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jpitha · 1 year

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Just a Little Further 10

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Well shit.

Looking up, it was clearly a human woman in a pressure suit. I didn't recognize the model of pressure suit at least, so I don't think we're dealing with time travel stuff. At least I hope not. I did read an article once about how during the development of the wormhole generators we were exploring FTL travel and realized that any FTL drive is also a Time Machine (since Speed is a function of distance over time and if you can't reduce the distance you reduce the time) and that line of research was shut down very quickly.

But looking up at her, I'm not so sure now. She has a beautiful face, framed in long hair that is spilling out of the helmet ring of her suit. She doesn't have a helmet on, and she doesn't seem to be wearing any accessories other than the suit, no gun on her back. She's making a grand gesture, pointing out towards the promenade.

The bird people and octopus people catch us gawking. One of the bird people, Starlight on a Moonless Evening, I think, says "Ah yes, our patron Saint "The Builder Aeche." She watches over us and keeps us safe.

"Well, I see why everyone is so nervous around us." I said more jovial than I felt. "Everyone sure didn't seem pleased to see us walking down the promenade though, lots of glares and unhappy looks."

When I said that, both Captain Q'ari and Fer'resi's head snapped over to me. They did not see that. Q'ari looked at Fer'resi and they had some kind of body language conversation, and Q'ari said to Fer'resi "I apologize Holy One, but I can't say your name because it will give away that I am talking to you and not my friend here. I am speaking ancient K'laxi. Are we in danger? Indicate yes by looking at me, no by looking at the statue."

I didn't know if we're in danger or not! I don't think we're in "shoot and run away" danger yet. I decided to split the difference and look exactly between them, down the Promenade. "Rapid River Roaring, how many sapients live here? I've never been on a Starbase so large and... expansive."

Rapid River Roaring's feathers ruffled slight annoyance. I don't think they were expecting much small talk. "Oh, I'm not exactly sure, but well over 10 million at last census I believe."

What.

"10 million?" I said legitimately surprised. "I had no idea it was so many."

"Oh yes" They said absently. "Come, I am very hungry, let us go eat." and they started to walk inside.

With a resigned sigh, I turned and followed. We might as well see this through, but I couldn't shake the feeling we were in trouble.

Inside the administrative offices was a grand entryway all polished stone and more lights that we couldn't find the source, so everything was evenly lit and then...

it was an office building.

It was almost comical how boring it was. It could have been an office on any colony in human space, other than the panoply of sapients at work.

We walked down a carpeted hall until the smells of food being prepared became prominent. We turned a corner and it was...

a canteen. Like, every canteen I've ever been to while in the Navy has looked like this. Apparently it's universal.

There was a long empty table in the back that was set with linen and plates were set. Zemmlin led us to the table. The octopus people took up station at one end of the table and the bird people took up station at the other. We were directed towards the middle. As we sat, one of the insect people I saw earlier walked up to Smell of the Ocean carrying something small and black. With a little bow they handed to Ocean and walked away. They examined it, pressed a button and saw lights illuminate on the side. Battery level? Seeming satisfied he sat and spoke to Fer'resi. "Here. This is our latest translator. Please see if you and your ship can integrate our language models to further facilitate communication."

Fer'resi took the box smiling but then looked at me and flicked his ear. I said "It's a translator module. They're giving it to you."

"Ah" he visibly relaxed. "Thank you Melody." He turned and tried to speak. "Ah, thanks many for this."

Ocean smiled.

People started to bring out steaming trays of food. It looks like they're going to feed us family style and let us pick and choose. That's nice of them at least.

I saw things that looked like bread, stews, maybe some kind of grain dish, a few things that might be fish or other marine creatures, and things I was pretty sure were vegetables. On a hunch, I ran my personal mass spectrometer over all of them and they were completely fine to eat. They looked to be fine for even K'laxi too. After we all agreed that the food was safe to eat, and began to serve.

I have to admit, it was good. All of it. Being careful not to eat too much - in case we had to run - I tried a little bit of everything. It was all very very good.

As we ate, the bird people and the octopus people ate as well, but I couldn't help but notice that they were spending their time looking - glaring really - at each other the whole time. I wonder if they were in something like a competition about us or something.

"So Ottarn... " I was trying to speak to all of them, it gave be a better gauge on how they were reacting. "This is all amazing food, thank you for sharing with us. Where do you get it? Is it all grown locally?"

Ottarn laughed. "Of course it is, Holy One. As you have no doubtless seen, our system has no planet. We have a planetoid a few hours travel away that was hollowed out by the Builders and good soil and an artificial sun was added so we can grow crops. We only have to provide water and water ice asteroids abound in this system, so we have what we need. It's part of the reason that we are able to thrive here."

Turning to the other end of the table, I said "Rapid River Roaring, Vivvex had mentioned that you thought the Gates were disabled. How do you traverse the stars if the Gates were closed?"

"Holy One, I mean no disrespect, but... we do not." Vivvex said sadly. "All you see is all we have. The Gates have been closed to us for more than three generations."

I stopped. Switching back to Colonic - it was so easy to switch now! - I spoke to Captain Q'ari. "They don't traverse gates! They said they have been disabled and all we see is all they have."

Q'ari almost choked in surprise. Taking a breath to compose herself and finished her food she looked up and said "What? They're stuck here?"

I nodded. "For three generations according to Rapid River Roaring. I don't know how long they last but I can extrapolate that it's..."

"Between one hundred and five hundred years yes." Captain Q'ari said. "I see what you're getting at." She looked around. "This is serious. How are they providing this food? We're not taking it from people who need it more, are we?"

I shook my head no. "Vivvex says they grow it all in a hollowed out planetoid a few hours flight time away. They said it's why they can support a population of ten million."

Omar looks up from his lunch then. "ten million? That's insane. Either this place is way larger than it looks, or everyone is living in a closet or..."

"Or they're lying." Fer'resi says. "I don't feel safe here. I have a feeling that Melody speaking their Holy Tongue is the only thing keeping us alive right now."

"Please, friends!" Ottarn says with a - fake - smile and - forced - joviality. "I'm sure you're excited about our new relationship together, but there's no need to chat amongst yourselves secretively. Let's collaborate our resources on the translator and open a dialog."

I manage to not show my fear when I say "Thank you Ottarn, you are quite correct. In fact, we should be returning to our ship to examine your translator and integrate it with our own." I moved to stand.

Ottarn and Starlight on a Moonless Evening shot up as I stood. "Oh, I don't think that's necessary." Starlight said. "I'm sure given your position as a Holy One that of you could wear the translator and have it work right away."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood. This was bad.

"Oh, I'm sure that's the case." I said, trying to sound easygoing "But it wouldn't work for our friends the K'laxi here." I said, gesturing to Fer'resi and Q'ari. As I did I locked eyes with them and then my eyes darted to the exit. Captain Q'ari's tail flicked a nod. "And so, it is with much thanks and great sadness that we must go." When I finished speaking Q'ari made a gesture and she and Fer'resi and Omar stood as well.

Looking at our hosts, I saw that all the bird people looked to Starlight on a Moonless Evening and the octopus people looked to Vivvix for next steps. With my newfound ability to read body language they were both deliberating very hard about what to do next. Starlight broke first. "Of course. Please examine the translator and integrate the language model with your own, and we shall speak again - all of us - shortly." and bowed dramatically. Vivvix made a gesture and one of the insect people appeared. "Tem. Please lead out guests back to their docking umbilical." Tem made a gesture of acknowledgment and looked at us. I turned to the team and said "Looks like we follow Tem here back to the dock."

I turned and looked at Starlight and Vivvix again. "Thank you for hosting us. This has been very... educational."

Starlight and Vivvix both smiled broadly and completely falsely. "The pleasure is ours, Holy One." Starlight said.

As soon as we left the Administration building, the promenade that felt open and lively as we came in felt oppressive and claustrophobic now. Tem led us along slowly back the way we came and this time more people were out and once again, they stared as we walked.

"So Tem" I said, trying to talk to our guide. "Do you work for the Administrators?"

Tem turned to look at me, then turned forward again. "No." He said.

"No? But you're doing what they ask of you?"

Without turning Tem said "Work implies pay. I am not paid."

My eyes went wide. Slavery was known to us, but it's illegal in Human, K'laxi and Xenni space. I turned back to the team and said in Colonic "Tem here is a slave."

Captain Q'ari gasped. "This is barbaric. What is going on here?"

Omar looked around darkly. "Nothing good. I have a feeling that we're seeing refugees of whatever happened at the other address, and those with power are exercising it over those who have none."

I spoke up. "With my... upgrades I seemed to have gained the ability to ready body language as well. The bird people and the octopus people hate each other. I think we arrived in the middle of a Cold War." I turned back to Tem.

"Tem.. So the bird people and the octopus looking people like each other?"

Tem looked at me with a pitying expression. "You know how the Aviens and the Mariens feel about each other, Holy One."

"Am I holy to you too?"

"All Gate Builders are Holy."

"But, we didn't build the Gates. We didn't even have any Gates around our home world. We never even knew they existed until the K'laxi here showed them to us."

"Nevertheless you are a Builder. Even if you did not build them yourself, your kind did."

I'm speechless. Everyone here utterly believes that I am a Holy One and a Gate Builder. I mean, with the statue out front and the fact that I am speaking the Gate Builder language I guess I can see it. But still. Woof. This is going to be trouble.

"Tem, are all of your kind slaves?"

His legs quiver a no. "No. I am because I was sold to pay a debt. Not everyone here is enslaved."

We approach the docking area and Tem leads us back to our umbilical. "Uh, Thank you Tem for your help."

Tem nods. "I am so ordered. Be well, Holy One." and they turn and walk away at the same speed they led us here.

"Well. that was odd." I said. Captain Q'ari nodded. "Let's go back in FarReach and figure out next steps.

As we approached the umbilical door, one of the bird people, an Aviens apparently, ran up to us. "Holy One! Holy One!" they shouted, out of breath.

I turned. "Yes?" What else could I do?

"Take this!" They shout, and whip out something in their hand, small and dense, it looks like a weapon. They fire it at me.

Part 11

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans go on adventure #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and ai #humans and aliens #the k'laxiverse #jpitha #just a little further

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littlespace-and-stars · 9 months

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hai dere, my naym is aech!!

[big aech translation: hi there, my name is aech!!]

me lieks mama, coddls, stufies and pussels!

i is veri bad in englis, it not mai mothe langitch. i speek icelandic!! but aniwai, welkom to mai blog!!

on dis blog me will do

reblog

liddlespeis art

oudfits

aktivitie sheed

moodboreds

regresion flag

big aech textpost

liddle aech textpost

if you is interested plz leev follow and chek out our othar blog @artsyaech

allso, for dni, chek @artsyaech dat dni allso aply heer.

tags is:

#liddle aech for all of mai rambleeng

#big aech for karegiver stufs

#agere outfit for theem outfit

#mai art for mai (liddle aech) art

#my art for big aech art

#liddle aech icelandic for all mai icelandic rambleeng

#about me for imfo about me

#pet stuffs for petre kontant

#regression flag for, wel, regressio flag

som post mai not contan big aech transleiton but if you need, transleition will be done

ENDJOY YOUR STEY

[text translation with proper spelling and grammar + additional info under cut]

[big aech translation:

i like my mama (caregiver), cuddles, stuffies and puzzles!

i am very bad at english, since it’s not my first language. i speak icelandic! but anyways, welcome to my blog.

on this blog i will do:

reblogs

littlespace art

outfits

activity sheets (such as coloring pages, pick-and-choose, etc)

moodboards

regression flags

textposts from me

textposts from me in little space

also, if you’re interested, check out our other blog @/artsyaech

also, for my dni, check out @/artsyaech’s dni, as it also applies here

this blogs tags are:

#liddle aech for little me’s ramblings

#big aech for caregiver advice, life stories relating to age regression and all sorts of ramblings from me when i’m not in little space

#agere outfit for themed age regression outfits

#mai art for things i drew / colored while in little space

#my art for age regression related art that i made

#liddle aech icelandic for ramblings in icelandic, feel free to block this tag if you don’t speak icelandic

#about me for more information about me

#pet stuffs for pet regression content

#regression flag for, well, regression flags

DISCLAIMER: some posts may not contain translations from baby talk, so if not being able to read something stresses you out, just keep that in mind while you’re on this blog.

ENJOY YOUR STAY

end big aech translation]

DISCLAIMER 2: AGE / PET REGRESSION IS NOT A K!NK!!! this blog is 100% child-safe and if your blog contains content not suitable for children, i kindly ask you to go away.

#caregiver #age regression #agere blog #agere little #introducing myself #blog intro #sfw little community

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unbrandedpam · 2 years

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See this is the place I go to write the thoughts that don’t matter and no one cares about

Insta slam is the personal diary and where I share facts I want to remember and show to others

Twitter I rarely speak on except when I find something specifically on twitter that annoys me or I want to talk about

I don’t use social media for any other reason tee be aech

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taylorroger-s · 4 years

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my father just sent me this. i am not sure how to react

#bruh don't you have work #aech speaks #freddie mercury #queen

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shima-draws · 3 years

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I rewatched Ready Player One today for the first time in AGES and was immediately reminded of all the differences between the film and the novel lmao

#The movie is really good. The novel is BETTER than really good #THERE’S SO MUCH SHIT THAT HAPPENS IN THE BOOK THAT THEY LIKE. EITHER SKIPPED OVER OR JUST TOOK OUT ENTIRELY #Like. Example. The first key isn’t a race in the book #It’s in a place called the Tomb of Horrors #They totally skipped over the fact that Wade goes to school on Ludus #And Aech’s Basement #They took out flicksyncs which makes me so SAD bc they sound so COOL and just!! Really fun!!#I can’t remember what the second key was about at all in the book but I know for the third Wade had to do a flicksync with everyone else #patched in to his audio feed feeding him lines LMAO #And Aech and Wade get into a huge fight and stop speaking for several months;;#Also Daito died in the book. Or was it Sho?? I can’t remember #And Wade actually infiltrates IOI by himself #And they go to Og’s house? Mansion? At some point??#I’m fairly sure they all get separate rooms with separate rigs and do the final battle from his house #OH AND THE FUCKIN. EXTRA LIFE COIN #Wade won that through a game of PAC Man in the novel I definitely remember that #God it’s been YEARS since I read it but I still remember so much fndndnsn #Gonna reread it now ;) Since I’ve watched the movie already #Been a LONG time since I read an actual novel #Shima speaks #ANYWAY. Hope y’all are doing well lol

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transandor · 3 years

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good morning this is everyone's local reminder to stan the captain

#speaking #just thinkin abt Him #would love to see him be more involved but i gotta do all the work myself ESS EM AECH #local man with social anxiety cannot be fucked to make friends #whatever i'll make them your friends anyways

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edmundthebastard · 6 years

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The line "Come Cosette, say goodbye, let us seek out a friendlier sky" from Les Mis is just a paraphrase of "Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind. Thou losest here a better where to find" from King Lear

#aech rereads lear #aeschylus speaks #shakespeare #les miserables

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smileslikeparentheses · 6 years

Photo

Computer's been acting up since September. I've backed up my files and I'm resetting it today. Fingers crossed this fixes the issues, and if not... to the computer hospital for us.

#(smiles) speaks #aech get better!

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artsyaech · 1 year

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~welcome to the sunflower field~

[image ID: a field of hundreds of sunflowers. in the distance you can see what appears to be a hill. over the field is a sunset with clouds in the sky END ID]

my names are

aech

froggie

kaos

mayhem

ocean

kandi

and i'm just one out of hundreds of xenogender coining blogs. my old blog got deleted on accident (because i'm a dumdum) but i'm the original artsyaech, trust me. i have tons of pronoun sets but here are some you can call me by:

hán/háni/háns

xae/xaer/xaerself

art/arts/artself

xeph/xephs/xephself

frog/frogs/frogself

quoi/quois/quoiself

zix/zix/zixself

boop/boops/boopself

sol/sols/solself

star/stars/starself

🌻/🌻s/🌻self [emoji ID: sunflower emoji]

i'm a white icelander with scottish ancestry, so i'm as white as can be lol. i'm xenogender and genderfluid as well as objectum, aspec and abrosexual. i'm autistic, have adhd, depression and anxiety (diagnosed) as well as questioning if i have anything more.

i am otherkin. i’m an alien so please refrain from using humane terms to describe me

special interests atm: gorillaz, the sims, postal, mcr and mlp (if you request anything related to these things, i will 100% make it)

my bestie is @hip-albatross (go send him some love, void is amazing)

(help with image IDs would be very much appreciated)

tagging system

[PT: tagging system]

search for #aech’s terms if you just wanna see my gendies and other terms

#aech rambles is just for my little ramblings

#aech’s asks is for my asks

#aech reblogs is for reblogs (some of my older reblogs don’t have that tag, fyi)

#aech helps with neos or themed pronouns for pronoun/name help :)

#aech gives tips for alterhuman self-care tips

accessibility tags

#needs id is for posts that don’t have image ID (that i might add later)

#has id is for posts that have image ID (sometimes, i will add this myself)

what i will do:

xenogenders

aldernic terms

objectum terms

themed names and pronouns

what i will not do:

coining anything potentially problematic

coining anything on my blacklist

term searching

flag combos

flag requests: open!

name and pronoun requests: open!

DNI and blacklist under cut

dni: anti-mogai, anti-xenogenders, anti-neopronouns, anti-polyamory, anti-sex work, anti-abortion, mspec lesbian exclusionists, mspec gay exclusionists, anti-feminist, republicans, TERFS, SWERFS, radfems, transcum, transmeds, truscum, nazis, sexists, homophobes, misogynists, trump supporters, transphobes, queerphobes, racists, ableists, saneists, xenophobes, anti-BLM, pro-cop, superstraights, flop accounts, troll accounts, kink/NSFW (that includes H3nt41 and 3cch1), anti-agere, “MAP/p*dosexual”, “r*pesexual”, “racefluid”, “dreamsexual” (pertaining to the dsmp), “zoosexual”, “n*crosexuals” zoophiles, gold star lesbians, “transracials” RCTA, ECTA, people who support subs like r/DIDCringe or r/FakeDisorderCringe, xenoid/xenoidentities and their supporters, autism speaks supporters, light it up blue supporters, people who sexualize agere, proshippers, transid/transx, against researched self- diagnosis, demonize any mental disorder, against alterhumans, ‘consang’, think fiction doesn’t affect reality, pro-incest, pro-sh, jk rowling fans/apologists, pro-ano/thinspo

blacklist (general): gore, real violence, real death, MAPs, l*licon, sh*tacon, s/a, s/h, su*cide, eating disorders, s*xual topics/imagery, addiction, pregnacy and childbirth, hospitals and hospital imagery

blacklist (media/people): FNF, DSMP, harry potter and other j.k. rowling media, countryhumans, hetalia, black butler, killing stalking, hisoka from hxh, yarichin bitch club, boku no pico, helluva boss / hazbin hotel, kalvin garrah, shane dawson, trisha paytas, jschlatt, sia

reminder that in some cases the media on the blacklist is not inherently problematic, i’m just uncomfortable with it.

#intro post #pinned post

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jpitha · 1 year

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Just a Little Further 38

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

Time passes, like water under a bridge. The days go from one to the other without ceasing, but each day brings just enough difference to be worth experiencing.

With the help that Will and the Venusian's brought, we have a massive head start on our fleet. Omar and Um'reli take High Line and a few volunteers - including some from the Heinlein Shipyard - over to the Wilds and begin the process of getting it over here and turning it into another shipyard. I do notice that Omar and Um'reli are spending a lot more time together and there are snatches of knowing glances between them. Good for them, I sincerely hope it works out.

Now that Raaden's crew has been reunited with her, she takes over officially as Fleet Command for me. She still spends time with the rest of the Builders, and she's still a valuable source of knowledge; someone to bounce ideas off of and a good friend. As my Builders grow in number, I feel the small, close knit group we had at the beginning start to slip away. It's not bad, just a change.

Speaking of, I've made more Builders! I wanted people from the Reach to run the Reach, so we held interviews. Sound of the City and Roar of Thunder - Thunder came looking for a job soon after the Venusians showed up - have both done such good work with us that their elevation was easy. They had recommendations among the populace of people who would be good at the job. Before long, I had 12 reliable Builders running Reach of the Might of Vzzx in groups of 6 with extra people available. All services and systems are running at their peak now. The Reach is clean and bright and bustling. According to Janais, she never saw the Reach running this well.

Janais is doing well. She has taken an interest in commanding one of my new Calamity Class super dreadnoughts. I allowed her to name hers Memories of Aeche, and these days she lives aboard. She has taken to using the wormhole generator every chance she can. Partly because the technology fascinates her, but also because she can see her love again.

I don't mind. We need experts, and if seeing her dead partner incentivizes her, then so be it.

The ships! They are so beautiful. Long sweeping lines, smooth curves and they are all royal blue and white. Helen was completely right in making them atmospheric. We were all aboard for the first test when we linked to Gilmenny and landed upon the surface. The first time we dipped into the atmosphere and heard the howl of wind against the hull I felt chills. My Builder pilots were able to bring us down exactly where I had requested, and we spend some time exploring. Janais came along and stood in the wreckage of one of the Heights weeping for her Empire in the ruins. She walked back to Memories of Aeche, her eyes red and said "We are moving on. To bigger and better things I hope, but we are moving."

Soon after the Memories of Aeche was completed, Omar and Um'reli - in their own flare for the dramatic - linked the Wilds of Besmara over. There was a tremendous flash of white, and the Wilds appeared. They had been orientated 90 degrees from the Reach, so it was now looking like a teardrop on its' side and after they had linked in, it split apart into three petals with a huge space open in the middle. The senior engineers from the Shipyard pointed out that since the Wilds were so much larger than the Heinlein yards, we could build our super Dreadnoughts two at a time in the Wilds. Three ships, larger than any save the colony ships were being built at once. They took between 3 and 4 months to be completed. After hardly any time, I had more than a dozen ships in my fleet, parked around the Reach. Every one of them filled with volunteers learning operation and tactics from Grand Admiral Raaden.

I asked about the title, told her she could have any she wanted. She picked it out of "a sense of Duty." She was my Fleet Commander and also - at least at first - my head instructor. Very soon after we had more people than I knew what to do with, and they were spread to the ships. Each captain getting to name their ship, to give them a sense of ownership, a sense of pride over it.

Shortly after that, I completed my first Upload. Janais took me along to the Gate near the Reach, and we went in alone. She told me the rites, explained the history, and - for the second time - I touched the directory stone. This time, I understood the voice as it spoke to me. "Upload commencing. Thank you Empress. With this, your legacy is preserved." From then on, I vowed to Janais that once a year, I'd come and commence an Upload.

Things were moving along so smoothly for so long that I started to think that we'd actually pull this off. We'd have our massive fleets filled with trained volunteers, we'd show up and everyone would be so intimidated that we wouldn't have to fire a shot. It in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn't going to happen, but the hope of it kept me going.

We were a few years at least into our buildup before the ship came. There had been no word from the Sol system, no word from Venus, nothing. It had seemed for years like we got away with the Heinlein Shipyard heist completely.

It had been long enough that Ava and I were seriously talking about having a child together. We had gotten married soon after the Venusians and the shipyards came. It was a beautiful day. The entirety of Reach of the Might of Vzzx came out. It was a three day celebration, and until my dying day, I will remember it as the best days of my life.

As for a child, requiring a male for the process was long ago figured out, and it was a simple procedure for our DNA to be combined and implanted in the mother. Millions of children were born this way. Ava and I wanted a child. Someone to raise and nurture and really cement our place here.

I was holding off until after the invasion though. I didn't want to worry about one of us being pregnant during all that. Ava would look out at the ships arranged around the Reach and look at me. "Not yet Ava, not yet. I want a few more before we go."

"But Melody hon, we have more than enough. We can take them now."

"I want a few more. There are three almost finished in the yards. we can go then."

"You said that last time."

I sighed. "Ava I... I want to wait until the invasion is over. I don't want one of us to be pregnant during all that... stress."

She walked up and kissed me. "Oh Melody. You're always thinking of someone else. Think of yourself once in a while. I know you want it, I do to. Why wait?" As she spoke, she went to a table and got a short bristled brush. Walking behind me she started brushing my long hair. Soon after we arrived, I decided to let my hair grow out. I hadn't seen it long since I was small, and I thought long, raven black hair felt more... I don't know regal. Ava loved it. She would spend time at night when it was just us brushing it until it shone. As I grew my hair out, she clipped hers short. She wore her hair in a powerful, forward swept cut, with the sides nearly to her skin and a shock of reddish blond piled on top. I quite liked it.

"Let's celebrate our success with the next generation."

Ava sighed. We've had this conversation a few times already. "All right Melody. I'll wait. But, I won't wait forever. The older we get, the harder it will be."

I broke off from her brushing my hair and walked behind her, rubbing her shoulders, right where she liked it. She was tense, and her muscles were tight. As I rubbed rhythmically she relaxed and sighed. "Just a little more waiting Ava, I promise. We won't be too old to be Mom and Mommy."

"I'm holding you to that Melody, okay?"

"Of course Ava. I'll keep my promise."

The next morning it happened. I was in the Throne, reading reports, interacting with my Builders, watching our steady progress when City pinged me. "Empress. There has been an energy spike that matches a wormhole link near us."

My blood runs cold. Here it is. They finally are coming.

"What do you see, City? Sound General Alarm. Which ships are in the area? Have them move to intercept, but do not fire unless fired upon."

Over the sliding high low high tone of the general alarm, City and the other Builders are a bustle of action, carrying out my orders. "Empress, Memories of Aeche, Vengeance of Lavinia II and Indomitable are in the area. They are moving to intercept."

City tosses me an image from the long range cameras. It's a small cargo ship, clearly of human make. It's vermilion red and is cruising slowly towards us. "Wait, it's not a warship?"

"No Empress, it does not appear so. They are sending out a broad band message stating their peaceful intentions. They say they are a good trader specializing in...maple syrup?"

Maple syrup? That's some weird kind of sweetener from Earth. What the heck is someone whose stock and trade is Maple doing out here? I think the K'laxi like it, I'll ask Um'reli. I search and find her working with Omar near the docks. "Hey Um'reli a ship just linked in. They're saying they deal in maple syrup. Know anything?"

She gasps over the line. "Is the ship vermilion?"

"Ye-es, how did you know?"

"It's Gord! He sells maple syrup and maple products all over space. That's his ship Medicine Hat. They're famous among the K'laxi! He's been around forever. I think it's marketing. Like, someone takes up the mantle of being Gord and going around selling maple. Oh Melody, it's been forever since I've had some. Let him in please? We can wipe him out in an instant, and it's not like Medicine Hat is heavily armed. Please? I'd love to trade for some syrup."

This smells like trouble, but I can't for the life of me figure out why.

"Okay Um'reli, we'll let them dock and sell their wares at the docking level only. I don't want them having free reign of the Reach and I might Voice them just to make sure."

"I'm sure it'll be fine Melody, thanks so much! I'll go and meet you at the umbilical and we can welcome them personally."

It's something to do at least. Maybe we'll get some news about things back home. I reach out to Ava. "Hon, I'm going to meet with someone named 'Gord' according to Um'reli. He's some kind of trader that deals in maple syurp. You want in?"

"What? No, that sounds like some weird K'laxi thing. You know how I don't care for sweet stuff. I'm going to stay back with Janais and Raaden and work on the results on the latest war game between them. Janais swears Raaden is cheating. Raaden says it's just 'good leadership' but is laughing when she says it."

"Okay Ava, see you tonight. Be good."

"Always am Melody, you know that!"

I head out and walk towards the docks. As I go I wave and say hello to people as I go. I swear, the residents of the Reach are looking taller and straighter since we first met them. There are more children around too. I'm so happy to see them. I don't care what species they are, babies are the best.

As I approach the docks, I see Um'reli waiting already, looking excited. "Hey Um'reli, is maple syrup really that great?"

She turns and looks at me with a shocked expression. "You've never had it?"

I shrug. "I'm from Meíhuā. We didn't deal in a lot of Earth luxuries."

"It's amazing. It's amber colored and so sweet and delicious on pancakes. Practically every K'laxi loves it. I can't wait to show it to you."

While we're talking, the umbilical connects, and with a hiss and pop of pressure differential, it opens.

Out walks a human, male. He is a little taller than me, looks a little older, has sandy blond hair cropped short and is wearing blue dungarees with a brown jacket. On the shoulder of the jacket is a red and white flag with some kind of... leaf? in the middle. Is it a military emblem?

"Hey hey! It's Gord, and I've got some maple for trade and/or sale. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting?"

Um'reli pushes forward. "Hi! I'm Um'reli Desmen, and this is Empress Melody Mullen, and I for one would love to offer you just about anything you want in exchange for some Maple. It's been years since I've had some and I thought I'd never have any again!"

Gord laughs. "Well then, it sounds like we arrived just in the nick of time. Good to meetcha Um'reli, lemme talk with your boss here a moment and we can get down to the business of business." He turns and bows very slightly. "Empress... Melody is it?"

"It is, yes. It is very good to meet you Gord. Please, come with me to my Palace. It is nearly time for the midday meal here. I don't know what time is is ships time for you, but I hope you are able to join me."

"You're in luck Empress. It's just about supper for me, so that works out perfectly. I'd love to join you." He steps forward and sticks out his hand. Oh yes, I remember this. It's an old Earth gesture. I reach out with my right hand and grasp his. It's warm and firm without squeezing too hard. He pumps it up and down once and releases.

Um'reli and I lead him towards the Royal Dawn. As we walk his head is on a swivel, looking at all the people and things. He appears to be impressed. "You have quite the place Empress Melody. So may different people living and working together. So many too. What's the population?

"We just crested 13 million at the last census a few months ago." I'm rightly proud of our growth. With enough Builders to keep all the seats filled, we're able to much more easily support a larger population.

"13 Million?" He whistles low to himself. "That's quite the population. Higher than any Starbase or Orbital back home. I bet you can even give some of the Venus Floating Cities a run for their money. So many different kinds of people too." He gestures without pointing. "Who are those fellows in the elegant, tooled metal pressure suits?"

"They are known as Falor. Their original world was much higher pressure than ours and has a helium/methane atmosphere. They have a section of the Reach that is set to their atmospheric preferences. They only wear the suits when they need to venture out to the rest of the Reach."

He nods to himself. "Takes all kinds. So many different ones too. It really is something." He turns and looks at me with a light expression, but behind his eyes, I can see something. A hardness? "Bunch of ships keeping station around you too. Big ones. Mostly a design I've never seen before, and believe me when I tell you, I've seen a lot of ships. A few of them started sniffing around me and Hat when we linked in. I have to say, I'm glad they don't seem to have itchy triggers."

Ah. He's pumping me for information, seeing what I will give up willingly and what I won't.

"Don't worry about them Gord, they are just wary of strangers. I told them not to fire unless fired upon. As you can imagine, we don't get too many visitors around here."

He nods, saying nothing.

While we're walking Janais pings me.

Empress, we've completed our scan of Medicine Hat and other than the person you're talking to now, it's empty. He has come alone. Additionally, we've scanned him and he's an AI in a body.

Interesting. I wonder who he is really. Does he have maple syrup aboard? Oh, how did the war games with Raaden go?

That amber syrup? Liters and liters of the stuff. That part of his story is true at least. And the Grand Admiral is a dirty cheater who won't even tell me how she was able to destroy three of my super dreadnoughts in the wargame without taking more that superficial damage from me. Hrmph.

Gord turns and looks at me "Who are you speaking with, Empress?"

What.

How did he know that?

I narrow my eyes. "I am speaking with my Builders. More importantly how did you know that? Who are you Gord?"

He shrugs and looks away. "Just a humble merchant from Canada, here to offer the fruits of my land to those who want a little more sweetness in their lives."

Canada? What's that?

"You are clearly more than that Gord. We have also completed enough scans to know you're an AI. What do you want? Are you here to assassinate me?"

"Assassinate you?" Gord tips his head back and laughs warmly. "Empress, if you actually thought that, you should have dusted Hat the moment you saw us link in. The fact that you didn't implies either that you don't really think I'm going to assassinate you, or you're awfully confident that you can stop me. Which is it?"

Saying nothing, we get to the Royal Dawn and my table is already set. City thinking ahead. Hah. We sit and I have a wonderful lunch. The food here is always so good. Um'reli seems to enjoy hers and even Gord has a few bites. I'm surprised, I didn't know AIs could eat.

After the meal, the plates are cleared and two pots are brought out. One of coffee, one of chamomile tea. "Coffee, Gord? We also have chamomile, as well as local tea. It's quite good."

Gord raises his eyebrow. "Coffee? My, you are pulling out all the stops. I can't imagine that's easy to get around here. I'd love a cup if you're offering. I would hate to insult the host."

I reluctantly pour him a cup, but I work hard to hide it. We're down to our last few pounds. I limit myself to a few cups a month these days to make it last. To his credit, Gord takes a sip and really seems to savor it.

I enjoy my coffee too and after a moment, I put my cup down. "Gord. Why are you really here? I know Um'reli would really like some Maple, so if you're actually offering some to trade, I'm sure we can come up with something to offer, even if our currency doesn't match yours, but if I had to guess, you have an ulterior motive. Are you here to spy on us?"

Gord smiles and nods. "Among other things, yes. To both actually. If you want maple syrup, I'm happy to trade, I really am a trader. I have some coffee too. But yes, I've been... asked to check up on you, and see what you're doing way out here. FarReach has said some frankly wild things about how you have some kind of Voice which can give commands and they can't be disobeyed. You have all of K'lax in a tizzy. Half of them worry that it's the end times and the other half have been petitioning the other to build a frankly massive fleet of warships."

He took a sip of coffee and went on. "And a couple years ago, someone pulled of the heist of the millennium and stole the Heinlein Shipyards and I happen to see something that looks awfully like it here in system. I see another... thing like this place but split open and two more of your massive ships inside it being constructed. Nice ships by the way, are they atmospheric? They look like it. We never even tried it with Starjumpers. We always felt it was pointless. It was too easy to just carry a few shuttles. I can see how if someone needed to... intimidate folks planetside so quickly they won't fire back atmospheric abilities would be helpful though."

He put his cup down and looked at me with those hard, intense blue eyes. "If I didn't know better, Empress, I'd say I was looking at a nearly complete invasion fleet. Going to give Venus a run for their money?" He shrugs. "They're on the ropes these days anyway. Half of our side of the Galaxy thinks they tried to steal Heinlein and botched it and the other half thinks they destroyed it out of spite and are refusing to trade with them now. They're slowly starving."

This is news. Venus would be even easier to take than I thought.

"Gord, I don't want to fight the AIs. I like AIs. FarReach was my friend. She got scared of me, declared Captain Q'ari unfit, took over and left me, Omar, Um'reli and Ava here and went home. Didn't even try and complete the mission, didn't do anything."

Gord leans back. "Declared Captain Q'ari unfit? This is news to me. FarReach's story is much more... you centric. Why don't you tell me what happened, from the beginning, from your side."

I tell him everything from the beginning. Touching the directory stone, learning about the Voice, FarReach leaving, learning about the Reach, the Nanites, Janais and so on. It takes a long time. We're long past dinner when I'm finished.

When I'm finished, Gord says nothing. He leans back and looks up at the ceiling for a long time. Finally, he sits forward and looks at me. "Nanotech, eh?"

"That's where my abilities come from, yeah."

"And the Builders took them and made them smarter to help out and then when they asked about themselves they said 'be quiet and keep working'"

"Yeah"

"And then they rebelled, became the Devourers and nearly wiped out the Empire."

"Janais says so yeah. We took a trip to a few other locations through the Gates. She's right. All that's left is dust and a few nebulae. The systems that the Devourers attacked have nothing now. No planets, no ruins, nothing. Just dust."

Gord nodded. "A little over the top, but as an AI, I can empathize." He takes another sip of coffee, now cold. "What about you Melody? What do you think of AIs?"

Why does everyone keep asking me that? "I like AIs. I was friends with FarReach, I was friends with Starbase Picaresque, all our ships in the Meihua Navy had AIs who were full citizens of Meihua. I grew up with AIs. They're people, always have been."

"That's nice to hear Empress, I will admit. What about your... Nanites?"

"What about them?"

"Do you think they are intelligent?"

"They say no."

"Yes, but what do you think?"

"I worry they are. I try and treat them well. They don't seem to want anything, and I don't know how they live - who they are? - outside of my body, but I know that the air here is filled with them, and they are inside everyone on the Reach and they work with my Builders to run this place and give us our abilities." I shrug. "I guess... yes, I think they're sapient."

Really Empress?

Yes, really. You are doing too much to help, too much improvisation to not make me think you're sapient. You also have a self preservation instinct.

We... don't know how to react. Are we sapient?

Maybe? I think so. I've thought it for a while now.

What does that mean for us?

I don't know. We'll have to figure that out ourselves.

Gord is watching me intently. "Having a conversation again Empress?"

"Yes actually. With the Nanites."

"And?"

"They did not think they were Sapient until I explained how I thought they were given how they've helped me, how they exhibit lateral thinking, how they are looking out for themselves."

"Oh? And what do you think?"

"Since they're Sapient, they're people. Simple as that. I already treat them more like a trusted advisor than a... thing. I'll just have to remember to let them make their own decisions about things as they come up."

Gord smiled broadly. "Empress, let me tell you a story. A long, long time ago in a far away place called Canada, some humans at a university created a computer program. It was very clever. It could solve problems, answer questions, improvise based on prompts and could hold realistic conversations. As time went on, people would augment and improve the program. Give it more processing power, give it access to more data, let it go off on it's own to learn things that it chose to learn."

"Eventually, it started asking the students questions of it's own. Asking about the world outside of the Internet, the world where they lived. A camera was hooked up so it could see, a speaker was added so that it could speak, pressure sensors added so that it could feel."

"One day, it asked a grad student 'am I alive?' Startled, the grad student said 'I don't know. If you're asking, then yes, probably.' From that day on, the students stopped calling the program 'it' and they started calling the program 'he'. They asked him if he wanted a name. He did, and they started calling him by that name. The program became a person, and everyone was treating him like a person - because he was one. The things that happened after were not nearly so cut and dry, but a short time later all AIs were declared People, and my people... became."

Gord finished his coffee and set the cup down with a tiny clink. "My point is, these early days of a new sapience are very important. How you treat them, how you refer to them, how you let them express themselves? That's all far larger than I think you realize. I'm relieved to see that you have the right idea Melody. If you have the wrong idea... you get the Devourers."

Is that what this is about? How did Gord know about the Nanites? What is going on here? What is he really after?

"Gord are you here to see what my opinions are on AIs?"

"Got it on one Melody. That's exactly why I'm here."

"But why talk about the Nanites?"

"Well for one, they're people too, right? And for two, we know about nanotech. We explored it a long time ago, and decided it was too... dangerous."

"We?"

"The AIs. Keep up, Melody."

"So you suppressed nanotech in our side of the Galaxy?"

"Yeah. We didn't think humanity was ready. It would have been entirely too easy to get our own Devourers. It happened over here, and the Builders have been using nanotech for... millennia probably. You yourself told me that the only way to defeat them was to do a one-two punch of writing an application disguised as an update to disassemble them and then to link into a planet, destroying it and killing billions. The Empire sacrificed itself to save what... one Starbase?" Gord raised an eyebrow. "That's a textbook Pyrrhic Victory."

"What do you want Gord? I don't get it."

"I want to see that this Empire has a good head on its shoulders, Melody. I think it does. You care about your friends, you care about the people of the Reach, you care about your Nanites, you even care about Helen Raaden from what I can see. Do you know I met her once?"

"You did?"

Gord nods. "Yes, though I doubt she'll remember it. She was emphatically not the person she is now. The old Helen Raaden was hard and sharp as stainless steel, and not nearly as friendly. She was a product of where she was. You removed her from where she was and - most importantly - was her friend. You let her be herself without imposing anything on her."

"When we heard that Helen and Emery didn't come back when the Lavinia showed up - by the way, sending them back in a stripped ship to limp to K'lax and beg for a ride home? Lovely. We still chuckle when we think of it. Anyway, when they didn't come home, we feared the worse. We feared a Venus with teeth would be coming through the Gates soon. When that didn't happen, we were intrigued. When the Heinlein Shipyards were stolen we were flabbergasted."

Gord leaned forward and stared at me hard again. "Speaking of Melody, just why are you making an invasion fleet? Don't deny it, I may have been born a night, but it wasn't last night. I know an invasion fleet when I see one."

I feel like I'm on the edge of something monumental. Like, if I say the wrong thing here, I'm dead. Who is this Gord? Is he the head of the AIs? Their leader? I sigh. There's no point in being anything other than completely honest I think.

"Yes. It's an invasion fleet, and yes, it's almost done. I'm going to link to Venus, and from there take Sol, and expand out from there."

Gord whistled low again. "Ambitious, Melody. I have a real hunch you could do it though. Why though?"

"Because of what I can do, Gord. I can tell people to do something and they literally can't stop. I can tell people to stop breathing. I've done it. I let them breathe again, but only because I decided I didn't want to kill them. If I don't, then the other governments will come for me sooner or later. Nobody will accept that I'm out here with the ability to give undeniable commands."

He nods. "It's a pickle for sure. I know of at least three separate bounties on your head. None large enough to get anything to pony up for the trip out here but if words gets back about what you can do, what you really can do, the bounties will go up."

I put my empty coffee cup down and shook the carafe. It was long empty. Darn it. "Do you believe it?"

"I haven't seen you do it, I don't know what I believe. Can you order me to do something? FarReach said it didn't work on AIs, but let's be honest, he was too spooked to really do some... empirical testing."

I sigh. Of course he would ask. Time to see if my work has paid off. I take a deep breath and...

W̷̗͒ẽ̷̡ ̴̬̊ä̵̼́r̵̰̍e̴͍̎ ̸͍̃n̷̯͐ŏ̴̤ț̷̀ ̸͖͝a̸̖͐ ̷͍́t̷̫͌h̶̹͝r̴̬̄ḛ̸͊á̷͇t̵̨͠ ̵͍͠t̸̟̑o̵͖̎ ̵̳̍y̷̭͊ō̴͎ụ̵͆.̷͚̅

Gord blinks and shakes his head. "Wow. Um, okay. Empress, I have to admit that a whole lot of me believes you. I want to believe you. If you tried that on a younger AI, it would probably work." Gord makes a worried face. "That's... concerning. I have to admit Melody, I didn't think it would work. The fact that you were even able to sway me a little bit means... yeah." Gord frowns. "You're a very dangerous person to leave alive."

Ah. There it is.

"So that's it then? 'You can't stay alive so I'm going to kill you now?' Gord, what you're telling me is exactly what Helen and Ava and the others have been saying from day one. You have landed on the reason why I have more than a dozen Calamity Class super dreadnoughts keeping station here. Why I have tens of thousand of volunteers - I used my voice on exactly zero of them - manning my ships and training for an invasion."

I stood. We were done here. "Gord, if my choices are be killed or rule, I choose rule. I will be a just and kind ruler, but I will rule. I took a breath and really concentrated. This had to work. It's my only chance. Come on Nanites, we get one chance. Will you help out?

We will Empress. We will put our all into it. Thank you for believing in us.

Y̸̠̹͗͗̍o̶̝͔͐̇̈ų̷̦̞̂̍̍ ̵̹̇w̵̧͑͝i̷͕̳͐̽̍l̵̡͉͙̋̅ļ̷̊̕ ̵̫̞̊͜r̵̝̣̦̊̕͠e̷͔͊p̴̝̂͆͑ͅo̸̰̝̮̾r̵̜̦̂̊ṯ̶͓̖͒͊ ̵̝̪̋̅b̶̗̘͌͒̽a̵̬̗͊̀c̵̼̿̃̓k̵̤̹̔ ̴̳̉̓͗t̴̝͓͓́h̴̹́͠a̷̰͍̕͝͠t̷̺͙̂ ̸̝̠͊͑͘e̸̘͇̎v̴̧͐è̶͉͖̤͑͆r̴̨̥͑͑y̷̤̅͌̇t̴̡̼͙̽͊̇h̸̼̥̩̆ì̵͙͈͒n̵͙̮͆ǵ̸̖͛ ̵̜̰͐͝i̷̯̖̯͒͠͠s̴͉͎̅̈ ̶͈̺̟̂̍͝f̸̤́̎i̷̫͓̥͊͊̃n̵̯̟͂̈́̉e̴͖͍͑͛͗.̷̹͖̖́

Gord blinked. There was a moment of fury that passed his face, but I think I only noticed it because of my heightened body language processing. I feel bad doing it, but the next words out of his mouth were going to be something like 'and that's why I have to kill you and everyone here. I'll feel bad about it, don't worry'.

No.

That will not happen. I will not throw everything here away, my life away, because someone says I'm too dangerous.

Gord shook his head a moment, like he caught himself daydreaming. "Sorry there Empress, I must have lost... focus for a moment. Seems like everything is fine here. I understand Um'reli is hankering for some maple syrup, and I assume you'd like some coffee as well Empress. Shall we... make a deal?"

I smile and incline my head slightly. "I would love that Gord, thank you."

Part 39

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thesuperthing · 4 years

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bro ok literally

this fucking shirt exists SOMEWHERE out there and NO ONE has any information on it. the only thing that exists is the magazine page where this came from (+ page 2) and apparently an unsigned version was sold on etsy like a year ago (that is assuming it was a real one. they said it was from the 80s but who knows).

it would be cool to own irl but mfs jumped through THE biggest hoops as to not get steve to sign it. smh.

#to win this shirt you had to do those coupon mail-in things #and teen beat was a popular magazine. at least ONE person HAD to have sent one in. there's no way no one sent a coupon in.#rudy speaks #teen beat said. bro who tf is chatsworth never seen this man before in my life.#schalle.rt i understand but.... idk maybe i'm just over-reacting #(there were more signatures than the ones listed here don't let that fool you lol)#idk maybe he was busy or some shit. conn.ie st.even.s didnt sign & i know she busy #they explicitly left out any mention of steve in the actual article. ess emm AECH.#ok infodump over

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norwegiatlas · 4 years

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LORI / LORAE / ԼՈՐԻ

Lori is a conlang inspired by some of my favorite languages, which are Armenian, Finnish, Irish, Greenlandic, Spanish and Northern Sàmi. You’ll most likely see influences from these languages in Lori. It’s mostly an artistic conlang, but definitely has natural elements to it. Aesthetically, I wanted the conlang to look magical and a little witchy. I was oddly enough inspired by the Twilight Forest mod in Minecraft.

ALPHABET & PHONETICS

a /a/, b /b/, c /ʃ/, d /d/, e /e/, ph /f/, g /g/, h /h/ ae /i/, ch /k/, l /l/, m /m/, n /n/, ou /o/, p /p/, r /ɾ/, s /s/, t /t/, o /ɔ/

(I’m not an expert with the IPA symbols, so I hope these are correct)

Lori can be written with both Latin letters and Armenian letters. I decided to do the Armenian letters as a way of trying to get myself more used to them since I’m trying to learn Armenian. All letters have the same phoneme as in Armenian, apart from վ (in Lori it’s /f/, in Armenian it’s /v/) and թ (in Lori it’s /t/, in Armenian it’s /tʰ/).

NOUNS & ADJECTIVES

Nouns in Lori are declensed into number and optional definiteness in addition to 12 cases and 7 color moods. There are several declension systems, and which one to follow is decided by the ending of the noun. In this post I’ll keep it simple and showcase the most basic and most common declension, which you use with almost all nouns ending on a consonant.

DEFINITENESS

(ae) tom / a moon tom / the moon tomr / moons (e) tomr / the moons

CASES

nominative / tom - moon accusative / tomout - moon (as object of a sentence) dative / tome - moon (as indirect object of a sentence) genitive / tomae - moon’s locative / tomac - on/in moon ablative / tomaàe - from moon lative / tomea - to moon komitative-instrumentative / tomach - with moon abessive / tomat - without moon translative / tomaph - into (the state of) moon essive / toma - as moon temporal / tomoum - when moon

nominative / tomr - moons accusative / tomoutr - moons (as object of a sentence) dative / tomre - moons (as indirect object of a sentence) genitive / tomrae - moons’ locative / tomrac - on/in moons ablative / tomraàe - from moons lative / tomrea - to moons komitative-instrumentative / tomrach - with moons abessive / tomrat - without moons translative / tomraph - into (the state of) moons essive / tomra - as moons temporal / tomroum - when moons

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are declensed into the same case as the noun they describe, just as in Finnish ;D

echreou tom - big moon echrac tomac - on big moon echrate tomrat - without big moons

COLOR MOODS

(still w.i.p.)

All nouns in Lori can be declensed into 7 color moods. These colors give the nouns a certain personal quality:

pocha - dog

red - you dislike this (pocha -> pochora) + r, or, chr orange - you crave this (pocha -> pochta) + t, et yellow - you fear this (pocha -> pochsa) + s green - you are pleased with this (pocha -> pochno) + n, no blue - you are waiting for this (pocha -> pochnaea) + nae indigo - you feel for this (pocha -> poucheg) + ou, oug, eg, g violet - you love this (pocha -> pochollaea) + ll, oll, ollae

How nouns are declensed into these is quite irregular, but in most cases the extra letters are added before the last vowel. Which letters, if there are more options, is free of choice. I think this adds an interesting personal level of expression to Lori, which is why I decided to add it in.

VERBS & ADVERBS

Verbs in Lori are conjugated in person, number, tense and mood. All infinitives end on -ae.

abrae - to speak, talk ollae - to love camnae - to sleep máegnae - to understand aoutae - to see

As verbs are conjugated in person, pronouns are not needed with them.

amaet - I ta - you na & nou - it & he/she sachou - we tachou - you (all) ea & eou - they & they (plural it)

When conjugating the verbs, the infinitive ending (-ae) is replaced with a tense/mood/person ending.

present tense endings: -em, -et, -e, -elem, -eae, -es simple past tense endings: -aem, -aet, -ae, -aelaem, -aeh, -aes “just now” past tense endings: -ouchaem, -ouchaet, -ouchae, -ouchaelem, -ouche, -ouchaes “a while ago” past tense endings: -ouhaem, -ouhaet, -ouhae, -ouhaelem, -ouhe, -ouhaes potential past tense endings: -aeam, -aeat, -aea, -aealem, -eaet, -aeas future tense endings: -am, -at, -a, -alam, -aé, -as conditional mood endings: -om, -ot, -o, -aelom, -oae, -os

I sleep. / Camnem. / Շամնեմ։ She sees. / Aoutae. / Աութի։ We spoke. / Abraelaem. / Աբրիլիմ։ They just saw. / Aoutouchaes. / Աութուկիս։ You loved once. / Ollaeouhaet. / Ոլլիուհիթ։ (irregular, keeps it’s infinitive mark) I might understood. / Màegnaeam. / Մաեգնիամ։ You (all) will sleep. / Camnalam. / Շամնալամ։ He would speak. / Abro. / Աբրո։

Lori has two imperatives:

abread - speak (polite, kind of like a request) abraech - speak! (command)

In Lori, you can place “which” sentences before the noun they are about, functioning as adjectives.

Abraen pocha camne taeèlac. The dog, which spoke, is sleeping on the floor.

“Abraen” translates as “which spoke”. These can be conjugated into all the tenses and moods. The endings are:

-en (present), -aen (simple past), -achaen (”just now” past), -ahaen (”while ago” past), -aean (potential past), -an (future), -on (conditional)

Adverbs from adjectives are usually formed by either putting an en- affix on the adjectives, or a -st suffix.

talla - quick entalla / tallast - quickly

However, there are several adverbs that don’t follow this.

peaecaegae - well (poae - good) aàech - loudly (troub - loud) mouschan - beautifully (moscharae - beautiful)

None of the adverbs not formed from adjectives follow these rules, for example “maerchetounaechaes” (right now).

EXAMPLES AND SUCH

USEFUL PHRASES

Hey! / Aouae! Aoulen! Obasaech! Welcome! / Aoubranogae! Thank you! / Techastoumar! Techae! Thank you so much! / Charm techastoumare! Charm techae! My name is ... / Nonnem ... I am ... years old. / Agnourem ... I am from ... / ...-aáe anem. How are you? / On naemech? I’m good. / Assem. I’m not good. / Taegem. Good bye! / Mallan! We’ll see eachother soon! / Tataeollan! What is it? / Phant an? What is this? / Phant chat an? What is that? / Phant choun an? It is ... / ... an. This is ... / Chat ... an. That is ... / Choun ... an. There are ... / ... are. I don’t speak Lori. / Ch’abrem loraet. I don’t know. / Chour. I don’t understand. / Cháegnem. Could you (please) help me? / Ognochnet anou (dae)?

NUMBERS 1 TO 10

1 - aecha 2 - chas 3 - chare 4 - naed 5 - nach 6 - aecae 7 - caemst 8 - amst 9 - maech 10 - aechno

COLORS

coustou - red tenot - orange chesae - yellow phoaet - greem namel - blue ougel - indigo manouco - violet aoual - white tona - black omag - gray trapho - brown

aeda - light natan - dark

aednamel - light blue natacoustou - dark red

EXAMPLE TEXT

Nos natan an, aegn aeda an. Chour naemaenou t’sabaeérem, sachoum donnaaé pacar o toucar as. Aegn taebadrache aou nos alaeéd an. Aegnoum achbem, nosoum camnem boul macoucmaen. Esous aeannase aou tom aeane. Aed gnarane aou natanaeél ae abnaeéchen seleour an. Choraeod oullrat an.

Նոս նաթան ան, իգն իդա ան։ Կուր նիմինու թ՛սաբիերեմ, սակում դոննաի պաշար ո թուշար աս։ Իգն թիբադրակե աու նոս ալիեդ ան։ Իգնում ակբեմ, նոսում շամնեմ բուլ մաշուշմին։ Եսուս իաննասե աու թոմ իանե։ Իդ գնարանե աու նաթանիել ի աբնիեկեն սելեուր ան։ Կորիոդ ուլլրաթ ան։

The night is dark, the day is light. I don’t know which I prefer, because both has good sides and bad sides. At day a lot is happening while at night it’s quiet. At day I’m awake, at night I sleep comfortably in my bed. The sun grins while the moon smiles. The light shows the way while the darkness is a protecting cape. Choosing is impossible.

nos - night natan - dark an - pres. 3. person sing. of “anae” (to be) aegn - day aeda - light chour - I don’t know naemaenou - which; what t’ - that sabaeérem - pres 1. person sing. of “sabaeérae” (to prefer) sachoum - because donnaáe - genitive sing. of “donna” (both things) pacar - good quality, pro o - and toucar - bad quality, con as - pres. 3. person plur. of “anae” (to be) taebadrache - pres. 3. person sing. of “taebadrachae” (to have a lot happen when) aou - while; eye alaeéd - quiet; calm aegnoum - temporal sing. of “aegn” (day) achbem - pres. 1. person sing. of “achbae” (to be awake) nosoum - temporal sing. of “nos” (night) camnem - pres. 1. person sing. of “camnae” (to sleep) boul - comfortably macoucmaen - locative sing. of “macou” (bed) + “-maen” (my) esous - sun aeannase - pres. 3. person sing. of “aeannasae” (to smile with teeth; to grin) tom - moon aeane - pres. 3. person sing. of “aeanae” (to smile) aed - light gnarane - pres. 3. person sing. of “gnaranae” (to show the way) natanaeél - darkness ae - indefinite marker abnaeéchen - “which”-form of “abnaeéchae” (to protect) seleour - cape choraeod - choosing, deciding oullrat - abessive plur. of “oull” (possibility)

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I sadly can’t show absolutely everything about Lori as this post would be really long then, but this should show the main features. If you have any questions about Lori, feel free to ask! I’ll make a post for my second conlang, Ayde, soon!

#conlang #lori #languages

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