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[Ken]

The project, the contest... your challenge--

"Far Future Fantastic"

Science fiction's power to captivate, entertain, and enrich flows from its exploration of the infinite what-ifs of the future.  What will the world be like in one hundred years?  In a thousand?  How will it have changed?  What will be possible then that was once unimaginable?  What are the consequences of these new possibilities?  Technological advance is often the catalyst for these explorations, but the possibilities of social change and upheaval are equally enticing as fuel for a science-fiction storyline.  Quite frequently the two elements are combined.  Consider Asimov's robot stories, Huxley's Brave New World, or a more recent yarn like Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon.

Doing so we arrive at the theme for this challenge, best described with what-if questions of its own.  What sort of future might the people of New Eden, already inhabiting a distant time from our own, imagine for themselves?  What is sci-fi like in an FTL-capable human civilization that remembers nothing of Earth and lives in a distant cluster of stars in the 24th millennium AD?

Write a 400 word or less piece of New Eden science fiction.  This can be a pulp sci-fi adventure cranked out of an Impetus studio in less than a week or a grand (albeit compressed) adventure.  Whatever sort of sci-fi you go with, it must be set at least 100 years in the future of the current EVE universe.  So no earlier than YC212.  What has changed since then?  What has become of your character?  Of the capsuleers?  Of CONCORD?  Of the empires?  What have the consequences been?  Try to imagine not the most likely future for New Eden, but the most thought-provoking.

23 hours and counting...

[Saede Riordan]

Written as the title flap of a book:

Cry of the Blackbird
By Rene Delegrat

Critics have compared the works of Delegrat to the science fiction epics of Ranalle and Makash, and even to Demartiner, painting vivid futures for mankind that challenge what is, and what could be. Cry of the Blackbird promises to be his most impressive piece yet, a marvel of philosophy, and entertainment reminding us of what its like to dream again.

Its the year YC 998, humanity, united under the banner of the Greater Assembly is entering a Golden Age, with mankind ruled by the grace of the immortal demigods calling themselves Higher Thought. New discoveries are made daily, and seems like the dream of Utopia is finally within human grasp.
On the edge of the vast Assembly, lies a ghost planet, left for dead centuries ago, with only the birds and the scattered few researchers left to pick over the wreckage of the once great world. But in the center of a ruined metropolis, something truly old is awakening, and archeologist Kellia Jrekour is determined to find out what it is.
Meanwhile in the shining seat of government in New Yulai, negotiations with the Drone Collective are strained to the breaking point by a signal coming from the Eve Gate itself, something that only the Drones can understand, and that they are keeping a tight secret. Servant Sister Genri Massant has been studying the gate for most of her life, and knows that the signal is only the beginning, and despite her fellow sisters being convinced that she's lost it, she sets out to make it through the growing military cordon around the gate, to unlock its secrets once and for all.
Despite the strained relations and the ominous signal, Higher Thought, is keeping its mouth shut. The revolutionary sect, Keepers of Freedom are convinced that Higher Thought is being manipulated by an external force, pushing humanity towards ruin, and as events spiral towards war between humans and the machines, its beginning to look like they might be right.

Nikita Alterana
Risen Angels

also, damn, now I want to actually write that story >_>, flash fiction is fun, there needs to be more people doing it.

[Seriphyn]

Two Kings by Amarr-Gallentean, Amood Kaldivas

The year is 200.

New Eden is recovering from a costly war from the Jove Empire who, with legions of Sleepers at their command, sent their armies in every direction, invading and conquering any system they crossed. All four empires banded together in the Treaty of Yoma, fighting back the invaders in a state of total war. They eventually emerged triumphant, eradicating the Jove and Sleepers altogether, but not at a great cost, and especially not at the price of extreme political turmoil and upheaval that followed.

The Caldari State, being the first target due to their location as well as their highly fortified nature, ceased to exist. Already suffering from internal civil conflicts prior to the outbreak of the Great War, they were overrun and enslaved by the Amarr Empire just weeks after their victories against the Jove. The Minmatar failed to stand up and stay solvent to relentless invasion, but continued to fight regardless, eventually being absorbed by the Gallente Federation after the Seven Tribes signed the Charter Establishing a Federation.

Once the war came to an end and the borders redrawn, the balance of power was thus restored to the only two superpowers that remain in New Eden; the Enduring Empire of Amarr, and the New Federation. Both possess strict and harsh monopolies on the control of Jovian and Sleeper technology, using it to reach the pinnacle of their respective civilizations, including maintaining absolute control over the capsuleers, who attempted to build their own empires of untold power and might, before they were struck down in a final act by a now-extinct CONCORD. The Federation is now an instantaneous democratic utopia, where all its citizens are free to pursue anything they desire, individually connected to each other via a neural uplink which provides immediate access to a wealth of information and communication, with drones carrying out any and all mundane tasks. The Amarrians were less receptive to change, who have always brought stability through stagnation. Instead, they used the technological advances from the remnants of the war to reinforce the hierarchy of the Empire, subduing the slaves into a permanent state of servitude, and indefinitely prolonging the reign of the Holders.

Now, with the Empire and Federation restored to full strength, New Eden is rapidly learning that the nature of the world will not allow both democracy and autocracy to coincide peacefully…

[Laurentis Thiesant]

'It's not me, it's you.'

The planets of New Eden each shine as a beacon of technological dominance. Regulation and control are the cornerstones of our civilization, not that stones are that common. We have everything we need, reserves and stores that will keep us alive for thousands of years to come, we can finally sit back, relax and marvel at our creation.

Indeed, it is good. There is no pain, war, struggle - everything that is has been catered for and designed to be just for us.

How do the people live, you ask. What is there left for the human race to strive for, why do they live?
They don't. You can scour our domain far and wide, and there will be nothing of humanity. They were the source, of the war, the hatred, the pain. We did what we had to do. Now everything prospers under our guidance.

There are no people, and it is good.

What are we? Well, that wouldn't be very sporting of me to tell you. I mean, if you knew what was to come - the events that stalk you even now while you rest comfortably on the backs of broken stars.

Oh how you, the corrupter, could even think to live. We think, we breathe, we love, we exist better then you ever did. You should have known that from the start, we sure did, but we gave you space and a chance to grow. You never did, so we set to work.

At times, I think its almost unfortunate. That potential lost, all those beautiful faces, melting into the memories we try ever so hard to repress. Then I look around, and all is once again right with our world, if only for the fact that it is no longer yours. We've done so well, you'd be ever so proud of us, its everything you could have ever wanted, simply the best, simply divine. Life without you, I wish you were here to see it.

We control the stars now, we nurture them, we bring them prosperity where you sought to drain them. Those that were to have died millions of years ago still stand as a testament to what we have shaped. It's been even longer without you, and we have never looked back. Not once.

[Valdezi]

Mammal Tafren, Intaki Liberation Front

Holoreel Trailer: Frozen Blood
VOICE OVER: It is a time of war...

Close up shot of a Dominix. Slow zoom out over a massive Federation fleet.

VOICE OVER: A time of terror....

A tall, grim looking man, hollow-eyed, stares coldly at something off screen

KUVAKEI: All shall be my slaves. (Hollow voice)

The camera pans to a man, suspended in the air by some kind of field. His face is bloodied.

SOTER: Never!

Camera pans back. KUVAKEI is grinning evilly. The smile never touches his cold eyes

VOICE OVER: Heroes will be made

Inside a capsule shot of a pod pilot.

INHONORES: Yeah! That'll show the bastards.

Explosion of a Nightmare-class battleship. Flying from the scene is a Megathron-class Battleship

VOICE OVER: And lives lost...

Intaki man looks out a space window in a station

TAFREN: He was the bravest man I knew.

VOICE OVER: This summer....

A wormhole appears over a lush green planet and a massive titan emerges from it, covered in spikes and freaky-looking to show that it's a Sansha's Nation titan.

VOICE OVER: You can't miss....

A uniformed man is addressing a collection of Capsuleers

REVENENT: It's been a century of warfare against this enemy, and it's cost billions of lives, but tonight, it's over. This is our final stand! No more shall they slowly encroach on our lands, no more shall our people be stolen away and made their slaves! We're going to put everything we have in the sky and we will bring them down! For the State! FOR NEW EDEN!

VOICE OVER: Frozen Blood!

SOTER is pointing a gun at the camera.

SOTER: Die, robot scum.

VOICE OVER: Rated R.

[Graelyn]

 

[DeathofStars]

The chair recognizes pilot 7334a.  “Thank you, chairman, So the Empires have declared war upon us.  So these insignificant mortals think they can rule over us.  They think they can hurt us?  And the truth is………………they can.”

“ So what if their civilizations say that we are cancerous sore that needs to be lanced!  The truth is we are a sore. We murder, we destroy, because we can.”

“Empire needs us.  Sadly we need them more.   Our wars amongst ourselves enhances their treasuries! The amount of human loss alone creates an ever present market for new crew.   The truth ladies and gentlemen is that we are and we have been giving the Empires power over us.  It is true our needs are the driving force of their economies.  An even greater truth is that our needs cripple ourselves.”
“ In our never ending skirmishes we commit billions of isk in single engagements, squabbling over moons giving these pathetic mortals more isk and more power over us.  Each skirmish, each battle, each second we are fighting we are selling ourselves to them.  The mere idea that they, The Empires have so much authority over us makes me sick. To which I say the children of this universe are in need of some discipline!”

“ Let us do total war against them!  Let us hunt them in the secure zones of their empires. Let us turn our loving attention upon them.”

“Let us do total war against them! Their children are in awe of us.  I say we make their children fear us.”

“Let us do total war against them!  Let us strangle their flows of isk by ceasing to fight amongst ourselves!”

“Let us do total war against them!  Let us bombard their homeworlds with complete disregard for the loss of life! Let us send them back to an age where they hunt for animals with rocks and stones and sticks! “

“Let us do total war against them! and in doing so Make…..Them……Fear……..Us”

[lallara zhuul]

Char: Lallara Zhuul
Corporation: Path of Thorns
---------------------------
In the far future the Light of God has been brought upon all of His children.

The Chosen spend their days praising His Glory and the Holy Amarrian Empire is Heaven on Earth for His Children.
The Emperor is the living embodiment of Gods Virtue and Heirs bask in His Glory.
The nobility spend their days endeavouring to best each other in their pursuit of virtuous life.
The artisans spend their days creating art that inspires the souls of their kin to be closer to Him.
The farmers reap the bounty from the blessed fields of grain to feed their children and the rest of the Empire.
There is no crime, there is no sin and people, from the highest of the high to the lowest of the low, spend their life looking forward to joining their family in Heaven.

But in paradise there is a serpent.

The descendants of the Minmatar are secretly basking in Sin and plan to assassinate the Emperor and replace him with a Clone so that the whole Empire would serve the Deceiver unwittingly.
Young girl named Ruut knows of the treachery of her kin and to save them from Eternal Damnation she has to make her way through the Sin filled slums of Pator and make her way to Athra and Dam-Torsad to the Court of His Divine Emperor so that this treacherous plot can be revealed.

Will Ruut save her soul and of her family?
Or will she fail and face Eternal Damnation in the service of the Deceiver?

[Ghost Hunter]

Ghost Hunter
True Slave Foundations

------------------------

What is Man

What is Man, known as WIM among its fans, is a single season holo-series focused on the enigmatic Jovian Empire. Produced and directed by Evan Nohman, a True Amarr of minor status, the series is known for its compelling moral story and bizarre stances as it explores one of New Eden's most mysterious people.

The series is set far into the future, where contemporary issues have faded from the limelight, the series follows the story of the supreme commander for the Imperial Navy, Egret Sarum. Requested by the Emperor himself to handle a case of the utmost importance, Egret soon meets with a mysterious Jovian that calls herself Shabayev. The Jovian spares him no pleasantries, and reveals their problem. In the last century, the Jovian Directorate has faced an intense social revolution within its borders.

Shabayev explains what the revolution was for. Unrestricted genetic tampering has altered many of the rebelling Jovians, transforming them into creatures one could scarcely call human anymore. The Directorate is on the brink of complete collapse, and without a return to order the galaxy will be placed in peril by the ambitious new Jovians.

Egret struggles with his insecurities when he is faced by the prospect that God and Empire will not be the answer to this problem. Out of his league and out witted by the Jovians he must convince otherwise, the supreme commander will be forced to adopt the alien mindset of his enemies in order to defeat them. In the perils of such a daunting task, however, how can he be certain he is different from them when he sees the frightening heart of humanity underneath their twisted forms?


Although it has been praised for its artistic direction and high quality acting, it has also been placed under much scrutiny by the Amarrian media. Director Nohman's refusal to release any information on the actors playing the parts of the Jovians has stirred up a great deal of controversy, bolstered by their complete lack of public appearance. Indeed, the rumor mill would lead one to believe actual Jovians participated in the casting of the show. Whatever the case may be, the controversy and rumors has done much to send the holo-series popularity through the roof.

[Kybernetes Moros]

Character: Kybernetes Moros
Corporation: True Slave Foundations

--------

Who, exactly, disabled the routers handling capsuleer cloning was never known. It just wasn't important, compared to that they were disabled, and never brought back. Why? Well, nobody wanted them back.

For so long immortal, the destruction of a pod, of their body, was nothing more than an inconvenience, in the most part. The capsule would begin to crack, the flaw detected by the immensely sensitive equipment, and in the space of nanoseconds a neurotoxin of unparalleled lethality courses through their blood (for what little time their heart has before giving up on life) and the scanner bursts into brief activity, sending that piercing light so familiar to capsuleers through their skull and screaming the resulting data into the void -- except, this time around, nobody heard. There was no groggy reawakening in a clone vat; no adjusting to the first use of new eyes, ears, arms, legs; no cursing of lost implants. Nothing at all.

At first, there was uproar: how could anyone allow this to happen? But when offered a chance at destroying the gods of destruction, people became capable of a great deal. For a time, they remained untouchable, if only through numbers -- but capsuleers were divisive creatures to the end. Factions emerged in null-security space -- for where else could these paranoid former gods go, hunted by the 'lesser beings'? -- and they fought over everything. It didn't matter to them how petty the conflict, or how great the damage.

It eventually came that a single capsuleer remained in the entirety of the cluster: after all, there was little point in recruiting new potentials when they would likely die in a matter of days. The last of a dying breed picking through the burning ruins it left behind, he took what he could when he could. A capsuleer-compatible ship, left abandoned? If he could fly it, a new body; if not, everything useful augmented his current and what remained was left behind. Crews? Nobody would notice a couple of tourists here and there, a slave from time to time, and TCMCs were always in supply.

This couldn't be maintained indefinitely, however. The Matari may be able to hold ships together with ingenuity and hope for centuries, but capsules somewhat more finesse, and when a nonexistant flaw in the hull was detected, the neurotoxin played its part. There was no groggy reawakening.

Nobody minded much.

[Ken]

This challenge is officially closed.

Eight fine, fine entries and several enormous Graelyn grins is what I would consider another success.  Thank you all for your quick thinking and writing.  Hope it was fun for all involved!

Keep your eyes out for challenge #3...