Had to share this...

TheChin! is a solitary player one system up from me. No league affiliations, but he continues to play the game. Padavanas pounded him into submission once and shared with me a delightfully well-written taunt TheChin! wrote in replay. I jumped in and the words have been flying.

I wanted to share our latest exchange...

FROM TheChin!...

Poor race traitor, instead of working to rid the galaxy of alien scum whose sole purpose is the eradication of the Terran race, you choose to waste your resources with petty brigantry, all the while conspiring with the very aliens who will eventually enslave you and make you their dometicated food stock. A day of reckoning will come and all betrayers like your backwater world will pay a higher price then even the aliens who call you their lapdog.

When you were called to attack my world, was your alien masters command "Sic 'em boy"? It saddens me and my people to see a fellow terran fall so low so as to be some abominations lackey and servant. You seem to relish the role you have taken, groveling at the feet of your inhuman masters. So be it.



My Response...

Ah Chin... it is always a delight to receive a missive from you. Your misinformed and misanthropic rants continue to brighten my day... and add quirky footnotes to your chapter in “The Fallen Heroes of Galaxy Three”.

Your judgment of my status, while clearly heartfelt and well-rehearsed, is but a lone cry from a distant wasteland. It intrigues me that you persist in employing terms such as “my people” when clearly you have elected to stand alone. In a galaxy teeming with vibrant and dynamic leagues and alliances (for good or ill), you continue to shout from the desolate crags of you remote and isolated hovel. Cast what aspersions you will upon my choice of kinsmen; I hope you understand that the opinions of a solitary recluse like yourself have the same value as a scrap of doggerel penned by a mad poet... amusing under the best of circumstances, tedious at the worst.

I do – however – applaud the construction of your little catacomb hordes. The image of you standing atop a great sprawl of horded goodies in some dank subterranean vault brings a chuckle to my lips. Rule there if you will... for you shall never take to the skies like a true inheritor of civilized glory. I will ensure that every ship you build is torn asunder, every defensive battery reduced to rumble, and every tentative grasp you extend beyond the moldy cave of your existence is slapped down.

Cringe in your darkness, “Terran”, and hold fast the pride you esteem in that word. Whisper it to the shadows so they can applaud your righteous conviction... those empty echoes are the only inheritance you can hope for.


------

I do love the banter of a worthy adversary.

But wait... there's more! Here's his response:

You have sold your soul to an alien menace... nay a disease, that spreads throughout the galaxy on ignorant hosts such as yourself. Their malignant ichor drips from your lips as you rationalize the lot you have fallen into. Your words are effective enough to almost mask your puppet status, but your actions more than reveal the strings leading back to the stinking piles of discarded egg sacs that litter your masters home world.

We do not need external validation and adulation to know that we are truly free, now alive, and later dead. It matters not what some myopic historian belonging to a barabaric tribe of cutthroats thinks about our righteousnous. We know, and that is all that matters. It would be settling for an empty existence to join some random band of thugs and criminals as you have. How could we, as a people, look our children in the eyes when we would have doomed them to a lifetime of alien servitude? Does it warm your heart to see your children bowed under the oppressive alien yoke? Do you think that you are actually making progress in this existence by throwing your lot in with the lower orders of galactic life?

Our people are proud to succeed or fail, while fighting the indentured automatons that you call your people. Each one of your mindless followers that fall on our world are freed from the bondage your short-sighted and greedy rule has committed them to. The only time they will be free in their lifetime of servility, and we welcome the chance to free our Terran brothers regardless of their debauched leadership.

We will not accept a life of thuggery and iniquity. We will not become the thralls of some other misbeggoten life form. We will defend what we honestly produce from those who would choose not to work for themselves.



I think this guy needs a serious pummeling... here's my response:

::applause::

You see, Chin? THIS is why I will miss you... such bile and vitriol that flows from the depths of your caverns (and your heart), echoing off moldy stalactites, across the void of space into my command center! It’s a marvelous gift you give me and I am truly grateful.

Honestly, Chin... “Malignant ichor”? “Misbegotten life form”? And you speak to ME of rationalization? I completely understand, of course... as you huddle on a lonely heap of rock, you must put forth SOME excuse to your people as why they may never raise their heads without cringing in fear. Vilifying an alien race (and those who “collude” with them) is a perfectly acceptable and time-honored practice of dictators and autocrats. I applaud you again for your effective (if a trifle over-used) politics.

I am trying to picture you in my mind and it’s a challenge. I’m torn between painting you as a thin rail of a man in tattered rags, shaking an impotent boney fist at the heavens, or a corpulent hypocrite who feasts on the finest dregs your planet can offer while your people endure the hardship you bring upon them. I honestly can’t choose between them... both are equally likely and have their own amusement to offer. Please, don’t ruin my game by describing yourself... it’s a wonderful way to idle away my time between hurling destruction around you.

And please don’t infer any judgment on you for my part. If it does your heart good to stare bright-eyed and “unbroken” into the starved faces of your children, then by all means, stare away. If knowing that your achievements (such as they are) will never leave the orbit of your precious Cenotaph, then you have my blessing to continue to dig your holes and rub your sticks together and tell stories by fire light.

For that is all it shall ever be, dear Chin... stories by the firelight. For all your “evolved vindication”, your people will never leave your planet. You will fade eventually and we will burn your planet to ashes. Your people’s heritage will be preserved in my personal library, archived and locked away for as long as I live. And then, with my last breath, I shall strike the match and burn it, ending it as you lived it... whispering in the firelight.

And the dialog continues. This latest is after my daily assault on TheChins! defenses.


TheChin! wrote:

For every battle that you lose more resources than you gain, your Xen masters grow stronger than you. For every ship your shipyards builds, only to be destroyed for no gain, your Xen masters build one more that they will eventually use against you. When the inevitable day comes when they turn on you, you will be that much easier to subdue. This is the tactics of turning Terran against Terran, and you embrace it wholeheartedly.

My strategy may not seat me as Emperer of Galaxy 3, but it at least has some satisfaction. In a galaxy of parasites, only those who feed the most have a chance to succeed and you are starving yourself. When the end game comes and the parasites are no longer a factor, you will be long gone.



And my response...

I am delighted to hear that your people can still raise their heads... but perhaps you should be paying closer attention to the rubble at your feet, hm?

You seem to be basing your observations on a misconception, dear Chin. My assaults upon you have nothing to do with any covetous desires for your tawdry resources. Each attack is part of our daily ritual to bombard your attempts at building defenses or (even more absurd) a fleet. We gauge the success of our efforts by how much it costs you, not by how much we gain.

For example, our most recent “dialog” cost you lost 5110 Metal, 4095 Crystal, and 3570 Deuterium. For our part, the cost was merely 3325 Metal, 2860 Crystal, and 2095 Deuterium. By my reckoning, we’re ahead by 1785 Metal, 1235 Crystal, and 1475 Deuterium (less fuel costs, of course. The ships are all drones, by the way... we wouldn't waste actual people on such an insignificant altercation). Not a bad run, by HIVE accounting.

I’m not interested in your resources, Chin. I’m interested in you, in your people, and your resolve. You are a lab experiment, a tiny corner of the vast galaxy that I have reserved for my own personal research into the tenacity of spirit. You’ll never have a fleet, you see. Ever. If you’re quick, you MAY be able to sneak a colony ship between our blockades, but all that will do is condemn MORE of your people to a life of subterranean scratching and clawing... for the HIVE is everywhere. Your people will resemble less the proud Terran heritage and more the Morlock travesty from the ancient fictions of HG Wells of long lost Terra.

I’m curious to discover how long your chest thumping vilifications will endure, before tedium and despair drive you to silence and your world becomes just another spent shell drifting through the void of space.

Tick tock...

Apparently, TheChin! felt it was safe to start building a fleet. My daily assault destroyed a single recycler in orbit around his planet.

I sent him this...


Really Chin? A recycler? I am deeply wounded... and a little disappointed. After the posturing and vehement disparagement of my culture, my choice in allies, and my genetics, I was expecting a grand play, some brilliant master stroke that would reveal me as the degenerate thug you claim I am. To be honest, I was hoping for it... something that would make our (brief) future together more interesting. Ah well... disappointment is my cross to bear.

Did you think I was jesting when I told you the skies would never again be yours? Did you somehow expect, after your droning taunts and self-righteous indignation, that I would somehow grow bored with your pathetic little rock? Quite the contrary, dear Chin... my appetite is whetted, and my resolve has never been stronger.

Whatever the cost, however long it takes, whatever sacrifice I must endure or burden I must shoulder... your presence will NEVER be known in space. Fortune MAY favor you with sneaking a colony ship off that humble rock to some other desolate wasteland, but your fate shall remain the same.

The skies are closed to you, Chin... forever.

I love this game!

Note to self.... don't mess with Tessy....

LOLZ! My HIVE mates are safe, held close and safe from the sharp icy darkness I reserve for everyone else.

I WILL say, however, that this guys is good... here's his response.

Let me instruct you a bit. What the criminal mind (i.e. yours) has as one of it's many, many faults is the inability to understand patience. A single recycler, pays for itself in 2-3 missions, so as long as I keep them in motion, a loss of one or two here and there is a minor issue. Feel free to keep wasting your own missions on them. For someone so pressed for advantage in the great space race that you would resort to crime, you are not very intelligent when it comes to actually utilizing the resources you steal. While you incompetently prosecute your ineffective and petulant little grudge against my world, you are losing ground in the galactic struggle. Delinquency is a sorry state to fall into to begin with, but to add in futile vanity is truly contemptible.

Your status as degenerate thug remains and shall remain as you seem incalpable of rising above the company you keep. As I slowly take the steps necessary to become a starfaring race, using honest and honorable methods, you will remain soulless and shallow. When the day comes when my master stroke matures to fruition, you are not even second on my list of miscreants to bring to justice. In the grand scheme of things, your two-bit thuggery is a minor irritation compared to some others I must deal with first. Fear not, you are still on the list. You are inconsequential to be sure, but even the lowliest blood-sucking mosquito deserves to be swatted.

It may be that by the time I have acheived military superiority (to comlement my moral superiority) another rogue will already have elimanted you. The other parasites who are more efficient in their choice of application of military power and resources are overtaking you and soon you will be their prey. I hope that there are some of your populace left to liberate from your tyrannical rule when my forces do arrive.

And my response...


Mmmm, yes... vanity is quite likely to be the vice that shall someday be my downfall. But futile? Well... YOU would be the authority on THAT aspect of the Terran condition, so I will defer to your wisdom on that matter.

And thank you - from the bottom of the black ichorous pulsing thing I call a heart - for your patient efforts to educate a degenerate race-traitor like myself. Your tutorial in star ship accounting has opened my eyes to the sluggardly nature of my vindictive strategies. I shall, of course, have to redouble my efforts to ensure that every recycler you build is destroyed before its maiden voyage. I am grateful for the remonstrative warning, dear Chin... you continue to show me courtesy far beyond my worth.

And, as shall always be my custom, I shall again applaud you for the cruel precision with which you craft your vitriolic dispatches to me. Casting me off as a “two-bit thug” of minor consequence and annoyance is a brilliant stratagem, certain to enrage and infuriate me... well done! I consider it a great fortune indeed that your perceptions of the world are to be forever contained upon your shabby little world... I quake in my slimy boots at the thought that you might reveal my utter inconsequence to the universe.

One that never ceases to amaze me is the revelations contained in each of your missives. Shall I share the latest? The skill and craft with which you draft your communications intrigued me from the start and – as our relationship bloomed over the weeks – your craft has only increased in mastery and sophistication. I thought my fascination was merely delicious self-indulgence in your torment, but now I discover how wrong I was.

It’s your hatred that has drawn me to you like a moth to the flame. The vile loathing that infuses every key stroke, the fierce and passionate grinding of your mind to find the perfect thrust, the fatal jab that shall bring me to ruin... THAT, dear Chin, is what truly intrigues me, and what binds me to you closer than the lusty embrace of a concubine.

Soulless and shallow I may be, but I am humbled before the towering furnace of hatred, disgust, and loathing that festers within your heart. I may feed off the efforts of others, dear Chin, but you sir feed on a much darker fare.

We are so very alike... I do believe I am growing fond of you.

(Of course... I am fond of desserts, as well. It doesn’t stop me from devouring each one utterly)

My latest goad...


Good Morning, dear Chin...

Do you know how much joy I derive from launching fleet after fleet against you? It’s absurd, really, but I’m like a child watching the countdown to some great holiday or celebration. I keep checking the clock and wondering, “Is it soon? Is it now?” And then as the last seconds tick down before our fleets enter your orbit, I’m actually giddy. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I can be honest with you, Chin... yes?

And then... the aftermath. I honestly can’t say which is more satisfying – watching your ships and defenses reduced to scrap metal and rubble... or finding nothing there to hit at all. I think the later, actually. Finding nothing – no fleets, no defenses, no “presence” of you at all – makes me smile in a way that sends my servants scuttling away like roaches in the light.

Of course, I KNOW you’re there, scurrying about your dank catacombs, fanning the fires of glory and honor in the hearts of your subterranean people as you grasp and horde your resources in the hopes that someday you’ll find a use for them that goes beyond improving your already formidable skill at hiding and cringing. I know your there, feeling the rock around you thrum and pulse to the roar of our star drives.

So when I find nothing to destroy, I smile. Because I know that you are already beaten. Whatever propaganda you can spew about honorable glory and a righteous future, I am secure in the knowledge that – for now – you are mine. Every choice you make is weighed against my pleasure or displeasure. Every rock you stack one atop the other is done so with a wary eye to the skies, wondering when (not if) our ships will arrive to bring it down.

THAT is control, dear Chin. That is subjugation of the first order... and it makes me smile in the most fearful way.

Finally.... a response!

--------------------------------------------

What pleases me, is that I still grow, even with your rust buckets patrolling my space, I grow. Are you not embarrased that as a Patriarch of your league, you have fallen to the lower half of the members? Even among scum you fail to excel. Can they revoke your title since you are such a minor functionary now that you have let your growth stagnate?

You can continue your mastabatory control fantasies all you like, but the fact remains that you are a speed bump, not a destiny changer.


Which of course, requires a response...

“Masturbatory control fantasies”... delightful! Of course, that’s all they are and you’re quite right; I am utterly insignificant in the course and direction of your people. I’m sure, when you awoke that bright dawning day on Cenotaph, with the entire world anticipating the first ground breaking of your first structure, you said to yourself, “I will not ever fly in space. I will instead dig underground and hide myself and my people from the light of day.” I’m certain that was your plan all along and the crossing of our paths has had no impact upon your destiny at all.

And of COURSE you continue to grow, dear Chin! By the bright stars, do you think I’d waste my (not inconsiderable) talent and effort on some sluggard who would surrender at this early stage of our relationship? I have your measure and your mark, Chin, as much as it may gall you to think so. As I said, we are so much alike.

You will not yield from this challenge. If anything, our bond has fortified you and strengthened your resolve. Even now, you’re building caches and hangers to mask your fleet, researching cruel technologies, biding your time. Your people, dwelling in the underdark, fed on the bile and tempered in the fiery hatred you forge them in are transforming into a culture of dark steel.

And someday you will rise up, sheathed in your righteous armor, ablaze like a stellar event, shining and bright as you lift the sword of your vengeance against all the heartless oppressors of the world.

...and it will be then that you will learn that the HIVE is everywhere. We will be waiting, patiently, for you to emerge from your planetary cocoon to spread you wings against the heavens... and we share tear them from you. You will be cast down - like Icarus - by our combined might and broken upon the wrecks of your fleets.

That is your weakness, dear Chin. That is your folly... I'll engrave it on your tombstone.

You think you are speaking to one man, one degenerate thuggish race-traitor. Clearly, you have failed to grasp the scope of our dialogue. We are HIVE... and we are legion. Whatever my “rank” or “status” maybe among my brethren, they REMAIN my brethren. We live for each other and we die for each other... we are over 50 planets strong against your one.

Ponder that in your cave.

WOW, you rock Tesseract!!!

I never argue with a man when he's right, Supax.

Although it has been suggested that I "get a life" (whatever THAT means).

More from TheChin! Coming soon...

SO... TheChin! achieved a triumph! Some how he managed to build a colony ship and has a second planet! No small accomplishment with no fleet whatsoever... and I told him so.


Well done! You've shuttled your people to another subterranean doom hole... bravo!

Tenacity is SUCH an admirable quality. I'm sure you feel quite relieved, eh? As you should... enjoy your victory. You've earned it.


TheChin! Responded...

Tick tock, tick tock. Doomsday approaches. Have you gotten your fiddle out yet?


Which could not POSSIBLY be left to stand...

"Doomsday"? My my, Chin, you ARE swelled with pride aren't you. Granted, you've accomplished quite a feat under adverse conditions, so I would expect a bit of crowing.

But really... what have you accomplished? Another farm for me? Another prison for your people? I can already hear the shovels and pick axes as your people dig frantically for the familiar dank shelter of their subterranean catacombs.

When a virus spreads, Chin, the virus is naturally quite proud of itself... but it's still a virus.


I assumed he'd take the bait (hell, I'D take that bait)... and he did

A virus? Now that is a textbook example of the pot calling the kettle black! How it must pain you to see an honest world develop and prosper without resorting to wanton destruction and pillaging. Deep in the heart of the corrupt is a weeping child that wants to be good and when it is exposed to good, it's own shortcomings fill it with woe.

Do not worry, your crimes will be punished and you will be able to feel good about yourself again (or maybe for the first time!) once the stain has been expunged from your soul. The punishment will be severe and painful, but your crimes do warrant the most draconian measures in order for you to be rehabilitated.


Now that we were "into it" I felt comfortable stretching my legs a bit...

So THAT’S how you fill those long dreary hours in your caves! I had wondered what sort of past-times you might devise and had just assumed you gave long thrashing speeches to the glass-eyed minions you call your “people”. But now I understand... I can actually see it quite clearly: You huddled before a guttering fire, wrapped in the rags of your once-exquisite council robes, shadows leaping and dancing fitfully as you mumble your way through your fantasies. Oh, thank you, Chin... that image shall be a treasured thing. I shall commission a painting of it and call it “Whispers in the Dark”.

For that IS what we’re back to, isn’t it, Chin. You have a new home... that is dreadfully similar to the old one... right down to the familiar sound of my fleets thundering overhead every... single... day. So what’s next, hm? ANOTHER planet, perhaps? Another nesting warren of catacombs and tombs for your people to dwell in? Can they even bare the light, Chin? Or have they grown so comfortable in their caves that, like the moles they emulate, they eschew the light of day completely.

And Chin... dear Chin, you must know that I do not begrudge you your fantasies OR your achievements. I am impressed and delighted to find that you possessed the means and wherewithal to construct and launch your ship! I have said so before, and I am as sincere in my praise now as I was then. Granted, it’s the only ship you’ve dared launch into the skies, but still... most praiseworthy

Are you so clouded in your thinking, Chin, that you have not discovered the key to our relationship? The inevitability of its final notes, the tragic end that cannot be escaped? You fail, Chin... that is how your story ends... you MUST know that. No buried and hidden fleet, no secret cache of resources, no whispered communications can save you. We will crush you utterly and the ashes of your council robes will blow away exposing your bones as bleak and barren as the existence you wrap them in now.

Of COURSE I delight in your achievements and I applaud each step you take, each block of accomplishment you build beneath your feet. Each step higher means your fall shall be that much farther. My HIVE mates seek dominion and I support them; they are the only ones in this wretched Galaxy of empty-shelled dictators and frail fearful children with the strength and unity to achieve it.

For myself... I’m in it for the fall, Chin. The spiraling, flailing plummet of a spirit into the void, a civilization into ruin, a culture into oblivion. There is nothing so achingly sweet as the last whimper before the silence.

So build up, Chin... build higher. Mumble you fantasies. Envision my vilification and “purification” if it helps you through the long night you’ve chosen for yourself. Whatever you do, don't look down... that's where I am. Waiting for you.

It is only a sin that he hasn't ran a bit further from his hellhole, if he did he might have ended up near me and I'd have a little more fun taking that colony.

He's a sly one, TheChin!. I'm sure he has massive resource caches and a hanger. I know he MUST be building a fleet and stashing it away, but it's difficult to catch him out and about.

But have a plan... I've set up a fleet with a tanker on a likely unoccupied planet. If his IS darting out to acquire resources, I'll catch him. Bwuahahaha!

And rest assured, Ignis... there WILL come a time when all the HIVE will have a crack at this fellow. That is my dearest wish.

That and a new set of filleting knives.

Yes it's true. Then again I can't really do that, I have no tankers. It's only for hummies.

On a side note it's a pitty you can't do the same with comets. The fleet just turns away if there is one armed fleet there.

Tesseract, you have found a gem. Treasure him.

Oh I do, Supax... I count myself very fortunate indeed.

I mean honestly... what would this game be but math and strategy without people like dear Chin, hm? Why would we go to the bother of making cool chat sigs and coming up with cool names for ourselves and our planets if that was ALL there was to the game?

Without the chance to stretch ourselves beyond the constraints of our daily existence - the petty dangers of social interaction, the droning convention of a job, and the emotional mine field of relationships - why in heaven's name would we "play" at all?

So yes, Supax, I treasure Chin... and I thank YOU for making me mindful of that gift. One of the reasons I enjoy the HIVE so damned much is that it's filled with people who get that.

I'm not sure that how it happen. If the ships are supporting the said planet, they won't attack any fleet from that planet. At least that should be the reasoning... Granted, the option of creating a system blocade would be awesome!