A Day in the Life of a Traveller Gamestory

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Story:
Week 4

<Text File>
Well, I have to call this something, and it can't really be a Captain's Log any longer since I don't actually have a ship right now. One wreck, and one decrepit fast freighter that we'll take delivery of in a few weeks, but nothing right now. May as well format it as an Interim Mission Report from back in my Scout Service days.

Interim Mission Report
Victoria Reconnaissance Mission
122-1106
1530 ST
Boughene/Regina (Spinward Marches 1904)
Boughene Station
Scout (Separated) Tomos Puch Reporting:

Mission Objectives and Progress:
1. Trace Annic Nova route to its origin.
- Ship may have been connected with Ancients sites, but connection is unclear.

- Map of Victoria/Lanth (Spinward Marches 1817) found aboard Annic Nova with annotation of known and previously unknown Ancients sites.​

- Ship's navigation database has annotations suggesting previously unknown Ancients sites in the vicinity of Lanth Subsector.​

- Dr. Martin discovered historical records of an outbreak of what appears to have been the viral disease from the ship, on Ylaven/Lanth (Spinward Marches 1916). Coincidentally, the nav database has an annotation of an unknown Ancient site on that world.

2. Study Hokan culture and technology.
- Well, the 'technology study' part isn't going to happen now that General Products blew the ship's drives up.
- At least we have copies of the nav database as well as some of their recorded entertainment and educational media.
- General Products' technical advisor notes that their materials dating tests showed the hull had experienced an absurd number of Jump cycles, appearing to have been in use for thousands of years. I consider this unlikely, but it's a data point anyhow.

3. Contact Hokan civilization.
- No progress. We have to find them, first.

Significant Events:
- Inspected wreckage of Annic Nova.

-- Most of the main hull from the cargo deck down, is surprisingly undamaged.​

-- Everything from the Maker Device deck up was either vaporized or is beyond salvage.​

-- Pinnaces One and Vee were stored separately and not affected.​

- Preliminary inspection of Albatross (walk-through).

-- Ship has accumulated a significant maintenance backlog (deferred maintenance items noted for follow-up on delivery).​

-- Combat damage (laser penetration) port side dorsal, fuel tankage affected.​

-- General Products will repair during overhaul.​

-- Other systems appear functional, though inspection/testing not complete as power plant not active.​

- Contacted by Dame Lishbii Irshinri O.E.G., Knight of Boughene. She offered condolences for the damage to Annic Nova, congratulations on acquiring Albatross, offered assistance (unspecified) with facilitating the Annic Nova rebuild, and relayed that Base Director Kehoe (S.B. Boughene) received notice that we still have a deferred recall to Detached Duty from S.B. Feri. Without the Nova, I'm pretty sure that's a moot point. I advised her that we no longer require the Israfil-class courier she'd offered to loan us for the mission to Victoria/Lanth, as the Albatross will suffice.

Personnel Observations:
- Crew morale is Fair, which is better than I expected after the overhaul debacle. It helps that we've got a replacement coming soon.
- Having the Albatross instead of the Israfil-class courier will allow bringing the entire crew of the Annic Nova instead of just myself and two others. I wasn't looking forward to having to make the call on that, and now I don't have to.
- Will need to hire an additional Engineer for the Albatross.
- Will need a highly-skilled Navigator to replace Smythe, especially with the new ship's 5-parsec Jump range.
- Will need a Medic, as Dr. Martin will return to Feri after one last virus-screening of our crew. (A disabled and parked Annic Nova isn't a contagion threat he needs to monitor.)
- One Gunner position is excess, as the Albatross has only a single turret.
- Need to consult Ms. Oakley about whether she'll accept a reassignment from Chief Gunner to Ship's Medic at same salary.
- The Albatross has enough staterooms to transport Scout Ketonic as a supernumary, as per her request (and, surprisingly, ability to pay). She could prove useful for reasons I am not at liberty to discuss. (You'll have to trust me on this for now.)
- It is worth mentioning that Dr. Martin decided to return to Feri only after finding out we intended to bring Scout Ketonic on the mission to Victoria/Lanth. I suspect this says something about both of their reasons for accompanying us.

Commentary:
Minor edits after initial posting.

Mouse-over the box with the word "Hokan" for a pop-up explainer.

If I'm going to do an exposition-dump, I may as well format it as a formal exposition-dump.

More edits. I think that does it for this post (0045 PDT).

Wasn't quite done. Now I am... I think. (0305 PDT)

Maybe editing resets the clock on the edit window?

 

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Commentary:
The preceding post -- and at least one of my next ones -- is (are) mechanical, just setting up the next phase of the scenario (the trip to Ylaven and Victoria) and arranging for restoration of the Annic Nova by the time they get back. Ok, they'll still have to wait a bit for it since the drives are coming from Rhylanor, but you get the idea. At least General Products has facilities there, so they don't have to deal with outside companies to get the parts.

Actually... oh crud. They don't need Jump-5 any more since the reason for their time crunch just blew up! (At this point, it'll be about five months before they hear back from Rhylanor, and a drive refit on a 600Td ship takes six months on top of that.) The "previously unknown Ancients sites" hook justifies some haste, though, if the crew's willing to share that information (so far, all anyone else knows is that they're looking for the Hokans*).

Out-of-universe, I still want to cut the time-in-transit as much as possible for narrative reasons.

-----
*The Hokans are the Annic Nova people (see the hover text in the preceding post). I'm assuming the PC party figured out the name from the language-training videos they found. From a writing perspective, I had to give them a name because it's just clunky to keep calling them "the ship's previous owners" every time it comes up.

[The link for "At this point" is to TVTropes.]

 

[Spinward Flow]

I still want to cut the time-in-transit as much as possible for narrative reasons.

Easy enough to argue that you don't want to be "rushed" on site at Ylaven and Victoria. Having sufficient time on station to conduct a proper and thorough survey/search will have some pretty significant value ... especially if something unexpected is found that merits closer scrutiny for an extended duration ...

 

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Easy enough to argue that you don't want to be "rushed" on site at Ylaven and Victoria. Having sufficient time on station to conduct a proper and thorough survey/search will have some pretty significant value ... especially if something unexpected is found that merits closer scrutiny for an extended duration ...

Of course. And they're looking for an undiscovered spacefaring civilization -- which is something worth a bit of haste. I'm just noting that the original in-universe basis for needing a hot-rod ship to get there and back is moot, so it's good that there are still multiple justifications of the Need for Speed besides my lack of interest in writing about all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace.

I don't think I'm pushing suspension of disbelief by shoehorning a Shugushaag into the situation, because it's at least a reasonable exchange based on ship valuations (the Albatross is pretty beat up and worn out right now so the books do balance, kinda).

And there's already a known Ancients site on Victoria, but it's been picked-over for centuries. The wiki entry indicates that something important there was overlooked. Who knows what else got missed?

Also, there was a significant and unforseen disaster on Ylaven that coincided with the viral outbreak. Could they be connected? Would I have mentioned this if they weren't? (I don't know the in-canon cause of the disaster, but there's a parallel in canon to what I'm going to declare to have happened.)

 

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Reference:
121-1106 is Day 25 of the Gamestory.
Week 4 began on 118-1106; the preceding three narrative posts (Implosion, Hot Rod, and Interim Mission Report 1) occurred in this week.
Week 5 will be 125->132-1106; the overhaul of the Albatross will begin at the start of this week.
Week 6 will be 133->139-1106; the overhaul of the Albatross should be complete by the end of this week.
Week 7 will be 140->146-1106; Albatross should be ready for the jump to Regina by the end of the week, sooner if not taking cargo.
Week 8 will be 147->154-1106

Just leaving this here for my own reference, so I don't have to keep redoing the math.

Commentary:
I think once they take delivery of the Albatross, I'll start a new thread.

Also, I kind of want to go back through this thread and strip it down to one thread with just the story and game mechanics, and another with the side-comments and exchanges that should have been put in an accompanying out-of-character thread.

 

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Commentary:
I'm open to turning this back into the half-baked Play-By-Post/fanfiction mishmash it started as , if anyone wants in on that.

Rules are a CT framework with MgT2 shenanigans on top of it, and I might drag in some bits from T5 as needed. (Gee, that's pretty definitive, isn't it?)

The crew roster is short a navigator and an engineer right now, if you have (or can generate) a suitable character to take one of those slots. If you're interested in playing as one of the current characters instead, let me know. (I'll retain Captain Puch and Scout Ketonic as NPCs; if you want to play as Chief Doen, we'll need to discuss that with @The Pakkrat .)

Useful skills: Astrogation, Engineering, any personal skills (streetwise, carouse, investigate, and so forth), broker/admin because they'll have about 30Td of free Jump-5 cargo hold left over, high SOC stat, weapons skills (Roland the gunner is the current gun-bunny). Archaeology or similar would help too.

Or just toss in random setting details, NPCs, or situations you'd like to see worked into the narrative! They're going to be stuck at Boughene Station for a few weeks, and anything you -- any of you -- could add to help me make their lives there more interesting would be appreciated.

I'll probably start a separate thread soliciting suggestions for ideas covering their three weeks left at the Station.

 

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Still soliciting participants for the PbB/fanfic continuation.
The navigator slot has been spoken for.

Reference:
Crew Roster, Distant Freighter Albatross:
(Characters/positions not designated as NPCs are open for use as PCs, will be NPCs unless and until claimed.)

Captain/Pilot: Tomos Puch (NPC - Grav Moped)
Supernumerary, designated by IISS: Scout Melissa Ketonic (NPC - Grav Moped)
Navigator [name and stats TBD] (PC -- Spinward Flow)
Medic - Annie Oakley (former chief gunner) (Backstory not yet specified)
Chief Engineer: Zazuezdez Doen, Vargr, Priest of COTCO (open, but will need to coordinate with @The Pakkrat about it)
Engineer: Kurt Jones, expat from Feri/Regina (former planetary navy or COACC, not specified yet)
Engineer: Tenya Cardosa, former Belter
Engineer: open crew position (can be Chief Engineer if desired)
Gunner (and the "tank" of the crew): Roland Thompson (backstory not yet specified)
Possible Second Gunner: Open Crew Position
Possible Third Gunner: Open Crew Position

Other Options:
There can be up to two more gunners.
If someone wants to run the medic, I can shift Ms. Oakley back to one of the gunner slots.
If someone wants to run the Chief Engineer but not as the atypical Vargr currently in the role, Chief Doen can stay at Boughene to oversee the rebuilding of Annic Nova.

 

[Spinward Flow]

If someone wants to run the Chief Engineer but not as the atypical Vargr currently in the role, Chief Doen can stay at Boughene to oversee the rebuilding of Annic Nova.

I haven't been following the thread for that long, but even in light of the most recent character interactions that would make way too much sense in terms of wanting to "babysit" the overhaul crews so they don't destroy any more of the ship (than they already have and/or have to).

One of those "you may be the pilot, but that craft isn't yours, it's the crew chief's ... and if you mess it up, you have to answer to him" kinds of things. Well, they already messed it up once already, so a measure of distrust in the overhaul process is already warranted ... plus there's that whole Veneration Of The Ancestors angle to seal the deal for wanting to make sure the overhaul crews don't CAN'T screw up anything else.

 

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I haven't been following the thread for that long, but even in light of the most recent character interactions that would make way too much sense in terms of wanting to "babysit" the overhaul crews so they don't destroy any more of the ship (than they already have and/or have to).

One of those "you may be the pilot, but that craft isn't yours, it's the crew chief's ... and if you mess it up, you have to answer to him" kinds of things. Well, they already messed it up once already, so a measure of distrust in the overhaul process is already warranted ... plus there's that whole Veneration Of The Ancestors angle to seal the deal for wanting to make sure the overhaul crews don't CAN'T screw up anything else.

Good point, and that's where I was going with that option. The flip side, for someone who does want that role, is that the Hokans (AN's late prior crew) apparently know the location of a previously-undiscovered Ancients site, and seem to have been researching them. So, either option works.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Good point, and that's where I was going with that option. The flip side, for someone who does want that role, is that the Hokans (AN's late prior crew) apparently know the location of a previously-undiscovered Ancients site, and seem to have been researching them. So, either option works.

"A bird in the hand is safer than the one overhead."
- Murphy's Law poster on a classroom wall somewhere

When it's a question of letting incompetents do even MORE damage to what has already been found ... versus the possibility of MAYBE finding something else ... it's kind of a no brainer to want to protect what you've already got (and that fools have already screwed up on once).

 

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"A bird in the hand is safer than the one overhead."
- Murphy's Law poster on a classroom wall somewhere

When it's a question of letting incompetents do even MORE damage to what has already been found ... versus the possibility of MAYBE finding something else ... it's kind of a no brainer to want to protect what you've already got (and that fools have already screwed up on once).

Indeed. I'm just leaving the option open for new participants.

 

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Reference:
Dame Lishbii Irshinri of The Honorable Order of the Emperor's Guard, Knight of Boughene (Patron/Ally)

Dame Irshinri is the Imperial representative to Boughene Station. Her loyalty is to the Third Imperium, while her passion is to make Boughene the best asset to the Imperium that it can be.*

She is a descendant of the Founding Directors who engineered the leveraged buyout two centuries ago of this space station, in order to achieve recognition for it as a full Imperial member world. While Knighthoods are not supposed to be heritable, every Knight since Boughene's Imperial Accession has been chosen from the Irshinri dynasty. Also unusually for Imperial Nobles, the Irshiniris have served the Imperium through the Scout Service rather than the expected Naval or Marines careers.

She appears to be in her mid-40s, and has been described as "statuesque".***

With respect to the Player Character party:
The Annic Nova crew provided her with valuable evidence defending the reputation of Boughene Station against Ferian slander**, and subsequently thwarted the Windsor (the primary Imperial-aligned nation amongst Feri's balkanized situation) government's attempt to assassinate her with a System Defense Boat as she left. She is understandably grateful, and respects the crew's demonstrated integrity. That said, she (and the crew) are covering up that incident because it's blackmail material against the Ferians, and the Ferians paid up (as far as can be determined).

She knows that Annic Nova was capable of sequential jumps (well, until the shipyard blew up the drives anyhow). She does not know of the anomalous navigation database or list of Ancients sites, but is supportive of the expedition to Victoria because of the potential opportunity (and technology, of course) the aliens present.

--------
*this sometimes conflicts with Boughene's ruling Executive Council's objective of maximizing the profitability/revenue of the Station without regard to its value to the Imperium.

** No, Boughene Station is not the home base of an arms-smuggling ring focused on toppling the Windsor (Feri) government and driving the Imperium off the world. While smugglers do use the Station as a transit point and trading post, they aren't often based there -- and the ones that are, are apolitical.

***And so far, that's almost literally the extent to which she's been described so far (THIS gamestory post is where I wrote that up -- scroll past the Commentary section for the scene). I'll probably add more physical details as this goes on (her hair is probably black or auburn, I think, and she'd be taller than average). I have not yet defined her stats and skills, as I'd written her as a patron rather than a character.

 

[Spinward Flow]

She appears to be in her mid-40s, and has been described as "statuesque".***

As a matter of conservation of resources along with presumed engineering tolerance margins, I would fully expect Boughene Station to operate at 1G standard internal gravity but perhaps at the pressurization level of a Thin atmosphere to reduce pressure strain on structural engineering elements. Some sections would, of course, feature Standard or even Dense atmospheres to accommodate visitors accustomed to higher pressure atmospheric conditions.

The 1G standard would be necessary so that landing parties going to the moon Boughene (size: 8) do not suffer under "high(er) gravity" strain relative to their regular daily lives back on Boughene Station. Living in 1G standard would mean that natives of Boughene Station are relatively unrestricted should they want to emigrate to other worlds. Yres (size: A), Dentus (size: 9), Wochiers (size: A) and Moughas (size: A) being the nearest Big Worlds in the Regina subsector where higher than standard 1G surface gravity ought to be expected (and some adaptation to local gravity conditions somewhat necessary).

Being tall and statuesque in a society living in standard gravity but perhaps less than standard atmospheric pressure would be an indicator of excellent lifelong nutrition and to some extent a bit of selective breeding helping to keep the family "taller than average" in their native environment (Boughene Station). Of course, being "too tall" in an environmentally sealed habitat brings its own downsides (think being "too tall for your own good" on a submarine, banging your head against the ceiling and upper edges of every hatch you walk through, etc.) but with a 2.5m floor to ceiling gap as a deck plan standard that shouldn't be an issue. Still, a 2 meter tall woman who is 6'7" barefoot (for example) could only be described as being ... statuesque.

 

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As a matter of conservation of resources along with presumed engineering tolerance margins, I would fully expect Boughene Station to operate at 1G standard internal gravity but perhaps at the pressurization level of a Thin atmosphere to reduce pressure strain on structural engineering elements. Some sections would, of course, feature Standard or even Dense atmospheres to accommodate visitors accustomed to higher pressure atmospheric conditions.

The 1G standard would be necessary so that landing parties going to the moon Boughene (size: 8) do not suffer under "high(er) gravity" strain relative to their regular daily lives back on Boughene Station. Living in 1G standard would mean that natives of Boughene Station are relatively unrestricted should they want to emigrate to other worlds. Yres (size: A), Dentus (size: 9), Wochiers (size: A) and Moughas (size: A) being the nearest Big Worlds in the Regina subsector where higher than standard 1G surface gravity ought to be expected (and some adaptation to local gravity conditions somewhat necessary).

Being tall and statuesque in a society living in standard gravity but perhaps less than standard atmospheric pressure would be an indicator of excellent lifelong nutrition and to some extent a bit of selective breeding helping to keep the family "taller than average" in their native environment (Boughene Station). Of course, being "too tall" in an environmentally sealed habitat brings its own downsides (think being "too tall for your own good" on a submarine, banging your head against the ceiling and upper edges of every hatch you walk through, etc.) but with a 2.5m floor to ceiling gap as a deck plan standard that shouldn't be an issue. Still, a 2 meter tall woman who is 6'7" barefoot (for example) could only be described as being ... statuesque.

I was going for "imposing" (which is sort of expected of Nobles).
"Too tall" is the Tenya Cardosa character, a former Belter. I specifically wrote her up that way to have a character that would really bump into (literally) the fact that Annic Nova was built by dwarfs. (And that was a plot point in DA1 -- it made vacc suits too bulky to wear without risking mishap, so the PCs would ditch them... and get sick.)

 

[Spinward Flow]

I was going for "imposing" (which is sort of expected of Nobles).

Granted.
200cm/6'7" is probably too tall to be believed ... but 180cm/5'11" works just as well far a "tall" woman (by Old Solomani standards, anyway) who could walk a runway in high fashion.

"Too tall" is the Tenya Cardosa character, a former Belter.

Characters who grow up in low gravity or in micro gravity conditions would mature into lanky "taffy pull" stretched heights due to the lack of gravity acting on them as they develop. I can easily imagine Belters living under low/no gravity conditions for extended periods of time, not just for EVA work but also for comfort, zero-g adaptation training and even as a way to reduce the loading on their environmental systems for particularly long prospecting cycles. So having Tenya be someone who "towers over" more terrestrial people makes perfect sense.

If anyone is going to be 200cm tall, it would (and ought to be) be Tenya Cardosa.

 

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Reference:
Base Director Kevin Kehoe:
Director, Scout Base Boughene. (NPC -- consider this as setting info rather than describing a contact or patron.)

He's the chief administrator in charge of the Scout Base attached to Boughene Station.
Until further detailed, assume general bureaucratic motives (more assets under control, increased budgets) with respect to any and all IISS activities related to Boughene Station. He finds the fact that the Scout Way Station at Efate/Regina gets the lion's share of IISS resources for this end of the subsector to be a nuisance -- in his opinion they don't fully appreciate the importance of his Scout Base.

Objectively speaking, he's kinda right about that.

Commentary:
Scout characters will more likely know the Detached Duty Coordinator (as a contact or ally, it'd be quite unlikely they'd have him as a rival or foe).
He/she is completely undefined, and you're welcome to create and detail this NPC.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Efate may have an IISS Way Station, but that just means that Efate is a staging area for IISS operations sustainment in the surrounding subsectors. Efate is the major logistics marshaling zone (and as an Industrialized world, that makes perfect sense, especially with the Imperial Navy presence in the system too).

By contrast, the Boughene Scout Base is going to be responsible for maintenance of all the Tenders, XBoats and Scout/Couriers operating in the Menorb cluster (Yres, Menorb, Pixie, Boughene) and as a staging point for IISS supplies bound for the Kinorb cluster (Dentus, Kinorb, Yorbund, Heya) plus by extension Corfu and Lablon in the Aramis sector are all resourced and logistically supported through the Scout Base at Boughene.

The Scout Base at Feri would be responsible for supporting IISS operations in the Enope cluster (Feri, Psicas, Beck's World, Enope, Shionthy, Keng and Moughas) and is the backup supplier of IISS logistics to the Kinorb cluster (including the base at Dentus) due to the longer trip by transports of 2 parsec range needing to be routed through Beck's World. Dentus is 5 parsecs away from Feri, but only 4 parsecs from Boughene, so for ships that have 3-4 parsec range, Boughene is often times the shorter (and safer!) route to take to the IISS base at Dentus.

 

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Reference:
General Products, LIC
General is a major heavy industry company known for inexpensive products of fair to adequate quality. The company was formed by merger of a number of smaller manufacturing concerns shortly after the end of the Civil War, in the period 620 to 622.

General Products is an Imperial megacorporation.

History & Background (Dossier)
General is known for inexpensive products of adequate quality, but of late its starship division (particularly its military products) has been plagued with disaster. (Basically, see Adv. 1: The Kinunir and the issues it describes with INS Gaesh... )
The corporation was formed by the merger of a number of smaller manufacturing concerns shortly after the end of the Civil War, in the period 620 to 622.

Its headquarters are located on Boughene Station. Originally, they owned the station; they've been a tenant since 822. General has production facilities on many worlds in the core/trailing portion of the Spinward Marches, including at TL-15 Rhylanor/Rhylanor.

 

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Efate may have an IISS Way Station, but that just means that Efate is a staging area for IISS operations sustainment in the surrounding subsectors. Efate is the major logistics marshaling zone (and as an Industrialized world, that makes perfect sense, especially with the Imperial Navy presence in the system too).

By contrast, the Boughene Scout Base is going to be responsible for maintenance of all the Tenders, XBoats and Scout/Couriers operating in the Menorb cluster (Yres, Menorb, Pixie, Boughene) and as a staging point for IISS supplies bound for the Kinorb cluster (Dentus, Kinorb, Yorbund, Heya) plus by extension Corfu and Lablon in the Aramis sector are all resourced and logistically supported through the Scout Base at Boughene.

The Scout Base at Feri would be responsible for supporting IISS operations in the Enope cluster (Feri, Psicas, Beck's World, Enope, Shionthy, Keng and Moughas) and is the backup supplier of IISS logistics to the Kinorb cluster (including the base at Dentus) due to the longer trip by transports of 2 parsec range needing to be routed through Beck's World. Dentus is 5 parsecs away from Feri, but only 4 parsecs from Boughene, so for ships that have 3-4 parsec range, Boughene is often times the shorter (and safer!) route to take to the IISS base at Dentus.

But they don't appreciate it. It's still a constant fight for resources -- Efate tries to keep things more centralized, Boughene wants to take on some of the work and management responsibility for the assets and projects that are primarily associated with Scout Base Boughene.

 

[Spinward Flow]

But they don't appreciate it. It's still a constant fight for resources -- Efate tries to keep things more centralized, Boughene wants to take on some of the work and management responsibility for the assets and projects that are primarily associated with Scout Base Boughene.

TURF WAR!

The bureaucrats are always looking to expand their fiefdom.
Well, at least there is symmetry.