Sorry for the brief disappearance there! Got hit by some nasty storms and lost power & internet for a few days. I should be back, but internet access is still a little spotty since they're still repairing tree fall damage, so apologies in advance if my posts are a little slow for the next few days.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">]Meliai: Why does the Iraklion Confederation want to conquer her world?  Where does she live currently?</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>"Depends on whether you want the big picture or little picture, probably, but honestly I'm not sure anyone still knows the big picture. I mean maybe the Confederation itself does...? Scholars in the Galactic Alliance argue (a lot) about specifics but most of them agree that Iraklion was the name of a planet somewhere in a backwater part of sector Gamma-12. One of the native species conquered and either eradicated or absorbed the others shortly after their planet achieved faster than light travel and made contact with greater intergalactic society. They continued their expansionist efforts by attacking numerous planets that had not yet made First Contact, and expanded the Confederation in that manner for centuries, carefully staying off the GA's radar. By the time they started conquering space-faring societies they were a formidable force, too big for most Alliance planets to be willing to engage directly as long as they weren't attacking Allied planets. They've gotten big, no one really knows who the original Iraklions were since the Confederation is made up of so many different species now, or why they started off on a seemingly endless war of conquest.<br/>Cadence is the first Allied planet they've attacked, and they haven't stated it outright but mother and her council think they're after the crown jewels. Cadence's gem technology has spread quite far through the Galactic Alliance and the royal gems are more powerful that then rest in part because they're linked to and draw power from the rest of the Gems. They think the Confederation wants to try and reverse engineer the crown jewels to find a way to take control of lesser gems. Mother hopes that, should the worst happen, the set being incomplete will stymie their efforts, hence sending one of the jewels here with me."<br/><br/>For the first few weeks on Earth Lyrica would basically just land on the roof of whatever building caught her fancy and project a cozy little gazeebo with a comfy bed and various other accoutrements, but AEGIS eventually came knocking and tried to explain that that is not how things work on Earth. After getting Lyrica's story they oh-so-generously offered her room and board at their headquarters and explained that they could help her get familiarized with earth culture, and Lyrica happily agreed because shady quasi-government agencies with questionable morals aren't a thing where she's from. If RedPhoenix goes with the nightclub owning sugardaddy option for their question (I like that idea a lot by the way, almost every other Masks game I've ran/read/heard has gone with the AEGIS director for that question) he might have clued her in to the baggage that comes along with accepting AEGIS's "charity" and offered her a room in his mansion/penthouse suite/whatever. No baggage there! ;D