First Echo

[echo_of_a_jedi]

[Video]

[A serene-looking woman sits before the camera, cross-legged on one of the tiny couch-futon-hybrids they put in these apartments. Some people might recognize her from the other night, though she's currently not wearing the big hooded brown robe, but instead a cassock-like tan garment.]

I've met some of you other "Extraterritorial Guests" already, but for those I haven't, my name is Meetra Surik. I'm a traveler here, like we all seem to be, and I seem to have gotten even more lost than I thought I was - and I was heading somewhere with no real maps in the first place.

So, my request to the network is...tell me about Earth. We seem to be on Earth, and most of the people here seem to be from different "Earths"...which I guess could mean a kind of planet, but from context, it sounds more like multiversal theory turning out to be true. At any rate, I'm new to this planet, so please, tell me all about it. In return, I'll share what I can say about the Galactic Republic, where I'm from. Deal?

Comments

[echo_of_a_jedi]

I guess war's unavoidable even on the scale of just one planet...

What's the "time of kings and queens", though? From everything I've seen, monarchies work just as well as democracies for individual planets, depending on the culture. Well, the Republic's a republic, obviously, but it would be impossible to have one person in charge of that many different planets anyway.

2/2

[autofocus]

[He clasped his hands and try to focus the usual- the usual, composing mind, feeling a part of him pulling out and rare concentration to summon the tiny self-duplicate...]

Summon.

[A completely different ninja comes out. Wait whoa hold on whoa. He's bad at history and hardly remember any historical figures but.

Isn't that.

Ishikawa Goemon.

He summoned Ishikawa Goemon. Freaking Goemon.]

[demifemme]

I've seen it, in a way. An image of a tiny portion of it was projected into my mind for me to witness while the cycle of reincarnation of worlds was being explained to me.

I don't think I have any spiritual belief left, aside from God being an asshole. In my world, gods are facts.

[echo_of_a_jedi]

Oh...I guess you can do it too.

[Not exactly what she was expecting, but the government here had told her that people from other worlds all tended to have the ability to summon these things.]

[echo_of_a_jedi]

Like the ones they call demons in this world?

[autofocus]

T-this isn't my summon....

[Ishikawa freaking Goemon. Forget about his tiny duplicate, he summoned something completely and utterly awesome; that he for once, on a rare occasion, is flabbergasted. ]

[greyerrant]

We met a culture like that once.

They attacked us and claimed we betrayed them.

[ And then the Imperium happened to the interex. ]

[epicbraille]

[ Despite having been called princely before, Snake doesn't have much of an opinion when it comes to monarchies. Monarchs can be a valuable part of history when they're dead on gone, but until then they're just people who were born into celebrity status. ]

Perhaps people would rather be governed by someone they voted for, instead of seeing power passed down to the next in line.

[ He shrugs. There's a million and one different reasons why people don't care for monarchies. Jealousy might be a little bit more to blame than a thirst for democracy, though. ]

Could you tell me a little bit about this Galactic Republic of planets, miss?

[echo_of_a_jedi]

The short version is that around 20,000 years ago, after the invention of hyperdrive, a large number of worlds in the core of the galaxy banded together to create a united government, military, and economy. The Republic expanded since to claim the majority of the galaxy, although of course only a tiny percentage of that is habitable.

It's basically an alliance or confederation, more than a monolith, with each member planet usually maintaining its own government, but the Senate oversees anything that goes on between planets or star systems.

Overall it's the largest and strongest faction in the galaxy, but there's been a series of wars lately that have really taken a toll. Exar Kun's Sith, then the Mandalorians, and then...well, more Sith. The Republic's 'won' every war, but for a while there, it was supposedly a month away from collapse.

[echo_of_a_jedi]

Did you?

[Trust a Jedi to ask the obvious yet wrong question.]

[echo_of_a_jedi]

Are you alright?

[autofocus]

[Please reconnect, Tsuchiya is long out of his quiet, could-care-less behavior.

Ninja of all ninjas, this man was the legendary Ishikawa Goemon who was a renowned ninja and assassin. The man who was basically Tsuchiya's childhood hero and just oh my god inner fanboying.]

... This is... Ishikawa...

[echo_of_a_jedi]

[A name that means less than nothing to Meetra, but she can here the awe in the kid's voice.]

...congratulations?

[autofocus]

[He holds up a thumbs up, lady he's beyond happy right now.

Like almost as happy as if naked girls suddenly surround him-- well, almost, if that situation ever happens he'd quickly die happy.]

[echo_of_a_jedi]

[Meetra returns the thumbs-up.]

I'll uh...leave you to that. You can give me a call if you need help with anything.

[epicbraille]

[ So this all took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

Snake isn't going to point out that this all sounds a wee bit Star Wars. Whether this person is delusional, lying, or the real deal doesn't matter to him in the slightest. If she's lying then he'll get a good laugh out of it; if she's telling the truth then he'll get an interesting story out of it.

It's win-win. ]

Goodness me. The 21st Century doesn't have much to offer in the way of interplanetary space travel, so you'll forgive me if I'm a little taken aback.

[greyerrant]

No loyal servant of the Emperor betrayed them.
[ His voice gets very bitter. ]

But a snake within our midst betrayed us both to his dark masters.

[demifemme]

"Demons" is a catch-all for all supernatural creatures, like in my world, from what I understand. So yeah, that would include gods and goddesses. I personally have gods among the demons I can summon here.

[echo_of_a_jedi]

I guess that kind of disinclines people to the idea of worship...

[echo_of_a_jedi]

And started a war for no reason other than that. That sounds familiar.

[echo_of_a_jedi]

I gathered that. This place apparently has interdimensional travel, but that's not the same thing and seems to be a fluke anyway.

[Well, he seemed interested and aloof enough that she might as well get into the discussion that sounded religious. It was important, after all.]

Hyperdrive is what brought the Republic together politically. For a while, the Jedi Order was what held it together spiritually by teaching about the Force, but that all started changing some time after Exar Kun's war, and now it's almost entirely gone.

[demifemme]

*Shura pauses at that.* I... suppose. Personally, I wasn't very religious to begin with, but to know that no god is personally interested in my well-being, and even that a particularly powerful god was intent on making people suffer, killed any faith I could have had. Not to say I hate gods though, don't get me wrong. Some are really nice. I just don't worship them.

[captainofthe10th]

Oh? Explain.

[echo_of_a_jedi]

My galaxy's history is full of people who'd betray what they stood for and start a war to prove a philosophical point, or because it was the only way they saw to achieve a noble goal, or because some dead Sith's spirit clinging to material existence told them to. Even just in the past fifty years that's happened three or four times.

It's honestly getting a little old.

[echo_of_a_jedi]

A god actively out to hurt people sure doesn't sound like it deserves worship.

I don't really worship anything, I suppose. The Force is an important part of the universe, with its own will, but it can be directed and understood scientifically, too, so it's not a question of faith.