Fwurg

[T'Sal]

“It is a pleasure to meet you miss Shebi and miss Ilina.” says T’sal while making the Hiocan greeting.

T’sal takes some time to look at the two women. They are probably way older than her and now some child is dropped in their care. But now is not the time to worry, but be a professional scientist and show them what she could do. T’sal speaks in Láadan to them.

“I am here to collaborate in your research and would love to get more knowledge on the subject.”

((OOC: Speeding up is fine, but I hope to get some reaction :P))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"You might be a Jedi, child", miss Likra Ilina replied rather sharply in the same dialect, "but that does not give you the privilege of addressing me with my given name. Only my husband and miss Shebi have that privilege."

Without waiting for a reply from T'Sal, miss Likra turned away and walked over to the whiteboard.

The other veolian woman, Shebi Falen, eyed the hiocan Jedi for a moment.

"You should really be careful with that kind of mistakes, dear.", she started. "If miss Likra were of noble blood, you would have forced her to retaliate, or reciprocate. What family were you born in?"

[T'Sal]

"My sincerest apology miss Likra. I made a slip of the tongue, it seems I am still not used to the Veolian naming."

T'sal is fed up that she made such a mistake. With all the Shebi it had been easy, but she would really need to watch it. T'sal looks to miss Shebi as she explained it.

"Retaliate? What would that mean? Within the Hiocan society we do not use family names nor have nobility."

[Veolian Commonwealth]

Shebi Falen led out an audible sigh.

"Let me explain. By calling her by her given name you imply that you and her are very close.

If she were a noble, this would impact her social standing in a complex way. You are not a noble, so being associated with her in that way would lower her position. On the other hand, you are a Jedi, and since Jedi are extremely powerful, she would most likely rise in position.

So, if you imply such a things, she would have two options: retaliate or reciprocate. Retaliation would start by her acting very insulted that you would even dare to imply such a thing. For example, she would probably have her guards throw you off the premises, to show her dominance over some rabble that dares to imply such a close relation.

Or, she could accept your implication by reciprocating. This would mean going with the flow, and calling you by first name as well. Of course, this might entail more indications of closeness such as some touches, maybe a friendly kiss on the cheek, or even intimacy if the situation requires it. For example, she could reciprocate by calling you 'Dear T'Sal', and hug you just a little longer than needed."

Miss Shebi seemed surprised that T'Sal had no family name.

"I can understand that you have no formal nobility, such things require a certain kind of culture. But, if you have no family names, how would anyone know your status in your community? Would you not be confused with other T'Sal's in your city?"

While Shebi Falen was talking with T'Sal, miss Likra Ilina acted as if the two weren't even there.

[T'Sal]

T’sal listens carefully to the explanation and takes her datapad to make notes.

“Thank you for your explanation miss Shebi. To answer your questions status has to be earned. Status can be derived from the titles one has like doctor, senator, engineer, master of science etc. If you do not know the person and their titles mister, miss, sir or madam is general accepted.

The Hiocan Society is not highly populated; families have 2 to 3 children in general. Parents mostly give unique names and in cases of the same name, the titles or place of birth should suffice. On the matter of closeness there are quite a lot of words in Hiocan which describe various relationships and the gives and takes implied. But I think it is better not the keep miss Likra waiting any longer.”

T’sal moves to the whiteboard and looks for a good spot to sit and listen. Her datapad ready in her hand to takes notes and absorb everything. She will take Shebi Ajava advice at heart and not ask too many questions.

((OOC: Where is the checktaker? Does it not work in the general forum? I wanted to make a science check.))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

Miss Shebi started to explain the basics of the work they were doing. She told T'Sal that they were working on a way to reduce the hyperspace signature of a vessel, and showed her the initial blueprints of a device whose design was clearly not based on known technology from any faction in the Union. While miss Shebi continued her explanation, T'Sal reasoned that the device must come from outside the Union.

After the overview, Shebi Falen quickly went into the details of the device they have, and the prototype they are building. T'Sal notes that Likra Ilina stopped ignoring them, and was actually smiling while she watched T'Sal absorbing all the information.

Due to her experience with exotic matter and Hiocan hyperdrives, T'Sal's few questions were insightful and when she asked a particularly sharp questions, miss Likra took her hand, and led her to the ship, where she pulled a cart with measurement equipment.

"See for yourself. We still don't get why they could get it working, and why our version spikes after twenty-seven seconds of use.", she said while handing T'Sal a very expensive piece of equipment. T'Sal read a paper about the measuring method used by the device, but back then it was still a theory. T'Sal confirmed the observations of the two veolian scientists, but could not quickly determine why this she observed this behaviour.

Miss Shebi's explanation continued on for the rest of the day, and though T'Sal could keep up, she knew that she would need to take some time to organize her thoughts later.

((OOC: You are correct, the check taker only works in the Jedi forum. You can still add checks with the check syntax though: ((Check: 13 = 5 Force Level + 5 Reason + 3 Scientist -- this is T'Sal Scientist check))))

[T'Sal]

T’sal is really getting into the theory. She wants to master the basic first as they are the most important and then continue on the measuring equipment. Analysis apparatus are all about getting all the setting right, so she would love to de-assemble and then reassemble it with her mechanical skills to get a better understanding of it and investigate it to see what is wrong. But maybe it is to early for that now.

((Check: 14 = 5 Force Level + 5 Reason + 3 Scientist + 1 Mechical Engineer -- Do not know if this check is okay))

After a hard day of learning T’sal is wondering what is next up. What are Veolian dinners like? And she looks forward to going to her room and getting a break and relaxes a bit. Maybe do some martial arts exercises and after that review her notes of today, before turning in.

[Veolian Commonwealth]

With T'Sal up to speed and the work day nearly finished, miss Shebi gives some last pointers before leaving. Miss Likra, who became considerably more friendly once it became clear that T'Sal understood the research they did, turned to T'Sal: "Do you have any plans for this evening? If not, you should come to Sarabi Hirana, it's a pub in the city centre. There's a lot of students and researchers there, and none of the stuck-up nobles."

With that, she walked T'Sal to the entrance of the building, where T'Sal's guide was waiting for her. With a nod toward T'Sal, miss Likra set of by foot.

"Do you wish to go to your apartment, miss T'Sal? We have already brought your luggage there, and dinner will be served in two hours. Of course, we can accommodate any change of schedule you see fit.", Mikaro Aosa asked.

((OOC: Mechanical Engineering does not apply to hyperdrive mechanics and measurements. But it is of no matter, as T'Sal is easily knowledgeable enough to understand the details, once she goes over her notes.))

[T'Sal]

“Pub?” T’sal looks surprised “eeuh miss Likra I am still a minor and I do not know if I am even allowed to enter.”

T’sal is startled by the request. Master Screetor had said that she should have fun. A pub sounds like nice and cozy place to get to know some people, but T’sal is insecure about going. What would sir Shebi think of this? T’sal could not suddenly go off without showing some respect to her host on her first day.

“I would love to go somewhere and get to know some more people. But I think it is better to spend my first evening with my host and show them my respect. Maybe tomorrow or another time this week will be fine. By the way at what time do we start tomorrow morning and is this the normal end time of work?” T’sal waits for miss Likra’s reply. When they get outside she takes her leave with a small bow. “Thanks for your guidance miss Likra and see you tomorrow.”

S4 and T’sal walk to their guide miss Mikaro. “Yes, I would love to go to the apartment and unpack my stuff. I can then refresh myself for dinner. Tonight I have free time to spend with my host to get to know each other and the rest of the Shebi household and their activities.”

When arriving at her apartment T’sal takes a good look around. She unpacks her stuff. She does some martial arts exercises and then refreshes herself. She puts on her new Veolian cloths and goes off to dinner leaving S4 in her room.

((OOC: You can go to dinner + activities or continue to the pub (if allowed).))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

T'Sal's evening, it seemed, was indeed already planned for her. As she guessed correctly, she had been invited to the mansion of lord Shebi Danoach for the evening dinner. After she prepared herself, T'Sal was driven to the mansion. She was accompanied by her guide miss Mikaro, who seemed tasked with looking after T'Sal's well-being 24/7.

When the car arrived it had to make a wide turn, giving T'Sal ample opportunity to view the mansion. Actually, 'mansion' was not a very descriptive word, from T'Sal's point of view. 'Castle' was a much better fit. Situated at the edge of the city, a large and well-kept garden surrounded the building. The garden itself was walled of, and T'Sal could easily see that the wall was wide enough to walk on, and that guards were posted on the wall.

The castle itself consisted of three towers elegantly rising from a hill in the middle of the garden, the three towers were roughly 12 stories high, and connected to each other with sloped bridges. The tower's roof's were gardens, and one of the towers featured a swimming pool on the roof. T'Sal estimated that these buildings could easily house 250 people, if used as a normal high-rise with apartments.

The car landed on a landing pad near a large door and, as she became used to by now, miss Mikaro got out of the car and offered her hand to T'Sal to help her out. A young veolian man was waiting for T'Sal, and after a deep bow he said: "Welcome to lord Shebi's estate, honourable Jedi. Please follow me to the southern lounge, Lord Shebi will be with you shortly."

As he led the way into the building, it quickly become clear that this was not a normal high-rises. The interior of the building was expertly designed to impress upon visitors the understated elegance that only the very rich can afford. The hallways in the building were easily twice as wide as necessary, and the few decorations and artworks that could be seen were simple compositions of geometrical shapes. Finally, they arrived at the southern lounge.

The southern lounge, as T'Sal saw, was rather large. The seats and sofa's appeared to be comfortable, and the table here was made out of a single piece of wood. The large room-height window offered a great view of the gardens. As T'Sal looked outside, she could make out lord Shebi walking in the gardens with a woman at his side. As she looked, a servant approached the lord, and after a short interaction lord Shebi bowed to the woman, and left toward the building T'Sal was in.

He arrived a minute later. "Good afternoon, jedi." As he saw T'Sal looking outside, he continued: "What do you think of the view?"

[T'Sal]

T’sal looks amazed at all the splendor of the Shebi estate. The Hiocans are modest so she had never seen such extravagance. When she enters the lounge she takes a look around and goes to the window to enjoy the view. She sees sir Shebi walking with someone and take his leave to come to the lounge. She waits at the window and studies the garden.

“Good evening, sir Shebi. Thank you for having me here in your magnificent estate. The view is splendid. I could see you walking in the garden. And please you can call me miss T'sal.”

((OOC: Evening dinner and afternoon are not the same thing.))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"Miss T'Sal", lord Shebi tried. "It sounds rather common that way. I think I prefer to call you 'Jedi T'Sal' then. One should never lose sight of the fact that one is in the presence of those more powerful.", lord Shebi smiled at T'Sal.

"Magnificent? This is nothing, if you are ever on Mirda during the monsoon, you should come visit my the Indradhanush palace, the ancestral monsoon palace of the Shebi. The crystal ceilings' interplay with the rain is a soothing melody, and every morning, the suns breach the clouds ever so lightly producing a hypnotic display of supernumerary rainbows.", the lord sighed.

"Of course, me and my wife are destined to live here, as we have to oversee the family holdings in this province. You can see her walking I think, she just walked outside as I went inside.", he walked to the window, "There, in the garden." He nodded to two women walking arm-in-arm through the garden. T'Sal recognized one of them from before, the other was a much older woman.

((OOC: I am fully aware of that ^_^ It was a deliberate 'mistake' by lord Shebi -- Hemets don't sleep, so their perception of time is not always in sync with those that do sleep.))

[T'Sal]

“Yes, I can see lady Shebi. She is walking with the other women you talked with. Who might that be, sir Shebi?”

As Shebi Ajava has said that family is important T’sal could better know who is who. T’sal is not going to make assumption like that the women is sir Shebi’s daughter as you never know. Hemets could get very old and get more children so that might also be his way younger sister.

T’sal is waiting for sir Shebi to take the lead as T’sal has no idea what to expect of what they are going to do.

((OOC: Edited after the misunderstanding))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"The younger woman is lady Vahaka Jan. The Vahaka family is a minor family, though recently they have gained some influence due to the manoeuvrings of lady Vahaka Jan. They have served us for a few centuries, in the capacity of local law enforcement. A few months ago, Lady Vahak suddenly asked whether I would be interested to have her as a mistress."

The old veolian man looked at the pair of women in the garden, and smiled.

"Unfortunately for her, my wife and I enjoy a very happy marriage. You see, we fell in love roughly fifty years after we married. an uncommon occurrence to be sure, love is not something taken into account on Mirda. In fact, it is mostly seen as a disturbing force of chaos.

And while lady Vahaka is an attractive hemet, I simply told her that that would depend entirely on my wife's opinion of her. Since then, she has been trying to ingratiate herself to my wife. Currently, my wife and I are trying to determine her actual goals before we determine our reaction."

Lord Shebi Danoach turned his attention to T'Sal.

"Apologies for boring you with such details, Jedi T'Sal. I had heard that Jedi do no take lovers, or marry, so you are surely not interested in this. I have ordered the kitchens to serve dinner in an hour, in the meantime I would enjoy introducing you to my wife. Even though our granddaughter, Shebi Ajava, is a jedi, we have heard little about what actually happens in the Jedi temple."

[T'Sal]

“It’s is logical that one would want to have a suitable partner when you life very long. Love affairs in comparison would be considered short to thousands of years. Within the Hiocan Society most marriages are arranged and people can have friends/partners for various 'activities'.

There are indeed not many Jedi with a relationship as our devotion goes to the Force and peace and justice. But during the time of chaos there was no real Jedi order only small cells on various worlds, so they had to improvise and there are some Jedi who already have a family from that time. Furthermore like with other religions also within the Jedi teachings there are different schools that follow the Jedi code in their own way. There are just a handful and you need permission of the Jedi counsel.”

T’sal explains to sir Shebi before continuing on the matter before her.

"Determining lady Vahaka goal sounds like a good plan. The details may be boring, but it is not bad to know, they may be important later.

I would love to meet lady Shebi. I do know not Miss Shebi very well but we have been on a mission together, so I can tell you just some things I know.”

T’sal looks outside to see if the ladies are still walking in the garden. She wonders if Lady Shebi would come up or they go down.

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"Interesting, how a culture so different can have the same ideas on marriage. Here, most marriages among nobility are arranged of course. The peasants take a less serious view of such things... They might even marry out of love. Let us hope that the new genetic lineage archives encourages them to be more careful.

But enough on such matters. Let's go and introduce you to my wife. She will be delighted to meet a friend of her granddaughter."

Lord Shebi Danoach led the way downstairs. The two soon arrived in a room opening up into the garden (though most rooms on the ground floor did). The room itself was clearly intended to host small parties.


A veolian man was currently studying a map he laid out on the table. "Lord, just the man I was looking for.", he addressed T'Sal host. "I am not certain about the specifications you gave me."

"Jedi T'Sal", lord Shebi started, putting the emphasis on Jedi. "Allow me to introduce the majordomo of the estate: Master Ruski Larenus."

The man looked up from the map, wide eyed. "My apologies, lord Shebi.", he said while bowing deeply. "I was not aware that your guest would be passing through here. It was not my intention to interrupt you."

"It is nothing", lord Shebi replied, "we will discuss the specifications at a later moment. For now, please make sure that Lady Vahaka's transport is arranged. She will be leaving within the hour."

The majordomo bowed another time, and left in a hurry.


"You'll have to forgive him, he can be a bit zealous at times.", Lord Shebi grinned while he gestured outside, "ladies first, Jedi."

Even though the room she just left was doorless, the warmth of the climate hit T'Sal when she walked outside. There seemed to be some wisdom in wearing only a single layer of clothing here.

"When I introduce you to lady Vahaka, I would be much obliged if you didn't mention any of my explanation to her. Her knowing that we intend to string her along for some time would diminish the entertainment."

Lord Shebi calmly walked through the garden, clearly taking his time and thereby allowing T'Sal ample opportunity to ask questions, should she want to do so.

[T'Sal]

T’sal follows lord Shebi downstairs. Downs stairs they enter a room and T’sal looks around. Lord Shebi introduces his majordomo to her. She makes a small bow. He seems to want to discuss something important but as lord Shebi has her as guest it had to wait.

T’sal walks outside and feels the warmth on her skin. Luckily Hiocans can stand up to the heat very well as they have an internal cooling system. They do not sweat, so they can even wear a winter sweater on Hio without any problem. But as T’sal wants to learn more about the Veolian culture she adjusts to their style. Together they start walking towards the ladies in the garden.

“Do not worry sir Shebi, I will keep quiet. Sir could you tell me something more of your family? Are you miss Shebi's grandfather from her mothers or farthers side? ….”

T’sal wants to ask more questions but starting an interrogation right away did not seem like a good idea. So she waits for his reply first before continuing.

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"I am the father of her mother. But if you want to know more about my familiy, you really should be more specific. My family, the Shebi, number in the millions; we control roughly a sixth of this world's economy, population and military. I'm not sure about what you want more details.", he replied.

[T'Sal]

“Sorry sir, I meant your direct relatives and other family members who I for example will meet at the research facility or already met like miss Shebi Falen.”

[Veolian Commonwealth]

Lord Shebi Danoach described some of his close family members: a brother and what he called 'a few children' but what was better described as a very large amount of children: he had 53 children. He described a only a handful of grandchildren, but off-handedly mentioned that his grandchildren numbered in the hundreds. It seemed to T'Sal that maybe these veolian families really were enormous.

He continued with a remark: "Shebi Falen really isn't really close family. I looked it up once, we share a common ancestor seven generations ago, a man named Shebi Remondor. Our records did not really contain more information. I am sure that the Genealogical Archives, the old ones not those newfangled one on the moon, contains a fairly precise description of his appearance, together with his blazonry and description of genetic traits."

"Of course, you are fairly certain to meet my daughter, the mother of Shebi Ajava. She will be visiting the laboratory to inspect the progress on the recently started rare element collector prototype. Lord Shebi Kiasekel, the patriarch of house Shebi and her husband, has expressed an interest in finishing the research before house Nehket does. It might be interesting for you to meet her while you're at the lab. I am sure she will be impressed with the quality of your work, Shebi Falen informed me that you soak up new information like it's nothing, Jedi."

[T'Sal]

T’sal tries to remember as much as possible of all the family members.

“I would love to meet your daughter. I did not know the houses are competing for finishing research. Is it not better to cooperate?”

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"Why should we want to cooperate with house Nehket? They are merely researching this to gain favour with the emperor, and if we finish the research first, not only do we show our worth as a family, we will get the opportunity to exploit the technology ourselves. Meaning that we will get control over the Particle collectors around the stellar heap, which in turn will offer us more control over the economy."

Lord Shebi Danoach did not hurry with his walk through the gardens.

"Do you have any other questions, jedi T'Sal? Or shall we find my wife?"

[T'Sal]

It seems that there is quite some competition going on between the houses. This puts some things in perspectives. T’sal just hopes that the competition for influence and power of the houses is done fair and square otherwise it is a waste of resources. T’sal is thinking for some time, complicated politics come to her mind, but that is not her thing and she does not want to get tangled up in it. She rather keeps things rational and scientific.

“Thanks for your explanation, Sir Shebi. No general questions come to mind. I am just wondering what your scientific contributions and hobbies are?”

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"My hobbies? Hah, that's a good joke.", the old man seemed genuinely surprised. "I have no time for hobbies, Jedi. I have half the city to run, I think that my work at the institute would most resemble a hobby. It allows me to unwind and focus on a single problem, instead of juggling twenty-seven issues at the same time."

"Even running the institutes is filled with politics and problems, but of a much smaller scale. Besides", he looked at T'Sal, "I intend no offence, but scientists routinely fail to grasp the subtleties of politics, so the institute is much less demanding even with such things.

Academically, my interest is in hyperspace navigation, and the interplay of gravity wells on hyperspace entry and exit."

[T'Sal]

“Politics seems indeed quite demanding. As a scientist I rather focus on one issue and study it in detail.

Mmmh Hyperspace navigation and gravity wells you say, sir. I studied the effect of gravity on time dilation and gravity wells are interesting.”

If sir Shebi is interested she continues to talk about the subject of gravitation wells or else she looks forward to meeting his wife.