Latest blog post: Redraw of chapter 1 is happening (2024-05-11)
Author's comment:
Raharr's version of a salute is generally performed with closed eyes, available free pair of hands raised to the shoulder level, and the right hand gripping the left fist, with the index finger pointing up. Its symbolic meaning is "Be your flame burning forever and brightly".
It is not necessary to stand up to perform it.
Comments (27)
Sitting here with my scientific thinking cap on and wonder if the rather large (no pun intended) sexual dimorphism between male and female Raharr will result in a new scientific term here on Terra.
If so I hereby submit "Gluteus Kardhashianism" or "Gluteus Maximus Kardhashianism" if its one of more muscles inside that is the reason .
Also I would like to form a public funded study group when diplomatic relations has been achieved.
For science...
I am still enterly lost as to who or what part of the UN the lady represents, or why she is there. I could see representatives from various contires being there but not quite how she is framed. She apears to be some sort of UN military personel, but that is not something that exists, given how the UN peacekeepers are all people from the militaries of co tries within the Un ususaly assembled for a specific event. Heck, honestly if the US reported the contact, I would expect representatives there from many contries and such and not from the UN itself. What gets me more she seems to have the ability to free roam a military base, which is not realy something that would occure. I mean sure access to vary specific places.
See Agent Iskra.
"... so brightly ..." #VisoredHelmetExplanations
I've been thinking all along that THIS would be the complicated part.
(But it appears to be far more complicated than that!)
-What this situation needs is someone to just cut through it so all parties can agree.
Complicated part ? Some 190+ nations outside this little scene would be working on expanding that issue yet!
Can we even remotely imagine the fights on the streets and the "fights" going on in the grey corridors of power if something like this actually happened one day ?
I think its safe to say it will be absolutely spectacular.
"may you live in interesting times"
Its claimed to be a curse for a reason.
Exactly! And every one of them would welcome that solution!
The standard military salute on Earth comes from medieval helmets with a movable visor. You'd salute by lifting the visor so that your face would be visible. Visored helmets disappeared but the move with the right hand to lift the no-longer-existing visor remained codified as a salute.
I find this pretty fun.
I'm pretty sure that the slam-your-heels part got added after the one horsepower undercarriage fell in disuse, though.
And only Raharr in the room , no Bahin. Thats does not bode well if one suspects foul play.
Skip "stun" on those guns and go straight for "vaporize".
Wonder whether there's a setting that just says "make exit".
(Portal guns? [aims at floor underneath Earthlings])
Exit portal : L3 orbit.
It would be a spectacularly bad idea for any human faction to attempt something against Zane's crew. The aliens still have a massive war fleet out of human reach and, well, don't start fights that you can't finish.
For that matter, don't start fights with someone who can just walk out of your solar system and put you on a no-space-fly list, either.
I wouldn't put it beyond Bahin to try for a great (delayed) entrance ... but where did the major take a wrong turn!? He was with Nea moments before, and with the other Raharrs earlier ...
... the fourth guard remains seated so as to make masking noises where they think the microphone's hidden?
1. You can visually identify the gender of their species.
2. You can give them the middle finger and they might think you are showing your gratitude 😂
"1. You can visually identify the gender of their species."
Technically, you can visually identify the SEX of their species. Gender and sex are not synonymous... even though, for the overwhelming majority of human history (and in the extremely large majority of humanity alive today), there are exactly two of each that overlap pretty extremely.
Well, THAT'S definitely getting the ball rolling, but I think Zane already knows that much. How about they ask for Agent Iskra to joint them?
The Protagonistani military literally just asserted that they, rather than Iskra, have a say where Nea goes. If I were in Zane's place, I'd want to have Nea out and in orbit before making an attempt to contact that other "political faction" - a term that, unfortunately, suggests that Iskra never told Nea about being a representative of the UN ...
How would Nea know what the UN is or represents? Unless carefully explained, a faction is a faction.
For starters, the sentence "this here country is one of the UN's two-hundred-or-so member nations" should suffice to make it clear that Protagonistan is somewhat different from "mankind".
But from her words there's just two factions.
Well, it might look like a simple "us vs. them" situation from inside Protagonistan - but Zane knows better, and it still doesn't mean that both sides hold the same weight, even to someone who's currently not looking at mankind from orbit.
But Zane has access to Quantum, who has had extensive access to the internet, and had plenty of time to extensively brief him on the way here. So it's very likely he already knows about Earth's international politics, and Protagistan's place in it.
Zane (or at least Quantum) might even know Iskra's name and current assignment...
[looks forward to see Bahin's red phone ring as he's personally snubbing Iskra for the first time, only to have Quantum read him the riot act in the sweetest tone imaginable]
Does Nea Know that Earth has many different countries/political factions? We haven't seen this explained to her. By this point I think Zane knows a lot more about Earth politics than Nea (And more than The Major & Gen Bahin think Zane knows.)
Nea & Zane should ask for all parties to be present here, Bahin & Iskra. (And perhaps at least search for Gharr?)