You wake up on January 1, 2012.

The Mayan calendar has ended, and you walk outside to find that a section of forest

that your recognize as Felarya

has connected to Earth, right at your back yard.


What do you do?


Me, I rub my face in the nearest cold infected blanket and greet the first giant fairy that comes through... with a sneeze.

There's always the option of running like hell, but personally I'm the type of person who's so sedentary that even if Felarya popped up in my backyard I would just try to ignore it and hope it (at least the harmful parts of it) show me no less interest. The tricky thing is that I know for a fact that as far as snacks go, I'm about as appealing as anything a pred could possibly ask for so I'm not even sure that I could convince myself that I wouldn't be noticed. When that realization comes back to haunt me I in all likelihood would just go about my business as usual just the same and just wait for the inevitable, and see if the usual nonsense that I ramble on about confounds my attacker long enough to grant me a few precious minutes of life more than normal.

Go find a faery to make out with. =/

If she doesn't eat me, yay. If she does, well.....at least I got to have awesome makeouts.

Apparently, the portal is limited to my back yard. It is not a realm swap - just a connection.

My family claims the land / portal as ours for being on our property, and offer it to several nations for testing out WMDs... but only at the initial entrance area. That way, it doesn't fuck over Felarya or draw too much attention from the Guardians, but it does drive away any Predator that would think of passing through.

Assuming a plausible response? I make sure that none of my pets use the back yard again and they're taken for walks instead, I try to convince my family to hire professional builders to create a massive wall before the barrier that fills most of the back yard so as to 'shut' the Portal, and overall hope that one of three things happens:

1) Magic fails to work here. Predators can't use their Predator sense, Faeries are stuck in one size once they show up, now phasing in and out of reality, etc. While not too helpful, it will give the military enough that they could probably quarantine the area and blast anything that comes out of the portal.

2) Predators are instead of a super-weak immune system type, instead of the super-strong immune system type. Those few that break through die within weeks.

3) The portal links into Felarya right next to Ur-Sagol. I'd encourage my family to make a hundred meter mad dash towards the portal so as to reach the Culture universe. Those of us who make it live out the rest of our lives in peace, potentially.

Ah, the inevitable Felaryacalypse.

Looking at the portal

I'd make this face

And no one would see me again.

Jump off a cliff? Your garden connected to Felarya is evil, I'd just end it as quickly as possible.

Um, ACTUALLY:

The calendar doesn't end until the end of 2012. December 21st, 2012, to be exact.

*clears throat*

I wouldn’t worry that much. The predators may have run of the mill in felarya, but I doubt that would happen here.

Firstly, humans here might not have had to deal with predators on earth, but we have been practicing beating the living crap out of each other for our entire history. Mankind’s existence has had been one gigantic arms race. It would not take long to bring some of this weaponry to bear on the predators. Not to mention that many nations have a military that would put that of Negav to shame. Sure, Negav is a powerful fortress, but it’s just one city. The United States has the resources, revenue, and manpower of most of one continent to rely on.

Even the initial contact might go awry for a predator. If they find themselves suddenly in the middle of a sprawling city full of humans, they might have the upper hand for a while. But then the police and swat teams start showing up in force. The predator laughs of their demands to surrender and attacks. Police and Swat team open fire, not to mention who knows how many vigilantes (since the united states has a largely well armed populace. Any citizen in good standing can get a handgun or a rifle.) This fight could go either way, but the humans would be like a swarm of stinging bees around the predator. Meanwhile, jets are scrambling in a nearby airfield, equipped with anti-tank weaponry and missiles.

Secondly, there was an extensive debate about the effects of felarya’s healing on diseases. There were two camps of though, 1) infectious microbes are removed or negates somehow from the person’s body or 2) the damage done by the microbes is instantly repaired, resulting in an infection without harm or symptoms. Either way spells trouble for the predator leaving the felaryan healing effect.

Case 1) the predator, never having to deal with infections, would have a very weak immune system. Humans, however, have a remarkable amount of bacteria on their skin, but we have an immune system to beat it down if that bacteria goes somewhere it shouldn’t. What this means is that the first person the pred ate on earth would inoculate it with all these surface microbes. Without an immune system to defend itself, the pred succumbs to massive systemic infection.

Case 2) If the predator is carrying around microbes itself, the infections would start damaging the pred, and it wouldn’t be repaired. The formerly asymptomatic infections start showing symptoms, possibly lethal symptoms. Humans, however, fight off infections since day one. The microbes from felarya might cause an epidemic, but humans have invested a good deal into defeating disease.

Thirdly, there’s no guardians to keep the balance. There is no balance on earth, only humans. As stated earlier, our history is an arms race, one that accumulated into nuclear arsenals. Should the preds continue trying to feed on earth, how long would it be before we take the fight to them? And there would be no guardians to keep us from flying a nuclear bomb into the portal. Given the range of tomahawk cruise missiles, we could send one deep into felarya and eradicate a target that would be unassailable by felaryan standards. True, there might be some beings powerful enough in magic to stop a nuclear blast, but would a single missile really be recognized as a threat in a world where swords and shields is often the pinnacle of technology?

And we have a bloody ton of nuclear arsenal


In fact, a portal to earth could be trouble for felarya. If humans gain control of the portal, there would soon be a mass exodus from felarya. Every human, neko, and elf that has lived in fear of being eaten would be flocking to the portal to escape to a world where the prey was the dominant species. The predators in felarya would soon find their food source growing very scarce.

Though I mostly completely with Tuc, we must additionally take into account the idea of "ambient energy". For instance, why is magic abundant in Felarya, but not Earth? My theory is this: Felarya simply has more "magical energy" floating about. The wiki itself says this, actually. Earth has extremely little, so our minds and culture did not evolve to include "magic" on Earth (keep in mind, my theory on magic is simply that it's the usage of the mind to affect energy and matter on a quantum scale). The preds would have very little energy to work their spells with, but we'd be very used to not having magic. Then, in comes our superior technology.

Also, it's worth considering the square-cube law (as mass is cubed, strength is squared). I've already mentioned before how a giantess or Felaryan pred could not really exist, due to physics. Felarya's ambient energy could allow for giant preds to exist because it either warps the dimensional state around them, or fortifies the matter composing their being. Without it, they wouldn't even be able to MOVE on Earth. Their hearts could not pump blood through their bodies, their bones could not hold their structures up and would snap, and they'd collapse completely. We wouldn't have to lift a finger.

Felarya may seem like a tougher environment... but to the preds, it's actually quite the opposite.

Quote :

Though I mostly completely with Tuc, we must additionally take into account the idea of "ambient energy". For instance, why is magic abundant in Felarya, but not Earth? My theory is this: Felarya simply has more "magical energy" floating about. The wiki itself says this, actually. Earth has extremely little, so our minds and culture did not evolve to include "magic" on Earth (keep in mind, my theory on magic is simply that it's the usage of the mind to affect energy and matter on a quantum scale). The preds would have very little energy to work their spells with, but we'd be very used to not having magic. Then, in comes our superior technology.

I think that humans would be able to handle magic better than the predators could handle technology. Who hasn't read The Hobbit, the Chronicles of Narnia, or Harry Potter while growing up? In our culture there are so many examples of magic in our fiction, Having a pred show up using magic wouldn't be that big of a shock to us. Once we understand that there is actually magic, we can begin to formulate a way to counter it's effects. Heck, we'd be seeking out refugees that can use magic so we could begin experimenting with it. On the other hand, I would think that predators would have a much harder time comprehending the technology that we use. It might seem like magic to them. How many predators have you heard of reading science fiction?

One last thing, predators' brains are larger, but they don't seem to work any better than a human sized one. Mankind on earth has a whole lot more intullectual capacity to draw on when facing this crisis. We could probably come up with adaptations and strategies a lot faster than solitary predators, or even groups of them.

I think it's this: necessity is the mother of invention.

Heheh... you said facing this "crisis". Eheheheh.

DOH !@#$$%!

Wow, the board's not as quiet as I thought it had become.

First of all, ZionAtriedes, yeah, ya got a point about it being December 21, 2012.

My opinion is, if the giant Preds don't fall apart under their own weight, if a portal opens to Felarya, it's going to be an epic disaster for humans.

Let's assume it opens up in Los Angeles in some poor schmuck's back yard. Typically the portal could be miles long. Said poor schmuck is the first to get eaten when he comes outside to investigate the disturbance.

Initially, the Preds will hit the first wave of human defenses with what magic they have left in them when they cross over, and that initial hit will be devastating. Tanks will burn and LOTS of people will be eaten alive and whole while others watch in horror. A million Blair Witch style videos hit Youtube. The stock market seizes up in a day; a steep plummet and then it gets frozen to stop the bleeding. Instant economic chaos and global panic. Society grinds to a halt.

Humans, immediately distraught over the use of magic and the immediate catastrophic nullification of their defenses, will go chaotic.

Preds spread out all over Los Angeles, devouring thousands.

A massive and highly organized second defense wave is beaten back by the last of the Great Preds' residual magic. 40% of America's fighter fleet is taken out, largely by newly arriving elementals. Some Preds are cycling in and out of Felarya, rejuvenating along the way. Preds spread out as far as Barstow and even Las Vegas. Mass panic evacuations ensue and thousands more get devoured. San Francisco gets hit. San Diego gets hit. Sightings are recorded as far north as Redding.

Wave three recon units discover Preds laying dead; autopsies discover a massive disease attack brought them down. Meanwhile, Pred magic wanes, making them vulnerable to militia attacks. Militia reports filter to the Pentagon, and Wave three assault units rush to capitalize. Even preds with rejuvenated magic are instantly overwhelmed. Tide turns dramatically.



But

What none of you realized was the Guardians made a big fat bet a while back; if a portal happened to open to Earth, could they *ahem* have a little fun? So they waited until a portal opened there, and threw down their money, and started playing The Game.

The elementals were sent in to start surprise hurricanes and tornadoes by the Guardians, to knock out the fighters. Earth elementals caught the Marines. Military bases were spotted and hit as well.

Meanwhile, the President of the US makes a fatal mistake; with so many Preds racing across the Western US in search of major food centers, and the US military's first wave smacked down by residual Felaryan magic, he is vulnerable to being influenced into calling for help from China and Russia.

Before long, a highly opportunistic China and Russia send troops and fighters over.

Then the spell put on the President is forcibly worn off and he comes to his senses. These Chinese and Russian forces have got to go. But not after they help America smack down these Preds.

Disease and the exhaustion of residual magic leads to catastrophic losses for the Preds as the entire human race joins forces to kill them off. Meanwhile, immigrants from Negav city, Nekomura and the Delurans, stream into America to join the war effort. The pred food supply dwindles dramatically in Felarya.

Great Preds learn to cure their diseases and wounds by fleeing back to Felarya, but now when they cross into Earth, all kinds of stealth weapons are picking them off at will. Plus, nukes are crossing over to vaporize them in Felarya. They're losing thousands per day to human retaliatory intrusions.

Earth is now clear. The united humanity and their Felaryan refugees throw an hour long party.

Which ends right as Americans start trying to tell the Chinese and Russians to get the f* out, and the Chinese and Russians laugh in their faces.

Oh, and the nekos become a lightning rod for xenophobic backlashes. Then so do the Delurans, Negavians, etc. etc.

Bloody war erupts in America.

Then...

*** SURPRISE!!! ***

the hundred million troops of the Miratan army arrives

hot on the heels of rumors of great fields of corn and cattle (remember, folks, their people are suffering a great famine!)

and the 7 Hour War (shades of Half Life 2) occurs. Totally disorganized and distracted by xenophobic mania and a brewing 3rd World War, the human race is totally not prepared to stop the Miratans from draining the world dry of its food supply.

The Miratans do what they do, namely they grind down the occupants of Earth, take their food and leave.


The Great Preds can now fly through the portal and pick off as many humans as they can reach before their magic runs out or disease overwhelms them.

The folks in China and Russia, thousands of miles of disease filled atmosphere away, are safe. Probably.

Russian and Chinese troops routinely invade Felarya, but they never gain much ground.

Guardians win.

While a funny and marvelous story, I feel you may exaggerate the power of certain sides. Also, you ignore the fact that the first armoured response is going to play a merry-hell with many forces. An Abrams can effectively fire from a multiple-kilometer distance using its main weapon. A Predator / Miratan Armour is not going to like being hit by such, even if it is not lethal / instantly disabling as it impacts.

You also sort of over-exaggerate the importance of the US, and the inability to strike back at the opposing forces via nukes. Then again, Miratans may be ahead of us in the Mine-Shaft race, so once they trigger the Russian Doomsday Device it could be a phyrric victory for us.

That's basically the worst case scenario. Predator magic works, they form a working army, guardians can influence a realm outside theirs (and actually doing so), and an attack by the Miratans. And still the preds loose, felarya's a nuclear wasteland that glows in the dark, and mankind survives.

Anyway, why couldn't the nations of earth strike a deal with the Miritans. Already the US is producing an excess of food, and there is still a good deal of unused land. We send over food and build a ton more farms to feed their populace (and to continue feeding their populace) in return for aid against an organized attack by the predators.(The Miratans must have one hell of a supply line. If they are starving, instead of having a hundred million soldiers, why don't they make some of them farmers? )

Also Malahite has a point. The US might have the biggest military, but by no means the only military. If there was such an attack on US soil, I would imagine all the European nations would be sending over reinforcements as well. In the face of this coalition, the Chinese and Russian officials would give a little more weight to the US's demands to vacate their soil. As for the xenophobia, such things can happen, but it would go away eventually. You go back 100 years and tell US citizens that a black man would be president, what do you think they'd tell you?

Malahite wrote:

While a funny and marvelous story, I feel you may exaggerate the power of certain sides. Also, you ignore the fact that the first armoured response is going to play a merry-hell with many forces. An Abrams can effectively fire from a multiple-kilometer distance using its main weapon. A Predator / Miratan Armour is not going to like being hit by such, even if it is not lethal / instantly disabling as it impacts.

You also sort of over-exaggerate the importance of the US, and the inability to strike back at the opposing forces via nukes. Then again, Miratans may be ahead of us in the Mine-Shaft race, so once they trigger the Russian Doomsday Device it could be a phyrric victory for us.

True, but what about magic shields? That's a fairly simple spell, to deflect incoming fire. That allows Preds to get in close; an 80 foot fairy, for instance, could feasibly use magic to deflect a 125mm Smoothbore shell and overturn or blast the tank, like in War of the Worlds.

The issue with Miratans is, according to the wiki, their forces number in the hundreds of millions. We could take out five Miratan mechs with one Smoothbore shell and lose - badly - because they overran us. See: Vietnam human wave tactics.

If their forces number in the hundreds of millions that could mean a billion Miratans coming at us. That's one soldier per 6 humans, worldwide. Plus they're coming in via dimensional tunnel. And they'd have the element of surprise.

I doubt the combined forces of all of Earth have troops in the hundreds of millions. We certainly don't have mechs, and their mechs probably can outmaneuver our tanks.

We would HAVE to make a deal with them, but with that many troops coming at us, we would be bargaining from the weak end. As in, we might be paying them tribute.

But why would the Miratans fight alongside preds? I know they're very conquest-minded, but I think that, being humans, they'd HELP Earth, at first.

ZionAtriedes wrote:

But why would the Miratans fight alongside preds? I know they're very conquest-minded, but I think that, being humans, they'd HELP Earth, at first.

I never said they would fight alongside the preds. They'd come afterwards, to confront the weakened victor, while the Americans were trying to expel the Russians and Chinese and Felaryan immigrants.

Why would the preds attack en masse at all? They aren't conquest oriented, just hungry. The first preds that would come through would be those looking for a meal. Chances are, they'd just rush in, grab a few humans, then rush out again. But they couldn't keep that up for long before whatever country it's in deploys the military to blockade the portal. Any preds that approached would be fired upon. Some fairies might disguise themselves as humans or nekos, but after we cought on, any refugees would have to submit to a blood screening to pass.

The only reason for preds banding together, assuming that they are not attacked, would be if food in Felarya was running out and the tougher and better equipped humans on earth were the only prey around. That would come AFTER the mass exodous of prey to earth. This would put the knowledge of magic, and many skilled wizards, and advanced knowledge of the preds at our disposal before the preds attack in force.

Tuc135 wrote:

Why would the preds attack en masse at all?

New strange cuisines?

Quote :

They aren't conquest oriented, just hungry. The first preds that would come through would be those looking for a meal. Chances are, they'd just rush in, grab a few humans, then rush out again. But they couldn't keep that up for long before whatever country it's in deploys the military to blockade the portal. Any preds that approached would be fired upon. Some fairies might disguise themselves as humans or nekos, but after we cought on, any refugees would have to submit to a blood screening to pass.

I wasn't thinking they'd come in here for conquest. They'd see tons of humans wandering around out in the open; I'm not sure this ever happens in Felarya outside of big, walled cities. Food, right out there for the grabbing! I'd think word would get back and others would show up for chow time, just in time to get clobbered, blood screened, etc.

Quote :

The only reason for preds banding together, assuming that they are not attacked, would be if food in Felarya was running out and the tougher and better equipped humans on earth were the only prey around. That would come AFTER the mass exodous of prey to earth. This would put the knowledge of magic, and many skilled wizards, and advanced knowledge of the preds at our disposal before the preds attack in force.

How effective is human magic against Pred magic? And is magic possible in this world?

Raveolution wrote:

How effective is human magic against Pred magic? And is magic possible in this world?

My point exactly. Without it, the preds have zero advantage over our firepower. Not to mention, zero resistance to the square-cube law.

ZionAtriedes wrote:

Raveolution wrote:

How effective is human magic against Pred magic? And is magic possible in this world?

My point exactly. Without it, the preds have zero advantage over our firepower. Not to mention, zero resistance to the square-cube law.

Well, it wouldn't matter in the end - either their magic fades right off, or they carry some residual over and the humans wear them down, they're doomed either way.

But ultimately as I kind of implied before, they're not the reason people would rue the day December 21, 2012 came along.

It would be the Felaryan refugees driving the xenophobes bonkers, and then the hundreds of millions of Miratan troops and mechs. The wiki says the Miratans have no problem destroying colonies to get what they want... we'd be very lucky if we could bargain with them. If we could, we as a species would always be looking over our shoulders at them.

The word I'm thinking of is 'tribute'...

*Cough*
you are not taking in account the size of Felarya.. If the two worlds were to connect, it wouldn't make such a difference : the gateway would be a very small surface lost in the middle of and endless jungle . A few predators may eventually venture in, out of curiosity, but they would not be exactly conquest-minded. Plus they have learned to be careful with what they call "Vanishing lands" ( like if they end up in a world with an unbreathable atmosphear for example )

The most likely scenario would be one naga and a few fairies exploring a bit around, getting some little snacks along the way, then getting back, leaving the earth in a hell of a mess. Imagine the political, economical, mediatic, scientific, religious, social, repercussions of such an incursion XD

Wouldn't the goverment try cover up such an incident, and quarantine the affected area, to prevent panic? But I guess the people would be suspicious nonetheless.

Cover-up would be nigh-impossible in this day and age. Hell, you could likely get a live feed somewhere of them in action.