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The Nature of Predators - The New Arxur (10/10)
🕑 Added 2024-09-28 11:00:09 +0000 UTCMemory Transcription Subject: Raza, Arxur Diplomatic Minister
Date [standardized human time]: May 12, 2160
I’d known Ambassador Cedric Flynn—or the Butcher of Grenelka, in some circles—for a half dozen years at this point. He was someone that I’d refer to as a friend, as much as two foreign diplomats could be considered that. A man who’d massacred an entire Yulpa team after escaping custody, with nothing but sticks and his hands in the woods. After that incident, he’d joined the military service in the Space Guard, until he and Mallin got a job to escort a human commerce official to Earth’s new embassy on Wriss. That was where he’d met his romantic flame, and quickly hopped over to the diplomatic staff to live and work alongside her.
The humans quickly realized that Cedric was the ideal diplomat to send to us, since he would command respect and fit the predator archetype to perfection. They wanted to assign someone whose strength was undeniable.
In short, Cedric tied the knot with his business-minded romantic interest. His wife had moved to the UN base near the border of our isolation bubble. That facility was designed to keep us in, but also had a small population of humans aboard. A Yulpa named Mallin lived in the family’s abode as well, and was apparently great with Cedric’s son, Declan; the prey quadruped had taken a shine to soccer. I still wasn’t sure why the Butcher of Grenelka had spared and rescued a Yulpa, but Terrans were a great enigma. Ambassador Flynn would take regular leaves to visit his spouse, and I’d met his family on a few occasions. He confided that he was “rather relieved” that the Collective had sent someone social and empathetic, like me, as their ambassador.
I still remembered how Zefriss had looked flabbergasted when I relayed the full story about that human; my snarky friend had found his own success being a team leader. The only oversight I’d ever seen him make since I knew him was underestimating how predatory Terrans could be. Casey Brenner and Cedric Flynn were two examples that showed him the folly of that thinking. Whatever Kaisal might’ve thought, as the Collective’s second-in-command, I wasn’t sure we wanted to go toe-to-toe with Earth. There was hope that they’d accept us in the long run, if we didn’t rock the boat. Nonetheless, I knew what Isif told me when I first started this job; I had to do what I didn’t wish to.
“Kaisal is adamant about wanting the Collective to be free of our isolation,” I said, sitting down on the couch in Ambassador Flynn’s office. “It’s time for humanity to stand with us. We’ve long since shed the chains of Betterment.”
Cedric laughed, stroking the scraggly white beard that stretched down to his chest: that facial hair was a horrid mistake, in my opinion. “Have you? Why don’t we cut the pretending for a moment, Raza? Humanity knows you’re still struggling to break free of your past. What about that civil war, where you had to put down old-school Chief Hunters trying to bring back the old ways?”
“I’m sorry? You’ve known about that for all these years, and never said a peep? Not so much as an insinuation?!”
“There hasn’t been a reason to bring it up, but Earth is in the business of staying informed. So long as there’s old officials from Betterment still within your ranks, how can you offer a genuine promise that those policies won’t happen again? That government would eat the very people you wish to join. Listen, I like you, I do, Raza, but don’t try anything silly. There’s a lot the SC doesn’t know.”
“Like how human mercenaries worked on the side of Betterment?” I ventured, not missing a beat. It was as if this was a game we were playing, finally laying out the cards we’d been clinging to for years. “The SC might worry that your entire species isn’t morally opposed to the people-eaters either.”
“Casey Brenner? She’s much less damning than a whole province rebelling. They’ll call it predator disease, or whatever backward thinking they still latch onto. One rogue mercenary that we handed to you on a platter—and that you never released or gave due process to.”
I narrowed my eyes at Cedric, indignant. “You handed her over on a platter? That’s an egregious misrepresentation of the facts. I was on the team that tracked Casey!”
The Terran ambassador smiled, leaning back in his chair. “That tip you got from a local, telling you about Death’s Pass? Who set that up?”
“You wouldn’t know about that, if you hadn’t been involved. You wanted us to clean up your mess. I don’t believe…”
“We didn’t want a human running around and sniping your side, no, but we couldn’t take any direct action without risking a diplomatic incident. What would you have said about your sovereignty if you saw our military swoop in?”
“You could’ve helped us in the entire civil war.”
“Because foreign invaders helping to prop up a government always works so well. Isif would’ve had no legitimacy if humans rode in to save the day. We’re playing the long game, Raza—and so should you. Starting a war, or taking forceful action, doesn’t benefit anyone. Kaisal can’t be let out now, just because he’s grown impatient.”
“Why not? Must we be punished forever?” I hissed. “The Chief Hunter has a point!”
Cedric knitted his eyebrows together. “Not forever. You and I both know we’re waiting on generational turnover, on Wriss and back in the Sapient Coalition. The old Betterment and Federation sympathizers are still alive, but they won’t be forever. Wait for the younger generations to take the helm. Look at you, Raza; you’re already the start of that on Wriss. You’re second in line, so…let’s have this conversation again when you’re in charge.”
“I can see that you’re not budging. At least relay our wish to try to lay out some release plans, and a concrete time table for progress? Our situation has stayed the same for a long time.”
“I’ll pass along the message, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. It’s not up to me. It’s not much, and I can’t go into details, but we are trying to ease the Sapient Coalition into associating with carnivores. If that goes well, there might be hope.”
The Bissems. Cedric might’ve gotten us with his awareness of the civil war and the Casey Brenner debacle. All the same, he doesn’t know that Kaisal’s snuck off-world with the Yotul, as we speak, to meet these new carnivores. The Collective thinks the piscivores will have common ground enough with us, and be fed up with the SC’s dumbassery before long.
Nostrils flaring with amusement, I extended a paw for a handshake to Ambassador Flynn. “That’s good to hear, Cedric. I appreciate the candid discussion. It’s a rarity for us, isn’t it?”
“We humans have a saying,” he chuckled. “Hate the game, not the player. I hope we can find a way to make this work for all parties, Raza. The new Arxur will have their day in the sun eventually.”
In my mind, I echoed that sentiment full-throatedly, I departed from the Terran embassy, and studied the rows of primates who were here to maintain diplomatic relations with us; for the most part, I enjoyed human company. They were unassuming enough that it was easy to forget how sharp they were, always a step ahead. So long as we didn’t wind up scrapping with them, it was just part of the “game.” My life interacting with other species on behalf of my planet had been a fulfilling task, but this meeting showed how right Isif was to hone my strategic thinking. I mused on how I was the defacto person in charge of all Wriss now, with Kaisal gallivanting off to Leirn.
My determination was that we needed a long-term strategy, not a rash, immediate solution, to get ourselves back into the galaxy’s good graces. For whatever input I had with Kaisal, I was going to push for our Chief Hunter to play the long game. There was too much at stake for all of us to let emotion cloud our judgments.
A/N - The end of the Arxur series! We already saw Zefriss’ future role, but we see that Raza has become Kaisal’s second and diplomatic minister. Ambassador Flynn’s story since the Grenelka debacle has been much more peaceful, with Mallin moving in with his wife and child on a base by the Arxur border. Cedric and Raza exchange information they’ve been holding back for years as Kaisal grows impatient to be released; we learn that the humans knew about the civil war all along, and even put our team on Casey’s scent trail.
What do you think about Cedric’s explanation of humanity’s position, with generational turnover being necessary for the old Feds and Betterment fixtures to be gone? From what you know of the main story events, do you think that Raza succeeded in getting Kaisal to play the long game? What do you think of Ceddy settled down?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting! Wednesday is a planning day, and the Sovlin series launches on Saturday; it’s going to span a bunch of eras and have a unique take on the format, so that should be very fun!
Comments
pogman
Flynn did NOT marry the sniper they captured
Aured
"That was where he’d met his romantic flame" The first time I read this, I thought he'd married an Arxur. A little disappointed that isn't the case
PhycoKrusk
No, he married the sniper they captured in chapter 8.
kabhes
Did Flynn mary an Arxur?
Aerowarrier
I mean it’s not like they’d really be installing a leader, just getting rid of the current one so his second in command can take over
PhycoKrusk
There's no question whether or not Raza will walk back on breaking containment; she won't, because there's nothing to walk back. They're out. That's done. What she can and would change is the question of "What now?" Honestly, that question needs a very different answer than what it is presently getting. Presently, Kaisal is not attempting to secure allies. It may appear outwardly that he's attempting to secure allies, and he may claim that he is attempting to secure allies, but he is not attempting to secure allies. He is attempting to secure territory, and this is made plain by the fact that he has just opened up a second war front when he didn't need to. Isif knew from the start that this would not be a 5-year plan. In the best circumstances, this was going to be a 65-year plan. He knew that there was almost no chance of any reconciliation before 2200, and he also knew he wouldn't live that long (whether because of violence, misadventure, or general exhaustion). He trained and educated Kaisal and Raza as best he could, and that doubtlessly included the importance of the Plan. To keep things going smoothly, all they had to do was stick to the Plan. Unfortunately, Kaisal believes that he is more intelligent, more clever, and more prescient than he actually is. The instant he saw what he believed was a better opportunity (mostly for himself), he not only abandoned the Plan, but ripped it to shreds and completely removed any chance of returning to it. There's no plan anymore. It's actually a good thing that Raza spent as much time around Hysran as she did, because of she's going to turn this around, her only option is to take the reins from Kaisal and improvise. Something she is actually able to do, because unlike Kaisal, she has an inner dialogue.
PhycoKrusk
Unlikely. Governments installed in this fashion are never stable and always collapse rapidly.
jetpacksuperman
MALLIN MENTIONED ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
Elliott
A small settlement of some humans and braver herbivore species would've been good. Like a foreign concessions Chinese trade port city (but with less of the exploitation obviously) to exert influence and spread ideals around even a fraction of the planet. The approach the SC took is basically how we used to deal with mentally ill people (lock em up in solitary and hope the endless thoughts in their heads will somehow cure them) It was a pretty bad plan in hindsight, but necessary to establish themselves as the defacto hegemony over the galaxy.
Elliott
Raza and her crew appear to be a minority of the new generation from how her upbringing was described. She's one in a krillion, so to speak. Unless Kaisal drops dead and she has to go Stalin mode to purge the leadership not much will change, also doubtful she'll walk back Kaisal's plans to break out. Kaisal is indicative of a much wider issue in the Collective, one that likely won't dissappear for generations. There are millions of Kaisals that make up the government as Kaisal was always narratively meant to serve as a micro to the macro of the 'non-Betterment' population of Arxur who aren't sadistic but aren't empathetic or any less prone to violence. Isif could teach them a better way of life, to temper themselves, and remove Betterment's racist social darwinist influence, but he can't change their actual nature which seems bred into them mostly.
Elliott
"Wait, say that again."
Jhon Bustamante
i guest visith will have a important moment
Aerowarrier
So uh. Humanity is gonna depose Kaisal to get Raza in command sooner rather than later yeah? Like that’s definitely happening in the next few months
Aerowarrier
Yo it’s Mallin and Flynn! That’s really cool actually!
Gumcel
“I’m sorry? You’ve known about that for all these years, and never said a peep? Not so much as an insinuation?!” Bro really thought they could keep an entire civil war secret huh. “My determination was that we needed a long-term strategy, not a rash, immediate solution, to get ourselves back into the galaxy’s good graces. For whatever input I had with Kaisal, I was going to push for our Chief Hunter to play the long game. There was too much at stake for all of us to let emotion cloud our judgments.” :arxur_cluess: Le dramatic irony has arrived.
PhycoKrusk
The saddest part is that Isif understood this intrinsically: Ge never really asked the Coalition to forgive the Arxur or pretend it never happened; only to let the Arxur live, that they have a chance to become better. Raza, too, understands this; Kaisal does not. Long live the true heir.
PhycoKrusk
I don't see that the plan fell apart; I see that Kaisal — who has not, in fact, learned anything — believed he saw a better opportunity and threw the plan away without considering what that might mean in the long-term. It's still emblematic of the Arxur as generally impatient, but Kaisal is especially impatient, and coupled with his obvious refusal to discard Betterment and Federation doctrine about predator and prey makes him especially unstable. Raza, by contrast, actually learned from her mistakes, and especially learned the virtue of patience; truly, this was the most valuable lesson that Isif gave to her. Perhaps ironically, given the Arxur heritage as ambush predators, this patience makes her _more_ of a hunter that Kaisal, who is capable of strategy, but immediately resorts to brute force as soon as he encounters resistance. She is as much Isif's contingency plan as she is his protege. Long live the true heir.
PhycoKrusk
It didn't fall apart; he simply threw it away because he thought there was a new, better opportunity, and threw it away without due consideration for the consequences.
PhycoKrusk
It is a little bit neat, I think, how we can view the story of Kaisal and Raza and the story of the two children of the King: Kaisal, being first-born, was naturally next in line, but he was born with unimpressive stature and constitution, and so was looked down upon by all (even the King). Nonetheless, he was taught all he would need to know of statecraft and strategy so that when he grew to fill both his position and his frame, he would be ready to rule. But he was impatient, not for the throne, but to prove his detractors wrong to doubt him. He grew brash and self-assured, convinced ultimately that he knew what was best at all times and eager to make demands and engage in actions that were ill-conceived and unreasonable simply because he decided to act. Raza, the second-born, would not take the throne, but was empathetic and soft, eager always to make friends, and so was the obvious choice for an envoy to the other kingdoms. She could mingle with and talk to them easily, and though she was herself impatient and hotheaded, she learned to master her predispositions, and gladly told all she learned to Kaisal so that his decisions would be informed and sound. But as time passed, Kaisal grew more tired of the state of affairs within the kingdom; nothing was changing fast enough, and worse, he was not getting the things he knew he deserved. He began to make plans and maneuver to accelerate, and more and more began to ignore the council of Raza until finally, war began. Kaisal, hungry and desperate for recognition, reaches out for allows amount the species he believes are like the Arxur, no matter what he must do to reach them. Raza, calm and willing to take on the advisement of others, knows that there are no other species like the Arxur. The fate of the Collective will be decided not by the whims of the Sapient Coalition, nor the blind hatred of the Federation, nor even the guns of the Krev Consortium, but by the wills and fortunes of the two who followed after Isif.
EliasArt2Life
I’m glad to see how Raza has developed! She went from a young member of the new generation of Arxur, so caught up in her new freedom to have emotions that she let those emotions control her, to a mature adult capable of wielding emotions without succumbing to them. I anxiously await her (doubtlessly) inevitable appearance in the main series. My biggest regret was that this chapter was so short. But, that likely just means that this is the last bit of setup for something else.
PhycoKrusk
Unfortunately, it looks like I was right: Kaisal hasn't learned anything, and his ultimate motivation is revenge. Maybe not the kind of revenge where he wants to crush his enemies (real or perceived), but he wants to make everyone who bullied, looked down on, or ever questioned his fitness to command eat their own words. This chapter also demonstrates that, regardless of the obvious wisdom of Raza's long-term planning, Kaisal opted to ignore her, again because he wants to gloat over his detractors and prove his superiority. This isn't really a surprise, because everything we've ever seen him do has also been to advance his own position and get things that he wants. He's never spared a thought for anyone else. Raza isn't just an ambassador or advisor; she's a contingency plan. He knew that Kaisal has the potential to be an excellent leader, but it would be dependent on him getting over his desire to be the smartest, handsomest, favoritest person in the room. If he could manage it, then Raza would have the insight and knowledge to make him the best possible leader he can be. If he couldn't manage it, then Raza has the skill and reputation to put him in timeout and take over when he finally screws up, and get everything back on track. Long live the true heir.
Dookus Maximus
So thas it? What, we some kinda Detective Division?
Sci-fi reader
I meant in-between the incident and his appointment as ambassador.
REDemon14
Time skip! Happy that Raza was able to work with a social species like humans and that Cedric was able to find a happy life with a family. Mallin is, indeed, Ballin. With a friend, Declan! Happy that the Yulpa is happy and safe Zefriss keeps learning that humanity can be sappy but also predatory. Humans weren't subject to the Fed's caracaturization of species. Oh God. Cedric, why a beard like that? Unless the Mrs. likes it. In which case, you do you. So the UN knew about the civil war the whole time? On the one hand, I can understand why they (UN) didn't intervene when it was going on, Siffy's rule could have been seen as weak or dependant on humanity to be legitamite. (Also the whole "We swoop in to prop up a government *we* implanted" thing doesn't go well. I'm an american, I know. Maybe it's different if the government came to power first and had *allies* to assist? That could work...) One the other hand, humans were already unofficailly involved (and on the wrong side at that) and it could have been another "Recovery of Earth" moment. Imagine, Siffy wants a more socially accepted Arxur. Best way to prove that is happen is to work with other species. Human and Yotul allies could have been military and intel assets and (potential) Zurulians could have been medical assets to the Collective. If the isurrection captured or killed Yotul or Zurulians (which would have been an unfortunate eventuality if they got involved), the Collective Arxur executing the insurrectionist and rescuing any captured prey would show that they were different Arxur. Though Isif is the one who didn't want help. Wanting to prove they could sort their own problems and didn't want to endanger too many prey folk. (Hossat's a sociopath, he *barely* counts cause the Herbivores *barely* care.) I do see why the UN (and likely Siffy) were waiting for a generational shift. All the prey species still have *plenty* of people who are recovering from being cattle. That is something that can't be forgiven easily (if at all). However, I also see Raza as someone who isn't deserving of the collective punishment. She was fed prey meat, she never hunted it and was/is disgusted by such a thing. The New Arxur (TM) are the ones who deserve freedom. So long as Betterment sympathizers are active, however, it's going to be an uphill battle. > For whatever input I had with Kaisal, I was going to push for our Chief Hunter to play the long game. *Inhale* *sigh* Overall, a fun series. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Got some insight on the Arxur Collective and a lil' bit on the Nevok Empire. Can't wait for the Sovlin series and the main story to resume. Wonder how the old Gojid and his six remaining quills are doing
Wesley Rigg
https://www.patreon.com/posts/92341457?utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=android_share
Sci-fi reader
Need stories of Cedric's adventures before his desk job.
Space Paladin
Thanks for the kind words and well wishes! We did get some crazy flooding, and my Internet (using cell service to post everything lol) has been down for 3 days at this point. Glad the storm is over lol
Michael Halpern
yes it has, unfortunately some problems tend to be very stubborn.
un_pogaz
I don't think it's a matter of pride, I'm sure Kaisal was convinced to play a certain long game, but that plan burned up with the Consortium attack. It was discovered that he had “exterminated” predators and launched a massive assault on several planets: this was a direct existential threat, Kaisal couldn't wait. He could have been diplomatically more politely phrased, but action had to be taken. And things have definitely turned south with the Remanants: here again, it's a direct existential threat. Kaisal could have backed off at Afaa, but who knows to what extent the UN could have asked the Arxur to back off, which he would never have accepted. And even if Kaisal had pulled back at Afaa, I recall that it was the Remanants who fired the first shots, and so the Arxur-Federation war would have resumed, no matter the Collective or the UN wishes or do (and the humanity would certainly have been second on the list).
Elliott
No mention of Hysran or Hossat? I assume we'll know more with Zefriss in main now that he's in the action, presumably with his team. I'd love to see more 'defective' predator and prey members in his team like them. I think it'd be pretty cool if he had more than just his little 'Bad Company' squad now that he seems to be in command of a bunch more than just two specialists. Like the 'Defective Division' or something.
Michael Halpern
war tends to accelerate things that were already in the long game
un_pogaz
Cédric has a good analysis of the situation as well as Kaisal's impatience, but I'd like to note that the efforts are not symmetrical. If there's been a civil war in the Collective, it's precisely because things have changed a *lot*, whereas the Coalition has generally stagnated. One thing that hasn't helped the Coalition is size, which has made the inertia of change much stronger, combining by the soft attempts by UN, where the Collective was much smaller and directly held by an actor of radical change. I think Kaisal really wanted to play the long game, but that plan completely fell apart with the arrival of the conflict with the Consortium.
DreamEnvoy
Nice way to follow up on how Cedric's life went after Human Sacrifice. "Butcher of Grenalka" is a good nickname. I'm a supporter of Wriss being released, but Cedric does have a point. This story does show that Betterment is still in power on some parts of Wriss. Sad thing is ideologies can be passed to other generations, so it can't be as simple as waiting for generational turnover. "There was too much at stake for all of us to let emotion cloud our judgments." >Battle of Aafa Anyways, grear chapter and great miniseries. I assume these are on a preset release schedule. So I will say I hope PD wasn't hit too hard from last night's storm. I heard there was a lot of flooding in some areas.
Bbobsillypants
I think the generational turnover plan would have worked, IF the humans actually made an attempt to you know interact with and help the arxur. Like actually engage with them in a meaningfull way, like work to allow them acess to earth and Leirn, and let aid in rebuilding thier society and culture like thier doing with the SC members. While that would definetly cause tension they can intentionally work to make sure those sides dont talk to eachother and at least your being active and not reactive to the problem, and you still have a handle on the narrative as opposed to just letting things happen.
Alekss Žukovskis
its from The sacrifice on SP's patron
snidramon
Has "waiting for a problem to die out" ever actually worked historically? After all, the next generation of Farsul, Koloshans, *and* Arxur are all growing up trapped on their worlds for crimes that *they* didn't commit. You'd think that when all of humanity found out about the "space nazi crocs" they would have taken care to prevent the *exact* conditions that bread the Nazi rise to power
DemonVee
Raza might have almost gotten Kaisel to play the long game, he was trying to push for the Bissem to aid with their normalization. However, that quickly fell apart once the KC attacked and Kaisel got wind of the "quinx" genocide. As a whole, the Arxur seem like a very impulsive species and Kaisel is a prime example of that trend. I'm worried that Kaisel would need to die first, but I wonder how Raza would fair once she's in power.
Logos
Thanks :)
Anthony Mears
it sounds like there's a story there for Cedrics romance. did Mallin stand in as best man or ring bearer using his tongue? I can't imagine we've seen the last of Casy Brenner either
Anthony Mears
it's something similar to what I said on reddit during NOP1 . there was never going to be a time when Tarva and Isif would be sitting across from each other at a state dinner and laugh about the time he killed her daughter. generational turnover is the only option.
Heroman3003
Aaaahhh, a timeskip epilogue! Raza's officially second in command, and one step closer to The New Arxur truly becoming the ones leading the Collective to a brighter future. As we have seen well, Kaisal is still the Old Arxur in his mentality, and it really will be until Raza's rise to power until the old ways can truly be shed. I do like where all the characters ended up. Cedric settling down, Mallin picking up soccer, Raza doing human diplomacy, Zefriss being an operative... The reveal of who sent the tip is great. It was a lingering little "maybe? no... but maybe? nah" in my head on whether humans were involved. I do think that Kaisal was really close to playing the long game only to completely break down. He started alienating important allies and just generally factions potentially willing to sympathize and interact with Collective, and he started doing so aggressively and uncompromisingly. So far it does seem like he is slipping into the old ways, and hard, clinging to vain pride. Seeing Raza in main story would be so great! Though the implication that it'd take Kaisal's death does make it a lot less appealing, maybe she can show up as representative of the Collective? Maybe maybe? And settled-down Cedric being this not-quite-old-man-yet who became this mythically infamous Butcher figure is just great. Sounds like such a perfect posting for him having settled down. I still view Mallin as his adopted son basically, so knowing he lives with his family is so great :D This was a good series, for lore and for integration into main story. Cala's appearance was a surprise, and Zefriss surprised me too. Having these backstory series for characters you planned ahead of time to show up in the main series is definitely a fun way to tie things together. Looking forward to Sovlin series after the break as well as more revelations in main story!
CountryClub
It definitely is pretty cool! https://www.patreon.com/posts/nature-of-1-92341457 there's also a oneshot followup to it https://www.patreon.com/posts/nature-of-mallin-95520445
Logos
> the Butcher of Grenelka I read Nature of Predators in bursts of a bunch of chapters at once every couple of months or so, rather than continuously, one chapter at a time. I either haven't read or have clearly forgotten about this character. Could someone link me to his story? From what's discussed in this chapter, it sounds cool.
Cerchus
I doubt she’s convinced him to play the long game. To be honest I can’t blame him, their treatment isn’t particularly dissimilar to the treatment of Germany in the treaty of Versailles after WW1. That treaty more or less directly led to the rise of the nazi party and start of WW2. It’s more surprising to me than anything that he’s been this reserved rather than shooting his way out of the quarantine zone.
Avaragename
oi
