NationStates | Institute of Cellulose Board (2024)

A Nation at a Loss

A submarine absently drifts into a secluded pacific island, uninhabited, far from combat, far away from the jamming barriers to defend against the assault of information to come out of Surainion. When the submarine surfaces, men get to work. They plant generators. They raise the radio tower. They set up their uploading machines. Then, finally, a broadcast begins.

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At once an image flares to life of a man sitting in a pretty metal chair in a garden somewhere. Lush green grass stands upon the floor, and walls of green brush flow around him, forming beautiful trees and bushes and all manner of flows. In the center, of the frame, the man has himself an aristocratic deposition. He wears a uniform of the National Guard of Juno, complete with an emblem of Surainion’s Ultranationalist factions; odd, because he was known to be the leader of SRK. He crosses his knees and sips a cup of steaming tea before placing it upon a table ride beside him, of glass and steel.
“Greetings, I am Saun Cataphract, President of the Sovereign Federation of Surainion. I humbly meet you as a civil servant with a desire to achieve the best outcomes for both the population I represent and for the good of the universe. In the last years violent conflict between what was once the friendly and comradic nations of Surainion and Equestria has escalated into a grand and violent conflict which has driven tens of millions of soldiers and innocent civilians to their graves. To avert these ends both sides had sent treaties in representation of their positions on how to deescalate the situation. However, it can be seen that Empress Ophelia has demanded total subjugation to her regime with her proposal. I must it; it does remind me much of the constitutional convention with the various cyclical constitutions that did not perform well, even my proposal. Yet, here I must be frank that I believe the actions of the Empress of the Equines do go too far, way outside the boundaries of respectful debate. Instead, I wish to fully detail the reasons for our rejection of her proposal and for the continuation of the conflict at the present moment. However, here I must ask seemingly unrelated question. When did Equestria legalize hom*osexuality?”

“Perhaps that is not what you thought I would ask you when you viewed this broadcast. Luckily, I have already the answer. The Everheart Act of 2639; there was a voting act before then but only with that one did Equestria finally provide a substantial part of its population the right to freely be themselves in public. Now, what is the relevance. Well, Surainion’s course through civil rights for queer individuals was far different. In 1973 the Commission of the Military on National Recruitment submitted a report to the Council that hom*osexuals be allowed to openly serve. The Military Council delayed acceptance of the report until six years later in 1979. The same year open hom*osexuality was allowed by the government. In 1991 sodomy laws against hom*osexual intercourse were revoked by the Assembly of the National. In 2006 the government enacted the Bondage Act which allowed civil unions for hom*osexuals. In 2015 Dwebwen formally legalized transgender hormone therapy along with recognition of it as a medical treatment, with other provinces soon following. Though it was not until the neko monarchy in 2303 that Surainion finally legalized gay marriage. This does seem like a load of history dump, and I must admit it is. However, recognize that there is a 6 hundred and 48 year gap between when Surainion decriminalized hom*osexuality and when Equestria did. ”

“That is because Surainion and Equestria are very different countries. The Nation of Surains has no business entertaining the laws of Equestria or of the Hegemony, because Surainion has no business being in the Hegemony. If it were to be violently integrated into the Hegemony. Surains would riot against your hate speech laws which are to us extremist, whereas you may find our acceptance of queer individuals excessive. That is why it is a necessity that the Surainion people have their own regime by which to administrate their own laws. Our democracy ensures our culture can represent itself based on laws from our country. Imagine if Equestria were to forced to have the… transpeciesm present in Surain society. It would be an absurdity; lawmower riots every day. And that is the feeling of the Surains; that is why at the present moment every region not controlled by the Surain government and currently occupied by your forces is in a state of extreme instability. Let me make example. Sian Masdura!”

A Shanxi man of a smaller stature but still quite muscular approached. He was partially armored throughout his body with what seemed to be tactical black gear, armored and filled with imported weapons combined with local engineering. but his head and neck were still uncovered. He had a short crew cut and dark brown hair. From a band his gas mask hanged upon his chest. He saluted with a stoic expression.
“Sir.”
“Masdura, who do you serve?”
“I serve the Nation of Surainion and fight to protect humanity…, the nekos, and kitsunes from the invading forces which have devastated our lands!”
“Masdura, when the enemy attacks what will you do?”
“I shall stand my ground bravely for my country!”
“Masdura, what gender were you born as?”
Masdura staggers somewhat, shocked a bit at the question, though he quickly recovers himself and stands at attention.
“Male sir.”
Cataphract looks at him. “Masdura… what is your biological sex?”
Masdura sweats before responding. “F-… f-emale, sir.”
Cataphract back looks to the camera, calm and gentile. “Masdura, who paid for your hormones?”
“… the Surainian Military did; they also paid for my surgery.”
“Masdura, you will protect the innocent and uphold the principles of freedom in Surainion?”
“… yeah, sir.”
“You are dismissed, back to your duty.”
The man is grateful to be released and no longer on camera, and he leaved quite flustered. Once he is out of camera frame Cataphract continues to speak.

“Would that man be in a country such of yours, he may be forced into a dress completely out of his volition; …” A choke is heard in the background. “… however, by virtue of being a Surain he is allowed the full protection and defense of his culture. This is not to say Surain culture is superior to Equestrian culture. This is to say that Surainion and Equestria are too different societies; Equestrian law is built to uphold Equestria and its political and social order. Surainion law on the other hand exists to uphold Surainion. Would Surainion be a subject to Equestria, subject to its law, then it would be forced to make laws that go against the will and prosperity of its own people due to the intentions of societal planners trying to solve the issues of a completely different civilization. As such, it is in the natural interest of Surainion that she achieve her own self governance in order to ensure effective application of laws tailored to her interests.”

“Unfortunately, this intention has been lost in the galactic void to Empress Ophelia. For this she has claimed many things which I believe to be quite silly. Firstly, she wishes to say that an alliance dissolved a century ago, before she was even conceived as a child, serves as a rational reason to invade a sovereign country, a sovereign country which throughout the age of Selano was a great friend to Equestria; any justification to the point that Surainion deserves a loss of sovereignty for this historical nonsense; Surainion remained an Equestrian ally, simply outside of the hegemony. Furthermore, Surainion never lost its sovereignty; it remained in a mutually terminable treaty which was designed to moderate Untecna. It was a tragic failure, yet it was a sign of the diplomacy of Surainion; a long intention by Surainion has been to promote friendly relations and peace among the peoples of the galaxy. Surainion was that bridge, where friendship could be freely shared with all countries in order to bring them closer together. Surainion did not join the wars that ended Untecna; in fact, Surainion has never invaded any country for the past 700 years of galactic history. We are, at heart, a peaceful people willing to cooperate with others.”

“I do not think myself radical, or a drunkard, as her highness has claimed. However, I am willing to part with any such insults on account that she has never meet me; perhaps one day I shall meet her and inform her of the contrary with my good wit. Nor am I a cave man; though I would not mind going spelunking one day. I hear Equestria does have some good caves to go into, and I would like to one day meet your country as friends so that I may tour them. However, the idea of a ‘two state solution’ is ludicrous. It would not be right for any empire to invade Equestria and when your people fight back for the independence of their ask in peace to divide Canterlot in two in the name of ‘reasonable negotiation’. We are not a separatist movement, nor are we a radical group. We are simply a group of individuals who, backed by the population of our nation and by the support of the Surainian military, are pushing to liberate our country and restore the democratic principles on which it was built. And for that we wish for the independence of our entire people under one government.”

“Furthermore, the idea that Ophelia is to be the one to enforce an olive branch is simply unreasonable. Ophelia is, after all, by her own claim, one of fire and blood. She ordered the nuclear bombing of our entire country. She unleashed waves of napalm and white phosphorus. She even resorted to the mass use of chemical gas against our forces; forces that were already equipped with gas masks. Indeed, she gassed the civilian population of Surainion.”
The man sets down his tea from his hand upon he table. Cataphract gets up from his seat the camera slowly follows him. He slowly walks to the right of the screen across the garden. In an instant that precious garden fades into dry desert. The magnificent bushes are left torn then ashes. The path beneath his feat because faded until he arrives at his short destination only a few feet away. It’s the ruins of a decimated villages. Bodies, filled with chemical burns from both flames and gas scatter the fields and rubble. Bodies are of all species; all of them are bloated, distorted, rotten. Surainian soldiers slowly work to excavate and remove the bodies from the rubble.
“They did not care if it was man or woman. They did not care if it was adults or children. They did not even spare Equines from this tragedy.” Cataphract walks over to the corpse of an Equine woman, injurious chemical burns all the way down from her face to her flank. “These are the shallow graves Empress Ophelia wishes to leave us in, the ruins she will leave remaining in our cities. This town of Bakun, the model for what she wishes to leave upon Surainion. It is…” Cataphract sniffles, breathing deeply. He takes a cloth from his coatpocket and dabs his face before continuing.

“‘The Hegemony never looses’; that is how it was marketed to Surainion. Indeed, if you take the total course of what a perpetual work would like between Surainion and Equestria, it would inevitably result in our defeat. I must admit, the Hegemony is a far stronger regime than Surainion; we certainly have no shot of defeating it in whole. However, if one views everything from above…” He points quite faintly to Hegemony battleships, far up space. “...they will fail to see the true cost of fighting. Cataphract continues forward until he comes across a particular sight. A bit away from the immediate destruction of the village the camera points to a corpse of an Equine soldier, slain in a different manner. Severe fusion wounds from combat; tough way to die, his internal organs were cauterized and irradiated upon contact. Holes still exist in the middle of his combat gear which was yet to be removed. Cataphract takes the gas mask off the Equine man so his face can be seen.

“This is an Equine soldier, a proud son of Equestria. He engaged combat to defend the ruins of the village from the enemy, luckily not participating the massacre himself. As a result, he died nominally as he was overwhelmed by the Surainian army. And, on April 3rd that is indeed how Salidon Forthwright perished in this country so far from his homelnad. You may think he died bravely, and I must concur that perhaps he did die as gloriously as one can for the homeland, dying in the line of combat against the enemy… however, in his great death we have ignored his life. This man… this equine, I will ask Equestria, did this Equine have a family which will cry and mourn his loss when he hears the news? Did he have a love which held him so deeply the last time they met, only to hear the news that she will not even be able to reside over his corpse? Did he have children which will not have to be explained why their father will never be able to return to them? Did he have friends by which enjoy his company and are now deprived of a true friend and comrade to enjoy the days with and support them? Would this man have became a great scientist who could have invented many devices by which to help the Surain people? Would this man have become a great philanthropist and gave his all to help those who needed it most? Would this man have become a great artist of drawing, literature, or video, that he could produce a great work for all to enjoy? We are now, for all perpetuity, deprived of such an understanding. This man, we will never know what Forthwright could have done. We can only see his body upon the Surain sands, and regret.”

Cataphract moved himself back to the main part of the ruined village with the camera right behind him. There, a man of a stricter deposition presented himself. An officer of the Surainion army, he was equipped with all of the relevant badges to represent himself as Grand Schimitar of the Surainian army. Not a title he held before the war, but as a regular Schimitar but his promotion was automatic by virtue of assuming command inf face of heavy occupation by the enemy; this was a known Surainian military tradition, though rather old and dormant until now. Serving on the Military Council before the war, he had all the legitimacy to claim himself in his position. As Cataphract approached he saluted the President, which in return saluted. Then, once Cataphract ceased his salute, so did the Schimitar. Then, they did a fist bump with each other once they had finished.
“Good afternoon Comnarant, if you are not busy I believe it would be prudent to give the Equines some information about the current state of the conflict.”
“Oh, well, I do have other matters to attend to but if it is short then .”
“Firstly, how old are the Armed Forces of Surainion?”
“The Armed Forces of Surainion are a military force which has existed since 1400CE and have never found themselves disbanded in any time since. In fact, this is older than the current Equestrian military, I believe.”
“Yes, it is known the Equines had an ancient army and a medieval era one. However, they were cut short. The one that exists now, the Equestrian Royal Galactic Armed Forces, was founded only in 2676. Either way, only the ancient one was older than the Surain army by your account.”
“Any reorganization has been an internal manner, which has allowed strategic autonomy and a focus on national defense for their Surainian military while still maintaining a long and grand military tradition. However, we have still maintained a dedication to military innovation and advancement.”
“Very well, onto more ‘private’ matters Grand Schimitar Comnarant. I would like to ask for a summary total of the Equine causalities of this war.”
“In defeating the invasion of Equine forces, the Armed Forces of Surainion have managed to eliminate around 60 million enemy soldiers, with likely an undercount until recent casualty estimates are established.”
“I would also like to ask for the effectiveness of alternatives to enemy biological causalities. The enemy droid program I believed to be successful. Are they currently advancing against our position?”
Comnarant led the President into the area behind the camera’s previous position. There, the corpse of a dissected droid was found along with a picture of an intercepted missile, emptied of whatever was inside. Its internal components looked fried and its body looked torn apart by plasma.
“Successful usage of plasma to establish places for electrocution combined with radiation attacks have successfully eliminated the military strength of enemy droids.”
“And I suppose missiles have done no better.”
“This is an enemy anti-matter missile. Surain defense systems successfully managed to disable the missile to prevent it from targeting the city of Shanja.”
“Very good, I shall leave yourself to your work.”
“Thank you, Mr. President.”

Cataphract made his final trot back to the region he originally started the broadcast from. There, he once again stepped calmly into his perfect little seat in the pretty little garden, only this time with the devastation of the war partially in view of the garden, rather than a purely picturesque scene. He took a little sip from his teacup before placing it back. Then, he continued with the broadcast.
“How much is 60 million? It is an uncountable lot. It is an excessive quantity which defies these nominal terms of scale. It would be hard to imagine the total cost of the war, how much is wrought upon you. However, you need not imagine all of them. Just imagine Salidon Forthwright. Then, imagine another Salidon Forthwright. Imagine another individual who has lost access to his family, his love, all of his friends and comrades. Imagine another individual who will never go on to do the many great things that we are all expected of in life. Imagine another individual who instead of flourishing their homeland is currently drowning in Surain sand. That… that is the scale of 60 million. You would never finish that count, and to finish it means to know so much misery that one would go mad.”

“You will win the war if you play it to its end, and that is true. Equestria will conquer Surainion. However, is the price worth it? What will be left of these lands for you to colonize, to take for your own? Sand? Dirt? I’m sure you can find that quite easily among the galaxy. Certainly you will find no environmental beauty among charred ruins and irradiated fields. I’d still be willing to sell our sand to you if we won, perhaps even at discount. Clearly, there is no value in conquering an unconquerable people, and even basic mechanoids would make better servants if that is your intention. Unless, you wish to have servants which may bite you and turn you into nekos at any moment; well, that’s just you. So what if you build a skyscraper over the ruins, you can do that anywhere and be no more satisfied with your creation; the skyscraper alone is what’s important.”

“In fact, what feels more silly to me is that any individual would ever want to come here. Our pollution filled mess of sand, rock, and irradiated salt is something only a Surain could ever enjoy. Not a proud Equine, I know your race too dignified for that sort of nonsense, even upon terraforming it to meet your expectations you would certainly find it a most empty and meaningless territory. Instead, why do that when there’s a galaxy to explore. Indeed, right now your civilization is embarking upon exploration of lands far, far away from the common territories we enjoy now. Indeed, they made a big deal out of the idea of conquering all of this foreign territory. One of those planets is one I most certainly fancy with most of my heart. It’s called… Daug… Daur… Dayr... I shall call it Dogman P. . Dogman P. is quite a lovely planet. It is a beautiful Gaia world. The air is fresh and filled with roses. The soil is fertile and always gets a crop before the winter comes. And the winter itself is so lovely; giant, fluffy piles of snow without serious risk of frostbite or hail. Something even the foals could enjoy. And most of all, you need not deal with any ravenous natives to injure you. Instead, the plant and docile animal life of the planet harmonizes you and you enjoy yourselves perfectly with them.”

“That is why I offer you a new treaty Equestria, a new deal which would perhaps satisfy us both best. Just leave. Go. We will return all your soldiers and all of the fallen. Just move somewhere else. You have a vast empire; you have in your possession thousands upon thousands of planets. So, go to them. Go to all your vast empire which is far more civilized and united with your culture. Go to Dogman P. if you wish to found a new colony in the name of adventure and building a better life for yourselves. We cannot stop fighting for our freedom lest be blown to anti-matter by your empress, but you have a different set of contracts with her, contracts which allow you to live wondrously and prosperously. And you can enjoy them in your new manifest destiny. We’ll rebuild our land ourselves, no other demands. Just simply leave.”

“Surainion is willing to take on any negotiation to facilitate the good will of negotiation and friendship with even our current rivals. We ask that you use your rights as Equines to petition your government to facilitate a better relationship between our nations with the understanding that I have given you. Good day.”

The broadcast ends with people suddenly announcing an attack. The President puts on a gas mask before he runs towards the direction of the fighting, along with a swarm of Surain soldiers. The film fades to black.

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The message is broadcasted in all the languages of Equestria to all parts of its empire using FTL communications and lightspeed for the local broadcasts. In case it becomes jammed and censored, it is uploaded online to various internet services of various countries to ensure it remains active. In any rate, by the time anyone comes across the broadcasting site the submarine, tape, and individuals are nowhere to be found.