Meet the Dinos

February 15, 2002

OOC
Telgar wanted a refreshed on the Star Law and the UPF (United Planetary Federation). Raleigh was correct - here's a wee more info:

United Planetary Federation: When the races began meeting each other, there were loose alliances and leagues established. But in the First Sathar War, when the Sathar appeared out of nowhere and launched their atacks, the races allied together and formed a powerful military power now referred to as the United Planetary Federation. The UPF has become a more political entity over the years, but they maintain the Frontier's interstellar security and protect the Frontier. Over time, they began to protect the Frontier from internal threats as well. To do this, they created a new branch, the Star Law. As Raleigh mentioned, the UPF handles the spacefleet and landfleet and acts as a mediator for interplanetary conflict and alien invasions.
Star Law: Planets themselves handle their own security, from local security, police forces, armies, etc. The Star Law was created to handle interstellar crime, piracy, and other events that are not clearly within planetary jurisdiction. Star Law itself doesn't have a massive army of enforcers, as they can enlist the help of planetary police or armies as necessary. But Star Law does have more power than regular planetary security forces - high ranking Star Law officers have the ability to declare martial law over cities. The highest ranks of Star Law can in theory declare martial law over entire planets.

IC
   Payne gives a cold stare into the eyes of the Dino who points him out. Other than that, he remains silent, allowing the leaders of the group to answer the interrogation.

   Klik is shocked by the sight of the sathar statue. Her mind races, weighing the consequences. Finally, one of the dinos addresses the team.
   "Why have you come here?" he speaks in raspy Pan-Galactic.
   Klik steps forward immediately. She extends her arms, digits upward, and nods slowly. She briefly speaks aloud to Telgar before fully addressing the dino. "Commander Telkar, this is why I am here. Let me introduce myself. Agent Klak, Star Law."
   As Telgar formulates an appropriate answer to the questions asked, Klik stepped forward and started talking for the team. Telgar's first instinct was to try and beat Klik to the draw, but realizing that she is probably the best suited diplomat at this point, being a vrusk, he allows her to continue.
   When Payne hears Klik, the Curious speak that four letter word, "star law" he begins to look at Klik with disappointment and mistrust. "Star Law, I knew there was something I did not trust about you, damn you."
   "Peace and greetings I bring on behalf of the United Planetary Federation. I am Klik'n Klak, a representative of the Federation. We have come to learn about the planet Volturnus."
    Raleigh is dumbfounded. From Pirates to giant, fuzzy dinos that keep art of Sathar! Whats next the Tech wonders. Instead of opening his mouth and revealing his astonishment Raleigh instead keeps his mouth shut and hopes that Klik knows what shes doing.
    Upon Klik's revelation, BudRREEPboopboopboop perks up and emits a puff of odor of surprise. "GREEbobble?" he says...the polyvox in his hand translating, "Star Law?"
"GREEBblibble flibble FLOO!" he exclaims. "THANK SPACE!" the polyvox translates. Bud slumps into a posture of relief.
    As the encounter with the Dino Diplomats unfolds in the museum, Ooob-a-loom takes in the variety of exhibits on display around him. After recovering from the shock of realising Star Law had an agent in their team, the Dralasite Tech generally ignores the conversation between the Dinos and the Star Law snitch. "We can deal with this deception at a more appropriate time." he mutters quietly but the orange hue of his skin and the musky scent emanating from his pores gives away his feelings about Star Law immediately to Bud and anyone else who has spent time with Dralasites and cares to take notice.
    In an effort to distract himself from the annoyance of the Star Law infiltration, Ooob-a-loom amuses himself by moulding his body into obscene replications of the Sathar statues fornicating with themselves.

   "You defeated the Star Devil at their base. Why did you do this?", the dino asks.
   "The Star Devil are outlaws, rogues, a danger to all free beings," Klik responds.
    "Why did you help the Edestekai?"
    "We brought justice to the Star Devil and released all of their slaves, including the Edestekai. The Star Devil was exploiting, enslaving, using the Edestekai. That is forbidden by our laws."
    "How long have you been on this planet you call Volturnus?"
"We have all been here many weeks, but less than a year."
    "You are looking for us. We are well hidden here. What do you want of us?"
"We want to meet you, to learn of you and the planet Volturnus. We want a peaceful and mutually beneficial relationship with you." Klik pauses a moment for all the responses to sink in and to gauge their nonverbal messages and emotional states (helped by the Vrusk ability Comprehension). She continues. "What should we call your race? What may I call you personally? We wish to affirm our friendship by telling you our histories. Who can tell us the history of your people, that we may know each other?"
    When Ooob hears the dino ask the last question, he begins to chuckle quietly to himself.
    The dino regards the group a moment. "We are Eorna." The leader look among the team members. "We see some are wounded. We can help," the dino motions to two of the armed Eornas, who lower their weapons and step forward. "If you wish," the leader continues.
    Klik also describes herself as a doctor, and offers the two races should be able to learn from each other. The head Eorna asks the armed leader about the wounded dinos. The officer answers in Eorna tongue. The head Eorna addresses the group again. "You attacked three Eorna and disabled two security bots."
    Klik explains this was all done in self defense, and when the dinos were secured, she applied what medical help she could to the wounded Eorna.
    Ooob, despite several looks of annoyance from 'Star Law' and the Dino diplomats, Ooob-a-loom is literally rolling
around the floor and laughing uncontrollably. In between gasps of breath and laughter he tries to say, "That's...the funniest...thing...I...ever...heard!! Looking....for us....well hidden.... hahaha" Still laughing and rolling around he gasps "Somebody...sedate...me!" From the change of pheromones being released from Ooob's pores Bud realises that this suddenly isn't a laughing matter. Big Red has developed a case of 'The Wobbles'! Humans often refer to a much milder version of this as 'the giggles', conversely Yazirians have the Battle Rage, but that's Yazirians for. Nobody is quite sure what the Vrusk equivalent might be? If a Dralasite laughs too hard for too long in some cases they can loose control of their elasticity and body shape hence 'the wobbles'.
    Nevertheless, the utter absurdity of the situation appeals greatly to Bud's bizarre Dralasite sense of humor, and he begins to chuckle at watching Ooob roll around on the floor in hysterics. Bud's own laughter builds until he, too, falls on the floor, holding his pseudotorso and rolling around next to Ooob, sometimes bouncing off him like two billiard balls. Their combined cackling echo throughout the cavern.
    Some of the nearby Eorna bare their teeth and bring their weapons back up. The rest regard the dralasite hysterics with curiosity or confusion. The head Eorna regards the two bobbling dralistes and addresses Klik after a few moments of study. "Are they in need of help? We do not understand their stance."
    Klik heaves a heavy sigh. "They are Dralasites, another race of beings in our Frontier. Their odd behavior is standard to their culture. Their gestures are not aggressive."
    Payne switches his attention from the Dino-Supreme-Dude to the the attention of Klik. Payne is trying to keep his temper under control, Star Law will be trouble.
    The dialogue continues for many minutes. Primary questions asked/answered:

Klik asks if there are other tribes of Eorna. This question is ignored and a counter-question is asked about the Frontier and how many planets are part of it. If ever asked this again, the Eorna continue to avoid the question.
Klik asks how long the Eorna have been on Volturnus, and if they are native to the planet. The Eorna answer "We Eorna are the first, the oldest on this planet. We are from the mighty Tragnaz." The Eorna gestures to a nearby statue of a large dinosaur. The Eorna resemble dinosaurs greatly, except they are now covered by a hide of fur, rather than the scaly, tough skin of the typical dinosaur. It is easy to see how they could have evolved from such a creature.
Klik asks if the Eorna communicate with the Edestekai, Kurabanda, Ul-Mor, or Sathar. Their answer: "We know well the other races on this planet... The Sathar are not of this planet." They again move on to other questions, leaving this cryptic answer their only response. They do not answer questions about how they relate to each of the races.
Klik asks "We wish to learn your customs so we don't mistakenly offend you. Why don't you use your technology to communicate with us?" The Eorna responds: "We know your language, 'Pan-Gal', we have studied Star Devil since they came here." The Eorna then explain a part of their culture, gesturing to the many works as he speaks. What is revealed is summed below:

The Eorna worship beauty. They believe that the purpose of life is to come to know true beauty, which can take many forms; it can be physical, moral, intellectual, historical, etc. Of course, the Eorna idea of beauty is not necessarily the same as that of the Frontier races. The Eorna have no priests or spiritual leaders. As a form of worship, the Eorna create magnificent sculptures of crystals and light, high technology items, great works of music, logical systems of thought, and other objects of beauty. To an Eorna, creative work is in itself a religious experience. Anything which tends to destroy life and beauty should be discouraged, or if necessary, totally eliminated.

Despite this seemingly simple existence, Klik can tell the Eorna are keeping something back, something of great importance they do not seem willing to reveal.

    During this dialogue, Taam stares at the exhibits with his jaw agape, a long tendril of tobacco laced drool hanging out, finally speaking. "Well I'll be ding-dong damned! Firkin' dino's done known about tha' whole planet and all. How's it supposed ta be that a buggerin' rep-tile is speakin' in Pan-Gal? Ah'll be dumber than a yazirian's uncle."
    Taam gains the attention of the nearest dino. He reaches in his jacked pocket and retrieves a large stick of his seemingly endless supply of chew. "Well here be, If yer's so smart ye'll know a good thing when ya sees it -- HERE YA GO, BEASTIE, HERE'S A GOOD TASTY PIECE UP THERE FER YE! HA'V SOME,
YE'LL BE LIKIN' IT NOW!"
    Taam uses expansive gestures and speaks very loudly. He offers up a good portion of chaw, to ensure that it sees it as a peace-offering. The armed dino looks to his nearby comrads, who speak softly among themselves. The armed dino steps forward cautiously, then accepts the tobacco. He sniffs it, then strikes it a few times with his toungue. His lip curls.
    "NO NO, BEASTIE, LIKE THIS....LIKE THiiiiiiiiis," Taam begins, speaking loudly to be sure the Eorna understands. This side show of diplomacy draws the attention of Klik, but she is too directly involved with the head Eornas to jump in an intervene. Taam shoves some chew in the side of his mouth, grandiously, so the armed Eorna sees exactly what to do. The Eorna pauses, then puts the entire stick in the side of his mouth. The nearby Eorna watch with interest.
    "THE WHOLE THING? NAW, BEASTIE, SAVE SOME FOR LATER....L-AAATER." Taam pulls the chaw out of his mouth, ripping it in half, urging the dino to do the same. Once this is corrected, Taaam takes a few chews. The dino follows his lead. After a few chews, you see the Eorna swallow the tobacco flavored saliva generated. It barks a cough and spits the plug from it mouth, following with a few more coughs. The nearby Eorna seem amused. The dino rasps something in Eorna tongue to Taam, and retreats back to his comrads, biting and licking at his chops, trying to purge any remaining tobacco from his mouth.

Telgar asks "Are there any other bases operated by races not native to Vultornus besides the three we have already encountered?" The Eorna regard Telgar. The four 'leaders' speak briefly among themselves in their own tongue. "There may be others," they simply answer, not going anywhere else with the question for now.
Telagar asks "Do all of these statutes represent beings that live on this planet?" The Eorna reply "These are art. Many live, or have lived here. Many are fabrications of the artistic minds."
Telgar asks "What is your knowledge of these [pointing to the sathar]?" The Eorna stiffens ever so slightly. "The Sathar, as your race calls them." They look among the team carefully for long moments. "We have not seen the Sathar in many years."

With this, the Eorna stop the dialogue. They offer the team medical attention, food, water. But they instist you remain in this are until they can consult among themselves. They will continue to hold your weapons. The two Eorna identified as medics will remain to give medical assistance if required, but the four Eorna who speak Pan-Gal will leave the room (through the Eastern Door). Many of the armed Eorna leave as well, leaving only eight of the original eighteen armed Eorna to watch. Of these eight, four will move to each of the doors and remain there as guards.
The head Eorna invite you to remain and relax here in the "culture center", and promise to return soon after discussing this matter further with other Eorna.

OOC
If asked, the Eorna will not allow you to have your wepons back. If pressed, they will remind you (a bit agitated) that you have broken into their complex without invite, have disabled two of their command bots, and injured sick Eorna. The dialogue you have just had was well, but you are still under careful eye. If you continue to demand your weapons, well, we'll play that out if necessary.

If you have any additional questions before the 4 Eorna leave, ask them now. Otherwise, tell me what you want to do (if anything) while you wait on their return. There are 2 Eorna medics here to offer healing if you would like. However, none of these Eorna that remain (including the medics) can speak Pan-Gal.

~fin.

If you have any