ParagonExploiter

THE AETHER REPORT FOR THE MONTH ENDING AUGUST 31st, 2016
 
GRAND ARCHITECT’S REPORT
OVERVIEW
1.       Internal Affairs: For the past month, I have closely studied the behaviour of my fellow Aether members. Overall, we are all getting along nicely and the general temperament is that of mature people. Some are beginning to show uniqueness in their behaviour and for the most part, we are all active members.
2.       External Affairs: Of all the Aether’s allies, Earldom of Mercia remains at the top. They are the most active, responsive and friendly members of the HTC and the Aether’s second oldest ally. The interorganisational alliances and friendships remain stable and warm from the Aether’s perspective. The Aether is an official member of the Cinderfall Syndicate. It’s still relatively new to the Syndicate and I recommend that the Aether abstain from any deep involvement for a period lasting 21 to 30 days to appropriately familiarise itself with the Syndicate and its many members.
3.       Growth: The Aether’s growth remains slow, but steady. Consilium and Founding Father categories have been filled. The Fundamentum category is filling up steadily, however, a lot can still be done to attract new players.
4.       The Aether’s Public Relations: The Aether remains on the very positive side of the public opinion. This is a boost to our status, influence and attractiveness to existing and new members of Dual Universe. This also increases the chances of success should the Aether rally organisations together for a common cause.
5.       Resources and Economy: The Coordination Department continues to recruit Aether members. It’s too soon to come up with a short or full report on the Department.
6.       Military: The Defence Department continues to recruit Aether members. It’s too soon to come up with a short or full report on the Department.
7.       Science and Research: The Visionary Department has to a large extent been the most active. This is mostly due to the large fraction of people that find it appealing. The first designs are still under development. However, some concrete designs should be ready by the ending of next month.
8.       Intelligence: There’s too little to note and too much to keep from prying eyes.
9.       HTC: The first batch of allies has been accepted. Interaction is negligible, but understandably so at this stage. The individual organisations still need time to interact and develop trust and mutual friendships.
 
INTERNAL AFFAIRS
At the start of the month of August, the Aether had one member. Yes, that’s right. I was the only member of the Aether and the lone wolf. Within one month however, we’ve grown to sixteen members. That’s an average growth of 0.48 new members every day. Of all Sixteen members of the Aether, only Faerghal is yet to interact with us. Further inquiries into these Aether members revealed that one is an active Eve player. We should continue to expect them.
So, far no heated arguments have taken place and we are all getting along nicely. The top five members of the Aether, based how much they communicate are: (in no particular order) SonofSkz, ignorer, CosmicDragon, ParagonExploiter and Aetherios. Notable members include marax27, xhiyikfkox, Jeronimo, Benoen and Tbabz17. Most of the members already know what they want to do in Dual Universe and are currently being placed in places they will enjoy working and playing.
 
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
The Aether has nine organisations it considers as allies. Eight of them are featured on the Aether’s website. As for alliances, the Aether is part of two alliances: namely HTC and Cinderfall Syndicate. It is on friendly terms with the Allied Corporate States and its head is part of the HTC. Earldom of Mercia are by far the most active and the closest to the Aether, mostly due to the close and old friendship members of the Aether and Earldom of Mercia share. Together with the Aether, they founded the HTC and Yin Yang Federation was the third member. The Aether has no open hostilities with any other organisation or alliance. To the best of its knowledge, no hostilities have been declared against it by other organisations or alliances.
The HTC was founded on 20th of August, 2016. The Aether officially joined Cinderfall Syndicate on the 29th of August, 2016. The Founding members of HTC are: Earl Trevor Wentworth, Krow, Aetherios and Grand Admiral Io. The Current members apart from those listed as the founders are: DaSchiz-Yin Yang Federation,
Astralator-Ad Astra Enterprises,
MatzaJew-Ninja Clan Fu,
FHGSteve-VultureCorp,
Darius Sanguina – Terran Union,
HollowMobster-Lone Star Empire,
WilksChekov- Allied Corporate States and
DarkNovation-NovaCore. The alliance is stable but still in its infant stages. Membership remains by Invite only.
 
GROWTH
While the Aether’s growth has certainly not been a jump from grass to glory, it’s not been painfully slow either. We are not anorexic as concerns recruiting new people, but we value quality over quantity. The date with the highest number of accepted applications was the 25th of August, 2016 with three applications accepted. As of now, recruitment is limited to the Dual Universe Forum, the Dual Universe Community Portal and Twitter. I strongly encourage members of the Aether to continue to source candidates through social media, by word of mouth and by any other means of friendly persuasion. Further information on the kinds of candidates we seek will be revealed to interested parties by contacting the Grand Architect and Consilium members.
THE AETHER’S PUBLIC RELATIONS
Thankfully, the Aether remains on the positive side of the public opinion. The image of a united family and state is still unscathed and attractive in the eyes of people. Due in most part to the conversations and contributions Aether members have made on the general Discord channel and the Dual Universe forums, people perceive us to be smart, up to date and welcoming. Special thanks goes to marax27 for his work on the Forum and Discord; CosmicDragon for his contribution to Discord and the Forum; ignorer for his contribution to Discord, ParagonExploiter for his contribution to Discord and SonofSkz for his contribution to Discord. We are also grateful for the other members of the Aether that have helped in what way they can.
 
The Aether has had some minor disturbance as concerns individual members of the organisation. We hope to have the issues ironed out as soon as possible. Where the concerned members have been wrong, we have issued a strong warning to them. Where they have been unjustly accused, we have contended with the offenders. The Aether as a whole, though, has suffered slightly in its Public Image. We hope to recover lost ground within the coming month.
As concerns our allies and non-hostile organisations, we are still on excellent ground on them and continue to work on improving relations. The Aether’s allies are listed below:
·         Earldom of Mercia
·         Ad Astra Enterprises
·         The Terran Union
·         LoneStar Empire
·         Yin Yang Federation
·         Vulture Corporation
·         NovaCore
·         Ninja Clan Fu
·         Allied Corporate States (as pertains to the body, not individual organisations)
·         Cinderfall Syndicate (as pertains to the body, not individual organisations)
·         The Golden Empire  
                        ·          Aramatea Eco-Conglomerate
 
RESOURCES AND ECONOMY
Recruitment and strategy for the Coordination Department is underway. Nothing more is noteworthy.
 
MILITARY
Recruitment and strategy for the Defence Department is underway. Nothing more is noteworthy.
SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
The Visionary Department has been the most active of the three. From craft designs to architecture, the Visionary Department has its hands in both. It is also the largest of the three Departments. Recruitment and strategy for the Visionary Department is underway. Due to security concerns, nothing more is noteworthy.
 
INTELLIGENCE
 
 
 
 
HTC
The HTC was founded on the 25th of August, 2016. The founding organisations are the Earldom of Mercia and the Aether. The Founding members are Earl Trevor Wentworth, CosmicDragon, Krow and Aetherios. As of Wednesday, 31st of August, 2016, the HTC has eight members and will not be accepting any new ones till further notice.
Basic structure planning is still under way but full steam interaction is still a short way ahead. That will be all for now.
 
SUMMARY
The internal relations of the Aether are in the best of situations and the external relations leave little to be desired. The Aether’s public image is still relatively good and I look forward to improving it further. Growth could and should be a lot better, considering the fact that each member can present at least one more candidate for recruitment. There’s little to note about the individual Aether Departments and the HTC is still growing strong.

"
The walls have ears and birds tell dark tales, 
I'm right there, somewhere in a hood near you. 
You'll laugh or smile, until your colour pales. 
You're spying on me, yes? I'm spying on you too. 
This isn't just a game, many have gone. 
They've gone and burnt, with or without the rue.  
I'm a master, my mind is never torn, 
I'm watching: somewhere in a hood near you. 
 
The Aether silently welcomes Orici, the master of intrigue.
"

"
I feel sorry for you, really I do. 
I know your deep pain, I have felt it too. 
You had no chance, but I know you didn't know, 
And now it's all over at the cock's third crow. 
It's sad you weren't warned: a pitiful shame, 
But, you should have known when my machines came. 
The struggle's ended now: it's all over. 
I've won the war, a machine and clover. 
 
We welcome MechMerchant to the Aether, may his victories continue, over and over! 
"

"
I can't understand; 
How can you live on this sparse land?
I tire of this place, 
I'm sick of this small planet's face. 
Can't you see the stars? 
Abandon the stark lie and farce! 
Earth. Is. Not. Your. Home!
Among stars I seek to roam. 
 
The Aether welcomes RedCap to the Home. May he dwell among our stars.
 
"

"
We're defined by achieving the impossible,
And we count these moments of strength and greatness: 
Moments where we prove ourselves to be capable, 
Of aiming high and casting off our baseness. 
We count these moments as our proudest achievements. 
Have we lost all that? Perhaps we've forgotten. 
Forgotten that we will forever be pioneers. 
Destiny lies above; we've barely begun. 
 
The Aether welcomes XarlesNoriac to the stars. A pioneer among pioneers.
"

"
Man never accepts to leave and quit, 
No matter how many times he hits a wall. 
If he can't take all, he tries bit by bit.
But, never will he accept something as null.
Man has grown, but never has he mastered,
The complex art of total efficiency. 
If man can survive all he has suffered, 
Sure as night and day, he can acquire the key. 
 
It is quite late, but ParagonExploiter deserves this poem. It has been long in coming, but here at last.
 
"

You know, I completely forgot this existed. Funny how these things happen, but it's too bad the story isn't canon anymore. 
Many thanks, Paragon. I'm glad you like it. 
Cheers.

Hey everybody! so I'm new around these parts...
Thought i'd share some animated forum signature banners that I threw together (in other words I was extremely bored and am impatiently waiting for the alpha  )
 

 

 

 

 

 
Edit: Had some people asking if they need to credit me if they use these banners... the answer is no since most of the content in the banners is already novaquark copyright... so just handle it how you would if it was from novaquark.

The picture should speak for it self.

Congratulations all. Well done.

Cool congrats guys!

"
 I simply stared at my screen for half a minute, before I remembered to breathe! Thanks a lot to Kurock, or I wouldn't have found out about the great news till tomorrow! 
 
It's been a wonderful, thrilling experience, and much like Devious_T, this is the first time my writing has won anything at all, but it would be utterly selfish for me to claim all the credit!
 
So, many thanks to Novaquark for providing something to write about - more importantly something interesting and bold to write about. The guidelines may have been a constraint, but, they helped to narrow down my thoughts to a very large extent! Thanks for providing something to put a lot of effort into! 
 
Secondly, thanks to my faithful friends in The Aether who shared enough about themselves, directly and indirectly to provide a solid character plot! The encouragement did much more than you would ever know, my friends, and thanks a lot for all the meaningful discussions we held! Thanks to Arkanos and Anon, who remained in wonderful spirits and joyous air throughout and even after the contest. I'll be rooting for you guys the next time!
 
Thirdly, an exclusive thank you to Almanac for his tutorship and help with my submission. He added a lot of depth, picked out more typos and corrected even more things that would certainly have made the masterpiece a mere artwork. Thanks, Almanac - I owe you!
 
A huge thank you to WilksChekov, Lethys, yamamushi, Twerk and Kurock for their groundbreaking help and sportsmanship. It's wonderful to compete when you have friendly rivals like Lethys and Kurock: they are the most gentlemanly rivals I could ever find outside of The Aether and I look forward to many more of your works, both in literature and in the game. 
 
Lastly, it would be depravity not to thank the entire Dual Universe Community. Some of you have read my works, but I have interacted with a lot more of you. It's rock solid safe to say that this Community has provided me with more friends and acquaintances than I ever would have imagined. Some of your character traits found their place within That Bright Dawn and I sincerely look forward to much more interaction in the future. 
 
 
It feels great to win something, but even greater to acknowledge all the help I received in winning it. So, thank you to Novaquark, everyone in The Aether, the folks back at Discord and everyone on the Forums. I look forward to much more pleasurable memories. 
 
 
Cheers. 
"

The day the planets ran dry
Memoir of a miner
 
 
<Recording started, datalog 2021112315311321…>
 
Ahem. This thing on? Good. I’ve been mining since… Bah. Delete the recording before this. Damn technology, anticipating needs I don’t have. Just do as I say and not...
 
<Recording ended.>
 
 
<Recording started, datalog 2021112315313512…>
 
I've been mining since the day I stepped off the Arkship. It was boring but I never got bored. That’s an old mining joke. Along with the one where we are all old enough to drink at bars. With the bad jokes out of the way I can get down and dirty.
 
Back on Earth we were lucky to have a jackhammer or a sonic destabilizer, but right off the Arkship we were giving nanoformers. Amazing bits of technology, able to detect nearby concentration of ores, vaporize the ground to get to the ore and pack the ores neatly into a container. The abuse of nano-fields and Calabi-Yau space at its finest.
 
Then came the territory scanners. Able to scan a square kilometer and give a read out of the ores in the ground. They were prospecting made easy. The big business scanner-heads went out in their tri-scanner ships and deployed arrays of tri-scanners to be able to prospect on upwards of twenty-four square kilometers at the same time. But before all that it was just me and my trusty ship with a territory scanner bolted to its side. That's all a miner really needed. 
 
Then Aphelia, the Arkships AI, made the Arkship fire its big beam deep into the planet. That can’t be good for the planet.  The Novark spat small ore rocks all over the planet's surface. Must have done it to all the planets and moons of the Helios system, because the rocks were everywhere. But no self respecting miner would waste time picking those up. The yields were simply too small, compared to the expansive nodes in the ground. And then there were the motherloads: the mega-nodes. Where one ore node held thousands of liters of ore, the mega-nodes held millions. I personally found and cleared out more mega-nodes than you can shake a stick of carbon at. Those were good times.
 
But just because a territory scanner said there was ore in the ground, it didn’t say where it was. It was still an art to find those elusive ore nodes, even the megas. My preferred method was walking the compass. Find your level, walk north or south whichever makes the blip get closer. Then east west. Once the blip gets no closer, you know the ore is right above or below you. But never dig straight up or down. How are they gonna get back up?  What if there is a giant desert scorpion or worse… ecologists.  But some did dig straight down. The well-diggers or shafters as I called them, wanted to get down to where the ore was quickly. And they didn’t waste time digging back to the surface either. Instead they would just kill themselves, trusting their resurrection nodes on the surface wouldn’t malfunction. But sometimes they did. That’s why the shafters were either desperate or psychopaths.
 
The proper way of mining was always just the miner and their trusty tool. No floating mining chairs, auto-mappers or follow-me container bots. Just you and the dark. And occasionally a miner would be treated to the midnight sun: the hallucinations of sunlight seemingly streaming through the surrounding rocks to illuminate the tunnels or caverns they were traversing. A beautiful sight but also a warning you might have been mining for too long. Maybe all miners were a little touched in the head.
 
<Evacuation order received. Ignored.>
 
If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed I kept saying “was”. Aphelia predicted it would take decades to empty the planets of a fraction of their precious ores, but it’s been a single year and they are all gone. We dug them all out. The purer ores anyway. But humanity always needs more resources. So Aphelia made mining units available, each capable of extracting the diffuse ores from the ground. She gave molecular quantum tunneling or some such nonsense as the reason. But I think it's something else: Nanites.

A high energy beam is used to inject nanites deep into the ground. They suffuse the surrounding rock and gravel through Brownian motion. Each nanite is specially calibrated to search for a specific group of molecules and, once found, they construct nanotubes to pipe their payload towards where they are densest, eventually up the beam. The demonstrations that show diminishing yields within 48 hours seems to collaborate this theory.
 
Either way, the side effect of preparing the ground is the liquification of the rocks that then fill in most of the caves and tunnels already dug. Some might think it’s like turning the rock to magma but there is no heat involved. Just a dark grey sludge that quickly settles back into natural rock again. The mining shafts will be the first to go. Followed by the engulfing of any underground structures. You would think that a solid box of iron would prevent the rock from flowing in. No. This ‘quantum’ rock that flows right through everything contained only by the gravity of the planets. And moons. The moons will be receiving the same treatment.
 
<Evacuation order received. Ignored.>
 
Us Noveans that have served for years as extraction experts have been relegated to asteroid harvesting duty. But Bert, they say to me, Bert, Mining is mining, right? No, I say. Besides micro-gravity leaching of muscle and bone, Asteroids are the turds of the Helios system, attracting pirates like the flies they are. Asteroids just don’t have the same, heh, gravitas of planets. 
What if this is how the dinosaur fossils were made: Subterranean creatures caught in a planetwide rock liquefaction event. Heh. That’s a thought.
 
<Warning. Warning. Approaching anomaly.>
 
Ah. Here comes the grey ooze...
 
<Recording ended.> 
            - Contents of databank found 6km below the surface of an icy planet.
 
 
Want more? www.spaceshipdrama.com

Hey there folks!
Hope you're all having a wonderful day waiting for the Alpha Tests to start. 

This week has been a long and news filled one, whilst I don't track it, several larger organizations have dropped their association with Cinderfall Syndicate, as well as this the Cinderfalls numbers have plummeted, the have lost 87 members between last Saturday and this Saturday. Whether this is a planned purge, move or people are going with their external organizations, this is yet to be seen or announced. A few key members of Cinderfall also dropped from the organization. This being said, the total top ten members have dropped by 54, with the unique count also dropping by 22. 

It seems Terran Union, Band of Outlaws and GLSU have all gained small member amounts from this large event (or other more natural recruitment drives). 

Archive:
Do you want to see all my other charts in one place, sorted into dates (including forum charts)?
Head here!

Discord:
Head to the discord here!

Sept. 23rd -- Sept 30th Charts
Organization Top Ten Chart


Top Ten Growth Rate


Total/Unique Member Count 

Unique members are counted.
There are currently 2437 Members in the top ten, with 2103 in the 'Unique' category. 

The last chart, which I will not now, shows that. It just doesn't show a number indicator. 

But as you say, the landscape will indeed change as more people get access, have to exert effort and do things to keep regular member flow and numbers. As well as this, I see the organization 'Unique' numbers fluctuate as groups may require people to only be in their org, etc. 

They will come and go, it's the nature of communities, I will just keep track of the largest to see where they stand for now. 
I may expand on this in future. 

Shh, I've not returned, but here is a comparison of the top ten from 04/04/2018 -- 26/08/2020

04/04/2018



26/08/2020


I would like to put it out there, I'm very sorry I stopped doing this, I did enjoy it and the dynamic behind it - I got extremely busy with work and it basically has stopped me from looking too far into these things. I have however wanted to look at a comparison of both who is in the top ten and what numbers they contain. 

Can't wait to play with y'all.

❤️

So, heres todays charts! Yes, now multiple! 

I added a few things, A total members over time graph, a total gain per day for the top ten and then an organization member number contribution! 

I also changed a few colours. 
Empire is now a light-ish blue.
The Aether is now a light red/pink. 

These colours are chosen based on the fact that they need to be different from others, not related to their official colours. 

Terran Union has solidified a lead as the number one org (in terms of numbers) on the community site over night. 


 
---
 

 
----
 

 
----
 


**^ Negative numbers are not counted in the chart above, so if someone has lost members, it is not seen. 
 

Any way I could get into the Aether discord? Representing Objective Driveyards and the Alioth Aerospace Expo. Surely you will be designing ships.

The Aether Backstory Part 2
 
"You Will Remember Us"
 
"Row upon row, heap upon heap.
This is our fate, left to perish.
Stride after stride, leap after leap.
All our glory, naught but a wish.
Cry after cry, "Weep", I hear. "Weep."
Terror fills us, as we vanish.
You were our hope, our wish, our light.
You let us die, by war, by blight.
Know this traitor, alone you'll die.
Screaming, shouting, alone. Goodbye."
 
                                   Graffiti writing on Terra Ulterior. Author: Unknown
 
I couldn’t believe this was happening. Of all things to go wrong, why propulsion and why now?
 
Gritting my teeth, I looked at the screen. The new planet’s gravity field was just over seven hundred and sixty thousand miles away and the ship was moving at 324,857 metres per second. I did some calculations in my head and sighed. I had just over an hour and fifty-four minutes to avert a catastrophe.
 
“Eidolon.” I called, my voice shaking a bit.
 
He materialised in front of me.
 
“Are the retro-thrusters in good condition?”
 
He shook his head.
 
“Sixty five percent of the retro-thrusters can squeeze out a performance of thirty-three percent capacity. Thirty percent are working in good condition while the remaining five are all but destroyed.”
 
My mouth twitched. Well, if around a third of the thrusters could work, my plan might be feasible.
 
“Where are the majority of the thrusters located?”
 
“At the rear—facing the rear.”
 
I gritted my teeth again.
 
For all the peace that the Aether was meant to offer, I felt none of it. This was going to be one bloody day in the history of Oethe—and probably it’s last. As I glanced at the grim looking AI, an idea blossomed in my head.
 
“Can you to maintain the ship’s current course, while reversing its direction?”
 
“You want me to spin the ship on its vertical axis?”
 
Stupid computer.
 
“Yes, of course. I can. It’ll take me no less than thirty minutes to perform that little trick.”
 
I nodded.
 
“Get to work.”
 
While Eidolon began to slowly position the ship aright, I jogged down the barely lighted corridors, checking for information on the ship that would provide an overlay of the ship’s structure. Somehow, I had forgotten what the ship even looked like, although I was pretty sure I knew at one point. IO.EARS kept on trying to reboot and dynamically repair Section 53, even though it had failed to do so over two million times.
 
My search ended up being nothing but a dangerous waste of time. Eidolon stated that the information was securely locked—another way of saying that I didn’t have the required access level. After thirty-three minutes, the axis manoeuvre was eighty-three percent complete.
The most disturbing thing was this: I was completely powerless to do anything, but wait as I left a crucial part of the survival plan to be handled by a computer.
 
Was this the punishment we had to face for leaving our fellow humans behind? I scowled at the idea, disgusted that anyone would even blame us for leaving. Our selection had been determined by the masses, billions of people cast their opinions for who should and who shouldn’t leave. In essence, we didn’t pick ourselves, the people on earth did.
 
While fidgeting with the unease of imminent death, I wiped my wet hands on my shirt. Eidolon had just a few more minutes to complete this manoeuvre, or there was no way I was going to be able to make this work.
 
“You will survive.” I remembered Nora telling me. She was the kind of person that’s a mother and a friend to a younger in-law.
 
“You will survive. You’ll go out there and you’ll make sure that nothing goes wrong. You have no choice. You’ll remember us and survive.”
 
“I will survive…” I muttered to myself, lost in thought.
 
“Grand Architect, the manoeuvre is complete.” Eidolon said, pretending to be out of breath.
 
I acknowledged him with a small grunt, and he growled.
 
Ignoring him, I set to work.  
 
“How much fuel do we have left in the retro-thrusters?” I asked, keeping my eyes glued to the screen as the control interface rose from the floor.
 
“Fifty-three percent is left.”  
 
My mouth twitched again.
 
“Good.”
 
Carefully and slowly, I pushed the rear-facing retro thrusters to half capacity, using the side retro-thrusters to stabilise the ship and maintain the course. Eidolon aided me by showing the simulated course and the jargon of calculations only a mad man would need at this time.
 
Reduction in speed was minimal at first, but the structure began to slow…by 0.184 percent.
 
“This is crazy…” I muttered to myself.
 
The AI chuckled.
 
“Can’t you even pretend to be bothered?!” I demanded in frustration.
 
He shook his head. 
 
“No, my dear friend. I can’t. But, I could override IO.EARS and attempt to force the engines to start—ignoring any errors that could wipe us all out, of course.”
 
I gaped at him, somewhat excited, more infuriated.
 
“Couldn’t you have told me sooner?”
 
He shrugged in a carefree manner.
 
“You didn’t ask.”
 
I dismissed him with one sweaty palm and wiped my face with the other.
 
Ten minutes left and Section 53 finally came online, although at less than five percent capacity. With all retro-thrusters working overtime, we had dropped our velocity to 240,000 metres per second. Once we entered, the planet’s gravitational field, things could change drastically. For one, our gained progress could be nullified in mere minutes. An alarm blared, sending me out of my skin and I heard the structure make a terrible groan.
 
“Eidolon! What did you do?!”
 
“We have lost control of all the thrusters at the front of the ship. They are accelerating. I warned there could be errors, Grand Architect.”
I was about to scream out my life on the emotionless AI, until I had another crazy idea.
 
“Switch off the Section 53.”
 
“What?”
 
I shot him a sharp glance and turned off all the retro-thrusters. 
 
An hour later, we were moving at blistering speed of 417,087 metres per second and three-quarter of a million miles away from the planet’s surface.
 
“Restart Section 53—at full capacity.” I said, lost in stupor.
 
“You’re a mad man.”
 
“Maybe so. But, I am the Grand Architect and you have no choice but to obey.”
 
He nodded and brought the main propulsion online.
 
The ship groaned in a terrifying manner, the stress sure to cause some loss in the structure’s integrity.
 
“How many detachable Sections are there on the ship?”
 
He acted like he was thinking and replied at his leisure.
 
“Fifty-nine.”
 
“The majority of the people are housed in Section 32, yes?”
 
“No. The majority are housed in Section 39. Two hundred and ninety thousands of them.”
 
I snapped my neck in his direction.
 
“You were unaware that your batch was the smallest and by no means the only one. Oethe wanted it that way—and to answer your next question, there are over a million people on this ship; all of them housed in detachable individual structures that came together to form Terra Ulterior while all of you were in cryo chambers.”  
 
I felt like I’d been slammed with a planet. A timely alarm warned me that I was about to be.
 
We were less than two hundred thousand miles away from the looming planet’s surface and our speed was still dangerously fast.
 
“Looks like this is it, Grand Architect. It’s been quite a ride.”
 
I shook my head and stood up from the Prime Seat.
 
“Prepare for immediate detachment of all sections. When I give the word, you force one last blast of all the engines to drop our speed one final time. When I tell you to split the ship up, you do so on my word. Understand?”
 
Eidolon gave a wry smile.
 
“Yes, of course.”
 
With that, I ran off to my Cocoon and activated it.
 
“One hundred and twenty-thousand miles away from contact.” The AI said over the almighty blaring of alarms that engulfed the ship.
I waited for a few minutes and Eidolon updated me again.
 
“Seventy thousand miles, Grand Architect.”
 
After a few seconds, I gave the word.
 
“Now!”
 
The ship groaned and jerked. Somewhere in the ship, a lot of things ripped open.
 
“We’ve dropped speed to 298,800 metres per second and dropping.”
 
I waited for hours, it seemed, while Eidolon kept telling me our distance to the planet. At a distance of two thousand miles, I gave him the command to detach.
 
Our current speed was still 75,908 metres per second, but as individual pieces, we had a greater chance of reduction in speed. Once we entered the planet’s atmosphere, the friction would drop our speed even further and each Section’s retro thrusters and parachutes would provide a safe fall.
 
“I have detected signs of human life on Alioth, Grand Architect.” Eidolon said as I felt my section jerk.
 
“That’s a nice name, Alioth…”  
 
I thought back of Nora and Kyle.
 
“I will remember you, and I will survive. I promise.”
 
Darkness covered everything and silence enveloped my being. An eternity passed and finally we touched down on Alioth’s surface.
Shaking, ecstatic and tired, I stepped out onto the lush surface. My space suit said the pressure was stable and friendly and from the looks of the landscape, there were miles upon miles of inhabitable land.
 
A small spherical pod flew up to me and sighed.
 
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Eidolon asked.
 
I nodded.
 
“Not the planet. Up there in the sky.”
 
I looked up at the fiery debris burning up in Alioth’s atmosphere. Terra Ulterior had performed its first and last mission well. Oethe had nothing to fear: it would rise again.
 
“The Aether is a dangerous place, don’t you think, Grand Architect? A single mistake and space would’ve been our grave.”
I shrugged and turned back to catch the sight of the remaining Sections gracefully falling down in the clear skies and bright sun.
 
“Whatever, it might have been, to the people that were on earth, it’s their hope and our home.”

Hehe. 
This new design ad recalls this old story of ours:
"I felt like I’d been slammed with a planet. A timely alarm warned me that I was about to be."
 

So awesome. You have a talent, my friend Aetherios.

"
After some work, I present to you the Aether Backstory Part 4: For Blood. Read it over here. I'm currently thinking of ending the series of Aether Backstories at Part 5, to keep in line with what Dual Universe has already laid down. As for the protagonist meeting Sohan, I doubt that's going to happen. I might change my mind in the following week, but all in all, the curtain should be closing for the series. I've enjoyed writing as I always do and I hope you've enjoyed it too. Let me know if you want the Aether to continue with the lore and if not, well, I'll be keeping to the schedule. 
 
"

"I'd like to welcome redshirt_2857 to the Aether! Hold on for a while, your custom message is on the way."

Where i can joing ?

"
 
 
Well, thank you a lot for expressing your interest! Click right here to sign up! PM me for more information!
"