Been a while since my last post, and there are reasons for that. My laptop has been doing strange things, so I had to get that fixed. Plus, we've been very busy touring all the little islands that dot this planet. It's a very interesting place, no doubt. I saw that dance a little while ago, but it didn't tell me anything new. I took some notes so I could describe it:
Kesatan "ballets", as the yela'kaja called them, begin regularly at sunset in an outdoor theater above water with a single dancer, who the yela'kaja calls the Storyteller. (The Kesatan sign for him, I'm told, comes from a sign meaning "to tell" or "to teach".) He basically does a long dance that invokes some sort of water spirit and then sets up the whole story for us. This particular story follows a young Kesatan who witnessed the first contact with the Xala and went to warn the elders about it.
Before I go on, I need to tell you a little bit about this theater. You see, the whole building, which seems to be a combination of the dull metallic architecture of the Xala with the incorporation of some very artistic structures made of stone and some sort of coral that most definitely comes from the Kesatans, is built both above and below water. The audience is actually expected to follow the action both above and below water by circling around when it moves from one location to another. That, of course, means that there are actually very few seats in the entire building, and to get a good view you often have to jostle around in the crowd. Luckily, there weren't a whole lot of other land-dwellers watching, just a few Xala and a couple delegations from some other planets that I unfortunately don't know much about yet, one species that looked a bit like an upright-walking feathered lizard and some really pale creatures with some fuzzy hair and no visible eyes (they didn't go underwater as much, and I don't think they appreciated the play to much, either).
As you've probably guessed, the underwater section is separated between a truly underwater experience for the Kesatans and any other species that has gills and can deal with the Kesatan ocean, and an upper section that is protected by force-fields and pressurized for those of us who rely only on our lungs. I don't know how they keep the water clear as it is, as a lot of the underwater dances get pretty vigorous and involve quite a few performers.
I was very surprised by how well the show was done. I couldn't understand a single thing without my yela'kaja interpreter there beside me, but I did like some of the numbers. The only music in these dances comes from some various sizes of drums, all tuned specially so that they can be played with certain pitches in and out of water. I think there was actually one drum that was partially filled with water, and they'd turn it really quick to make a "thump" of water rushing from one end to the other.
Kesatans are good with costumes, too. Their Xala costumes were kind of artsy, but they definitely didn't look like the Kesatans inside them. For a while I wondered if there were Xala in the play, but they only "flew" in the underwater dances, so I really doubt it. There were also a lot of set pieces that I think are supposed to be Xala war machines, with lighting effects and some sounds from the drums. The yela'kaja actually showed me one afterward and showed me how it was made. All of the props are made from that coral material, with some metal plating and some dyes added where necessary. The lighting effects were the real interesting part. they use trained bio-luminescent fish that can actually swim out fast enough to look like an energy bolt firing at someone. The only thing the Xala provide for most of the props is the metal and some levitation crystals for easier transportation (which probably isn't all that necessary, as the coral stuff is pretty light underwater.
Anyway, as I said, the play followed a young, and probably fictional, Kesatan who saw the Xala coming and went to warn the elders, but they ignored him, thinking it was just a fantasy. Then it goes all the way up through the Xala civil war, showing mostly battles fought on Kesata, and a few on Jed, which seemed to be thousands of cloned Xala against a smaller number of the Je'e Edag group with some powerful bombs and weapons. Eventually the cloned Xala kill the leader of Je'e Edag and apparently annihilate or banish the rest of the group, liberating protecting the Kesatans from certain extinction. I figure the whole story has been pretty romanticized, but its still another view on it.
I can see that I've already got a really long post here, so I'll save a little bit about my little island-hopping here for the next one.
Showing posts with label Jed Trade Network history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jed Trade Network history. Show all posts
Friday, June 1, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
A Little Bit of History
As I adjust to the sweltering heat, high gravity, short days, and unbearable insects of Kesata, I've decided to distract myself by getting back on my digging into the history here. Of course, suddenly it's not that hard to get at it. The yela'kaja here gave me a good rundown of it in his original briefing, and my talks with the Kesatans seem to tell pretty much the same story that the Xala tell.
Basically it goes like this:
When the Xala first began experimenting with their new gâ'axao, they found quite a few uninhabited worlds. In fact, they even claimed quite a few of them for themselves and build remote bases, most requiring their own life-support. There were a few of what they call "living worlds", but no indication of intelligent life . . . until they met the Kesata.
This was all happening about four thousand years ago, very soon after the discovery of the gâ'axao, and apparently there were differences among the various factions of the Xala in how to use the technology and the resources they were finding. Jed itself had only been unified a few years previously, and the first cloning experiments were just gaining enough acceptance that the eggs were allowed to hatch. In this environment there were some tensions between the traditionalists who opposed genetic engineering and a younger, more liberal group that had grown out of an idea that genetic engineering could aid the species.
The traditionalists, who were called je'e edag (xala ga' je'e edag, "people for true life"), wanted to expand Jed's territory at all costs, and often proposed completely razing life-bearing planets to exterminate native wildlife so that they could reseed it with Jed's life, which they believed was created by their god, do'kajex ("the Mind") to rule over all of existence. Meanwhile, the genetic engineering promoters, who called themselves xala ga' kajex ta' ka'xao (roughly "people for knowledge")*, wanted to study these worlds and look for new medicines, genes, what have you to experiment with to improve the Xala.
Anyway, to get back to Kesata, It didn't take long after finding the planet that the Xala discovered the Kesatans. The reports coming back from the planet initially mentioned them as an interesting animal species that communicated with color and gestures. It wasn't until later that several explorers recognized the signs as a form of language and began to learn it.
This of course, inflamed the whole conflict. The Kajex ta' Ka'xao people wanted to accelerate their genetic engineering program and create an "intermediary" species to communicate with the Kesatans, while the Je'e Edag crowd condemned them as lexala, or "false intelligence", and considered them vermin to be exterminated.
Anyway, as luck would have it, the Kesatans were spared the deadly fate that many human civilizations faced when the Xala turned against each other in a bloody civil war. The Kajex ta' Ka'xao people pulled together and the capital and the gâ'axao stations on several colony worlds, effectively cutting off the Je'e Edag crowd from the rest of the multiverse. The Je'e Edag tried to fight back, but within a period of several coaxrorol, Kajex ta' Ka'xao had taken over government. The war apparently lasted long enough through terrorism and sabotage for them to continue genetics research and apply it to the war effort, eventually overrunning Jed with clones.
Here's where the whole story gets fuzzier. My yela'kaja admits that the story of how Kadjex ta' Ka'xao took over is unclear, and how they were able to advance their cloning technology so quickly is a complete mystery. There is even a legend that spirits from Coaxta gave them the knowledge and the power to do all this. Plus, when I talk to the Kesatans they seem to be very insistent that there was actually a third species involved that actually did attack them, while the Xala insist that any attacks on the Kesatans were committed by Je'e Edag terrorists that slipped through the cracks somehow.
Whatever the case, the Xala that exist today seem to be the descendants (in a weird, genetically-engineered sort of way) of the Kajex ta' Ka'xao. Wherever the Je'e Edag went, I wouldn't expect that they're around anymore. I don't expect to get much more on this subject. After all, it happened four thousand years ago. I am told that the play I'm going to see here has a bit of the war history from the Kesatan point-of-view worked into it. Of course, that'll all be in the Kesatan sign language. I certainly hope my interpreter can understand their dancing better than I can understand some people singing.
Basically it goes like this:
When the Xala first began experimenting with their new gâ'axao, they found quite a few uninhabited worlds. In fact, they even claimed quite a few of them for themselves and build remote bases, most requiring their own life-support. There were a few of what they call "living worlds", but no indication of intelligent life . . . until they met the Kesata.
This was all happening about four thousand years ago, very soon after the discovery of the gâ'axao, and apparently there were differences among the various factions of the Xala in how to use the technology and the resources they were finding. Jed itself had only been unified a few years previously, and the first cloning experiments were just gaining enough acceptance that the eggs were allowed to hatch. In this environment there were some tensions between the traditionalists who opposed genetic engineering and a younger, more liberal group that had grown out of an idea that genetic engineering could aid the species.
The traditionalists, who were called je'e edag (xala ga' je'e edag, "people for true life"), wanted to expand Jed's territory at all costs, and often proposed completely razing life-bearing planets to exterminate native wildlife so that they could reseed it with Jed's life, which they believed was created by their god, do'kajex ("the Mind") to rule over all of existence. Meanwhile, the genetic engineering promoters, who called themselves xala ga' kajex ta' ka'xao (roughly "people for knowledge")*, wanted to study these worlds and look for new medicines, genes, what have you to experiment with to improve the Xala.
Anyway, to get back to Kesata, It didn't take long after finding the planet that the Xala discovered the Kesatans. The reports coming back from the planet initially mentioned them as an interesting animal species that communicated with color and gestures. It wasn't until later that several explorers recognized the signs as a form of language and began to learn it.
This of course, inflamed the whole conflict. The Kajex ta' Ka'xao people wanted to accelerate their genetic engineering program and create an "intermediary" species to communicate with the Kesatans, while the Je'e Edag crowd condemned them as lexala, or "false intelligence", and considered them vermin to be exterminated.
Anyway, as luck would have it, the Kesatans were spared the deadly fate that many human civilizations faced when the Xala turned against each other in a bloody civil war. The Kajex ta' Ka'xao people pulled together and the capital and the gâ'axao stations on several colony worlds, effectively cutting off the Je'e Edag crowd from the rest of the multiverse. The Je'e Edag tried to fight back, but within a period of several coaxrorol, Kajex ta' Ka'xao had taken over government. The war apparently lasted long enough through terrorism and sabotage for them to continue genetics research and apply it to the war effort, eventually overrunning Jed with clones.
Here's where the whole story gets fuzzier. My yela'kaja admits that the story of how Kadjex ta' Ka'xao took over is unclear, and how they were able to advance their cloning technology so quickly is a complete mystery. There is even a legend that spirits from Coaxta gave them the knowledge and the power to do all this. Plus, when I talk to the Kesatans they seem to be very insistent that there was actually a third species involved that actually did attack them, while the Xala insist that any attacks on the Kesatans were committed by Je'e Edag terrorists that slipped through the cracks somehow.
Whatever the case, the Xala that exist today seem to be the descendants (in a weird, genetically-engineered sort of way) of the Kajex ta' Ka'xao. Wherever the Je'e Edag went, I wouldn't expect that they're around anymore. I don't expect to get much more on this subject. After all, it happened four thousand years ago. I am told that the play I'm going to see here has a bit of the war history from the Kesatan point-of-view worked into it. Of course, that'll all be in the Kesatan sign language. I certainly hope my interpreter can understand their dancing better than I can understand some people singing.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Finally, a Break
We've been having some issues. First of all, I got cut off. Apparently the crystal rigged up to that router back on Earth blew, which explains my silence. It's taken a heap of trouble to get that fixed, as they had to send people in covertly. I don't know how they got it done, but I know I'm back online now.
Turns out you didn't miss all that much, though. Shortly after sunrise we docked at a housing unit to change crew to find out that they weren't all ready. The yela'kaja explained that most Xala are not built for working during daylight -- which I can understand. They don't use artificial light here and I just recently learned how dark it was outside until the sun came up. It gets really bright for days and days until the sun gets high enough and goes behind Coaxta. Then it's normal for a while until the sun comes out again. I've completely lost track of time here. The only way I know what time and day it is on Earth is through this computer's clock.
Anyway, we didn't have the crew together back at sunrise and now it looks like we're not going to be going back out until sunset. The Kesata have gone into stasis pods to wait it out. The Xala offered to put me into stasis, but I didn't really like the idea of being locked in a solid crystal. The Ngana didn't want that either, they seem a bit suspicious of it because of their spiritual beliefs. So I've basically been hanging with them all this time (they managed to find two new yela'kaja and give them some quick language training and transformation). Really fun little guys, though. They're pretty good at breaking the boredom.
I've also been trying to get more information about the Xala while I'm at it. My biggest problem is that they seem to be holding back on me. I ask about their history and they just give me the brief "We discovered the portal four thousand of your years ago and currently operate a trade network."
Yes, they really are that general. When I asked the yela'kaja whether their new contacts are not always friendly, he said, "It is our policy to avoid the possibility of armed conflict when possible. Since we have access to an entire multiverse, it is not uncommon to find several planets that have resources we need, and a conflict on one world is usually not in our interests." Now, that's all well and good, but when I asked for a specific example, they wouldn't give me anything.
The only thing I've gotten really specifically was from a Kesata diplomat that had come out of stasis for a swim. (They don't keep you in more than a few days at a time unless they have to. Something about certain species developing psychological problems -- which is why I refuse to go under.) We talked a bit using two yela'kaja interpreters and he explained to me that there was a conflict when the Xala discovered Kesata involving a third intelligent race that was trying to take over the planet. The Xala loaned their weapons and men to the Kesata to repel the attack and received free access to parts of the planet in return. Apparently there's not much land there, but the Kesata only really use the coastlines and just a little bit inland. (They like salt water -- which explains the briny pools on their level.)
I'm going to see if I can find out a little more about this stuff when we get back underway, which I'm sure will mean talking to more Kesata -- the yela'kaja is dodging it with general statements about alliances and ethics and all that crap. I'm glad I'm not epileptic, otherwise I think the light show would kill me when I get back to looking into this.
Meanwhile I'll pass some time hanging with theŊãna. They can't tell me anything about the Xala -- this being their first trip in -- but they're quite fun to hang with. Might even learn some Ngana while I'm at it.
Turns out you didn't miss all that much, though. Shortly after sunrise we docked at a housing unit to change crew to find out that they weren't all ready. The yela'kaja explained that most Xala are not built for working during daylight -- which I can understand. They don't use artificial light here and I just recently learned how dark it was outside until the sun came up. It gets really bright for days and days until the sun gets high enough and goes behind Coaxta. Then it's normal for a while until the sun comes out again. I've completely lost track of time here. The only way I know what time and day it is on Earth is through this computer's clock.
Anyway, we didn't have the crew together back at sunrise and now it looks like we're not going to be going back out until sunset. The Kesata have gone into stasis pods to wait it out. The Xala offered to put me into stasis, but I didn't really like the idea of being locked in a solid crystal. The Ngana didn't want that either, they seem a bit suspicious of it because of their spiritual beliefs. So I've basically been hanging with them all this time (they managed to find two new yela'kaja and give them some quick language training and transformation). Really fun little guys, though. They're pretty good at breaking the boredom.
I've also been trying to get more information about the Xala while I'm at it. My biggest problem is that they seem to be holding back on me. I ask about their history and they just give me the brief "We discovered the portal four thousand of your years ago and currently operate a trade network."
Yes, they really are that general. When I asked the yela'kaja whether their new contacts are not always friendly, he said, "It is our policy to avoid the possibility of armed conflict when possible. Since we have access to an entire multiverse, it is not uncommon to find several planets that have resources we need, and a conflict on one world is usually not in our interests." Now, that's all well and good, but when I asked for a specific example, they wouldn't give me anything.
The only thing I've gotten really specifically was from a Kesata diplomat that had come out of stasis for a swim. (They don't keep you in more than a few days at a time unless they have to. Something about certain species developing psychological problems -- which is why I refuse to go under.) We talked a bit using two yela'kaja interpreters and he explained to me that there was a conflict when the Xala discovered Kesata involving a third intelligent race that was trying to take over the planet. The Xala loaned their weapons and men to the Kesata to repel the attack and received free access to parts of the planet in return. Apparently there's not much land there, but the Kesata only really use the coastlines and just a little bit inland. (They like salt water -- which explains the briny pools on their level.)
I'm going to see if I can find out a little more about this stuff when we get back underway, which I'm sure will mean talking to more Kesata -- the yela'kaja is dodging it with general statements about alliances and ethics and all that crap. I'm glad I'm not epileptic, otherwise I think the light show would kill me when I get back to looking into this.
Meanwhile I'll pass some time hanging with theŊãna. They can't tell me anything about the Xala -- this being their first trip in -- but they're quite fun to hang with. Might even learn some Ngana while I'm at it.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Departure
I'm finally going to go somewhere! My special transport just arrived and I'm settling myself in right as we speak. Since I'm the only one of my kind around, I get a level all to myself, though they're having to furnish it on the fly since it was so unexpected. They put a little desk in first, on my own request, since I wanted to get this blog written up. Right now there's a couple of the more muscular kind of Xala slowly descending with that little bed in their talons, and another with a little refrigerator stocked with water and that nasty protein stuff (what's in my backpack is just for when I'm out exploring the various areas) and yet another has a box of my clothes they must have stolen from my house back on Earth. Don't ask me how a bunch of flying lizards got into my house without being noticed. I don't know and I don't want to know.
Oh, and they're not carrying all that heavy stuff on their own, believe me. The bed and the fridge are set on little levitating pallets, the bed on its side because the shaft in this transport is kinda small. That's how they move heavy stuff, but apparently it still takes some hefty wing muscles to haul the pallets around.
Getting onto the transport was the fun part. I'm the only one here of my kind, but the transport itself has several alien delegations in it. When the little cylindrical transport docked in the shaft, a couple of Xala had already taken me and my stuff on a few pallets up to the highest level so I could enter through the top level of the transport. (Xala always enter from the top. Their floors are even numbered going down instead of up.)
Anyway, we didn't really enter from the tippy-top -- that's reserved for the pilot and crew -- but from the first level of the transport, which had a delegation of these odd looking creatures with faces a little like a cross between a cat and a teddy bear and long limbs and tail like a monkey and wearing little loincloths and some sort of fancy cape with a high collar. They were pretty small, and kept leaping around these special branched columns that had been installed (I think they were supposed to be like trees) and talking whatever weird language they speak, which sounds like more than half of it comes through your nose. One of them that was a little bigger and not quite so hairy talked to the yela'kaja a bit in the Xala's squawking language, both with odd accents because of their strange forms. Then the yela'kaja turned to me, "It seems that the Ŋãna are interested in the new alien." -- (The yela'kaja typed the name for me. According to him they pronounce their name as NGAH-nuh; but that for some reason the Xala actually call them something like gah-zah) -- "Their yela'kaja has informed me that they invite you up to this level later for a little chat. Would you like to do so?"
I though a minute, looking around at those fake metal trees with the little plastic hand-holds. "I'll see. Let me get settled in first, then I'll see about it."
The yela'kaja relayed my message to the Ŋãna yela'kaja and then lead me to a special little elevator next to the shaft. On my way down to the third level I saw a delegation of creatures that looked kinda like the man from the black lagoon, except as they talked to each other they did really big movements with their webbed hands and would change colors and patterns really quick. I asked who they were and the yela'kaja's answer was, "Those are the xala Kesata. They are one of the first races we contacted through the gâ'akaxaoda. Very interesting people, they don't speak with sound, but instead use gestures and changes of skin color to communicate." His earpiece glowed while he paused and seemed to be searching for some information. "I believe you would call that a sign-language."
"Well, I guess that's close." We got to my level and I got off to settle in. I could smell a bit of a fishy smell coming from the artificial pools on the level above me. Hopefully those won't leak. I don't know what Kesata do in those pools. So here I am, eating a Xala powerbar and looking out a little window as my transport slowly rises out of the shaft and into the sky. Maybe I'll go upstairs later and talk to the Ŋãna once everything is in its place. Or maybe I'll go and see who's on the level below me, if anybody -- these transports have four levels. Might even go see the Kesata for a minute if I can stand the smell up there. Or maybe I'll take a nap first, The time is so off here I don't even know when to sleep.
Oh, and they're not carrying all that heavy stuff on their own, believe me. The bed and the fridge are set on little levitating pallets, the bed on its side because the shaft in this transport is kinda small. That's how they move heavy stuff, but apparently it still takes some hefty wing muscles to haul the pallets around.
Getting onto the transport was the fun part. I'm the only one here of my kind, but the transport itself has several alien delegations in it. When the little cylindrical transport docked in the shaft, a couple of Xala had already taken me and my stuff on a few pallets up to the highest level so I could enter through the top level of the transport. (Xala always enter from the top. Their floors are even numbered going down instead of up.)
Anyway, we didn't really enter from the tippy-top -- that's reserved for the pilot and crew -- but from the first level of the transport, which had a delegation of these odd looking creatures with faces a little like a cross between a cat and a teddy bear and long limbs and tail like a monkey and wearing little loincloths and some sort of fancy cape with a high collar. They were pretty small, and kept leaping around these special branched columns that had been installed (I think they were supposed to be like trees) and talking whatever weird language they speak, which sounds like more than half of it comes through your nose. One of them that was a little bigger and not quite so hairy talked to the yela'kaja a bit in the Xala's squawking language, both with odd accents because of their strange forms. Then the yela'kaja turned to me, "It seems that the Ŋãna are interested in the new alien." -- (The yela'kaja typed the name for me. According to him they pronounce their name as NGAH-nuh; but that for some reason the Xala actually call them something like gah-zah) -- "Their yela'kaja has informed me that they invite you up to this level later for a little chat. Would you like to do so?"
I though a minute, looking around at those fake metal trees with the little plastic hand-holds. "I'll see. Let me get settled in first, then I'll see about it."
The yela'kaja relayed my message to the Ŋãna yela'kaja and then lead me to a special little elevator next to the shaft. On my way down to the third level I saw a delegation of creatures that looked kinda like the man from the black lagoon, except as they talked to each other they did really big movements with their webbed hands and would change colors and patterns really quick. I asked who they were and the yela'kaja's answer was, "Those are the xala Kesata. They are one of the first races we contacted through the gâ'akaxaoda. Very interesting people, they don't speak with sound, but instead use gestures and changes of skin color to communicate." His earpiece glowed while he paused and seemed to be searching for some information. "I believe you would call that a sign-language."
"Well, I guess that's close." We got to my level and I got off to settle in. I could smell a bit of a fishy smell coming from the artificial pools on the level above me. Hopefully those won't leak. I don't know what Kesata do in those pools. So here I am, eating a Xala powerbar and looking out a little window as my transport slowly rises out of the shaft and into the sky. Maybe I'll go upstairs later and talk to the Ŋãna once everything is in its place. Or maybe I'll go and see who's on the level below me, if anybody -- these transports have four levels. Might even go see the Kesata for a minute if I can stand the smell up there. Or maybe I'll take a nap first, The time is so off here I don't even know when to sleep.
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