MattAtlas

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH A FREE SOLARIAN FLEETS LIEUTENANT Act 1 Article 12 of the Amor Patriae arc A Himean man is the sole host for this segment of Interviews and News, one of the most famous Xanusii services. It revolves around interviewing both exceptional and ordinary people. This time around, however, the guest was known to be a rather special one. The host of the show is sitting in a rather cosy sofa, while on the holoscreen behind him one can see a Solarian Navy figure, clearly video calling from a ship of some sort. “Welcome, our faithful guests, to a special episode of Interviews and News! I’m Jude Scholes, and today, I’ve got a special guest for you all! Life as a mercenary is known to be a harsh one. The Xanu News Service has managed to obtain an interview with one of these mercenaries, a certain Lieutenant Yann Mueller. He is currently engaged with the Caravaggio, one of the cruisers that has traveled the most across the Spur. Mister Mueller, why don’t you tell us some about yourself and your ship?” “Oh, uh, yeah, sure,” the Solarian - a Lunan, by the sounds - responds, with an uncertain tone, “I’m Yann. I didn’t really become part of the Fleets, like, it just happened. We were in the outer ring, and then everything started going to sh– hell, and then our Admiral said that we’re on our own now, and the government wouldn’t help because Frost kicked the bucket and the Navy’s imploding… so we all just nodded our heads and went with him. I mean, what were we gonna do? Mutiny? Go back to Earth to get court martialed? We have families too, you know,” Mueller says, with a hint of resentment. “As for our fleet, well… basically, the biggest thing that’s happened to us is that we got hired by these corporate guys from Biesel… the Horizon, I think it’s called? And they wanted an escort, or something. Well - I’m just a navigations officer, so I don’t really have all the details, but I know that most of the enlisted really hate their guts. Especially one of our sergeants, Gallagher, because she says she lost someone there, or something. Not really my problem. I mean - everyone here knows death’s at the door. We just live day to day.” “That’s a bit of a coalheaded philosophy, from a normal person’s perspective, but you people are in different circumstances,” Jude begins, with the Solarian looking distinctly confused by the word ‘coalheaded’, “What happened after that?” “Well, we came back to the Fleets after our contract was like… done, or whatever,” Mueller begins, “Then, we got a fat contract from these guys, the Middle Ring Shield Pact. It’s called that way, but if you ask me, it’s really San Colette’s show… and they’re Solarians, so most of us at least feel like we’re fighting for a better cause this time around. Yeah, if you ask one of the enlisted, they’ll say it’s for the money, but that’s not really entirely true, I think. Most of us hate these Front fu–” he censors himself, “--mmh, idiots. Obviously we wouldn’t have helped if the contract wasn’t big, because you know, it’s dangerous, but you get what I’m saying, right?” “I think I do,” the Himean host says, nodding along, “So, you all said you brought phoron with you, right? How much of a key factor was that in this battle?” “Yeah, we did bring a bunch of phoron. There are some scientific details that I won’t really explain, but basically, if you have a lot of phoron to burn, you’re a lot more mobile. And that helps a lot at a distance, especially if you need to keep a mobile defence going - like we do. We don’t really have the numbers to take on them, so we need to take pot shots from far away and then leave immediately. We can’t really afford to lose ships with risky moves, so we have to play it safe… have you seen how many Regensburgists there are? It’s insane, man. They’ve got so many fleets, and they’re all fully crewed… I don’t get it.” Something can be heard being spoken from a loudspeaker in the distance. The Solarian turns to face it, and then turns to face the camera, worried. “Regensburgists, you say?” The Himean asks, intrigued, “Anyway, I assume your time’s running out?” “Yeah, we’re… we need to get to battle stations, basically. We’re almost at the first line of defence… these Coletters are pretty philosophical, you know?” Mueller gives a short, worried chuckle, “They call it the Llorente line, after their first president. It’s pretty poetic. Anyway, yeah, we need to go.” “Thank you for your time, then,” the Himean anchor says. The Solarian nods, gives a “Bye!”, and then quickly turns off the camera. “Scruples aside, this eclectic mix of people is the only thing standing between San Colette and its occupation. Will they succeed or not? We’ll leave the predictions to you - you can tell us your opinion by messaging the number or email on your screen right now. And now for our next segment, Light’s Edge and its Secrets…”

Tau Ceti Foreign Legion to be Deployed to the Northern Border! Act 1 Article 12 of the Amor Patriae arc Earlier today the Office of the President announced a general movement of all available Foreign Legion and mercenary assets to the border with the Northern Wildlands, citing the ongoing security situation in the region as the main reason for this. When asked for comment, the Presidential press desk provided the Times with this statement: “The Republic is concerned for the safety of all of our citizens, whether they be from Biesel or the Corporate Reconstruction Zone. The Foreign Legion’s presence on the border will serve as a safeguard against any Solarian elements who seek to prey upon the people of our nation, or take advantage of our resources.” When asked if the Foreign Legion would be deployed into the Wildlands for peacekeeping operations, the press desk provided the Times with the following statement: “The Republic of Biesel is a nation interested in peace which has no interest in attacking other nations. There is no current intention to deploy Legion or other forces abroad in peacekeeping operations. Our enemies should not take this for weakness, as we will defend our borders from any assaults.” The private military companies contracted to work alongside the Foreign Legion declined the Times’ request to comment on the ongoing situation, citing matters of employee safety.

LIVE: Pact Retreats Following League Assault! Act 1 Article 8 of the Amor Patriae arc The camera zooms in on, as always, Mariska van den Soeterik, the dedicated host of XNS’ foreign news segment. Her augmented eyes glow slightly as she reaches across the table for her holo-paper. “Good evening and welcome to XNS’ foreign news hour. I’m your host Mariska van den Soeterik. Today’s top story is the retreat of the Middle Ring Shield Pact’s forces following a renewed assault by the League some have accused Gadpathur of supporting. We go now to Liao Qi, our reporter in the Pact’s capital of San Colette. Liao?” The camera switches to Qi, who is currently standing near a road in front of a series of nearly identical prefab buildings next to his Civil Huard escort, de la Fuente. He nods, showing he’s heading van den Soeterik. “The situation in the Pact has begun to look increasingly dire since the League’s invasion, and we’re currently standing outside one of the signs of this. Behind me is Refugee Facility 692,” he points over at the facility. “It was finished yesterday and is already being used to house Solarians displaced by the League’s recent offensive, which has already taken several Pact systems. The Pact and Free Solarian Fleets are performing what the government has described as a fighting retrea—“ “Look out!” an individual off-camera shouts, potentially camerawoman Odette Noyer judging by her voice. Qi is grabbed by de la Fuente, his Civil Guard escort, and pulled out of view as a number of vehicles bearing Civil Guard insignia on their sides and carrying large missiles scream down the road at a positively unsafe speed. After a minute the vehicles stop passing by and the camera shifts to follow them as they disappear into the distance. A dusty, and somewhat shaken-looking, Qi then reappears in front of the camera, looking dire. “Liao?” Mariska asks. “Are you alright?” Qi nods again. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine! I’m not sure what those trucks were, but the gover—“ “Those were anti-orbital missiles,” de la Fuente states, her usual expression of neutral disapproval broken by worry. She looks at Qi. “Give me your microphone.” “What?” “Liao. Give me the microphone.” Qi hesitates for a moment and then passes her the microphone, looking nearly as concerned as de la Fuente is. “Hello,” the Civil Guard officer begins, looking both worried and nervous. “My name, uh, is Leticia de la Fuente. I’m, I’m an officer, here. In San Colette’s military. And I’m— I’m only 22, and I’m just a Corvette Lieutenant, but—“ she pauses. “I don’t know who’s listening to this, or if this will even be heard in Sol, but we need help! We’re fighting for the Alliance! We— we— you can’t just leave us to die here! This is our home, and we’re Solarian citizens! Just like you! Don’t— don’t just leave us!” de la Fuente goes silent. Gone is the previously sour-faced Civil Guard officer assigned to Liao Qi and resenting it. She looks terrified, and like she’s about to break out into tears. Qi, breaking from his usual neutral news reporter routine, pulls the Coletter into a hug. She begins crying, and the camera lingers for a moment before switching over to a grim-looking van den Soeterik. She says nothing as the broadcast fades out into black.

Accepted.

You have two permabans, meaning that your appeal will never be accepted. You have run out of chances. If you think the punishment is too much, make a staff complaint. Unban requests are not for that kind of discussion.

XNS Defense Analysts Review the Wildlands Situation Act 1 Article 7 of the Amor Patriae arc After the opening XNS jingle the camera pans to two individuals, one standing on either side of a screen displaying the Northern Wildlands. The male individual, standing on the right of the screen, begins speaking first. “Good evening and welcome to this special live edition of the XNS Strategic Analysis Unit’s reporting on the Northern Wildlands. I’m Ajit Gopal.” “And I’m Delphine Deschamps. As you may be aware, the League of Independent, Corporate-Free Systems located here,” Deschamps gestures and Gopal taps the right side of the screen, causing a red section labeled LEAGUE to light up. “has recently invaded the Middle Ring Shield Pact,” Deschamps taps the middle of the screen, causing a section marked as PACT to light up, “which is currently at war with the Solarian Restoration Front located here,” she taps the left of the screen, lighting up a section labeled FRONT. “Rumors already indicate the Pact has begun to retreat. Ajit, has your desk been able to confirm any of these?” “As of now, no. Most of what we have is open-source information from platforms such as Chirper, which Pact mercenaries have been known to frequently upload videos or images to such as this one. Gopal hits a button on the side of the screen causing it to switch from a map to a photo of a Solarian Navy sailor holding a League helmet, done up in Coalition colors, with a bullet hole through its right eye. A caption below reads: “bol coalition bastards! send more rangers!!!! xoxoxo” “As you can see Delphine, the helmet here is an example of Coalition-modified Solarian surplus provided to the League by certain member-states such as Himeo or Gadpathur.” “When is that post from?” “Yesterday. We’ve also seen rumors of Gadpathurian involvement but nothing solid yet.” “Worrying. We inquired with the Gadpathurian consulate on Xanu and have as of yet received no response.” “We’ll keep our eyes open.” Gopal then seems to pause a moment, lifting a finger to his right ear. ”— but for now the producers have told me we’re overdue for a word from our sponsors.” “Oh,” Deschamps looks fairly disappointed at this. “I suppose we are. We’ll be right back, viewers!”

SOLARIAN GOVERNMENT CONDEMNS VIOLENCE IN THE NORTHERN WILDLANDS Act 1 Article 6 of the Amor Patriae arc Governor Hendrik Strom, flanked by Admiral Verhasselt, Minister of Defence Courtois and Governor Trang, walks up to the podium in the Unity Station Senate room, with the Solarian flag behind him. The room is chock full of reporters, functionaries, and other officials. “The Solarian Alliance has been through many moments of crisis before. Among them, the Second Great Depression, the Interstellar War, and now a new Civil War. When the Second Great Depression took us down, we stood back up. We survived the greatest conflict in the history of the Spur, and came back stronger from it. Each and every time the Alliance seemed to fall, we rose up, and came out better from it.” “The little statelets in our territory think that they are vying for a race, when in reality, they’re only biding their time. In their lust for greed and power, they have turned against their fellow citizen, their fellow Solarian - the very people that this nation is sworn to protect. In their hubris, they have forgotten what makes them Solarian: they have betrayed their country and nationality.” “Our detractors will believe that we have closed our eyes and our ears. They are open now, more than ever before. We have not watched the past week go by idly. The Solarian Alliance hereby condemns all violence within its borders and demands an immediate end to it. Every crime committed will be paid for, and every ounce of Solarian blood spilled will be remembered.” “We are watching, and we will not forget.” The Governor ends his statement with a standing ovation from the crowd. Strom and his entourage then leave the room without taking further questions.

Extended to 16FEB2023.

If you make a new ckey tell staff but limit yourself to one if possible, since it can be annoying. Unbanned.

BREAKING: Corporate-Free League Launches Assault on the Middle Ring Shield Pact! Act 1 Article 5 of the Amor Patriae arc The camera opens on van den Soeterik, looking as professional as she always does. Her eye augments flicker softly as the camera focuses on her. “Good evening, and welcome to XNS’ foreign news hour. As always I am your host Mariska van den Soeterik. We go now to a developing story from the Northern Wildlands, where an ongoing conflict in the region has just escalated. Liao?” The camera cuts to Liao Qi outside a fairly nondescript Colettish building which could easily pass for anywhere else in the Spur if not for the sandbags covering its ground floor. Qi himself looks a bit haggard, as if he hasn’t slept recently, and is wearing a vest with “PRESS” on it in Sol Common alongside a helmet. “As you’ve just heard, Mariska, the Anti-Corporate League, another Solarian warlord, has launched an attack against the Middle Ring Shield Pact, which is where we’re currently located. The government has issued an advisory against unnecessary interstellar travel across the Pact and has requested any civilian ships capable of moving large amounts of cargo to report to the nearest military station for conversion into auxiliary vessels.” “It sounds pretty dire there.” Qi nods. “Pact officials have called for unity in the face of adversity and the defensive line against the Front is holding, but many worry this new front puts the Pact in a very dangerous situation. Many people here are now asking themselves the same question: where is the Alliance?” “Thanks for reporting on this Liao. Stay safe, okay?” He nods again. “Always!” The camera pans back to a serious-looking van den Soeterik, who begins speaking. “The XNS will strive to keep its audience updated on this developing situation. For now, a word from our sponsors.”

Hi, I was on a vacation and could not get to this before. Essentially, it's right as you say - we are generally wary of meme ckeys during big events and tend to be more zealous than usual. Did you try to connect with any other ckey to the server?

a note is the first thing done to a player when they break the rules and have no/little precedent of breaking rules e.g if an officer hacks into engineering, they'd get told "don't do it again" and that comes with a note saying "spoke to this person about hacking airlocks", there is nothing more to them after a note it could escalate either to another note, a warning or ban (info on this is in the rules) but that's up to the severity of the issue + attitude of the player + staff's subjective judgment

THE COALITION OF COLONIES RESPONDS TO ONGOING VIOLENCE IN THE NORTHERN WILDLANDS Act 1 Article 4 of the Amor Patriae arc The camera flicks back from its commercial break to reveal a graying man in a black suit standing behind a desk marked with “ROHAN MAGAR - ALL-XANU REPUBLIC” in both Freespeak and Sol Common. “This special meeting on the ongoing Wildlands crisis is hereby called to order. Gadpathur’s representative has the right to begin.” The camera switches to a harsh-looking man in the uniform of a Gadpathurian cadre leader. His desk is marked with “PRAVIN THAMAN - GADPATHUR.” “Thank you, Representative Magar,” Thaman stands, placing his glasses on to read from a leaflet of paper in his hands. “For centuries we Gadpathurians have struggled against the Solarian menace which destroyed our world. We have bled, fought, and died to ensure our Coalition shall never again fall to the Solarian menace, which now stands batterer but not beaten. I ask you now, my comrades-in-arms, to support a strong measure against the Solarian menace! I ask you to support an intervention in these so-called Wildlands to forever break Solarian power there!” As Thaman sits, a murmur goes through the crowd. Magar narrows his eyes, seemingly quite displeased with something. “Representative Thaman. In my capacity as chair of this committee I do not appreciate extreme deviations from prepared remarks. What is your aim with this suggestion beyond carrying on a planetary grudge?” “It will allow us to keep our former Solarians secure through the creation of a demilitarized zone, Representative Magar.” “With all due respect Representative Thaman, this zone would bring us into direct conflict with the Alliance if it opts to retake these territories.” “Let them come,” Thaman quickly responds, staring down Magar. “We have beaten them before and we shall do so again.” “Your suggestion is as absurd as ever. In my capacity as chairman I call the committee to order to vote on this matter. Konyang?” The camera pans to two Konyangers: one of a fairly old man in a suit and the other is a middle aged woman wearing the uniform of a Solarian Navy flag officer, though the Solarian symbology has been replaced with Konyanger equivalents. The man, identified as “KWAN SEOK - KONYANG,” and the woman, identified as “CMDR. MI-HI GIM, KAF,” holds a brief whispered conversation before the man speaks briefly. “Konyang does not support the suggestion.” “Just what we should have expected from a former Solarian ambassador!” Thaman sneers, looking at the older man. “Commander Gim, surely you must see the reason for my suggestion, having lived repressed by Sol for some fourteen years?” Gim looks at Thaman, appearing very irate. “I have nothing to say to you.” “Another such outburst and I’ll have you expelled for the rest of this meeting, Thaman!” Magar shouts, exasperated. “To return to voting on your proposal, I assume you are in support of it?” “Gadpathur will always support standing against the Solarian menace.” “Right. The United Syndicates of Himeo.” An older, and quite pale, man whose desk identifies him as “ABELARD DIRKSEN - HIMEO” rises to speak. “The United Syndicates abstain.” “Right. Assunzione?” A middle-aged woman wearing the garb of a Luceian clergywoman rises to speak from a desk labeling her as “TEOFILA VIOLANTE - ASSUNZIONE.” “The Republic of Assunzione calls upon our principle of neutrality and abstains.” Magar scratches something down on a piece of paper and rises to speak. “The All-Xanu Republic votes against this proposal. The final scoring is two against, one for, and two abstentions. The proposal fails to pass the committee and this meeting is hereby adjourned!” Magar bangs a gavel next to him as the audio cuts and the camera fades out, but not before Thaman can be seen riding to his feet and yelling at somebody out of frame, pointing at them all the while.

I will look into coding an implementation of this

Ok. If people have a problem they can go take the appropriate avenues. Not really convinced by these phantom "5 other people I speak to that have grave issues with aurora".

Communication with you wasn't effective because you immediately broke the rules again and got banned: all this proves is that our approach is correct. You try to pretend that we should keep talking to you despite you never actually learning, but that's not the case - we have personal time too, and we don't really want to spend the rest of our days trying to explain to you why having double the inventory space is an exploit.

I will accuse you, actually, because you are straight up lying to defend your friend. You were in every thread where we explained that we talked to them many times (so, you actually were aware) - so you are in fact taking your friend's side without having a clue about what's going on. As for your strip, thank you for the reminder that we were actually very lenient with Stars. You did something so bad as an IPC that it warranted immediate removal. It isn't really the badge of honour as a defender of player freedom that you think it is - unless you'd like to enlighten everyone here about why your whitelist was removed, discounting the previous warnings you got for LRP behaviour. The thread specifically states it is about you. First line of the thread. You should read the threads that you tell your friends to make. The level of pretentiousness and complete disrespect for the time staff put in here is stunning. I stayed up past four AM to help you with your original medical appeal. And you are here telling me that I didn't take the time to speak with you? That nobody actually helped you, when I took over an hour of my personal time to help you understand what went wrong AND help you with your unban appeal that was successfully accepted? When Read herself spent MULTIPLE HOURS of her personal time yesterday to help you out? Either you are lying in your favour, or you are twisting facts to make yourself seem like the victim. Pick one of them, because it can't be both. You got banned under no different pretenses than anyone else. I think it's utterly ridiculous that you're trying to paint us as too draconian when 99% of the playerbase remains without a single ban for their entire playtime on the server. Simple fact of the matter is that you can't follow rules while everyone else can. This isn't going to change no matter how much you argue.

You are making claims that we punish people without talking to them first without any sort of knowledge, then?

What part of talking to someone 14 times before applying a ban is immediate punishment?

https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/15765 this PR should fix most problems posted here

Seeing as you are interested in only breaking the rules more (as you reposted a post that was removed for breaking the complaint rules), this thread is being locked now.

You do have an advantage over the alternative - which is more inventory space while abusing a bug. No real way to argue that it isn't powergaming. The contents of what you put in the briefcase don't matter because you can put 4 times the amount of stuff in the satchel now.

You have been informed of them, because you were bwoinked. A note is only placed at the end of a ticket on you - think about it as the verbal version of a warning. If I bwoink you for something and tell you not to do it - that is a note. We don't place notes arbitrarily or randomly, and I think the implication of there being some sort of conspiracy to get you banned is a weird one. You can't put a briefcase in a backpack. It literally tells you "this item is too big". You spawn with a briefcase and it's forced in the backpack. You yourself say that you can't put a briefcase in the backpack. With all of this considered there's no real argument for you to say that it's a quirk of game design. I don't really appreciate you taking the high ground and trying to paint us as oppressors. You're one person in a community of hundreds of unique individuals every few months. You can't really claim we systematically treat people badly just because you were permabanned.

Any rule breach is something someone can be banned for. You don't have immunity to being banned simply because you broke "a small rule", otherwise we'd have people with 90 notes going around breaking the rules constantly and not getting banned for it. Looking at your notes, you have eight notes for powergaming, one of which is a medical permaban. You powergamed again after your seventh note, so a permanent ban is more than appropriate. But it's not just the act of powergaming that got you banned - you used an exploit knowingly. We'll get to that later. The rules state when a permanent ban is allowed, and they are pretty clear on it. You received both warnings and temporary bans in the past, so you can't say you were caught unaware: To establish this as an exploit, all you need to know is that you can't put a briefcase back into your backpack, much like someone can't put a backpack inside of their backpack, because you're duplicating your storage. It's very clearly not intentional behaviour. You say you "expressed surprise" and that you didn't know better. You're lying. You knew that you couldn't put the briefcase back in. You intentionally didn't take it out until you needed to. Hence, you were not only powergaming, you were using an exploit you knew of AND spread to other people. With these things in mind, this complaint holds no water. You have no ground to stand on to say that we're "heavy handed" and "shoot first ask later" when you have 20 notes. That's an amount that problem players reach in a year and you've actively played for maybe a month or slightly over that. The bottom part of your complaint is not only pointless and against the complaint rules, but also clearly only angled at guilt tripping staff into unbanning you, which isn't going to work. This complaint is handled and will be closed in 24 hours.

STRATEGIC EXPERTS DISCUSS SOLARIAN RESTORATION FRONT ADVANCE Act 1 Article 3 of the Amor Patriae arc After the opening XNS jingle the camera pans to two individuals, one standing on either side of a screen displaying the Northern Wildlands. The male individual, standing on the right of the screen, begins speaking first. “Good evening everyone, and welcome to this newly-established segment, the XNS Strategic Analysis Unit. I’m Ajit Gopal, one of your hosts.” The female figure replies in tandem, “And I’m Delphine Deschamps. Our objective is to bring you live, objective and reliable updates on the situation in the Solarian Wildlands. We have also established donation numbers for relief efforts, which you will be able to see at the bottom of your screen.” “Right,” Gopal replies, “Let’s take a look at the current situation, shall we?” The holographic screen behind them changes to show a fairly decent situation for the Pact. They’ve lost a good amount of ground in the initial days, but their forces are not spread thin, and the Front’s advance has now slowed down considerably. Counting the number of fleets, the Front has almost an overwhelming numerical advantage. To the more perceptive viewers, the only thing keeping the Pact’s defense line in place is the amount of Pact-aligned FSF vessels, marked in a different color. “The Front currently seems to have the upper hand,” Delphine says, “As we can see, the Pact’s line has now stabilized from the Aria system to the Rubicon system. The Free Solarian Fleets auxiliaries here in yellow are truly the Pact’s lifeline - if they were not here, it’s likely that their defense would have already fallen apart.” “Exactly,” Gopal agrees, “One important thing to note is that the Free Solarian Fleets are actually more mobile than we calculated. We adjusted for an expected lack of phoron for their drives, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Our intelligence has reported that the Caravaggio - one of their cruisers - has actually managed to bring back a fair amount of fuel.” “That’s interesting,” Delphine says, hemming, “So, now that they can actually maneuver around the enemy, they’ve switched to a more mobile defense overall. We’ll have to see how long their supplies last, though. They may have secured phoron, but it must be a small and finite supply.” “Indeed,” Gopal confirms, “The short-term situation is looking well for the Pact, but the long–term situation is worrying. The numerical advantage is decisively on the Front’s side, and so is the materiel advantage. How will the Pact fare from now? Only time will tell. We thank our viewers for their cooperation, and we implore them to donate to relief efforts. Now, onto the next segment by Steve Beckenbauer, Kitchen Fantasies…”