Life and Death on Planet Nauru, Omicron Delta - [PM for Invitation]

[Jack_Henderson]

//This is a roleplay thread that deals with the situation on Planet Nauru in the wake of the FP11 crisis in which the Core and Zoners clashed massively, with the Nauru Iridium resources acting as a key factor of the conflict. This thread aims to depict the reality on the surface, and give the space actions and diplomacy a human face.

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The sand storm had passed and the glaring light of the sun made the dust that was still in the turbulent atmosphere of Planet Nauru glow in an orange light, creating a spectacular sunrise after a day of total darkness. Power had been cut after the generators filters stopped working due to the sand, and the people inside the village had done what they always did in these events: hunker down, pray and wait.

The golden sunrise wasn’t greeted with enthusiasm, but with grim face covered in dust masks, hands grabbing shovels and – after the shelter had been dug out and the heavy doors had been opened – heavy machinery to clear the thousands of tons of sand that the storm had blown into the small colony of around eight-hundred souls.

Zoners and Corsairs had come here five or six decades ago in their pursuit of freedom and opportunities, looking for a golden future in the golden sand. On this day, after one of the fiercest storms this year, there was little left of the exuberant mood in which their parents and grandparents had started this endeavor out here in the nothingness of the mountainous desert.

It would take a few days, if not weeks to clear the sand, but this was not even the priority now. While the roaring of machines went on and fountains of sand were being blown off towards the outskirts of the settlement, a group of twelve youngsters in their late teen years were gathered around the Elders to receive the blessing for the climb of their lives. Anxiousness and excitement was showing in their faces when they followed the elder’s finger that pointed to the top of the mountain.

Mount Rika-Shi, the sacred mountain of the Goddess of Life had to be climbed to praise Rika for her mercy on the village, and to pacify Yira-Kha, the Demon of Storm. His force had not been able to claim lives this time, and even the houses were spared. It was a sign, a sign that it was time to answer the godly mercy by humane action and the Elders agreed that it was time for The Climb.
Soon after the solemn vows to not return if unsuccessful, the parents kissed their children on the temples and then the whole village watched them start the hike towards Mount Rika-Shi in white ritual dresses.

In two hours they would be small points, barely visible, scaling the steep and treacherous walls of the mountain which Yira-Kha threw at Rika-Shi to bury her alive, but she did not perish. The climbers never arrived before nightfall and it was past midnight when more and more fires lit up the night when more and more climbers made it to the top to light them. Anxiously the parents of the climbers counted them, knowing that hardly ever all climbers survived.

Little did these simple men and women care for what happens outside of their village, and even less did they care about politics. They only learnt months after Yaren fell that the Core was now running the mining business on Nauru, but for these colonies far out from the mining centers it didn’t mean anything as long as the freighter arrived to pick up the Iridium.

Everything that mattered was survival, their loved ones, the freighter, the present and the future of simple hopes and modest dreams. The money they received for their shipments of ore kept them alive, allowed them to buy the fuel for their generators, the spare parts to keep their operations running and food because out here there was nothing.

Zoner and Corsair bloodlines had long mixed in a community that was so remote that only the ore freighters acted as a connection to the outer world, and there also was a communication uplink that was however well-hidden in the mountains and treated like a treasure. No one was ever allowed to use it, and it was surrounded by an aura of mysticism, as everything was that was located inside of Mount Rika-Shi, dug into Her sacred body.

The signal fires caused the villagers to look up and cheer, they were clapping their hands and waving upwards, praising Rika for the gift of life and a new day that would dawn in a few hours. A new day of hard work to stay alive in this arid, hostile environment – and they did not even know of the outbreak of hostility between Core and the Freeport 11 Zoners on that same day. It was an event that would shake up their little world, triggered by forces that they could neither understand fully nor pacify by climbing Mount Rika-Shi.

These were not angry gods, but human forces that were clashing with the fierceness that only a struggle for survival could bring forth. But for tonight, they were celebrating in the village, music and dance filled the village’s center in a loud and sensual tribute to Rika, their Goddess of Life.

In the morning the Elders would walk up to the mountain solemnly and collect the smashed bodies of the young fallen climbers and bury them in the stone tombs that they cut deep into the rock. They would return to Rika, and She would give the survivors the blessing of children this night. Life and death on Nauru would continue – as it always had.

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