I take a look at the list.
Planets for potential settlement by humanity
Multiple assumptions are behind the creation of this list including the ability for humans to operate in high Mana environments, that humanity would prefer an unsettled world or opportunity for alliance rather than a conquest, and the planet must be within the Mana Siphon transport network range. Further list refinement is possible, there are over a thousand planets that qualify using the current criteria.
- Zeroth-9 - a lush, recent Mana Influx world with dense, towering forests
- No existing MIS Settlements
- Note: powerful chameleon-like creatures may prove challenging
- Luxitara Prime - a tidally locked planet with a thick habitable ring and high AMLs
- 10 existing MIS Settlements, population ~ 1 million, 1 sapient species
- Note: significant geological and environmental instability
- Autibutina - an ocean-dominated Bane World with one significant land mass
- No existing MIS Settlements
- Note: powerful Leviathans roam the seas and the land mass
- Kryos-12 - a cold planet with geothermal pockets and plentiful mineral resources
- ~1,000 existing MIS Settlements, population ~ 100 million, 4 sapient species
- Note: underground predators and hostile habitat make expansion costly
- Note: there are reports of SSA Procotol violations on this planet
- Wuulthornin-3 - a moon with bioluminescent jungles and very high AMLs
- No existing MIS Settlements
- Note: would qualify as a Bane World if it was planetary size
- Pyroxishytun Delta - volcanic with lava flows and lakes, many valuable resources
- 3 existing MIS Settlements, Population ~150,000
- Note: unpredictable lava flows and Magma Serpents endanger MIS Hubs
- Note: there are reports of SSA Protocol violations on this planet
- Velthuna V - Scorched World, endless hostile savannas with enormous predators
- No existing MIS Settlements
- Note: very strong Apex predators dominate the landscape
There are a few more and a supplemental list of another ten as comparisons with more information I can look through. Each entry in the list has coordinates to locate and travel to them. I look at the list and try to imagine what each of them might look like and how humanity might thrive or not.
“Well?” asks Taiwo expectantly. He knows me well enough by now to know when I’m distracted by a certain type of notification and how much this one means to me.
I look around at the odd collection of characters I’m surrounded by as I contemplate what planet we should scout first for humanity and find that I long for the days of having Jeff, Jon, Kyle, Alana, Robb, and even Finn, Kapila, and Strogan with me. Even though we were in constant danger, I knew they had my back. Going into this next step feels vastly far away from that. Even Taiwo I know has his own motivations and perspectives, although he’s always backed me and I’d consider us friends.
I resolve to give one or two planets a try with this group before I make a decision to stay with them or go back to Earth and recruit some of my friends, potentially at their peril, for this mission. Giving it up does not enter into my thoughts; I know to my core finding another place for humanity to settle is the right thing to do, but I’ve already seen a lot of my closest companions killed because they chose to fight beside me in the battles I’ve taken on, so who I do it with is worth thinking over.
Obviously I’m not leading with the number one pick from the AI or my own first pick.
“I’ve got a list of good candidate planets and the leading planet also has reported SSA Protocol violations, so this seems like a good group to take that on.”
I flick everyone the notification.
Kryos-12 - a cold planet with geothermal pockets and plentiful mineral resources
- ~1,000 existing MIS Settlements, population ~ 100 million, 4 sapient species
- Note: underground predators and hostile habitat make expansion costly
- Note: there are reports of SSA Procotol violations on this planet
While they take a couple seconds to read it over I touch Taiwo on the arm.
Deputization
You are about to Deputize Taiwao Earandil as a SSA Enforcer.
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All Taiwo’s actions reflect on you and you underwrite his actions as your own.
You may withdraw this Deputization at any time.
Taiwo may decline this Deputization now or at any time.
Deputize Taiwo Earandil?
(Y/N)
Taiwo accepts immediately. He’s not going to be effective as part of our group of 3 High Enforcers if he’s not even an Enforcer himself; he’s already the only Legendary amongst us. Crazy to say that someone of Taiwo’s power is lagging far behind, but there it is. The one thing I can say for this team is that there’s likely to be plenty of firepower for whatever we encounter.
“How are we getting on and off planet?” asks Syvox, I think to draw the answer out of me. He’s still curious about my comment to Taiwo about dropping Aelara anywhere. “Somewhere like that might not have reliable Portaling facilities. I do have ship that’s capable of warping to wherever we need to go and I’d like nothing more than to have all of you at my mercy inside of it.”
“I’ve got it,” I reply, and trigger Omnipresent. The advantage I have from the Evolution of this Skill is truly remarkable, but it sounds like people as powerful as Syvox find alternatives, and Taiwo has the Shop that seems to allow him to be where he needs to be. I wonder how Kael gets around.
I zero in on Kryos-12 using the information provided to me by the AI and see the thousand Settlements sprinkled across the globe in no way that indicates a pattern I can see. I filter on Settlement population to find only the largest ones and then order by number of sapient species present. My Skill strains at this use of Know Thy Enemy and Omnipresent, but supported by my Affinity there is finally a MIS Hub that glows more than all the rest.
I open a Portal to the MIS Hub and see at least three types of sapient moving through the Hub to wherever they need to go - the Shop, Merchants, a Butchery, or maybe just picking up something to eat. It looks busy. Kael and Sybox both seem fascinated by this Portal that allows us to see through without being manifested.
“I know you won the KCT, but you are one scary fucker,” observes Syvox. “If I catch you spying on me like that, you won’t like the outcome.”
Noted.
I manifest the Portal and stride through to the MIS Hub with the other three following me, then close the Portal. We’re in what’s a new take on MIS Hubs to me, a huge open central structure within a glacier that looks to be built around a central geothermal refinery. The walls are laced with metal and reinforced ice, with pipes and vents appearing everywhere to then snake all through the multi-story buildings that surround us. I can see the typical armories, trade hall, and Butchery, but the thing that surprises me the most is the size of the auction house which is strangely called Frosthaven Citadel. Possibly something to check out.
After I look around I pull a few Statuses and see over 90% of the people belong to one of three sapient species. Ferrans are humanoid mammals with thick fur, elongated limbs, and sharp facial features. Lithari Nomads are slender humanoids with pale skin, elongated ears, and crystalline hair that reflects the icy light in the MIS Hub. And lastly Ubracites are powerfully built cross between a beetle and a centaur, with many scuttling legs but a remarkably human upper body.
“My ship will automatically warp here in a few hundred UTUs, so don’t get any funny ideas about being able to leave us here or that you’re indispensable,” Syvox says to me while he plants his massive frame in my way to obstruct my view of the MIS Hub. He doesn’t really seem like the disinterested, disillusioned High Enforcer we met not that long ago.
I decide not to take the bait.
“How do I go about getting a feel for the relationship between the sapients here?” I ask the others. “I’d like to know as soon as possible if this is an option, especially since there are possibly SSA Protocol violations here.”
“Bonehead and I should be able to find out in a couple of minutes,” says Syvox in a way that makes me think he’s headed more back toward being disinterested. Maybe an actual mission where we do actual things to try to solve problems is all I need to present him with to make him decide to go his own way.
Kael looks at Syvox with undiguised distaste, but then back at me with a gesture indicating he’ll do his best to find out as well. The two of them disappear into the crowd in ways that couldn’t be more different. Despite his size, Kael sems to just… fade out of existence. I strain my Peception and with my other Skills I can still detect him moving, but it takes a lot of focus. Syvox on the other hand moves right to where he wants to go, which is an AI interface that I never pay much attention to in MIS Hubs, and everyone scrambles out of his way.
Taiwo motions me over to a pocket of the MIS Hub that isn’t as busy in front of a Merchant Shop that’s for lease and I follow him. Part of me wonders whether he’s keen on being the weakest in the group and a new Deputy, potentially getting dragged into some Ascended Class level of trouble, particularly with Syvox around. Once we are as alone as we’re going to be, Taiwo hands me a communicator and motions for me to put it over my ear, so I do. Right away I can hear him, even though it doesn’t look like he’s talking.
“This will only last a short time before you’ve drained it, so let me finish?”
He looks at me with hopeful eyes and I nod and then gesture for him to continue.
“I suspect Syvox can monitor any conversation, but this is the best I can do. It’s organic based. Look, Bronwic, we’ve swum through a lot of strong currents together and I know I was the one who wanted to find out what being a SSA Enforcer is all about, but this seems like a deep ocean trench. I’ve been pulling information from the contacts I have and Kael has a history that’s part heroic, part vigilante, and part atrocity. And then there’s Syvox. I’d heard of him even before he showed up and he is called The Punisher for a lot of reasons. Swimming with him guarantees we can slice through problems at even the highest levels of corruption or Protocol violation, but he’s a wild card and he’s been a virtual outcast from the Enforcers for hundreds of years. I don’t know what brought him to Judgment’s End right when we were there. Maybe it’s a coincidence. What if it’s not?”
My thoughts haven’t been worlds away from this. It’s not where I thought we’d be when we started out. Even though Taiwo isn’t always keen to dive into a fight, it’s always when he’s far outmatched rather than out of cowardice, and he’s shown more than once that he won’t back down when there’s something important at stake.
I’m not sure what to do.
The bustling MIS Hub around us adds to my uncertainty. The undercurrent of tension between the species is palpable. Ferrans bark at each other in their sharp, gutteral language near a set of Merchant stalls while nearby a group of Lithari Nomads converse in hushed tones while glancing at the Ferrans. Ubracites scuttle past and avoid any group of other species, their heavy clicking on the reinforced ice floor. I don’t see a single instance of the different species interacting as far as I can see.
“Let’s see how it goes for a little while. I’m ready to pull the trigger on leaving any time though. I’m not blind ot what you’re saying, but they are powerful and we don’t really know much about being Enforcers yet, other than what it says by the book.”
I remove the communicator from my ear and give it back to him, then we observe the dynamics for short time before Kael and Syvox return.
“There’s a storm brewing here,” remarks Taiwo.
“A complicated political situation,” agrees Kael as he appears from behind us. I’ve been watching him for a while to see if he would try to spy on us. His camoflage is very good, if I didn’t have the benefit of moving tthrough my Sentinel Class I would certainly have missed him.
Syvox is making his way back to us straight through several crowds of Galatics that part to let him by so we wait until he’s joined us. Predictably, he picks up right where we left off.
“Complicated is one way to put it. I’d say it’s fucked.”