007: AMAs, Third Round

[tarnishedavenger]

So, we've got a load of new people, and that means it's time for me to do the only thing it feels like I get on these comms to do anymore: AMAs.

For you new people, I find it helps when we get together and explain a little bit about ourselves, any powers we have, and our skillsets. That way we know what we're starting with and what we can build off of. So, please, come and introduce yourselves and be willing to answer questions.

Comments

[breq]

Fleet-Captain, then. That's probably the closest Radchaai equivalent.

[ She seems interested in the idea. ]

That's interesting.

[takenalive]

Ultimately even captain-princes are accountable to the Electorate and the people as a whole, but of course there's all kinds of misdirection and emergency acts set up to try and minimize that. Politics, you know.

My career was accelerated in crisis to something of an absurd rate, as I was in a good position to advance and made several fortunate calls. And I suppose it was advantageous to various parties. I don't know how long it typically takes Radchaai responsible for a few hundred men to become Fleet-Captains, but I was elevated in about two years.

[breq]

There was politics of that sort, but not in the same way. We were all accountable to the Lord of the Radch and she had absolute power of life or death over everyone within the Radch. Her word was law.

And it typically takes longer than that, yes. And good connections, if I remember correctly.

[takenalive]

Ah, a dictator. Unfortunate.

I come from a family of privilege with numerous members in the military. Not my parents, women don't serve directly, but uncles and shorms and so on.

[breq]

Extremely. Especially since she's fighting a shadow war against herself.

Ah. I've lived it for twenty years, but it's still strange to me how people divide their societies on the basis of biological sex. The Radch doesn't bother with that. There's really only one gender.

[takenalive]

How does that work?

There's very little difference between male and female humans. It's more evident with Andalites. Men are better suited to combat and rapid action. Women are more intelligent and deliberate. Not that there isn't overlap or exceptions, or the split-hearted, but the inclinations are strongly set in most people.

[The only gender divides that make sense to him are his own.]

[breq]

I won't pretend to understand an alien society I've never spent time in.

And it works because the Radch is far too big for one person to effectively lead it on their own. It works because she has ruled the Radch for all of its thousands of years of existence. Much like ships have ancillaries, the Lord of the Radch has hundreds of clone bodies, which all undergo the same treatment as ancillaries. However it isn't perfect. Thoughts and ideas can take months to cross from one end of the Radch to the other, even with speed of data transmission between gates. So... you have been at odds with yourself before, I imagine. Stuck on what decision to make.

Now imagine that "you" were spread out over hundreds of bodies and minds that were also all you. The leader of the Radch is of two minds. Literally, in this case. And that was why my lieutenant was killed and why I was destroyed.

[takenalive]

[Give him a few minutes to process, it's a lot and sets off a lot of alarm bells.]

Well. That's appalling. And here I believed everyone considered their clones their children.

[breq]

She's a tyrant. I don't know anything about her clones, only that they're how she's maintained herself for so long. Three thousand years of life in hundreds if not thousands of bodies.

I suppose I've had the same experience, on a much small scale, but I was always the ship.

[private thought-speech]

[takenalive]

[It's understandable but faint, not unlike someone talking a room away.]

Did you have strange entities insisting on showing you visions the other night ago?

[alloran she can't talk back in this format that's rude]

[private thought-speech]

[breq]

[ This is a bit strange, but it's not unlike speaking to someone when she was a ship. Although perhaps even more direct than that. ]

Can you hear me?

[ She says that aloud, wondering if it's a bit like a station. When she doesn't get a response, she texts him using the lock that the hires have created. ]

I did not, although I heard about them. And apparently I cannot respond to you in kind.

[takenalive]

[He does reflect that she doesn't have thought-speech. It's a very one-way method of contacting people.]

It's only that I don't trust this network and its assurances of security. If nothing else, I doubt everyone with access is necessarily trustworthy.

[Though she does seem to be pretty open about things.]

Perhaps it's also that I enjoy the feeling of secrecy as an option.