〈 Principality of Qua-Toyne, Maihark port - April 1639 C.C / 2020 U.C.E, 7:00 AM 〉

 

A crowd was gathering at the port and coastal areas to see at the distance on what appears to be a large gray floating island. There were knights and adventurers mixed in the crowds who knew what these islands were. Ironclad ships are similar to what the 1st or 2nd civilizations called battleships or cruisers. However what stood out among them was a ship that has a flat long surface enough to hold a jousting arena.

 

“By the gods of Terra! Look at those ships! They’re like floating cities!” a man said

 

“I’ve heard similar fleet compositions in the Parpaldia Empire err-they called it the Dragon Carriers” an adventurer said.

 

“How the heck are they even sailing without sails? Must be a high-level magic artifact that’s powering those behemoths…” a random knight commented.

The common Qua-Toynian crowds stood at awe and some feared an imposing fleet right at their capital’s coast line. Such alien ships couldn't even be matched appropriately with their own naval ships of the line standards. From displacement to non-existent sails and most of all a weird design philosophy where each ship is only composed of 1 visible cannon on the front. It baffles almost all of their naval officers who are observing from afar. Some even theorized that the airspace incident might belong to these unknown visitors at the seas.

– – –

〈 UFE 9th Fleet - April 2020 U.C.E 〉

On board the recommissioned North American flagship, aircraft carrier USS Nimitz…

 

“Mmmmm...these new lands really give out a new breath of fresh air!” one of the soldiers in a fully black outfit commented.

 

“Hey Westly stay focused, we have foreign guests here to watchover…” his colleague said.

 

“Yeah sure-sure, we just need to make sure their safety is guaranteed” he replied.

 

“Here…” his colleague hands him over a full face mask.

 

“Ah come on, do we have to wear these? I mean the envoys aren’t required right?” he complained.

 

“The envoys will be quarantined for tests afterwards. Once those CBRN people give an all-clear, these won’t be mandatory in the future…”

Meanwhile a few distances 2 men in formal attire are discussing with each other. The other man was slightly taller than his counterpart. Each of them wore small shiny pins that resemble the flags of the Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China.

 

“Shun my friend! How's your sleep?” the Russian ambassador shook hands with his Chinese counterpart.

 

“All is well, however these Americans escorting us don’t seem to be from their regular army or marine branches…mercenaries perhaps?” Shun questioned himself.

 

“Probably, but hey look at the bright side at least we can treat this as a side vacation eh? Away from our own country’s lion dens Hahaha…” the Russian ambassador sarcastically said with laughs.

Both looked at each other with poker faces knowing what the Russian ambassador meant behind that sarcastic statement. Politics of Earth nations is the most stressful if not, an insanity of power hungry predators where the weak only get consumed. But thanks to the evolution of the UFE, the central government now holds the shield and sword of their world. Still behind the scenes, espionage and covert operations were still in play. The two men can only sigh hoping this voyage would last longer to enjoy the peaceful transition they barely receive back at their home countries.

 

“I can’t believe we also had to encounter similar hostile endemic wildlife on this side..” his Chinese friend commented.

 

“Ahh…those big chunky squids…Krakens?”

 

“Yes, the PLA Navy was busy suppressing these behemoths. Now the good thing is we have so many raw squids in our wet markets! Hehehe…” the Chinese man giggled.

 

“Damn, are they even edible?” the Russian man asked.

 

“Indeed they are Vesely...you can’t tell the difference between a regular sized squid from the behemoths. Various squid dish is at an affordable price comparable to street food!”

The 2 men continued their leisure chatter until a MH-53 Pave Low helicopter landed on the carrier's flight deck. The heli’s rear ramp doors opened revealing 2 more men in formal attire, the American and Japanese ambassadors. 

 

“Oh, looks like our ride is here…we’ll continue this another time…” Vesely said.

As Shun and Vesely wrapped up their casual conversation they proceeded to greet their American and Japanese counterparts.

 

“Heh, we really have to ride in these mothballed transports. I was expecting the CH-53K they announced last year.” Vesely commented on the recommissioned Pave Low.

 

“Greetings sir Clayman and sir Michio-san. What's the update!?” Shun greeted and asked in a loud voice as the MH-53 was still whirring its engine and rotor blades nearby.

 

“We’re good to go! We’ll take the chopper and land on the local’s air base. An escort will be leading us there!” Clayman replied.

Clayman and Michio conducted the first contact with the native’s navy on a Kongō-class destroyer’s helipad. They’ve managed to briefly exchange with some local captain and his attendant to relay a message to their ruler or leader that they wished to open diplomatic channels. Thanks to the non-existent language barrier of speech, verbal communication has become easier and convenient for the envoys. The visual or written language however was still a lingering problem. The UFE may have to employ new translators for the native’s written languages.

 

“Oh good news at least! We don’t have to bother getting our expensive suits wet from these damn waves if we had to enter through their underdeveloped port!” Vesely commented.

 

“Pardon me my friends, but where is our 5th man?” Michio asked.

 

“Ah shoot, our EU guy! Where the hell is Erik?” Clayman wondered.

 

“Ayyye! Sorry for the hold-up! I got lost in the lower decks!” said the man in a Germanic accent making his way out of the door of the carrier’s island. 

Clayman seeing this rare mix of envoys from different regions, albeit was reduced to them only because the majority of other allied nations were too busy trying to stabilize their countries after the transference incident they couldn’t afford to meet up with the timeframe and spare resources for their own envoys for such troublesome side world quest as he would see it in his point of view. 

He then remembered the time not long ago after the transfer event in his post in Japan. For some reason all of the sudden the Japanese people were speaking in almost perfect English but with just some slight Japanese accent still remaining. He also confirmed the language barrier anomaly before departing in Shibuya airport he heard many different foreigners speaking in the same English language with their own native accents. He thought all of the foreigners there were some kind of certified English speakers together, but after making a personal inquiry of one of the foreigners, an Indonesian woman, she said to him that he was speaking almost fluent Indonesian from her perspective. Ambassador Clayman felt amazed and surprised at himself at that time, eager to converse towards more people he thought maybe even the animals could start speaking English like in the movies right now.

 

After reminiscing about past events he asked the delegation to board the helicopter to begin their journey to the new world.

With the special delegation team now boarded the MH-53 with their escorts and bodyguards into the 5 helicopters, 1 MH-53 Pave Low accompanied by 2 UH-60 Blackhawks and 2 MH-6 Little Birds whirred to full throttle and took off from the flight deck.

– – –

〈 Principality of Qua-Toyne, Maihark Airspace April 1639 C.C 〉

 

Dragon rider Marl once again took to the skies to act as a lead escort for the upcoming delegation. Though already shocked from previous encounters from these foreign visitors and their mechanical flyers he has developed a slight interest if they manage to slow down this time around given they would still need a lead escort to direct them to the airbase.

 

A few minutes later he spots a formation flying towards him. After the flying objects came close to Marl’s distance they slowed their approach a bit and let him lead the way for them. 

 

“Huh, they’re different this time. They’re not the same metal soulless birds that flew at godly speeds…but still they’re just as noisy as ever! Do these people have deafening hearing traits? Or is it some sort of passive intimidation instrument to scare some surface troops?” he continued to question his curiosity of the loud helicopter squadron tailing him.

 

Meanwhile inside the MH-53 Pave Low…

 

“Lieutenant, I'm not dreaming right? That’s a person riding a dragon?” his co-pilot asked.

 

“A wyvern, 2nd lieutenant to be specific, if it were a dragon it would be much bigger…” the pilot replied.

 

“Ah my bad, I know you’re a fictional enthusiast. Binge watching those tv series that involve dragons or such.” the co-pilot replied

Further at the back of the cargo bay section of the MH-53 where the bodyguards and the main delegation team currently sat wearing headphones with mics due to the loud rotors normal conversation had to be relocated.

 

“So who's the extra guy?” Vesely asks Clayman.

 

“I was told a UFE observer will be joining us to oversee the exchange.” Clayman replied.

 

“Then I assumed what happened to the African rep is not of our concern then?” Erik said.

 

“Due to the tight schedule and current affairs of the African continent, we assumed they have their hands tied as of the moment. The UFE is currently conducting relief efforts in Maputo.” the UFE representative replied.

 

“I must advise you all gentlemen though, these natives may not be up to our own expected modern standards and cultures so choose your words carefully. Patience is the key! Whatever outlandish comments these natives may say keep a cool and straight face! I think our Chinese and Japanese friends here can give you 1 or so tips…” the UFE rep stated.

 

“Thank you for the compliment sir Stalder, but I think as experienced diplomats everyone knows the drill…” Michio replied.  

 

“The goal is simple friends, trade options and equal valued benefits…” Shun commented.

The expeditionary delegation knew the main mission was to find alternative food trade supplies to prevent public uproar of the dwindling food back home due to the storm and transference aftermath. A portion of the agriculture sector worldwide was affected by the shift of climate and topography changed the possible yield and growth of various crops. But this problem was already solved by their ancestors in the 18th century or even way back in Roman times by building greenhouse facilities to artificially regulate the humidity and climate to let specific crops grow in certain conditions.

 

However these greenhouse facilities were limited alongside the underground ones and were just not up for demand to casually meet billions of people worldwide on a yearly consumption. While there are indeed underground bunkers/shelters that could house billions of people, rationing was still mandatory to mitigate this problem temporarily.

 

And finally after satellite scans and probing, the UFE are certain that they’re no longer on the same habitable planet known as Earth. Instead they’ve found themselves on a super-Earth like planet with two moons. Scientists and researchers today are still baffled by this planet’s scientific data. For example, the gravity remains exactly the same as Earth along the composition of the atmosphere about 78.08 percent nitrogen, 20.95 percent oxygen, and 0.93 percent argon with an account of 0.04 percent other various gasses. Except the air was much mysteriously cleaner in comparison to Earth’s constant air pollution due to industrialization over the centuries.

– – –

〈 Principality of Qua-Toyne, Maihark Airbase April 1639 C.C 〉

 

“Haaa…” a man in his thirties sighed, having been tasked to accommodate new visitors from the far east he continues to be unmotivated by his current duties.

 

“General Hanki sir!” knight captain Inne greets her superior on the open crudely developed stone slabbed tarmac. 

The long field of stone slab pavements on Maihark’s airbase was the latest runway to be developed in the country. However due to expensive development costs and rare materials only the capital city of Maihark managed to successfully cover its entire airbase. While the other remote bases in different districts still use dirt or rocky pavement.

 

“Ohh madam Inne! Here to escort our guest perhaps?” General Hanki asked.

 

“Yes sir, we’ll be guiding them to the citadel towards the inner sanctum where our Prime Minister and the lords will be waiting at the Lotus Garden.” Capt. Inne replied.

 

“These visitors of ours, I’ve heard not only have ironclad ships but access to flight transportation, so I assumed they might be from the 2nd or 1st civilizations. But it annoys me how every common citizen of ours tried to convince me that they saw something out of a fairy tale! Just when I’m about to depart for Forlan district to oversee one of our armies there I was unexpectedly called upon by the Military Affairs Ministry tasked with as a top priority to welcome these unexpected visitors.” General Hanki continues to distress thoughts openly.

 

“But ehh, who am I to complain? I bet those lords almost chewed you over for that airspace incident in the last few days…” he added.

 

“It was nerve-racking sir, but at least sir Kanata was generous enough to let me off without problems.” Inne replied, trying to ease on herself remembering that unfortunate exchange she had to deal with sir Qem’s known aggressive behavior.

The two continued to casually chat until they heard loud horn signals resonating within the airbase, signaling the arrival of the delegation. They both braced and hoped the visitors came in with good intentions.

 

A few minutes later the visitor’s flying iron transports were now hovering above the airbase. As they started to descend the loud sounds of the wind being repetitively hitting grew louder to the point General Hanki, capt. Inne and other Qua-Toynians tried to cover their ears whilst feeling shaken by its alien presence.

 

“Ghhh! By the gods of Terra these things are loud as heck. They’re like the wyvern imposing fear through their loud roars. But at least the wyvern doesn’t constantly screech to bleed your eardrums!” General Hanki commented whilst covering his ears.

 

After the iron transports landed the noise became bearable and the wind started to subside. Seconds later the iron transports opened its back door revealing several men in black clothing stepping out. General Hanki could discern that the men who weren't wearing some sort of weirdly designed helmets were the envoys. 

 

Meanwhile Capt. Inne was inspecting the envoy’s escorts, all seemed to be humans. Their jet black clothing design seems strange of bland uniformity yet gives off an intimidating image. She assumed their khaki brown parts were some sort of armor but these barely cover most of their body parts. As for their weapons, she didn’t spot any sort of long bladed weapon nor shields. She could only imagine what sort of metal rod-like weapon they were holding as they lacked sharp edges. Perhaps a blunt type of weapon? But who would waste such metal resources only to create sharpless tools? Only one thing she could conclude that they might be all battle mages with their staffs capable of countering an army. If a fight were to break out their capital city Maihark would sustain inconceivable damage. She could only hope that these visiting humans were a non-hegemonic nation and could be reasonable to conduct diplomacy.

 

“Greetings visitors of the east! I am General Hanki here to welcome you to our humble nation, the Principality of Qua-Toyne!” 

 

“Nice to meet you sir Hanki, I am ambassador Lee Clayman, you can just call me sir Clayman”

 

“Hello friend, I’m ambassador Krasotkin Karl Vesely, sir Karl or Vesely is fine”

 

“I’m Mr. Ji Shun, you can address me as Mr. Shun”

 

“Hi I’m Mr. Otsuka Michio, Mr. Michio or Michio-san would suffice” The man proceed to bow first before introducing himself

 

“And I’m sir Erik Simson, sir Erik would do.”

The 2 parties exchanged their greetings, though Gen. Hanki finds it odd that each ambassador spoke in a different accent; he maybe should try to converse with them further rather than escorting them quietly as he was supposedly tasked to.

 

“Nice to meet you all fellow gentlemen, I’ll be escorting you all to the prime minister’s residence. But first we’ll take a short cruise around the capital. Please step into these carriages.”

 

“Your guards may use the horses we’ve prepared.” Gen. Hanki pointing out to the group of readied horses standing by at the side.

 

The visiting envoys looking at their men assigned to safeguard them were also a bit confused. Clayman thought to himself. “Ah crap, horseback riding is just a hobby back at home. I doubt these mercs know how to handle a horse especially in a foreign nation.”

 

 “Uhh…sir Hanki I’m afraid-”

 

“Thank you sir, we’ll ride alongside…” One of the Shadow Company mercenary said. He was a sergeant of rank.

 

“Sarge! Are you sure about this? I don’t even know how to mount a horse!” one of the mercs said.

 

“Don’t worry we’ll just bring Lancer, Davis, Jon, and Cole. The five of us are enough” the mercenary sergeant said.

 

“-Psst. Clayman, are you sure about this? Just five guards?” Vesely raised his concerns.

 

“It's fine, it's not like we’ve come to declare hostilities.” Clayman replied.

 

“Yeah I know! But these folks are like medieval level society! They might burn us at the stake!”

 

“Relax comrade! If anything happens to us, an MQ-1 drone or a tomahawk missile will happily send these guys back to the stone age.”

After easing his fellow colleague quietly they boarded the carriage and the selected security detail mounted the horses. They proceed to cruise around the town a bit before heading towards the meeting place.

 

“So may I know what nation you all hail from?” Gen. Hanki asked the men.

 

“We uh, came from different countries, but today we only represent the United Earth” sir Erik replied.

 

“Different countries!? Then it's an alliance of some sort!? No wonder you all have different accents!” Gen Hanki was slightly shocked to realize that the visitors were part of a multi-nation alliance. 

 

“Then may I know if your alliance of nations has diplomatic relationships with the Kingdom of Louria?” he asked a follow up question.

 

“Kingdom or Louria? Uhhh…I don’t think we are familiar yet with this country you speak of. But maybe we might be interested in developing more diplomatic relations with other countries in this region soon in the future. But for now your country Qua-Toyne is the first on our list.”

 

Upon hearing this Gen. Hanki was relieved but at the same time he was concerned that these newcomers would turn their backs on them if they found the Lourian Kingdom more accommodating than them. After all they’re just a humble farming nation where all they could specialize is on food trade. He just hopes that these people aren’t a hegemonic nation like the Lourians.

 

“I see, well those Lourians are a human kingdom and are our neighboring country in the west. While in the southeast the Kingdom of Quilla is a beastfolk majority and has had open trade agreements with us ever since.” Gen. Hanki continued to describe the neighboring countries and eventually other civilizations.

 

“-Rodenius Continent huh…” Clayman thinking to himself. He hopes the geography of the world would soon be known as the space agencies and orbital defense forces were still busy scrambling to clean off the man-made satellite debris that caused after the transference event. Because many of the Earth’s communication and observational orbiting satellites went off course and collided with the Moon's scattered debris this delayed the probing of the new world.

 

“Excuse me but can you elaborate about this empire of the northwest?” Michio asked.

 

“They’re called the Parpaldia Empire, they have most of the 3rd Civilization, the Philades Continent, under their influence. But there are still independent nations such as Sios Kingdom and Altaras Kingdom who are near the Parpaldia mainland. Then there’s a far northern human nation called Kingdom of Fenn, though I haven’t heard much of this country, only that they lack magicians or wyverns but have unique warriors who excel in melee combat that have the highest discipline of swordsmanship.” Gen. Hanki replied.

 

“Speaking of continents, you said there were 2nd and 1st civilization areas. Can you further provide us with some info about those as well?” Clayman asked.

 

“Hmmm…unfortunately my knowledge is kind of limited, but I can try to explain from what I’ve heard from traveling adventurers who visited these nations…” Gen. Hanki replied.

– – –

An excerpt from Clayman’s personal journal days after the first diplomatic visit

 

This new world continues to intrigue me.

How should I put it? It’s like having a grand tour of Earth’s history but with crazy stuff added in like magic, alien creatures such as the wyvern and non-primate races such as elves, dwarfs, hybrids and beastfolks. 

 

Starting from the Rodenius Continent and Philades Continent they have medieval level societies that I could only see in movies or stories. Then there’s this supposedly a Napolenic Era country that has great influence over the majority of the 3rd civilization. I’m sure this would make them this region’s superpower?

 

What boggles me is that there’s a constant difference of technology levels per region. Taking the Principality of Qua-Toyne for example, the mixed race inhabitants they’re probably around early to mid Middle Ages while having a democratic like government but almost reaching towards a socialist kind yet they retain an aristocratic system. 

 

Meanwhile their neighboring country, Kingdom of Louria, a human only nation, has a top down monarchic system. Though I had to take into account of Mr. Hanki’s biased story that the Lourians were a bit xenophobes when it comes to non-human races. Such that he shared to me how they brutally pillaged one of Quilla’s villages near its borders. 

 

Of course I knew these natives in this region were still living on an early paradigm especially moralities and respect for humanoid life. Yes, I think I should consider referring to rational beings that stand on two legs as humanoids. Because we humans are no longer alone in this world. 

There are too many races to keep track of. I had to separate them into a spreadsheet file…For now on this page I’ll just summarize them briefly.

 

⌈ Elven Race ⌋

They have longer lifespan than humans and their bodies age slowly meaning even if they’re aged a hundred they would still look like young adults. What’s strange is that their bodies age the same as a human person during infancy towards adolescence then proceed to slow down when they reach early 20’s. I wish I would have genetics to stay in my prime 20’s…

• High elves, a rare variant of their ancestors dubbed the elite or superior elves. 
• Half elves, a hybrid of human and elf genetics. They are often discriminated against by pure-blooded elf elitists.
• Night elves, like normal elves, have darker skin tones and specialize in dark-arts magic.
• Mountain elves, superior physical strength but lack or have weak magical attributes.
• Forest elves, like the prime minister we’ve met, have strong magical powers and the most common variant.

 

⌈ Dwarven Race ⌋

A complete opposite of elves but still has the same long lifespans. Lacking in height in comparison to elves or even an average human height. They however excel in strength and passion for craftsmanship.  I wouldn’t be too surprised if they start to reverse-engineer or copy our technology in future exchanges.

• Ancestral dwarves, a lost variant that has all of the attributes of the Magi, Hill and Mountain dwarves. They either remain in hiding or believed to be extinct.
• Half dwarves, a hybrid of human and dwarf genetics. Dwarves don’t discriminate by race but by their competitive craftsmanship they continuously bicker each other with their inventions.
• Magi dwarves, they excel in magic and wisdom however they’re the uncommon variants found in remote villages or far-away lands.
• Hill dwarves, better intuition and senses but mediocre magic and physical aspects. They’re the most common variant.
• Mountain dwarves, higher physical strength than their other variants. Often developed skilled miners and builders.

 

⌈ Beastfolk Race ⌋

I don’t want to further elaborate, but think of a human person having cat or dog ears and tail, heck any kind of animal we have on Earth mix it with human genetics. We will call them hybrids as a whole while pure-breeds for full animalistic traits such as having a full coated fur on their skin, sharp claws for nails yet they stand on two legs like a primate. Very wild genetic make-ups.

The best part is that they are rumored to also have the same animalistic characteristics or abilities but cranked up to absurd levels. No wonder they excel in ground fighting, even a human with an exosuit would probably struggle to keep up with a Kuranta. I’m imagining how useful these Perro or Vulpo races are in sniffing out hidden bombs, illegal drugs or scent tracking.

Just thinking of these beastfolk races are just humans but physically overpowered. The elves or dwarves may even have trouble going toe to toe with them but they compensate through magic or craftsmanship. That’s where we humans come in numbers and intelligence. But if you give a single hybrid an exosuit, modern armor and modern physical enhancements, it can probably take out a company size army all by itself until it either slows down through exhaustion or a perfect lethal shot.

They’re still mortal beings so a single gunshot wound through the heart or brain is enough to decapitate them when needed. But I hope we don’t have to fight such an opponent in the future. Well atleast the military should be aware of the dangers of sending boots on the ground against such people. We could just either use IFV’s (infantry fighting vehicles) or aerial support to make quick work of the problem.

 

Maybe an alien race will pop up somewhere else on the planet as we continue to spread our reach since this is a super-Earth like world, I wouldn’t be surprised…

 

But now that I remember something, those Martian bastards almost crippled our armies but it was due to technological difference I heard. I still feel uneasy even after the transference event. I wonder what has happened to our old world when we left?

 

"…"

 

Dark races???

• Further investigation required…
• Demons?
• Possible hostile beings judging by the name…

 

Light Winged Races???

• Further investigation required…
• We have demons, now angels?
• Possible friendly race?