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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[epicbraille]

The 21st Century isn't renowned for the accuracy of its modern marvels.

[ Who needs reliable psychic powers when you can force them to work, like, once by placing 18 children in near death situations on a sinking ship or the middle of the desert, and 9 more people in an identical situation 9 years later? God speed, 21st Century. ]

So, is your Republic stable enough these days or is there another war on the horizon?

[echo_of_a_jedi]

There always seems to be something, but the latest fires are gone. There's definitely more threats out there...actually, that's what I was investigating when I wound up here...but the Republic itself could last for millennia more easily as long as there's some time to rebuild.

[epicbraille]

[ Investigating? ]

Are you some kind of intergalactic detective, or a spy?

[echo_of_a_jedi]

Nothing like that. A...

[Friend? Mentor? Archnemesis?]

...someone I know did a lot of research, and had a vision, that indicated where the next threat to the people of the Republic was. I was looking for it, and for an old friend of mine who was looking for the same thing.

[epicbraille]

[ Research and visions. There's a pair of somewhat familiar concepts. ]

Did you find it?

[echo_of_a_jedi]

Not unless it's this place. I'd barely gotten started.