"That's it?" Donovan was in shock at how little was required to perform a proper greeting. Granted, this was reserved for greeting the Arboreal Maiden, but it was still quite short.
He thought it might even be less formal than a parade salute.
For men it was a slight bow with closed eyes and neutral expression, the reasons for the neutral expression having been explained to him with great detail. Diana was to wear a similar expression, except she curtsied in lieu of bowing. Even if they had to do that every time they met the Arboreal Maiden it wouldn't be that much of an issue.
"She insists on keeping it short and to the point. Knowing her personality, I think she would prefer it if there was no such greeting in the first place." The Captain was with them in the room. For the Captain of a ship, he sure had a lot of free time on his hands.
"If that's the case then why do you still do it?" Diana didn't want to do something if it didn't need to be done. She was taught that diplomatic niceties became a hindrance past a certain point. "She's a god right? Surely it couldn't be a bad thing to respect her wishes?"
That made sense right? If someone is in a higher position than you and they want to do away with a process that isn't really needed, why wouldn't you oblige?
"Perhaps if she was independent such an arrangement would be acceptable." The Scholar continued to adjust the minute deviancies in their stances, especially Donovan's, with his hands. "As she is tied to the Sanctum and is considered one of the most senior among the gods, her position in the universal hierarchy requires this much at minimum."
"Universal hierarchy?" A brand new term. More information that Diana needed to digest.
"The positions of various entities, collective or individual, in relation to each other in terms of influence. The Great Csillacra is unquestionably at the top of this list, and the Arboreal Maiden falls on the rung below alongside a few other gods and powerful countries."
"One person is as powerful as an interstellar empire?" Alarm bells were blaring in Don's head at that thought.
He had learned that quality always beat quantity, all ancillary factors being equal, but that had limits. So long as there existed a chance for the lower quality entity to damage the higher one, they would eventually do so.
An infinite number of 0.0000000000001% chances would eventually result in a success, it usually just meant the production cost/expense ratio of the higher quality unit in comparison to the lower quality one was almost always better. The implication that a single person, presumably operating at a similar or greater tactical level as an organized military body, could beat one of the largest and likely most advanced armies without assistance would require a revision of his known battlefield tactics.
The Scholar caught on to his panicked expression and inferred what he was thinking about. "It isn't as much a ranking of military might as it is one of popular influence. The Arboreal Maiden could mobilize about as many people and as much money with a decree as could a large empire. The Great Csillacra could probably push the entire universe for a cause if it so pleased."
Another gut punch, this time for Diana. If her opponent in a negotiation could move an empire to action with the stroke of a pen, what could she hope to bring to the table? What could she hope to get out of it? It could take a lifetime of building enough influence to even get a seat at the table, forget striking a deal that would be unilaterally beneficial for them.
Would it be possible to get close to one of these people? Borrow their power for her own use? The Arboreal Maiden was probably off the table owing to that vow of neutrality the Sanctum follows, but could an Emperor be persuaded to put his name on the line for them?
Already she was trying to think of potential schemes she could pull off if given a chance situation. Could you call her conniving if she was trying to survive?
"I think we will practice these greetings for about half an hour or so every day until we arrive. I want your form to be immaculate." The Scholar took one last good look at their poses, deciding they were close enough for their specific anatomy to the baseline. "You can leave now Captain. From here on out it is going to mostly be teachings that you already know all about."
"Very well. Donovan, we will continue our sword training in the morning, but focus on your studies for now. If you'll excuse me, I have a bridge to attend to." He left the room at a brisk pace.
- - - - - - - - - - -
The lecture went along rather uneventfully, questions being asked where and when necessary, and ended when it was time for dinner. All went as scheduled.
"I didn't think learning about foreign customs could be so," Don struggled to find a word to describe it without seeming like he was insulting them, "bland?"
To him, it was borderline torturous to sit in that room. The Scholar tried to make it interesting, he really did, and it showed. Unfortunately, no matter how much you season and decorate a pile of shit, it is still shit in the end. There was absolutely nothing of real substance in what they had been taught, most of it was stuff that was entirely irrelevant to his duty, that or he already knew it.
The only somewhat interesting topic that was touched on was how Split generally holds a major amount of influence in their society. He showed a bit of what could be accomplished with it, a crackling font of sparks emanating from his palm for about three seconds before stopping. He mentioned how someone's proficiency in split decided their rank in life.
Given his pale face, shaky breaths, and dimmed eyes after this show, Don and Diana alike could tell split was not his specialty. Apparently one's ability to wield it was hereditary to some degree, and he was actually an oddity amongst his family with his lower than expected ability. This resulted in his eventual admittance to the Sanctum as a scholar.
"I wouldn't call it that." Diana tried to defend the lecture. Truth be told, she agreed it was a drag, but there was very important information for them there, mostly in the form of context. At least she could make sure they didn't enter this brave new world blind to how they should be acting. "I for one find these lectures to be very informative."
She used her fork to tear a leaf from the bulb presented on their plate.
"All I ask is that you try to pay attention to what he says. Learn who not to piss off, how to act, why things happen, et cetera, in order to get an idea of the bigger picture."
"The bigger picture huh?" Don poked his bulb with his fork with disgust. He wasn't fond of veggies much in the first place, straight up leaves even less so. "To me the bigger picture looks like a fucking mess."
Diana munched her leaf into a paste and swallowed, slightly bitter, but it went well with the provided drink. "What does the bigger picture look like to you? If you don't mind, I might be able to help clear it up."
Don took the dive with his cocoon of leaves, finding it to be slightly less disgusting than anticipated. "For one, we are fucked beyond all recognition with the whole Earth situation. No industrial or research base, human resources, economic power, or military backing means we won't have much to work with that is completely our own for some time."
"You seem pretty clear on that point to me..."
"Not really. Not even ARC really has an estimate of when basic production facilities will be online. Should it have a constant, uninterrupted, flow of processed raw materials with which to build orbital infrastructure with, it might be able to get a corvette scale slipway operational and at maximum efficiency in eleven months. It didn't even bother to give an estimate on that without an effectively unlimited supply due to the amount of factors."
"How long do you think it might take?"
"Decades probably. If we end up having to process asteroids using nanites and synthesize shit like oil and rubber on our own, we may as well give up on using modern equipment to do the job."
Yikes. She was trying to make the future clear for him, but instead she was the one getting a lesson on just how bad it might be. "What if we didn't have to make all the parts on our own? Could we order gears or whatever ARC needs to speed up the process?"
Don just about dropped his fork when she said that. "With the level of technological development they have? Forget the level of precision we would need, I don't even think they know the proper processes to make something that would last long enough to be replaced."
Don grabbed the sword at his hip and pulled it up for her to see.
"ARC says this thing is basically just impure iron, and the Captain called it higher than average quality. If they can't even make crude steel I doubt they can properly work with shit like, I don't know, Tungsten and Praseodymium."
"Praseo...?"
"Praseodymium. Element 69 on the table I think? Maybe its 59. We use it for high intensity thrusters and electronics. Apparently, it's also the primary material used in those brand new engines on the Noah."
"Ooookay, so we'll have our time in the academy to figure that out. What of your perspective beyond our domestic capabilities?"
"Where to start? Uh, I think that this, what was it again, foodal -"
"Feudal."
"- Feudal system is really stupid and I can't understand why anybody would be willing to go along with it." He was beginning to wish they had more to drink. He had been downing his with big gulps to wash the unpleasant taste away.
"Could you elaborate on what you are confused about?" She had been taught about this sort of thing, government and politics, more than he had all the way back on Earth. She should probably be able to clear anything up.
"Biggest thing is why the second tier from the top, Dukes? Why are they willing to serve under the king even with their relatively similar power."
If he was a duke, he would probably revolt against a higher authority, especially the ones which seemed so heinously incompetent as had been described by the Scholar. He didn't paint them in a bad light of course, but by their standards the relative wealth of the populace in comparison could only mean corruption.
"I think it might be more of a protective arrangement Don, not a relationship of overlordship like I think you are imagining. They probably could revolt if they wanted to, but their current arrangements are likely just too good for them. They get to hold a vast amount of power and they get to call upon others to protect their realms in times of war. Plus, I imagine it must be nice to have a scapegoat should something go terribly wrong with your management."
"A scapegoat? Who?"
"The King, the one at the top. If, say, a tax policy of yours ends up bringing the population to revolt, it wouldn't be too hard to point your finger at the king and pull a 'he told me to' in order to redirect their anger." She wasn't a stranger to politicking, despite never having participated.
"Can't the same be done to them? Like can't the King say that its all a subordinate's fault?"
"Maybe, but they can revolt, remember? Plus, its not like the common folk can do anything about it either. From the looks of it, interstellar travel isn't exactly cheap, so it isn't feasible for a militia of angry peasants to make their way to the capital planet to depose the king. To me it seems like its a win-win situation for them."
"How in the hell is that a win-win? The King isn't getting anything out of that!"
Diana had one word to refute that. "Taxes."
"What?"
"The King gets taxes in return, probably levies as well. In return for being someone to point at and say 'he did it' he gets free money and a free army, Not to mention international influence and fame. I imagine there's a massive superiority complex that goes along with the territory."
Diana reached over the table and brought Donovan's bulb to her own plate.
"I imagine this relationship goes all the way down to the lowest level as well. I get free money and free soldiers, in exchange you get an excuse to oppress your subordinates without recourse."
"And the people are okay with that?" Donovan was a little incredulous at this.
"They probably wouldn't be if they knew there was a better way. Did you know that the Scholar is one of only a few people aboard this ship who can read and write a language? Supposedly, it is called Sanctum-Script, and it is one of the few written languages that exists in the universe."
"That was a hell of a tangent." Don just stared at her, dumbfounded. "Where the hell did that come from? How does that fit in at all?"
"Just think about it Don. Think about what I said." Diana was really trying to raise his ability to think critically outside of military matters.
"The Scholar is one of only a few people that know how to read and write some Sanctum-Script or whatever. What about it?"
"Maybe that was misleading." Diana had added some distracting information. "If I rephrase it you might understand. The Scholar is one of only a few people that know how to read and write aboard this ship."
"Really?"
"Really. The only people on this ship who can read are the Scholar, Captain, Cartographer, and some of the cadets. For the most part, these people are illiterate. What do you think a low literacy rate among the higher echelons means for the peasantry?"
Don didn't really understand the full benefits that the ability to read gave. "Is it harder for them to communicate? Hard to organize around a cause and fight back?"
"That would certainly be an issue, but its probably more an issue of knowledge. They probably don't know that there are different ways to do things, feudalism is all they know."
"They haven't figured out elective representation?"
"If I had to guess, they probably haven't even figured out constitutional monarchism given the fact that they can't read."
"They can't even draft laws then can they."
"It's unlikely. That makes it all the more important to pay attention so that you don't break any rules or get on someone's bad side. We won't be able to do much from a prison cell."
"Noted." Donovan never finished eating his meal, the relatively bland leaves reminded him too much of standard space rations.
- - - - -
The vast majority of their remaining time on the Oberlux would be spent on a consistent schedule. Training and learning were the biggest time sinks, but they were introduced to an array of hobbies and activities that high-born aristocrats would consider appropriate for their rank.
Unsurprisingly, Don found them all to be some of the most tedious activities he had ever done in his life.
A variety of board games that were interesting for the first few rounds, but eventually revealed themselves to be less complex than checkers. They were all solved games, like connect four and tic-tac-toe. Once Don figured out the pattern they were stupid easy to play.
Dancing was something he would probably need in some official capacity, a gala or some other event, but there was little chance of him doing it because he wanted to, and actually learning to play music? He would rather die.
The only real hobby of any degree of acceptability was swordplay, but even that had its limits.
He would stick to reading and theory-crafting with ARC. Recently, he was becoming engrossed in some old naval theories, specifically the Jeune Ecole and Mahanian Doctrine.
In contrast, Diana was positively enthralled with some of the activities at her disposal. It seemed the ladies not only had more options, but far more variations of them.
She had always tried to stay fashionable, if a little more reserved in her choices, so learning about 'high fashion' intrigued her greatly. Unfortunately for her, the materials these clothes were made of disagreed with her skin. Maybe once ARC got a facility online she could design and manufacture her own dresses, that would be something interesting. Hell, it could give her an edge amongst the ladies.
Flower arrangement she found surprisingly entertaining, more like a puzzle than anything else. Sometimes a single flower could make or break a display.
She thought that dancing might be neat to try too, but ultimately agreed with Don's desire to only have to do it when politically expedient. Hobbies were nice, but if they took up too much time they were detrimental to their goals.
In the end, they found that the life of a noble could be described by the term 'empty schedule'. The Scholar made it very clear that most nobles were proficient in at least one craft, and dabbled to a degree in many others.
Most nobles also seemed to know how to ride a mount. They didn't know what these mounts were, nor if they were even the same species, but the consistent translation to 'mount' meant they were probably something similar to a horse. Apparently if you couldn't command one of them, you were viewed as unfit to lead. This was a comment that Donovan impulsively labeled stupid out loud. This drew Diana's scorn and a sigh from the Scholar (who apparently agreed) before being forgotten the next day.
Nearing the end of their journey, they started being taught more about split.
"Split is everywhere, though there are notable exceptions, and forms a core function in our view of nature." The Scholar started drawing symbols on a board. "To our knowledge, split is a necessary component to the formation of life."
Diana's hand shot up, a practice they had developed for their lectures. "If it is so important, then why do we exist. You keep saying that our world didn't have any or something like that."
"If that was your takeaway, then I am sorry for misleading you. The reality of the situation isn't that your reality had no split, it just had an abysmally low amount of it. The Great Csillacra likely implemented some way for you to survive in such a deficit, but there was definitely some there."
"Now that you mention it, the sun gave off a reading on the split scanners." Donovan remembered his time isolated in the Kuiper Belt.
"I take it that is some method of sensing split, which actually leads us quite nicely into the second part, which is its generation." He finished a few of the symbols on the chalkboard, each labelled in some sloppy English. He was progressing well, especially in the written realm, but the combination of his long fingers and writing on a vertical surface resulted in only barely legible writing.
From left to right, they were a bug, fish (scaly and swimming were universal constants for fish apparently), small animal, tree, human, greater beast, planet, and star.
"The amount of split something generates increases the farther right they are. To give a sense of scale though, it should be noted that while there are some humans that generate more split than some weaker greater beasts, there is not a single greater beast than produces more than a planet. Stars, following that logic, completely dwarf planets in a side by side comparison.
Just as stars are the sources of life for us with how much split they produce, your star probably allowed you to live by producing the barest minimum of it."
He drew a few wispy lines from the star outward, each ending at one of the creatures.
"Once a living being reaches maturity, they will produce enough split naturally to keep themselves alive without an outside source, though it is uncomfortable and can weaken you over time. Those with a greater proficiency in manipulating split, nobles, can usually generate a sizable surplus. Gods often generate enough for a few people.
It is this function of stars, their ability to generate vast quantities of split, that makes them a vital part of life. Children born and raised in the presence of a higher quality star, one that makes more split, will demonstrate a higher level of proficiency with split."
Certain things started to click into place for Donovan. "Is that a big reason why the green stars are fought over? They can make you more powerful in the future?"
"That is one reason, but there are others. Food grows faster and in greater abundance, and deposits of valuable minerals tend to be of higher quality. They also replenish faster."
The Scholar gave his best shot at drawing what looked like a stalk of some grain and a sword, likely representative of metal.
"But there are risks. The star turning hostile is one you experienced first hand, but animals run the risk of transforming into equivalently more powerful greater beasts. Asteroids and other debris will also form at a higher rate, so impacts on the surface happen more frequently here."
Don and Diana could make an inference to what he was drawing as it was coupled with context, but the Scholar was definitely not called the Artist for a reason.
"Generally, the rewards outweigh the risks." He turned around, an opening for more questions.
Diana's hand shot up again. "How much greater are the benefits of the green stars in comparison to, say, a yellow one?"
"It depends heavily on how powerful the individual star is. The color classification might be a bit misleading to someone who knows nothing about the way stars work, but they fall onto a spectrum.
I'm sure you remember how at times your star exhibited patches of different colors all changing into one another? Most stars are a single color. The shade of that color is a more direct comparison to their actual strength, a lime colored Verdant stage star is going to be less valuable than one that is a deep green."
Don's hand shot up next. "Why was it patchy then? Does it have something to do with that weird spiky shape it made?"
"The reason it was patchy was because of our attacks on it. I won't go into specifics as you don't know enough about it to understand fully, but our method of attack dilutes a star's split concentration. The impacts are spread over the stars massive surface, so it takes time for it to even out."
So it was like a bowl of honey. If you scoop some out it will take time for it to fill the crater, but it will eventually level itself.
"We aren't exactly sure why hostile stars take that shape, we can't exactly ask them you see, but we do know that a star that has taken that shape WILL attack. It doesn't have anything to do with its color. Do you have any more questions on the subject?"
"I have a few, but I don't think they are too relevant to the topic. Diana?" Don had some things he wanted to know, but he wasn't sure if the Scholar would be able to understand the terminology without consulting the dictionary. More specifically, the replenishment of mineral deposits and what he meant by their quality.
If high purity tungsten, copper, and iron veins could replenish themselves in a reasonable timeframe and he could get a hold of them, production would be cheaper then either he or ARC had anticipated. If materials like coal, oil, and fissile nuclear material were included, concerns about power generation could reasonably be thrown out the window.
"I have some, but they are probably more complex. Are you familiar with the concept of terraforming Scholar?"
He consulted his dictionary. "To transform a lifeless planet into something that can be lived on..? If you are asking whether or not we have tried such a thing, then I can't definitively give you an answer. There is a lot of history, most of which has, regrettably, not been recorded. If I had to guess though, probably not."
"Why is that?"
"Establishing a colony on a planet in a reasonable time period is already expensive enough to cripple small kingdoms, so I can't imagine anyone would want to finance the creation of a livable planet when perfectly good candidates for colonization already exist."
Diana furrowed her brow. Establishing a colony on an already habitable planet was expensive? Sure getting the infrastructure and industry online might be a pain, but that applied to infrastructure and industry universally. Surely it couldn't be taxing to the point of economic collapse right?
"If that's the case, then how did you guys expand to where you are now?" Don didn't know much about territorial expansion, it wasn't relevant to his duties, but surely they would have to have had some way to expand to their size.
He had seen a truly massive star map covering an entire wall courtesy of the Cartographer and taken a photo of it. ARC estimated there to be close to a million stars plotted on it, at least a third of which had habited planets in orbit.
All of those plotted stars were only the ones with relevant travel lanes between them, supposedly there were a great many stars in the spaces between.
He wasn't willing to believe they reached 300,000 inhabited planets without colonizing a single one.
"Most of them were introduced, placed, in their locations. They were already inhabited, results of the experiments of the Great Csillacra the same as you."
"The Great Csillacra can do that?"
"Of course it can! Should your people and planet have survived, you would have had the ability to choose where you wished to be placed as well!"
"That's it?" Donovan was in shock at how little was required to perform a proper greeting. Granted, this was reserved for greeting the Arboreal Maiden, but it was still quite short.
He thought it might even be less formal than a parade salute.
For men it was a slight bow with closed eyes and neutral expression, the reasons for the neutral expression having been explained to him with great detail. Diana was to wear a similar expression, except she curtsied in lieu of bowing. Even if they had to do that every time they met the Arboreal Maiden it wouldn't be that much of an issue.
"She insists on keeping it short and to the point. Knowing her personality, I think she would prefer it if there was no such greeting in the first place." The Captain was with them in the room. For the Captain of a ship, he sure had a lot of free time on his hands.
"If that's the case then why do you still do it?" Diana didn't want to do something if it didn't need to be done. She was taught that diplomatic niceties became a hindrance past a certain point. "She's a god right? Surely it couldn't be a bad thing to respect her wishes?"
That made sense right? If someone is in a higher position than you and they want to do away with a process that isn't really needed, why wouldn't you oblige?
"Perhaps if she was independent such an arrangement would be acceptable." The Scholar continued to adjust the minute deviancies in their stances, especially Donovan's, with his hands. "As she is tied to the Sanctum and is considered one of the most senior among the gods, her position in the universal hierarchy requires this much at minimum."
"Universal hierarchy?" A brand new term. More information that Diana needed to digest.
"The positions of various entities, collective or individual, in relation to each other in terms of influence. The Great Csillacra is unquestionably at the top of this list, and the Arboreal Maiden falls on the rung below alongside a few other gods and powerful countries."
"One person is as powerful as an interstellar empire?" Alarm bells were blaring in Don's head at that thought.
He had learned that quality always beat quantity, all ancillary factors being equal, but that had limits. So long as there existed a chance for the lower quality entity to damage the higher one, they would eventually do so.
An infinite number of 0.0000000000001% chances would eventually result in a success, it usually just meant the production cost/expense ratio of the higher quality unit in comparison to the lower quality one was almost always better. The implication that a single person, presumably operating at a similar or greater tactical level as an organized military body, could beat one of the largest and likely most advanced armies without assistance would require a revision of his known battlefield tactics.
The Scholar caught on to his panicked expression and inferred what he was thinking about. "It isn't as much a ranking of military might as it is one of popular influence. The Arboreal Maiden could mobilize about as many people and as much money with a decree as could a large empire. The Great Csillacra could probably push the entire universe for a cause if it so pleased."
Another gut punch, this time for Diana. If her opponent in a negotiation could move an empire to action with the stroke of a pen, what could she hope to bring to the table? What could she hope to get out of it? It could take a lifetime of building enough influence to even get a seat at the table, forget striking a deal that would be unilaterally beneficial for them.
Would it be possible to get close to one of these people? Borrow their power for her own use? The Arboreal Maiden was probably off the table owing to that vow of neutrality the Sanctum follows, but could an Emperor be persuaded to put his name on the line for them?
Already she was trying to think of potential schemes she could pull off if given a chance situation. Could you call her conniving if she was trying to survive?
"I think we will practice these greetings for about half an hour or so every day until we arrive. I want your form to be immaculate." The Scholar took one last good look at their poses, deciding they were close enough for their specific anatomy to the baseline. "You can leave now Captain. From here on out it is going to mostly be teachings that you already know all about."
"Very well. Donovan, we will continue our sword training in the morning, but focus on your studies for now. If you'll excuse me, I have a bridge to attend to." He left the room at a brisk pace.
- - - - - - - - - - -
The lecture went along rather uneventfully, questions being asked where and when necessary, and ended when it was time for dinner. All went as scheduled.
"I didn't think learning about foreign customs could be so," Don struggled to find a word to describe it without seeming like he was insulting them, "bland?"
To him, it was borderline torturous to sit in that room. The Scholar tried to make it interesting, he really did, and it showed. Unfortunately, no matter how much you season and decorate a pile of shit, it is still shit in the end. There was absolutely nothing of real substance in what they had been taught, most of it was stuff that was entirely irrelevant to his duty, that or he already knew it.
The only somewhat interesting topic that was touched on was how Split generally holds a major amount of influence in their society. He showed a bit of what could be accomplished with it, a crackling font of sparks emanating from his palm for about three seconds before stopping. He mentioned how someone's proficiency in split decided their rank in life.
Given his pale face, shaky breaths, and dimmed eyes after this show, Don and Diana alike could tell split was not his specialty. Apparently one's ability to wield it was hereditary to some degree, and he was actually an oddity amongst his family with his lower than expected ability. This resulted in his eventual admittance to the Sanctum as a scholar.
"I wouldn't call it that." Diana tried to defend the lecture. Truth be told, she agreed it was a drag, but there was very important information for them there, mostly in the form of context. At least she could make sure they didn't enter this brave new world blind to how they should be acting. "I for one find these lectures to be very informative."
She used her fork to tear a leaf from the bulb presented on their plate.
"All I ask is that you try to pay attention to what he says. Learn who not to piss off, how to act, why things happen, et cetera, in order to get an idea of the bigger picture."
"The bigger picture huh?" Don poked his bulb with his fork with disgust. He wasn't fond of veggies much in the first place, straight up leaves even less so. "To me the bigger picture looks like a fucking mess."
Diana munched her leaf into a paste and swallowed, slightly bitter, but it went well with the provided drink. "What does the bigger picture look like to you? If you don't mind, I might be able to help clear it up."
Don took the dive with his cocoon of leaves, finding it to be slightly less disgusting than anticipated. "For one, we are fucked beyond all recognition with the whole Earth situation. No industrial or research base, human resources, economic power, or military backing means we won't have much to work with that is completely our own for some time."
"You seem pretty clear on that point to me..."
"Not really. Not even ARC really has an estimate of when basic production facilities will be online. Should it have a constant, uninterrupted, flow of processed raw materials with which to build orbital infrastructure with, it might be able to get a corvette scale slipway operational and at maximum efficiency in eleven months. It didn't even bother to give an estimate on that without an effectively unlimited supply due to the amount of factors."
"How long do you think it might take?"
"Decades probably. If we end up having to process asteroids using nanites and synthesize shit like oil and rubber on our own, we may as well give up on using modern equipment to do the job."
Yikes. She was trying to make the future clear for him, but instead she was the one getting a lesson on just how bad it might be. "What if we didn't have to make all the parts on our own? Could we order gears or whatever ARC needs to speed up the process?"
Don just about dropped his fork when she said that. "With the level of technological development they have? Forget the level of precision we would need, I don't even think they know the proper processes to make something that would last long enough to be replaced."
Don grabbed the sword at his hip and pulled it up for her to see.
"ARC says this thing is basically just impure iron, and the Captain called it higher than average quality. If they can't even make crude steel I doubt they can properly work with shit like, I don't know, Tungsten and Praseodymium."
"Praseo...?"
"Praseodymium. Element 69 on the table I think? Maybe its 59. We use it for high intensity thrusters and electronics. Apparently, it's also the primary material used in those brand new engines on the Noah."
"Ooookay, so we'll have our time in the academy to figure that out. What of your perspective beyond our domestic capabilities?"
"Where to start? Uh, I think that this, what was it again, foodal -"
"Feudal."
"- Feudal system is really stupid and I can't understand why anybody would be willing to go along with it." He was beginning to wish they had more to drink. He had been downing his with big gulps to wash the unpleasant taste away.
"Could you elaborate on what you are confused about?" She had been taught about this sort of thing, government and politics, more than he had all the way back on Earth. She should probably be able to clear anything up.
"Biggest thing is why the second tier from the top, Dukes? Why are they willing to serve under the king even with their relatively similar power."
If he was a duke, he would probably revolt against a higher authority, especially the ones which seemed so heinously incompetent as had been described by the Scholar. He didn't paint them in a bad light of course, but by their standards the relative wealth of the populace in comparison could only mean corruption.
"I think it might be more of a protective arrangement Don, not a relationship of overlordship like I think you are imagining. They probably could revolt if they wanted to, but their current arrangements are likely just too good for them. They get to hold a vast amount of power and they get to call upon others to protect their realms in times of war. Plus, I imagine it must be nice to have a scapegoat should something go terribly wrong with your management."
"A scapegoat? Who?"
"The King, the one at the top. If, say, a tax policy of yours ends up bringing the population to revolt, it wouldn't be too hard to point your finger at the king and pull a 'he told me to' in order to redirect their anger." She wasn't a stranger to politicking, despite never having participated.
"Can't the same be done to them? Like can't the King say that its all a subordinate's fault?"
"Maybe, but they can revolt, remember? Plus, its not like the common folk can do anything about it either. From the looks of it, interstellar travel isn't exactly cheap, so it isn't feasible for a militia of angry peasants to make their way to the capital planet to depose the king. To me it seems like its a win-win situation for them."
"How in the hell is that a win-win? The King isn't getting anything out of that!"
Diana had one word to refute that. "Taxes."
"What?"
"The King gets taxes in return, probably levies as well. In return for being someone to point at and say 'he did it' he gets free money and a free army, Not to mention international influence and fame. I imagine there's a massive superiority complex that goes along with the territory."
Diana reached over the table and brought Donovan's bulb to her own plate.
"I imagine this relationship goes all the way down to the lowest level as well. I get free money and free soldiers, in exchange you get an excuse to oppress your subordinates without recourse."
"And the people are okay with that?" Donovan was a little incredulous at this.
"They probably wouldn't be if they knew there was a better way. Did you know that the Scholar is one of only a few people aboard this ship who can read and write a language? Supposedly, it is called Sanctum-Script, and it is one of the few written languages that exists in the universe."
"That was a hell of a tangent." Don just stared at her, dumbfounded. "Where the hell did that come from? How does that fit in at all?"
"Just think about it Don. Think about what I said." Diana was really trying to raise his ability to think critically outside of military matters.
"The Scholar is one of only a few people that know how to read and write some Sanctum-Script or whatever. What about it?"
"Maybe that was misleading." Diana had added some distracting information. "If I rephrase it you might understand. The Scholar is one of only a few people that know how to read and write aboard this ship."
"Really?"
"Really. The only people on this ship who can read are the Scholar, Captain, Cartographer, and some of the cadets. For the most part, these people are illiterate. What do you think a low literacy rate among the higher echelons means for the peasantry?"
Don didn't really understand the full benefits that the ability to read gave. "Is it harder for them to communicate? Hard to organize around a cause and fight back?"
"That would certainly be an issue, but its probably more an issue of knowledge. They probably don't know that there are different ways to do things, feudalism is all they know."
"They haven't figured out elective representation?"
"If I had to guess, they probably haven't even figured out constitutional monarchism given the fact that they can't read."
"They can't even draft laws then can they."
"It's unlikely. That makes it all the more important to pay attention so that you don't break any rules or get on someone's bad side. We won't be able to do much from a prison cell."
"Noted." Donovan never finished eating his meal, the relatively bland leaves reminded him too much of standard space rations.
- - - - -
The vast majority of their remaining time on the Oberlux would be spent on a consistent schedule. Training and learning were the biggest time sinks, but they were introduced to an array of hobbies and activities that high-born aristocrats would consider appropriate for their rank.
Unsurprisingly, Don found them all to be some of the most tedious activities he had ever done in his life.
A variety of board games that were interesting for the first few rounds, but eventually revealed themselves to be less complex than checkers. They were all solved games, like connect four and tic-tac-toe. Once Don figured out the pattern they were stupid easy to play.
Dancing was something he would probably need in some official capacity, a gala or some other event, but there was little chance of him doing it because he wanted to, and actually learning to play music? He would rather die.
The only real hobby of any degree of acceptability was swordplay, but even that had its limits.
He would stick to reading and theory-crafting with ARC. Recently, he was becoming engrossed in some old naval theories, specifically the Jeune Ecole and Mahanian Doctrine.
In contrast, Diana was positively enthralled with some of the activities at her disposal. It seemed the ladies not only had more options, but far more variations of them.
She had always tried to stay fashionable, if a little more reserved in her choices, so learning about 'high fashion' intrigued her greatly. Unfortunately for her, the materials these clothes were made of disagreed with her skin. Maybe once ARC got a facility online she could design and manufacture her own dresses, that would be something interesting. Hell, it could give her an edge amongst the ladies.
Flower arrangement she found surprisingly entertaining, more like a puzzle than anything else. Sometimes a single flower could make or break a display.
She thought that dancing might be neat to try too, but ultimately agreed with Don's desire to only have to do it when politically expedient. Hobbies were nice, but if they took up too much time they were detrimental to their goals.
In the end, they found that the life of a noble could be described by the term 'empty schedule'. The Scholar made it very clear that most nobles were proficient in at least one craft, and dabbled to a degree in many others.
Most nobles also seemed to know how to ride a mount. They didn't know what these mounts were, nor if they were even the same species, but the consistent translation to 'mount' meant they were probably something similar to a horse. Apparently if you couldn't command one of them, you were viewed as unfit to lead. This was a comment that Donovan impulsively labeled stupid out loud. This drew Diana's scorn and a sigh from the Scholar (who apparently agreed) before being forgotten the next day.
Nearing the end of their journey, they started being taught more about split.
"Split is everywhere, though there are notable exceptions, and forms a core function in our view of nature." The Scholar started drawing symbols on a board. "To our knowledge, split is a necessary component to the formation of life."
Diana's hand shot up, a practice they had developed for their lectures. "If it is so important, then why do we exist. You keep saying that our world didn't have any or something like that."
"If that was your takeaway, then I am sorry for misleading you. The reality of the situation isn't that your reality had no split, it just had an abysmally low amount of it. The Great Csillacra likely implemented some way for you to survive in such a deficit, but there was definitely some there."
"Now that you mention it, the sun gave off a reading on the split scanners." Donovan remembered his time isolated in the Kuiper Belt.
"I take it that is some method of sensing split, which actually leads us quite nicely into the second part, which is its generation." He finished a few of the symbols on the chalkboard, each labelled in some sloppy English. He was progressing well, especially in the written realm, but the combination of his long fingers and writing on a vertical surface resulted in only barely legible writing.
From left to right, they were a bug, fish (scaly and swimming were universal constants for fish apparently), small animal, tree, human, greater beast, planet, and star.
"The amount of split something generates increases the farther right they are. To give a sense of scale though, it should be noted that while there are some humans that generate more split than some weaker greater beasts, there is not a single greater beast than produces more than a planet. Stars, following that logic, completely dwarf planets in a side by side comparison.
Just as stars are the sources of life for us with how much split they produce, your star probably allowed you to live by producing the barest minimum of it."
He drew a few wispy lines from the star outward, each ending at one of the creatures.
"Once a living being reaches maturity, they will produce enough split naturally to keep themselves alive without an outside source, though it is uncomfortable and can weaken you over time. Those with a greater proficiency in manipulating split, nobles, can usually generate a sizable surplus. Gods often generate enough for a few people.
It is this function of stars, their ability to generate vast quantities of split, that makes them a vital part of life. Children born and raised in the presence of a higher quality star, one that makes more split, will demonstrate a higher level of proficiency with split."
Certain things started to click into place for Donovan. "Is that a big reason why the green stars are fought over? They can make you more powerful in the future?"
"That is one reason, but there are others. Food grows faster and in greater abundance, and deposits of valuable minerals tend to be of higher quality. They also replenish faster."
The Scholar gave his best shot at drawing what looked like a stalk of some grain and a sword, likely representative of metal.
"But there are risks. The star turning hostile is one you experienced first hand, but animals run the risk of transforming into equivalently more powerful greater beasts. Asteroids and other debris will also form at a higher rate, so impacts on the surface happen more frequently here."
Don and Diana could make an inference to what he was drawing as it was coupled with context, but the Scholar was definitely not called the Artist for a reason.
"Generally, the rewards outweigh the risks." He turned around, an opening for more questions.
Diana's hand shot up again. "How much greater are the benefits of the green stars in comparison to, say, a yellow one?"
"It depends heavily on how powerful the individual star is. The color classification might be a bit misleading to someone who knows nothing about the way stars work, but they fall onto a spectrum.
I'm sure you remember how at times your star exhibited patches of different colors all changing into one another? Most stars are a single color. The shade of that color is a more direct comparison to their actual strength, a lime colored Verdant stage star is going to be less valuable than one that is a deep green."
Don's hand shot up next. "Why was it patchy then? Does it have something to do with that weird spiky shape it made?"
"The reason it was patchy was because of our attacks on it. I won't go into specifics as you don't know enough about it to understand fully, but our method of attack dilutes a star's split concentration. The impacts are spread over the stars massive surface, so it takes time for it to even out."
So it was like a bowl of honey. If you scoop some out it will take time for it to fill the crater, but it will eventually level itself.
"We aren't exactly sure why hostile stars take that shape, we can't exactly ask them you see, but we do know that a star that has taken that shape WILL attack. It doesn't have anything to do with its color. Do you have any more questions on the subject?"
"I have a few, but I don't think they are too relevant to the topic. Diana?" Don had some things he wanted to know, but he wasn't sure if the Scholar would be able to understand the terminology without consulting the dictionary. More specifically, the replenishment of mineral deposits and what he meant by their quality.
If high purity tungsten, copper, and iron veins could replenish themselves in a reasonable timeframe and he could get a hold of them, production would be cheaper then either he or ARC had anticipated. If materials like coal, oil, and fissile nuclear material were included, concerns about power generation could reasonably be thrown out the window.
"I have some, but they are probably more complex. Are you familiar with the concept of terraforming Scholar?"
He consulted his dictionary. "To transform a lifeless planet into something that can be lived on..? If you are asking whether or not we have tried such a thing, then I can't definitively give you an answer. There is a lot of history, most of which has, regrettably, not been recorded. If I had to guess though, probably not."
"Why is that?"
"Establishing a colony on a planet in a reasonable time period is already expensive enough to cripple small kingdoms, so I can't imagine anyone would want to finance the creation of a livable planet when perfectly good candidates for colonization already exist."
Diana furrowed her brow. Establishing a colony on an already habitable planet was expensive? Sure getting the infrastructure and industry online might be a pain, but that applied to infrastructure and industry universally. Surely it couldn't be taxing to the point of economic collapse right?
"If that's the case, then how did you guys expand to where you are now?" Don didn't know much about territorial expansion, it wasn't relevant to his duties, but surely they would have to have had some way to expand to their size.
He had seen a truly massive star map covering an entire wall courtesy of the Cartographer and taken a photo of it. ARC estimated there to be close to a million stars plotted on it, at least a third of which had habited planets in orbit.
All of those plotted stars were only the ones with relevant travel lanes between them, supposedly there were a great many stars in the spaces between.
He wasn't willing to believe they reached 300,000 inhabited planets without colonizing a single one.
"Most of them were introduced, placed, in their locations. They were already inhabited, results of the experiments of the Great Csillacra the same as you."
"The Great Csillacra can do that?"
"Of course it can! Should your people and planet have survived, you would have had the ability to choose where you wished to be placed as well!"
