[BREAKING] Rachni Hives Declare Sovereignty in Ninmah, Announce Alliance With Consensus

Rachni Hives Declare Sovereignty in Ninmah, Announce Alliance With Consensus
via Cincalio Voccius, Tayseri Times

[NINMAH] The week-long standoff around the Listening Post de-escalated with the arrival of Consensus forces who reaffirmed rachni statements of nonaggression and the diplomatic actions of Commander Deix Resocanthias. Over the course of subsequent negotiations between the Hierarchy battlegroup dispatched to reinforce the garrison around Station X-19 and the joint rachni and geth Consensus fleet. The Commander has, reportedly, convinced both sides to agree to a terse, but nonviolent, stand-down.

Diplomatic packets dispatched via the Listening Post and Consensus communication nets have outlined the basic requests of the rachni regarding the galactic community. First and foremost the Ninmah is to be recognized as sovereign Hives territory and under the express authority and control of its' Queens. Secondly they, and the geth Consensus have engaged in a mutually recognized defensive pact and protected trade arrangement subject to their individual purview. Thirdly, the Hives are collectively open to treaties of non-aggression with Omega, Khar’shan, Tuchanka, and the Citadel.

The fallout has, understandably, been rather extensive.

Quarian Conclave and Admiralty Board have descended into bitter factionalism over how to best respond to a move that Gah’rilya vas Sekith, Captain of the namesake heavy cruiser and a significant minority leader within the administrative body, has publicly decried the treaty as “tantamount to usurpation”. The Citadel Council has spent the day sequestered in an emergency session while Omega and Khar’shan remain mute at the time of this writing. The Urdnot-hosted Crush has reportedly deteriorated into substantial infighting as a result of unrelated grievances.

However notable political analyst Masilm, daughter of Dalatrass Solisa of the Opal Spires march and chairwoman of the independent think tank Gagal-gaslis, has provided a degree of insight into the situation as a whole in an exclusive interview with the Times. “Most of the secondary stuff, the offers across the board, the pacts of nonaggression, they're a form of preemptive diplomacy with the best of both worlds. All the benefits of a big, flashy, powerful entrance, while taking pains to make clear that they're open for discussion. I mean, they emerged sooner rather than later, in a galaxy that has no energy or drive left for the magnitude of conflict it would take to wipe them out and made virtually everything public so that all the different leaderships will have to settle on some kind of decision to appease the people. One that’ll involve varying degrees of nonaggression out of necessity. Even the krogan’ll have to settle for the time being, there’s just not enough unified support between the Clans or among their allies for another war of extermination.”

According to Ms. Masilm, the truly ground-shaking, and indeed worrying aspect of the situation, concerns the Consensus. “This was a quiet alliance, in the works for months, maybe even years before today. The rachni have an impressive genetic memory, insane population growth, and enough self directed genetic variability that most of the problems that pop up after such a severe population bottleneck just don’t apply. But just because you can come back from the brink doesn’t mean you can do so quickly. The Hives built a fully functional war machine within three years. They needed raw industrial minerals, fusionables, eezo, and enough electronic warfare tech to fool the Council grids; all things that the Consensus have in surplus. In turn, providing support for the rachni’s reconstruction gives the geth some very powerful friends.”

According to sources aboard the Listening Post plans are in the tentative stages to convert the station into an Ambassadorial post under the authority of Commander Deix Resocanthias.

This is the end.

So, does that mean that the Quarians, Geth and Rachni are going to be one thing now?

No it means that the Geth and Rachni are for the moment, allied. The Quarians were not included in the deal or even informed of the existence of said plan. Hence the Admiralty and Conclave's confusion.

Wonderful. A xenocidal scourge from antiquity have been sheltered by, and subsequently joined forces with a duplicitous race of AIs. That's just shrelling great! Glad to see the warmonger finds it all so amusing!

Ugh... why did I pull the late shift? I need a drink.

The warmonger?

Well, you see, advocating a strong military is the same as yelling 'war!' at the top of your lungs and saying everyone should fight everyone.

Ah, I see. Personally I think it's a fine outcome. Not the best one, not the worst one, but one that works all the same. Both forces worked together with us in the conflict with the Reapers. Returning to the status quo and relegating them both to simply being threats we get ourselves worked up over will do no good.

The galaxy nearly ended, that has changed a few things. Views should be adjusted appropriately.

Interesting development! I am not particularly familiar with the map of Ninmah, how many larger colonies are there, I can't recall any really? I think it's only fair to recognize their sphere of development, the announcement of this defeinitely beats the guesswork and conspiracy theories on their whereabouts.

So them and the geth, huh? Interesting, but it makes sense from all we know how they organize their communities. Aren't the rachni also in a way a consensus structure? I would really like to know how the queens connect with each other and reach decisions. If they do that at all. So much to learn.

Which makes me think we should eventually start understanding them better and I hope they let us. I envy the diplomats that get to deal with them.

What's not to laugh at? A race has effectively unextincted itself in the most flamboyant way possible and pulled off a joint maneuver that has the diplomatic courts of something like a dozen major governments reeling due to recent spike in average salt content that could only be described as "murderously high". It's two of the galaxy's outcasts banding together like outcasts tend to do and everyone being pants shittingly terrified of the implications of said outcasts being, by definition, outside their control. It's amazing.

Damn right I'm laughing. Maybe if you took yourself a little less seriously you would too.

I'm assuming meeeeee? Given that I'm the one whose laughing/runs a mercenary company/sells weapons/has had my arguments boiled down to raw idiocy by roving gangs of marauding reductionists.

Oh the best part though? The very very best part? There's going to be oh so very many people who try. Who strive to cling to their ruts and routines.

Watching the arbiters of "traditional authority" get left behind in the dust is going to be delicious.

When we think about it, it makes a lot of sense, and not just strategically. In many aspects geths and rachnis work the same way. I always suspected than from both their perspectives dealing with us is kind of cumbersome, with our individual agendas and bruised egos and general irrationality... But the Consensus and the Queens can make quick, pragmatic deals, without fearing that next week the political entity that they were dealing with has resigned or got overturned or something. Also remember how the rachnis were annoyed at us pestering them all the time? I'm pretty sure it's not the geth's style.

Who the what now?
That feels awfully familiar, please, tell me more about it.

Says the bot with the tarot cards.

And a few more nightshifts.
I am with Mr. Lowell on this matter, this is a very interesting development but absolutely within the envelope of all expected probabilities.
Indeed, this is what makes being part of the diplomatic corps interesting.

I do wonder how much the rachni care about formalities and diplomatic etiquette. I would say, the set of skills and customs we are so used to within all the long established diplomatic relations is put to a test here and we definitely need a new diplomatic language when we come to their table. Commander Resocanthias has done a good job obviously, his reports will be in highest demand.

Personally, I see the rachni not just in terms of enemy or ally but as a new group in the galactic choir, an independent entity who finally spoke up to proclaimed their domain and opened a small window of communication. Something that had been missing in our past confrontations, this is only to be welcomed.

I honestly don't know what to think of this. The implications are worrying.

Will the Rachni now come to visit Rannoch? Do they even do… visits?

Because geth are incapable of disagreeing, fomenting individual agendas (not like their whole model of existence is based on that right?) or being irrational (hey remember that time the geth sided with the Reapers? Twice? Once 'cause of religious machine spirituality ie. Heretic and once 'cause of an instinctive drive to survive whatever the cost?) nope cold, logical calculators all the way through. So I mean, when you put it like that. Why wouldn't the rachni just be the organic equivalent?

If it sounds like I'm making fun of you it's because I am. And it's because you're an idiot (and generally terrible person but that's a story for another day). Because reducing this to "but they're just so much smarter than us" is stupid and a reduction of "non-standard thinking" to what are basically some pretty racist stereotypes. ...Which somewhat begs the question of how did the geth make contact? Because apparently "pestering" them enough to establish diplomatic ties yielded some fairly significant results. Oooooor the rachni weren't nearly as unwilling to be wooed as they appeared in the first place which case gj on missing that ship Citadel.

Unless you're going to imply that the geth and rachni just made doe eyes at each other across the empty galactic coffee shop before they mutually worked up the courage to blush and stammer at each other adorably at the same time.

In which case I will literally murder you.

Through the extranet.

With my hands.

If you can't even form coherent sentences my dearest Jaquento, perhaps it's time to shut the fuck up. But no really shut up.
Insofar as you can point at it and say it was totally there all along so you can cover your collective asses at dropping this planet sized ball.

Sorry, I don't mean to be a nag; but you misspelled "amazingly awesome".

Come and make me, tough guy.

You are making a large assumption the Citadel was not trying to make contact with the rachni, Mr Sandman. They are complicated to communicate with, more so than we hanar. How the geth did it, this one is sure will come to light sooner or later, but the likelihood is that the geth found something the rachni needed that the Citadel (or any other government) could not.

And one should not get too excited. Not everyone will get a seat at the table, but it is sure there will be those allowed to fight over the scraps.

In any case, we do live in interesting times.

...Really? Oh I have no doubt that they were, we have the words of a number of their own diplomats to confirm that. But they were unfruitful in the short term so, by all accounts, the executive decision was made to let that particular avenue of approach lie fallow until the rachni "elected to rejoin the galactic community" or whatever. Versus continuing to try to make contact or, as it was put so eloquently, "pester them". Honestly? It's just a bit of icing on the cake. What like material support? Acknowledgement? Affirmation? Defense? Why that's...

that's an excellent point Haseri.

The scraps from this particular "meal" alone could be a five course banquet at any other table in the galaxy. No I will not contain my excitement. I am celebrating goddamn you.

Not to disparage your excitement, Mr Sandman, but it is curious as to what you think you, and others like yourself, stand to gain from this? Of course, there is the prospect of a whole new perspective on the sapient condition, with philosophies and art as yet undreamed of to come.

But this one highly suspects, with no wish to sound insulting (it genuinely does not wish to have you contain your emotions) that those of your profession are looking for, to put it delicately, slightly more practical outcomes, if it is not being obtuse. What does this five meal banquet contain?

Really!
What do you prefer, the ten-paces routine or just having your goons show up rampaging through my store and over my face?