Dark Fate, Book 29 Prologue (Patreon)

Prologue – Trade Chat

(North American System Information Exchange Forum, formerly Community Building and Civil Defense Chat)

abby_gail, bento, RainyDayze, GringottsGoblin, DoritoMan, D.VaLuvr69, Carion, RadicalEdward, FusionGal, NotACop, Scholar, RamblingWreck, Anonymous4, Anonymous6, RedShift, SevenNationArmy, DarkLord, BagOTrix, White_Queen, Faraday, BackpageGal, FullServiceMassage, daytrader, LinaLuv, Skippy, shadow_clone23, THE_MERCHANT, jenny8675309, Rabbit, Angelus and Tracker are in the chat.

FullServiceMassage: Have you guys read the fanfic of DarkLord receiving the unwed sisters and daughters of the Emirati royals who survived the purge during the Flames? Unf!

Carion: Whenever anyone says that women are not as horny as men, I point them directly to romance novels and fanfiction.

BagOTrix: So, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yemen, and Qatar all joined the Ceresan Empire? That’s basically the entire Arabian peninsula, isn’t it?

Faraday: Not quite. Kuwait and Oman are the holdouts.

NotACop: Still, that gives DarkLord a sizeable chokehold on the global oil supply, and control of three major sea lanes that can bring economies to their knees.

Rabbit: Three? I know the Panama Canal, and I guess the Suez Canal drops into the Red Sea, so he has that one covered. But the third?

Scholar: The Strait of Hormuz, connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Major waterway for oil tankers. Though without Oman or Iran in the mix, the Empire doesn’t really control the real choke points of the strait. That being said, since they control much of the land?

DarkLord: Very true. Though I should mention that the Ceresan Emirates did not join the Empire, but the Kingdom of Ceres itself. Slight distinction, there.

Tracker: What’s the difference?

DarkLord: The difference between, say, Puerto Rico becoming a state, and Puerto Rico becoming part of Florida. I’m both the King of the Kingdom of Ceres and the Emperor of the Ceresan Empire. The people of the Ceresan Emirates are now part of the Kingdom of Ceres, and the Ceresan Empire, but unlike the Saudis, who will answer to a governor and then to the Imperial rule, the Emiratis will answer to me alone.

Skippy: Why do it that way, though?

DarkLord: Because the Emiratis asked to be part of the Kingdom.

Skippy: That’s it? Really? Because they asked?

DarkLord: I had no reason to refuse them. And their reason for it was simple: they had no one left who knew about governing more than a city, and their supply of food would not last indefinitely. And they were all use to having royalty over them, anyways.

DarkLord: Also, as far as the relatives of the Emirati royals go, the local leader of the Adventurers Guild managed to slap [Slave Collars] on them in the chaos, which saved them from certain death, otherwise. Same with the children. He did his best to save as many of the innocent as he could, but there’s only so much one can do with an angry mob.

RainyDayze: What about the situation in Pakistan and India? I heard you helped settle that, too?

DarkLord: I gave a nudge in the right direction, to start the ball rolling. Suggesting Pakistan ‘buy’ a few provinces that were mostly mountains, and pay for it with aid in civilian infrastructure in India. Something that would go further towards healing the rift between the countries than anything else. It is an imperfect solution, one that both sides disliked. Which means it was probably the best possible outcome.

RadicalEdward: With how convincingly Pakistan defeated India, I would have expected them to go for far more than that in the peace deal.

DarkLord: They initially thought about it. But then I reminded them that the Allies in World War I humiliated Germany after their victory, and that was one of the major causes of World War II. No one was particularly eager to revisit this conversation in twenty years. Not when both countries have nuclear weapons.

Scholar: Well reasoned. And I suppose your warships were the reason no nukes were in play this time?

DarkLord: Yes. Though my intelligence service had to make a few calls to people in the field, to ‘inform’ them that their families would be in the blast radius of Ceresan strikes if they turned that key. They were ‘persuaded’ to keep things conventional.

White_Queen: Really earning your name, hmm?

DarkLord: You should know as well as anyone that I can make the tough decisions, when needed. Or do I need to remind you about Augusta?

THE_MERCHANT: Oof. That was a bloody thing.

Scholar: Is this from the first timeline? What happened?

White_Queen: An Incux hive managed to fight its way through the Ouran ships, and landed in Augusta. It was the only time the resistance teamed up with the invaders. We were able to get a small team inside the hive, and then they detonated the nuke they were carrying. Orbital bombardment cleared out the stragglers.

RedShift: Why not just start with bombardment?

DarkLord: Because battering through the hive’s shields, especially when they were on the ground, and able to draw from Earth’s mana, would have taken too long. As it was, we barely managed to contain and distract the bugs long enough for the stealth team to get in place. Lost twelve of our best infiltrators, but they knew it was a one-way trip going in.

THE_MERCHANT: But that did set up the warlord controlling Atlanta, allowing us to catch him unawares, near Athens. And then the traitors struck, and things reset.

White_Queen: The Warlord was dead, but there were still plenty of lizards in Atlanta. Usurping the Mantle and using the previous Knight as a symbol would have boosted the army’s effectiveness, and drawn more people to our side. Especially since I wouldn’t have had to deal with a Black Knight who was getting increasingly hard to control. It was the correct strategic call. But someone ruined it.

DarkLord: I tend to do that to people who stab me in the back, yes. But hey, at least you collared James before he could grow into his power, right?

NotACop: Collared? As in a [Slave Collar]? Those are illegal, unless you get a court order, or signed consent. Are you saying a Congresswoman has been getting illegal slaves?

DarkLord: I did not say that. However, the Black Knight can be seen wearing a collar. I’m sure it is just a sign of his submissive streak, though.

DarkLord: Oh, in other news, there is a skill called [True Appraisal], which can see through the more common means of hiding titles and other information from [Appraise] checks. It is a class skill for those with the Merchant class, but Diviners get a different version as a profession skill, and you can unlock the general skill version by either using a [Skill Knowledge Guide] from the System Shop, or a [Skill Tome] can give you the skill directly. Though the tome is more expensive.

THE_MERCHANT: As someone with the skill, I will point out that sometimes you may need to recast it, if an individual has layered [False Appraisal] abilities hiding their information.

White_Queen: I hate you so much.

DarkLord: Lovely. Now, I’m off to go meet the father of one of my pets. It will be nice to have another demon lord visiting Ceres.

DoritoMan: Wait, what was that?

bento: Another demon lord?

BagOTrix: What is he coming for? Are you fighting?

Scholar: More importantly, how is he coming? There haven’t been any new ships entering the system, lately.

DarkLord has left the channel.

Scholar: I hate when he does that.

White_Queen: Well, since he isn’t here, I can tell you that the Demon Lord is probably visiting using a long-range teleportation device, which can be found in the System Shop. Probably an array of some kind, connecting Ceres to some other world, in another star system. And the demon lord is probably the father of the familiar with the [Annihilation Array].

Tracker: So, you three just always go around trying to tear each other down?

THE_MERCHANT: Of course not. So far, things have remained limited to indirect action, and ‘suggestions’ to others with power. Mainly because any direct confrontation would have far too much collateral. Even in winning, they’d lose. So, word games and offering advice to the public which hampers the other side.

Faraday: Once more, I am glad I’m not important enough to be on either of their bad sides.