View source for In The Face Of Absurdity

"''In The Face Of Absurdity''" (full translation: "In The Face Of Absurdity, Laugh And Embrace The Universe In Defiance Of God", from the original <small>▝⠒𝌾𝌜⠸▗▔⣇⡜▄⢾▄𝌚𝍦▀▛⢾𝍰⠞▐𝍱⡘𝍧𝍪▆▛𝌬▚▚𝍡𝌬⢾⠡▝⣞𝍤𝍯▟𝌅⣶⢓𝍩▞𝌙⣡</small><ref>This is the accepted translation, but it's a load of rubbish, honestly. It makes it sound so ''serious'' and ''dramatic.'' [⣞▋▛▌𝍯𝍃] to that, I say!</ref>) was a former Selfmade diplomatic station, one of the most important negotiation, communication, and trade hubs between the Inner and Outer Pentarchate prior to the Succession Crisis. It hosted the Deep System Accelerator, a focused particle-beam station and power transmission array for braking and accelerating sailcraft traffic.<ref>This would be memorably used, to great effect, as a long-range energy weapon in the Battle of Absurdity's Laugh.</ref> It was also notable for being one of the few Selfmade habitats to be pressurized with a breathable helium/oxygen atmosphere, to facilitate interchange between the Selfmade with the rest of the Pentarchate. 

''In The Face Of Absurdity'' was the original meeting place of the [[First Congressmoot on Succession]], back when hopes were high that this whole mess could be resolved ''that'' easily, and even as the talks deteriorated was viewed as 'our last, best hope for peace'. The full story of the First 'Moot is best told by someone else, but it got ''wild.'' We all know how it ended, of course, with the Voice For Iridium delivering the [[Mai's Insult|now-immortal Insult]] and eir subsequent defenestration, but it was a mess of increasing desperation, tension, and enmity long before then. Bless them, they tried their hardest.

Even after the crisis swung into full force, ''In The Face of Absurdity'' remained a semi-neutral and diplomat-infested area for years, and its already fairly-unique culture due to its history of trade, contact, and diversity relative to the rest of the more-isolated Outer Pentarchate would remain even as the Selfmade consensus began to drift in a more hostile direction; its position as a vital transport link for sailcraft made it economically and strategically important enough that it could maintain bargaining leverage against the rest of the Coalition. Friction between the station and its parent state continued to intensify; this would ultimately lead, famously, to its doomed breakaway from the Selfmade Coalition and declaration of independence. Alas, the would-be Free Port of Absurdity's Laugh would shortly afterwards be retaken by Coalition forces, who purged ''In The Face Of Absurdity'''s identity core,<ref>May it rest in peace.</ref> and deep-froze the conspirators.<ref>Rumor has it that the current government still has them in storage, backed up on a tape somewhere in the depths of Borehole.</ref>

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[[User:Mr._Eldritch|Plumb Eldritch Depths]] ([[User talk:Mr_Eldritch|talk]]) 21:11, 28 December 2018 (CST)