hashing out what's next in IC ^_^))

[Jaicen Hedoss]

"Thank you very much for your information and your time, Sir Duke, I am interested and I will surely visit your library on Chaundra and get informed by your priests on Kons. Hopefully our aid will be enough to help your people. " Jaicens Droid makes a bow and if nothing else is added to the conversation by other members, he leaves.

Outside of the chamberroom, when there is a moment for a conversation Jaicen tells the party: "I would surely like to visit their library, perhaps there is information on the past of the Kon moon and its geological situation. Otherwise I would like to investigate the connection between their deities and the force. I would also like to learn the status of their technological and robotical advancements. I suggest you go to the disaster area for direct investigation on the directions of their investigators, unless you have other plans, and we will meet up later in that area. Since I am less suited for direct search,investigation or rescue actions"

[Ariana Danacia]

Ariana makes a short bow towards the Duke and his delegation before she leaves. Outside she listens to Jaicen before she starts to speak.

"I would like to visit the library on Chaundra as well, however I don't intend to study their religious system in full.

However I believe we all have to go to Kon first to see what the actual situation is on the ground before we decide how to act. Once we have coordinated the delivery of the aid goods we can start our investigations.

I would like to join Jaicen to visit the Library on Chaundra when we know more about the situation. At this moment the surveying team can start their thorough investigation on Kon."

[Danar Gistor]

"Two of our, the investigation team, would like to start coordinating with your minister of foreign affairs, Grand Bishop Nanteek Adool of shall Chaundra. Can they count on your hospitality during their stay?" Danar Gistor asked the Duke, "I would in the meantime like to visit Kons with the rest my team to observe the situation for ourselves."

[Darones Rei]

Darones didn't say much during the meeting with the Duke. His previous experience with diplomacy had thought him that some things are best left to professionals. When they withdrew however, he responded to the plans of Jaicen and Arianna:

" Sounds good to me. I'll join the teams investigating Kons then and see if we can find out a bit more."

[Storyteller (Brend)]

"Of course.", the duke said in reply to Danar Gistor's request. Immediately after, the group of Jedi left the Duke's throne room and moved back to the shuttle to discuss.

The Jedi, having divvied up the work, with Ariana and Jaicen heading towards the library on Chaundra and Darones and the ministry's investigation team heading towards Kons, went their way.

((OOC: To speed things up I suggest that everyone uses their next post to describe what they want to find out/investigate at the location they're heading to. (So that is one of: Library at Chaundra, or Duke's team of scientists on Kons.)

I'll then follow up with a summary of findings so that the two subparties can communicate with each other on the next step.))

[Jaicen Hedoss]

((OOC: Not to be rude, but it would also speed up if everyone posted the desired twice a week :P))

Jaicen goes with Ariana towards the library on Chaundra to investigate the main gods, the possible reason behind the earthquakes on Kon and also their opinion of force sensitive persons and how they are detected. Maybe there are any old Jedi, Sith, or other force sensitive places in general (or tied to the earthquake?) ?
Jaicen would also like to investigate their technological advancement (especially on their work drones) and see if he can learn anything from it.

[Storyteller (Brend)]

((OOC: I politely refer to Away for conference.))

[Jaicen Hedoss]

((OOC: I know it for the GM, I meant the other players :)))

[Danar Gistor]

Back in the shuttle when the group is discussing their plans Danar Gistor sais: "I will go to Kons to observe the situation and make a report for the Union on what is required.

If I may advice you Jedi: You already know the people here are very religious. When you make a report of your investigation, report the observations but leave plenty room for religious interpretation. That way the priests here can do their job and fill in those details. I would be more than happy to proofread the report."

((OOC: The ministry team likes to go to Kons to observe the catastrophes there to make a report of the required aid so that the factions of the Union can effectively send what is required))

[Ariana Danacia]

"Let's first find out what happened before we start to talk about spinning the tale. We are here to help and learn.

I will meet you guys on Kon in a couple of days."

Ariana charters a small ship and travels to Chaundra to visit the library.

((OOC: Ariana will go to the library and looks for possible causes for the earthquakes, their trading history and trading opportunities for the future and finally powerful individuals that are not history.))

[Darones Rei]

With Jaicen and Arianna diving into the library in order to further study the religious aspect of the civilization on the moons, Darones returned to the fleet in order to first brief the many officers and officials on the responses they had gotten from the Duke.

While the aid convoy they had brought with them could already disperse their goods to those that needed it, Darones expressed reservations against it for the moment, because the actual situation on Kons was still largely unknown. A survey, along with a search and rescue effort needed to be conducted first, before the stream of aid goods would begin to flow.

But before joining Danar Gistor and his teams on the ground, Darones didn't neglect the several specialist brought along with the fleet and the Sundarian survey ships amongst them. It was to them that he offered the following advice:

"Since the people, with the Duke as the first amongst them, share strong religious beliefs with regards to most everything that goes on; I'd restrict the actual investigations on the ground, with regards to as what caused the earthquake to a minimum."

[Storyteller (Brend)]

((OOC: Apologies for not posting this weekend. I hope to post on monday or tuesday.))

[Storyteller (Brend)]

Jaicen and Ariana

Jaicen and Ariana were easily able to travel to the library on Chaundra. After setting down their shuttle on one of the a landing pads of the library, the library building itself is reminiscent of a Jedi temple, they were greeted by a monk from the order of Mer'eka'tir'a. After some short introductions, he led them inside and showed them to the sizable public library.

Here, they could literally spend days searching through the information and data. One of the factors in the slowness of this work is that the monks seem to have a fondness for paper. In the Union paper is very rare for a multitude of reasons: it is labour-intensive to make and therefore expensive, and it is utterly useless in modern society without even as much as a single data transfer port copy information takes forever. While certainly a sign of dedication to their job, it did not make it any easier for the jedi to browse the library. Luckily, the monks took pride in maintaining a very accurate index.


Reasons for the earthquake

Both Jedi work together in their investigation on reasons behind the earthquakes. They can find several historical geological surveys that cover other earthquakes on Kons. It seems that small tremors, not really enough movement to be called and earthquake are a regular event both on Kons and the other moons. Digging through the reports, the Jedi can conclude that most of these tremors are simply caused by volcanic activity. However, large-scale earthquakes such as the current event appear to be rare.

The last of the recorded events were here on Chaundra about 38 years ago and on Neomea roughly 19 years ago. Both those events match the current event in strength and duration -- with severe quakes intermittently lasting for the better part of a month. Some research saw the Jedi discover the documented causes for those events! On Chaundra the earthquakes are reportedly caused by a war between the god Kri'efna and the other gods on Chaundra. In the end the other gods prevailed, and Kri'efna was destroyed in a flash of divine fire. The quakes on Neomea are credited to Ta'lichri who, angered by the construction of a new network of hover rails in the desert, condemend the whole moon to fall into ruin. She only halted her retribution after the other gods combined their forces to attack her and her largest temple, wiping the building from the face of Neomea with columns of green fire from the heavens.


The gods

Having exhausted the library's resources with regard tot he earthquakes, the Jedi set to work on researching further topics.

Jaicen starts with investigating the main gods. He quickly comes to the conclusion that the people of the United Moons of Tunuarana do not have a lack of divine entities. He discovers that there are broadly speaking two types of gods in the library: The so-called moon goods, and the members of the 'Divine host of Tunuarana'. The moon gods are all gods that are documented in the library that do not seem to have a large following, or only a local following. Some examples from among the thousands of documented moon gods: Mirandir the god of lost hammers, Po'lilta the godess of small streets, Welese the god of ambiguous holonet advertisements, and Broring the patron god of the brewhouse of Ror.

The members of the Divine host are gods with a following across several moons, or with a large following on one of the moons. Even so, jaicen quickly discovers that they number in the hundreds. He discovers that without a goal, this is a hopless endavour after looking at the first fifty, among which he finds illustrous gods such as Fi-lingri god of travel on the surface of Neomea and his sister Fi-millia godess of orbital travel above Neomea and Synthia. Before putting the index book away the book slips from his droid's hands falling open on another page, the two names of earlier mentioned gods and three seemingly unrelated gods draw his eye. As a Jedi in training, he recognizes the influence of the Force in this event.

Looking into the five gods, Jaicen discovers that they share a theme:

• Kri'efna, god of blacksmiths and hearths. Before his destruction he was usually depicted with a theme of flames. His main temple on Chaundra also featured the theme of fire heavily. After his destruction, which incidentally destroyed his main temple as well, he has lost a lot of followers.
• Ta'lichri, godess of the untread desert sands. This godess is usually depicted as a shrouded female whose feet are surrounded by flames. She is said to have survived the attack upon her temple, despite the green flaming pillars scorching her temple until but a plane of glass was left. After this, her followers have started depicting her as an unshrouded human female with green burning eyes and great wings of green fire.
• Si'Aalin, god of volcanoes of the five moons. The god of volcanoes has his main temple on Kons. He is often depicted as a supernaturally muscular humanoid male of indeterminate species carrying a hammer made from lava.
• Po'junir, the whirling godess. She is always seen dancing with green lightning, and her main temple on Ooljee is well-known for it's naturally ocurring electrical discharges -- though noone has been able to scientifically explain why the discharges colour green for extended periods of time every year.
• Sh'resna, patron godess of warlords and pirates. Sh'resna is normally depicted as a six-armed well-toned female twilek wielding six green flaming swords. Her main temple is on Synthia, yet it is better left unvisited: the temple and the surrounding stronghold are a safe-haven of sorts for pirates and mercenaries looking for work in the sector. Rumour has it that Sh'resna visists the stronghold to seek out the strongest warriors to join her honour guard.

Trading history and future

Ariana, in the meantime, research the trading history of the moons and seeks out information on current trading opportunities. She finds that the moons have a history of acting as a trading post from the Union to both the Hutt Families and the Slave Rebellion. No doubt their continuous religious turmoil helps them from becoming to embroilled in the conflict between. Most of the cities on the moons are self-sufficient up to a certain level, and pride themselves in being able to survive the harsh environment of the moons. However, this self-sufficiency also means that they lack the production of complex goods such as , , , , and . If anything, they would probably be interested in trades that provide them with such goods.


Technology

Jaicen quickly discovers that he is in the wrong place for technological advancements, droid related or otherwise. Most work seems to be done by hand, and any droids that are employed are either horribly outdated, or simply patched together for a single job. The prevailing opinion seems to be that drones are tools at beast, and a mockery of life as the gods intended it at worst.


Powerful individuals and the Force

Ariana's investigation into powerful indidivuals that are not history and Jaicen's investigation into the opinions on force sensitive persons have significant overlap. Allthough they only realize so after each doing part of the work separately.

Jaicen, for his part discovers that little is said explicitly about force sensitive people, most likely because they are actually not detectable. He knows from his training that even the Jedi often have difficulty determining of someone is sensitive to the force. Simple luck can easily be confused for force sensititivy, and vice versa. It becomes much clearer when looking at powerful individuals -- the feats they are capable of are simply beyond natural luck. He does not find information on force sensitive places, but he does read some accounts of people on pilgrimmage to one of the many holy sites claiming to have been enlightened by their journey. Some of the mentioned far-out and less visited places might be related to old Jedi or Sith, though investigating this would certainly be a mission of its own.

Ariana Seeks information on powerful individuals. Filtering through the many mentioned people to seek out those that are actually powerful instead of people like the Duke who are also seen as powerful but for different reasons, she must work through many, both alive and more commonly long dead, before she discovers that some of the mentioned living individuals claim, or are claimed, to have gifts from the gods. It is nearly impossible to determine which of these accounts are true and wich are only rumour. Several people do stand out though, a high priest of Ta'lichri is said to be able to call upon his godess' might to defend the faithful -- with several descriptions telling of the priest throwing lightning bolts from his hands that remind Ariana of the Sith. Another person that is said to have a gift is the Duke's wife Euphrosyne, it is claimed that she can walk on water and breathe in space, yet the only power that is backed up by several claims in writing is the fact that she does not seem to age. Finally, after even more digging she finds a record of someone known as the Prophet of Sh'resna, a twilek woman who is said to wield six swords with divine speed and grace.

It might very well be that these reports are true. If these people are sensitive or powerful in the force it would explain their abilities. It might also be that these reports are exagerations of single instances of improbable luck. Of course, it might also be that there is more to these gods than idle tales... These people sure think so.

Darones and Danar Gistor

Danar Gistor and his team are accompanied by Darones Rei as they make their way to the surface of Kons. Here they meet with a member of the Duke's scientific team. The team of scientists has set up a small base outside one of the larger cities. They are more than willing to share the tents with Danar Gistor and his team once it is clear that they are brining aid goods.


Investigation and report for the Union

The team of Danar Gistor got to work quickly. Based on the reports from the scientists most of the cities on Kons have sustained significant damage. The largest cities have domes to protect them from the harshest weather, and these domes are also the first to have been damaged by the quakes. As the domes shattered, large shards fell down on the cities, tearing down weaker buildings and damaging the more stable buildings. The initial estimates by the nomands on the necessary healthcare and construction materials is clearly not an exageration -- it might even be underestimating the extent of the damage to the cities.

The people of Kons seem to have a remarkable ability to look at these events from a positive point of view, and started with repairs the day after the first quake. Unfortunately, several days later, a second shockwave travelled the planet. The deat toll among construction workers was high. Since then, most cities have stopped repairing damage; it seems that every time some leeway has been made another shockwave travels through the moon to tear all repairs down again. The scientific team predicts that this will continue for at least another month until the moons tectonics have had time to stabilize.


Three cold bodies and a piece of paper

While working here, Darones and Danar Gistor were interrupted by a pale scientist that comes running into the tent to talk to the leader of the scientific team. "They found them. They're all dead.", was all he said.

Going outside, it become clear who he was talking about. Outside, a cart pulled by a tauntaun and escorted by two guides from the nearby city stood in the middle of the small tent camp. On it, the bodies of three people could be seen. Darones, with his first aid training, immediately spots that they died from radiation poisoning. The three wore all-terrain outfits, and seemed to like they would be at home in the rough wastelands. "These three had their own theories on the quakes", one of the scientists explained, "They were on Neomea 19 years ago, and claimed to have discovered what causes the quakes. Clearly, the gods took offense."

While the scientists were discussing with the two guides on how to get the bodies back to their home on Neomea, Darones spotted a piece of folded paper in the pocket of one of the bodies. Carefully pulling it out and unfolding it, it seems to be the bottom half of a page of paper. There was writing on it:

<torn paper>
...finally arrived. After so many years, we may finally get to discover the gateway to the realm of the gods.

Log of March 2015: We set up camp near the temple of Si'Aalin to take measurements. After a few days the seismograph registered a preshock pattern much alike the pattern on Neomea. We quickly started packing our gear and left on our Tauntaun's. And it was a good thing too. Only hours after we saw the mountains torn asunder in a flash of green fire coming from the temple. Unfortunately, we were not able to outrun the radiation wave. I fear we will not make it to the village of Orilon.

Further investigation of their belongings give little more. The radiation they were exposed to also wiped all their equipment and fried any storage crystals beyond any recognition. The other piece of information came from the guides. The older rodian told Darones "We found them real strange. They were clutching a rock outcropping, as if trying to hold on to the rock, and they all faced the same way, as if really strong wind pulled them along. Never saw something like that in my life."


((OOC: Pfff. That took more time than expected. I hope I did not miss anything.))

[Jaicen Hedoss]

((OOC: Nice post! I will reply on it this weekend. By the way, is it the god itself or the avatar which holds the flaming green swords and recruits people))

[Storyteller (Brend)]

((OOC: The god itself is said to wield six green flaming swords, and to recruit people. The prophet is only said to wield six swords. But, as these kinds of texts are wont to do, it might be that not everything about the prophet is recorded in full -- or that some feats were transferred from prophet to god in the telling of the tale before it was written down in the library...))

[Darones Rei]

((OOC: Kudo's to Brend for this nice (long) post ;)))

Darones shared the fragile letter, which appears to be the piece of a journal kept by one of the unfortunate dead, with Danar Gistor and his team as he discussed the current situation on the moons.

"It seems our goods are more then welcome here, at the moment it seems safe enough to start providing them where it is most needed. However I seriously doubt that they will be enough, so the personnel on the fleet should be careful not to distribute everything all at once, without keeping a reserve for area's that are as yet uncategorised with regards to the damage they sustained.

These men seem to be on some kind of quest that has clearly lead to their untimely death, but their misfortune may yet offer us a clue as to what causes these quakes. Since the letter spoke of radiation, and flash of green fire coming from a temple within a mountain, I highly doubt these quakes are caused by a natural phenomenon."

Due to the discription of how they were found, as given by the older Rodian guide, Darones suspect the involvement of a power explosive, or other strong source of force; but kept that to himself for the moment. He did however, try to get some more information from their guides:

"The temple of Si'Aalin, were is it?"

[Jaicen Hedoss]

Jaicen did not like paper very much, but had expected it somewhat since these people are old-fashioned. Jaicen was carefull to leave everything the way it was and not to ruin the old books. He was also asking a lot of questions to make sure the monks would not be offended in any way by Jaicens or his Droids behaviour.

Sometimes he sighed by the explanations of the earthquake, silently, he did not agree with their representation of the force in the forms of gods at all and believed it was holding the populace back. He did, however, appreciate their ingeniouity in creating gods. Jaicen shared every piece of information with his collegues and he found the Sh'resna quite interestion, but was yet unsure what to do. He would love to go to the temple of Sh'resna or look at the destroyed main temple of Kriefna to find references to what happened there.