That Special Time of the Year...

...when people actually like the Believers.

***

Christmas on Chiron. It's an odd relic of times past, and in many ways it is acknowledged but not celebrated. Except by one group, of course, and that group would be the Lord's Believers. It is the day of birth of Jesus Christ! How could any true Believer not rejoice on the wonderful day, and of the course the days before and after? Naturally, they chose to celebrate together come that time of the year, and celebrate they did. Each year the festivities of Christmas at New Jerusalem became more extravagant, and while there was a strong Believing undertone they became appreciated by both the Believers and secularists of Chiron as Believing Chironites who came to New Jerusalem to celebrate told their secular friends and family about the glory of the festivities. More and more secularists came, and before long they outnumbered the Believers at the New Jerusalem festivities.

Naturally, at first the fundamentalist Believers were enraged at the secular takeover of their religious holiday and called for Sister Miriam to ban secularists from the festivities. But while Sister Miriam was strong in faith, she was not blind to the realities of the world and knew that the one thing that made dealing with other nations politically or economically on an equal basis a possibility was the fact that the Christmas festivities was the only thing that could salvage their reputation amongst the peoples of Chiron. In addition, it also provided a small but steady stream of new converts to the Believers, as it was what made many of them realize that the Believers were not always as bad as they were made out to be. So Miriam formalized a system that allowed secularists to come to the festivities to celebrate amongst the Believers and of course provide them with a steady stream of income and converts.

Of course, converts didn't exactly make themselves, and there were still strong (very strong) religious elements of the festivities, like church services that actually comprised of most of the festivities. While the religious events were not made mandatory, the Believers made sure that they were the most interesting parts of the festivities and that anyone who wanted to have the full experience would have to go to them. But even so, the evangelical element was not quite as strong as it would be any other time and many of the Believers were to content to simply rejoice in the name of Christ, even with heathens and secularists, although of course they often slipped a few lines about religion every once in a while. Still, the secularists found the actions of the Believers endurable enough and decided that the festivities were worth any trouble the Believers gave. Sure, there were incidents, but they were rare and far in between.

Towards recent times of peace, the Believers' Christmas festivities was often attended by other faction leaders, primarily ones that were actually willing to deal with Miriam. Usually this meant Lal, Morgan, and Skye, with occasional attendance by Santiago. The atheist and secularist ideals of Yang and Zakharov meant that they never even consider coming, although it is sometimes said that a few University students sneak out of the University every Christmas to visit the festivities simply for the atmosphere. It didn't endear them to either the Believers or the University, but that didn't stop them. The logistics for the festivities are for the most part taken care of by Morgan who sponsors much of it to promote his business interests in the Lord's Believers, as is security, which for the most part is top notch. But Miriam of course was always the official head and provided the all-important spiritual and social aspect of the event.

This year is a bit different. With contact made with a myriad of alien civilizations, Lal realized that the Christmas festivities could make a good event to improve the relationship of the Governate with other nations as well as plant the seeds of tourism and interplanetary exchange on Chiron. So he consulted with both Miriam and Morgan and after much deliberation they finally decided that they would open the festivities to foreign attendees, and invite foreign dignitaries. Morgan has increased the fund of energy credits for the logistics and security of the events and has set up temporary shops and service centers in the midst of the main location for the festivities to provide visitors with essential services. Miriam was not too pleased at Morgan trying to take a larger cut of the profits, although Morgan then did pledge to sell Believer made goods whenever possible, in other words, arts and crafts, and Miriam had no choice to accept.

But in any case, Christmas is coming and it's almost time for the festivities to begin. People better get to Chiron and New Jerusalem ASAP.

***

To: All Nations of Korel
From: Planetary Governor Pravin Lal of Chiron

Greetings, esteemed peoples of the nations of Korel. In the coming week there will be a major festivity in New Jerusalem of the Lord's Believers in celebration of the holiday of Christmas. Although the holiday is religious in nature, the religious aspects of the festivities are not forced upon anyone and the normally evangelical Believers are much less so this time of the year. I will assure everyone that the festivities are excellent and anyone can appreciate them, religious or nonreligious. I, along with CEO Morgan who supports the festivities financially, and Sister Miriam of the Lord's Believers, hereby invite the people of Korel to come to the festivities, and take part in the celebration. We will also welcome any foreign dignitaries that may come, including heads of state. If anyone is worried about safety, we will assure you that Morgan's best security guards and some of our own soldiers stand guard to ensure that the events pass without any dangerous occurrences. For the foreign dignitaries who wish to come, please briefly reply to this message and we will do our best to accommodate you. For others, we will make sure that temporary visitor visas are approved quickly and in a timely manner.

A happy season to all,
Governor Pravin Lal

Burnination, with no formal diplomatic relations with the people of Chiron, does no respond to the message.

(OOC: No civilians, then?)

A good number of people opt to try Chironite festivities. The Emperor Dmitri, his wife Svetlana, and his son are coming, as are the other heads of state and their families.

(OOC: And by a good number, I mean hundreds of thousands.)

Shein decides to go, however, Kennah does not. They're still in the middle of some left over fighting back home, and as such, the Imperial family cannot be all in one place. In any case, Shein will bring his oldest son with him. Oh and, yes, civilians do show up. Not as many as the Rheans though. And the majority are the Comiderans and their kits. They're far more curious about other cultures and other religions than the Rutians and Danites are. Well, the Rutians might be curious about cultures, but they're wary of other religions. Meh, in any case, Shein does send a message back with a rough count. 95,000, with at least 94,000 of those being Comiderans. No one is worried about security either, since Arren is going with Shein. Though it should be interesting to see how the psionic abilities of the Rutians affect the native wildlife.

The Bastian Dominion also sends their regards. Among their dignitaries is Tomasa, one of the party members who was with Johan Luther. They send only a few thousand Bastians, Sobekians (the deathclaw lookalikes), and the Neithians (octospiders).

The Veridians receive the invitation and understanding an importance of what this event could mean for their understanding of the rest of the galactic community, a small delegations is formed and confirmed as coming to the event. Presumably the smallest of any group attending, the Veridians send no more than 50 people, all government agents of some degree from the various departments of government.

OOC: Assuming this takes place after we've completely concluded our trade negotiations and what not Sela.

(OOC: Yep. I'll post an IC response later today.)

Morgan is pleasantly surprised at the large amount of foreigners attending and quickly sets out to provide more funds for the logistics of the event and makes sure that enough temporary facilities are present. Miriam is happy as well to see such a large amount of people who could potentially be swayed to Belief during the event, perhaps spreading the Lord's Believers out into space for the first time. Granted, she didn't expect more than a thousand converts at most, but it would still be worth something. All who come are provided with holodisks detailing the events and locations of New Jerusalem that are active for the festivities and the businesses that would cater to them, as well as information on who to contact if they have been undeservedly harassed by locals. Miriam hopes that there would be no such occurrences, however she knows better than anyone else how unlikely it was, and prays that it it's nothing serious.

In any case, everyone gets the recommendation to come to Central Cathedral in the center of New Jerusalem to see the opening ceremony of the festivities and for the events that will transpire afterward. Foreign dignitaries and heads of state are also invited to a dinner at the top floor of Central Cathedral with Governor Lal, CEO Morgan, Sister Miriam, Lady Skye, and Johan Luther planning to be in attendance.

(OOC: Nope. Why would civilians want to show up on such a backwater planet?)

(OOC: Well, I think it happens all the time IRL when you replace "planet" with "country" )

In any case, the Central Cathedral will be packed from visitors from the Republic and the Dominion. Special accommodations will have to be made for a number of them. Neithians are deaf and communicate entirely in colors streaking across their heads, some of which humans can't see. They're likely the most intelligent species among the group. A large number of them have already learned Rutian and Basic (English) through lipreading. Whether humans can read the colors is a different story. Most Bastians can't form human words properly. Their vocal structure doesn't really allow it. Sobekians, however, can and they'll likely be the ones doing the talking and translating between languages.

Thankfully, there are several Empaths there, as well as Universal Translators, so language is probably going to be the least of their worries.

Like people from the Veridian Dominion freaking out over the weird looking aliens, especially ones that are basically talking deathclaws?

That, or basically anyone who isn't familiar enough with the various races that exist, which is 90% of the people on Chiron

The Rutians and Comiderans are used to the weird looking aliens, fortunately. What's unclear is how the Rutians psionic abilities are going to affect the local plantlife. The Empaths might be able to determine the psionic abilities of the Rutians though. If so, any of them near Arren might be a little nervous. Shein, however, is dressed much like the rest of the Rutians. In fact, there's nothing that would make him stand out for who he is. Even Arren doesn't stand out. Shein's son, Christian, however, might, but only because he's looking at everything from a child's perspective.

(OOC: Not knowing exactly how much time has passed, I'm going to just say that Christian is now 10 years old.)

Whenever the Rutian shuttles come to New Jerusalem, they would notice that as they pass over the fields of xenofungus in the area that they become somewhat more active as if in response to their presence. The Empaths have a somewhat similar reaction, and know immediately that most of the Rutians are telepathic. Some register more strongly then others, however, and the moment they come into the vicinity of Arren they quickly back off. The aura of psionic danger he emits to the Empaths is about as blatant as a Demon Boil of Mind Worms. One goes to tell it to Miriam himself but having been briefed on what leaders would come and their companions she told the Empath that it is nothing to worry about and that she already knew, and sends the Empath back. Still, they have a positive reaction to the other Rutians. It's only Arren that they really worry about.

Then the Empaths would easily be able to identify which one Shein is. The one that's with Arren, practically joined at the hip almost. He's not drawing attention to himself, nor is he acting any differently from the group he's mixed with, mostly Comiderans, but a few Rutians tossed in. The Comiderans are the ones that look dangerous of this grouping, though the Rutians don't seem bothered. If they're not bothered, then the bipedal cats must not be dangerous.

The Comideran visitors are completely enthralled by everything they see. They're able to speak, though some words are distorted due to their purring. There might be some converts among them, even if they did evolve from cat-like beasts. They're actually curious about what the Believers think about the fact that they're so different from themselves.

Any of the Comiderans who speak to the Believers will discover that although they are somewhat apprehensive at first, they are willing to speak and do so very freely after a bit of coaxing. As to what they think about them, they'll gradually discover that the Believers don't really care about their race as much as their faith. The Believers consider all sentient life to have souls, thus they believe that they are ultimately not that different and genuinely want to try to protect their souls. Of course, they won't do it in an overt way, but that's what they'll do.

(OOC: I'm holding on for Veridia to post the opening ceremony.)

The Bastians continue to wander around, mingling with Comiderans and causing much confusion among other people. They can tell who is Bastian and who is Comideran, though. Different smells is one. Tomasa goes out in search of Johan Luther. At one point, she brushes up against a man with... very bad mojo about him. Empaths would likely feel it, too. He seriously just oozes evil.

(OOC: Are Comiderans plantigrades or digitigrades? If plantigrades, that'd be another difference between Bastians and Comiderans.)

(OOC: They can walk either way, but they prefer being on their toes, literally. They can also go on all fours if necessary. They're faster runners that way.)

(OOC: That establishes the primary difference, then. Bastians can only walk on their toes. They're still faster runners than humans, though.)

Tomasa manages to find Johan surrounded by a group of Spartan officers, and he welcomes her to the group and briefly introduces the other officers present. Meanwhile, the Empaths do detect the man with the bad mojo and quickly report it to Miriam, and she takes this one a bit more seriously. She orders guards to keep watch on the man at all times and to have some Empaths do some covert scans.

His presence suddenly disappears. The empaths would hear something along the lines of calling it off because of too much security just before he does.

They are pleased that he is gone, although the Empaths and guards do stay on alert in case he returns.