Event: Day 265 [OPEN]

[bastionpc]

Who: Several NPCs and you
Open: Open
When: Day 265
Where: The Bastion in general
What: Everyone adjusting to the new land, plus some bad news from Nathaniel.
Format: action
Warnings: Lnone

[First, the good news: everyone came back more or less alive and well, and they had a core! After some deliberation, eventually it was decided upon that adding more land to the Bastion (as well as improving the efficiency of power use in the Bastion, so that the extra land is not a strain on the already limited power) is the best use of this Core.

Once the core has been integrated into the Bastion, the land expanse is almost immediate. Several chunks of the nearby Skyway (monster-free, thankfully) attach themselves to the Bastion, nearly doubling the available land. In addition to the flat plains, lake, river, and hills, there is much more flat land, and a few sharp peaks (nowhere near tall enough to be actual mountains, but they are made of rock and have the same jagged edges and steep inclines that a mountain would have) have attached themselves to the north-eastern side of the Bastion.

In addition, several empty buildings have sprung up in the south and western parts of the Bastion, along with a large empty area clearly left open for tents or more structures. With all of the new land and buildings, the Bastion should be able to hold several hundred residents comfortably. Provided the people could be found to fill those spaces, the Bastion could be a small town now!

But today is not entirely a day of good news. Around midday, Nathaniel calls a meeting by the monument to discuss some things, and he doesn't look happy at all.]

Okay guys, I'm just going to be honest here. We've got some trouble brewing.

For starters, I haven't been able to pick up the energy signal from that other core. Either it's been buried, or it fell off the Skyway, or something else got to it. It may come up later, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Along with that, we've got another mess on our hands now. Remember that group of Ura that you guys have been talking to? Well, they left this letter in the place where we leave written communication with them. Zahi translated it for me, and long story short, their crops failed and they're asking us for help.

We can give them supplies, but the farm doesn't grow enough to feed both us and them. If we found another core we could expand the farms to make it feasible, but there's no telling when we'll find another core. Our other option is to start growing our own farms on top of what the automated farm grows for us, but that won't actually help for several weeks, even months. They could possibly starve by the time that pays off. There's also the problem of how to get the sheer volume of food they need out to where they are. Their numbers are about equal to ours, and it's not a trip we could make every day, and most foods would spoil by the time we got it to where they are, so that's something to keep in mind too.

As near as I can tell, we can either help them out until they can grow more food, or we can ignore the request and let them fend for themselves. If any of you guys have another idea of what to do, we can discuss it.

I'll leave the decision up to you guys, but whatever you choose, make the decision quick, so that whatever you decide to do can be put into motion as soon as possible.

Comments

[daughterofursa]

...if we invited them to the Bastion, do you think they'd come?

[It might not solve the problem of how much food they need, but it would solve the transportation issue.

She's just not sure a bunch of Ura are going to want to come to a Cael-made place, after what she's heard about the both of them. It might not be exactly safe for the Bastion either.]

[bastionpc]

Well...there's no way to know for sure.

[Nathaniel sounds a bit apprehensive of the idea.]

It would certainly help keep from making enemies out of them, and we would get the most out of what food we do have, what with none if it rotting on the way or getting stolen by monsters. But inviting a large, militarized group here could be inviting more trouble than it's worth.

[daughterofursa]

I know it's risky, and we're a long way from trusting each other. But I think we'll all have a better chance of making it through this if we work together.

[Yes, Zuko is somehow a pessimist and an idealist at the same time. Don't ask her how this works. It's very difficult.]

[freedom_engineer]

I like Zuko's thought, but... I don't know if it will pan out.

They don't trust us, and I'm fairly certain that the feeling is mutual among a portion of our residents.

I'd be open to that, certainly.

But we'd have to be prepared for our supplies getting stretched thin. VERY thin...

on hiatus but

[blackblooded]

We can't let them starve. If we have to, we can take their weapons away.

[daughterofursa]

I don't think that would go over well unless we did it ourselves. We'd be treating them like criminals to take their weapons but keep our own.

[Even if some of them probably were criminals, considering what they found at the prison.]

[freedom_engineer]

Yeah. I think they'd be perfectly willing to give us their weapons, as long as we were willing to accept them a bullet at a time. From sniper range.

[In Elerian society, you don't demand someone's weapon unless you want to be on the receiving end of it...]

[blackblooded]

That can be the agreement. We'll give them food if they live here. They can't live here without giving up their weapons.

That's their decision.

[bastionpc]

I don't think they would agree to it. Admittedly, I don't know that much about Ura life, but in Caelondia everyone has a weapon and nobody's willing to give it up. It's a pretty important part of everyone's life. Some people would rather starve than give it up, and I think we can all agree that we want to avoid having people starve.

[daughterofursa]

I don't want any situation where we won't help them unless they agree to our terms.

If we can't trust each other enough for them to stay here, we're still going to help.

[Whether or not to help was never part of the equation for Zuko. It's just a question of how.]

[freedom_engineer]

I'm with Zuko on that one.

They're in trouble, we have the means to help, we're going to help as far as we possibly can.

[blackblooded]

We shouldn't die for strangers. If they hurt us, we'll kill them.

[freedom_engineer]

We're all strangers to someone. They'll think the exact same thing about us.

I'd rather help them, and not be strangers to them.

Later on, when we're not strangers, and we need help from them... It would be nice to not have someone over there "We shouldn't die for strangers." And it would be even nicer if the rest of the people over there don't have a reason to agree with them.

[daughterofursa]

We could've used their help plenty of times before now, and I can think of plenty more situations where it would be nice to have allies.

Right now, we still need to be cautious. I think they feel the same way. They'll defend themselves, but I don't think they're looking for any more fights either.

[blackblooded]

They might be. [Crona doesn't trust them at all, a sentiment echoed by Ragnarok, who pops out to add in his own commentary.]

We'll kill them all! [He laughs, a loud burbling noise.]

[amphibian]

We've gotta ask! We won't know for sure if we don't, right?

And...y'know, this place has only gotten bigger since I got here, but the farm's always grown more and more food to make up for that. I think if they stay instead of us sending the food away, it'll keep our supplies from getting too low!

[blackblooded]

[And Crona tends to think Aoi's right, no mater what.]

I-if they do stay, we can hunt more. We can go hunting for things on the Skyway to help.

We just have to keep us safe.

[daughterofursa]

[Of course. She's just so enthusiastic about everything.]

I don't think we should count on the Bastion accommodating for them on its own. It's never had to deal with our population doubling before.

But we've been eating pretty well here. It's not pleasant, but a person can survive on a lot less.

[amphibian]

Right, right! And we can use our shards to get more game animals out there, too, like the mammoths, so even if the Bastion can't catch up all at once, we can make up for it... We've always done a pretty good job of staying okay out there, and having more well-trained people to help us'll be good for hunting, too!

[Aoi Asahina: forever far too perky to be denied and eternally oblivious to her charms.]

[daughterofursa]

Right. If they can work with us instead of both groups making separate efforts...

Well, I hope they're willing to consider it.

[findsrisks]

The Bastion can do some pretty crazy stuff, right? What if we used our shards to make some sort of fast-traveling car, or plane, or something? If speed is the problem, then at least one of us should be able to come up with a vehicle fast enough to make it a non-problem, right?

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko doesn't know what a plane is, but she gets the gist of this.]

That's an idea, but I'm not sure how much something like that would cost us. We need to be sure we can still provide them with enough foodstuffs.