VŪM
"Zenith will audit the opportunity. If Vūm is correct and Mahporeem has two years before serious systemic failures begin, we will know what requires immediate investment... If Lady Asara is correct and Mahporeem is already recovering, then we can stop discussing rescue and start discussing growth... And if the truth lies somewhere between the two..."
--
Nolle Tron
at the end of the Tarsai Summit.Tag:
Nolle Tron
|
R'ayne Asara
They say Mahporeem was vibrant once-upon-a-time. It's primary terrain suggested that the world was once filled with rolling plains and forests for all the eye to see. The perfect place for a colony, at least, at the time. If you know where to look then there are still signs from what used to be before the Mahporieem surrendered themselves into exile, on the furthest edges of the Galaxy, as they hid following the fall of Palpatine's Galactic Empire. But now there is all the smog and smoke in the air that makes your eyes water and obfuscates the senses hiding what used to be. It comes from all the centuries of junk that has been accumulated and piled over which feels like eons in a mere blink to time. You start getting used to the smell if you live for long enough in Corrox City.
Rue stood in the streets at early morning rise amid the fog. The mask on her face was an uncomfortable weight. But it was better than breathing the air all around it. It smelled and even tasted something awful. The fog was so thick in the air that not even the Weiss' star could break through it to illuminate the polluted streets. But even down here at this depth beneath those certain iron grey clad skies and the towering skyscrapers of a city built together through the scrap Rue couldn't escape the eye of Umbrella. Neon advertisements littered the billboards and on the windows of almost every build telling Corrox about some new product that the N&Z were promoting for sale. It felt like Umbrella corp was everywhere when you were on Mahporeem. Pandora's box had been opened a long time ago before Sularen ever made contact with these people and the Mahporieem soul was being sold to the devil himself. Hunger satiates itself for now.
They had Her to thank for that.
N&Z ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS ' EnSol ' ADVERTISEMENT: Corrox never sleeps. Neither should your infrastructure. When the skyline fails, EnSol builds it higher. Precision engineering. Industrial solutions. Tomorrow, delivered today. N&Z Engineering Solutions. EnSol. A proud division of N&Z Umbrella Corporation. ' Build beyond survival. ' THIS ADVERTISEMENT WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY VŪM |
It was bitterly cold in the morning and frost ate at the dirtied pavement beneath Rue's boots as she stood beneath the passing purple strobing lights of the advertisements while they played somewhere overhead. They served as a continuous loop played among many others throughout the day and night that was never ending. It was an assault on the senses and the mind. Rue tried to ignore all of it. She kept the shoal of her cloak close while hiding beneath the cowl of her dark robes. Traffic was light in this quadrant of the city but that would change within the hour as more people got up to go to work. It was the beginning of a new day on Mahporeem on the advent of a great change out here on these edges of the Outer Rim. This new High Command, who have replaced the planetary' triumvirate, is said to have eyes on reclaiming former Imperial territories now. A thousand-years in the fog and dirt emerged a new superpower. There was something to be admired about these Mahporieem.
They refused to die in the dark and lived long enough to see a new Iron Sun emerge from the darkness.
Bweep… bweep… bweep…
Rue tried not to stare at the Umbrella neon advertisements and instead focused her study on the probe droids as they floated all around her. They were collecting dirt samples in both the ground and the air. Others were conducting analyses on pollution both in noise and other criteria that Rue honestly didn't entirely understand. Not that their findings would carry much weight on what Vūm thought. It was imperative to their designs on the planet that the company deduce, present or convince others within the Mahporeem Imperial Remnant that this world was on the cusp of an ecological disaster. That their capital was going to fold unless they did something about it. What they wanted them to do about it. Someone was going to find out the truth one way or the other in the end. These things have a way of revealing themselves.
Von Strauss was close. So close.
If the audit proved the theory that Mahporeem was going to die within two years was true then that was perfectly acceptable to the hedge funds plans. But this was Vūm that they were dealing with. Truth and lies were often blurred between what was fiction or reality. When you are the strong then it is through this strength that a solitary individual can acquire power; and it is the powerful who dictate what is true or what is not. If they want to convince you that your world is dying then that is what they are going to do. In one hand presents the disaster that is coming on the horizon and in the other a cure for all your problems. Purple shades and lights continue to cascade through the smog to assault Rue (and the other denizens around her) from Umbrella's boards as the advertisement changes to something else. Rue can't help but look up at this one.
N&Z TARSAI VIGIL ' Tarsai ' ADVERTISEMENT: In the Mid-systems lies a New Mahporeem. A new colony. New homes. New industry. New horizons. Tarsai Vigil is building for tomorrow, today. A new world rises and awaits. New Mahporeem — Coming Soon. N&Z Umbrella Corporation. THIS ADVERTISEMENT WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY VŪM |
There be tyrants walking these streets now. Dreams within dreams, plans within plans, with a scope that is never ending, and an invisible hand guiding through these smog covered lands.
Reaching, pushing, deceiving . . .