Now I told you how I got my ship. The thing is I didn't tell you the whole story.
While yes I did work a lot of jobs, including one video with my friend, not gonna tell you her real name, but she goes by Cherries on a certain platform that netted both of us a crap-ton of cash. Yes I did quite a bit of blacksmithing, but the main way I got my ship was by entering a lottery. Yes a lottery, specifically the Federation's Merit Lottery.
The Federation, being a rather depraved Meritocracy, set up the Merit Lottery as a reward for those who do not sit on their laurels, but constantly attempt to improve. The only way that you can even attempt to enter the Merit lottery is when you legally become an adult at 18. However there are certain conditions that you must meet before your entry will be registered.
Age - 18, cannot be an emancipated young adult.
Legal standing - Must not have received more than 5 misdemeanors or have been arrested and or incarcerated.
Work - Must have held one job after 16 for at least one year of employment, with no unexplainable absences, no write-ups or warnings. Must have worked at least 30 hours a week and had exemplary attendance.
Education - Must have a diploma and or G.E.D. with an average no lower than 3.6 and no egregious infractions.
These were the absolute basic conditions for entering the Merit Lottery, however there were different levels of the Lottery which you could apply for which covered different levels and areas of Federation life.
For instance, if you were born in a rich family and met the basic criteria and you didn't like your father or mother, you could apply for the Fall From Grace Lottery.
To be considered eligible for the Fall From Grace Lottery, you must have a valid reason besides disliking your father or mother. The reason must have evidence and when validated, you must decide how they will Fall, the greater the Fall, the greater the demands upon you will be.
Your father is the C.E.O. of a major company? And he cheats on your mother whenever he's away on a trip?
Very well, you have 5 years in which you must start and build up company in the one of the same fields as your father's company, you must create, build and sustain at least 15% rate of growth with that company every year compared to the year before.
If you can do this, then you will have proven yourself worthy and your father's company will be given to you while he will have everything taken from him, including his virility.
Your step-mother is your father's second wife and is planning on taking him for everything he has? And she's a singer?
Very well, you have 5 years in which your father's assets will be protected, but in that 5 years you must write and sing with no help 10 songs that place in the top 5 songs for at least 3 to 4 months each. If you succeed, then every single dirty little secret your step-mother has will aired on the news and she will be stripped of everything she has. She will no longer be allowed to hold a job or even be able to post anything on any platform.
Another one that can be attempted is Return With Your Shield Or On it.
A Merit based Lottery in which you risk your life to carry out a nigh impossible mission for the military.
Prerequisites - Must have attended a military school, been a prefect or officer of the cadre in good standing. Showed good to exemplary leadership skills, great to excellent marksmanship, exemplary team work as well as having exceeded the basic requirements of a soldier of the Federation.
If you Return With Your Shield or completed the mission that was assigned to you, you will receive a position as Merit Officer within the Federation's Military, a rank similar to a 1st Lieutenant. If you continue your exemplary service within the ranks of the Federation, you will be fast tracked to Colonel and upon further service may be tracked to Brigadier General of one of the 300 Dogs of War Battallions. They are the first in, last out of the Federation Army.
If you Return On It or fell during the mission, regardless of whether the mission succeeded or not, the person you designate will receive Grace of the Fallen. A lifestyle, that while not extremely luxurious, will allow them to live in comfort for a long time.
Grace of the Fallen is granted only to those designated as recipients by those attempting to Return With Their Shield.
The families of the regular service men and women of the Federation's Armed forces who fall in battle will receive No Greater Sacrifice, a life of excellent quality that will last until the youngest child, if they have any, has reached the age of 25. If there are no children or spouses of the fallen, then their immediate family will receive A Final Goodbye, a life of great quality for their parents that may begin immediately or upon starting at retirement a life of excellent quality.
Siblings will receive We Are Family, financial support on their endeavors and a good quality life not exceeding 10 times the number of years served. If the sibling or siblings enter into service, they will be granted Brothers-in-Arms, an upgrade that allows a great quality life or a improved quality life with with 3 chances to deny a military posting, should a valid reason be presented.
Like I have mentioned there are multiple Lotteries that may be attempted and the one I chose is Pushing the Limit.
Prequisites - Exceeding all basic lottery qualifications.
Must have taken up an ancient profession and provided a work from that profession that has been rated as exemplary or masterwork by no less then 3 masters of that profession.
Must have performed an act that was recorded but did not reveal their identity, that greatly pushed their comfort zone.
Must have competed in at least 5 different events broadcast worldwide and taken no less than 3rd place in all of them while maintaining an excellent work record.
And finally upon completing these tasks may ask for a reward upon which further may be discussed.
So I may or may not have mentioned that I may or may not have made a video with my friend Cherries. Now like I said Cherries is very active on a certain platform, however she has refused any and all offers to work with anyone else on that platform and plainly stated in multiple videos that while she likes exposing and playing with herself on camera her body belongs strictly to one man and one only.
So the live-stream in which we performed quite bit of roleplay and yes stuff a bit more extreme, received a shit-ton of views and an ass-ton of comments asking who the hell I was. Didn't stop them from dropping shit-tons of cash when they saw a new side of Cherries though. She's asked if I would consider doing it again and was very disapointed when I told not for a while. Don't need to go into detail about what happened when I said at least not on camera.
The 5 events I took part in were
Hearken, an event that involves combat with cold-arms or ancient weaponry. I took the championship by spearpoint.
Of Ancient Kings, an event where we must research an ancient warlord and then attempt a simulation where we fight against them. Me being me decided it would be an absolutely brilliant idea to pick Alexander of Macedon. I did well enough against him in the I'm Soooo Fucked difficulty level that I managed to place 2nd. Have no clue how the hell that girl Mika Hammell trashed Attila the Hun in the Yup There's No Lube And I'm Going In Dry difficulty. All I know is she's hot as hell and apparently if we have armies and fight each other I'm going to be Reaaaaalllllllyyyyyy Fucked.
Watch This, an event where we have to choose a spaceship, the number of crew and then proceed while in a simulation to use that ship and crew to attempt to run a blockade, rescue a V.I.P. and then exit the blockade that we just broke through and escape while taking no more than 20% damage to our hull and having our shields dropped no more than 10 times. I barely placed 3rd in that one to be honest, if the other guy hadn't been hit by a stray asteroid in the final stretch I would've been 4th. This is also the second event in which Mika took 1st and she only had her ships shields drop once and took only .69% damage on her port side.
Yeah I know laugh it up you animals.
From Small Beginnings, a sped up full dive in which we started from a small village built a Kingdom, then an Empire and then led that Empire to the Space Age. I had learned more strategy by that point, but that knowledge was sorely tested in that one. The only reason I took first is my focus on well structured economy and rapid deployment of forces to all points of my Empire. In that game, my Empire of Furia faced two mighty foes, one to my north, and one to my east. From the North came the Riders of Valkyria, from the east came Wraiths of the Sands.
It was touch and go until the Wraiths fucked up and took a city the Riders wanted badly enough to fuck them up over. That happened around the end of the Medieval Age I think. Everybody had some version of firearms at that point and the Riders decided that the Wraiths needed to ghosts at that point in time. Until that point though the Riders kept trying to push back my Northern border and I was having a hell of time holding them back, the Wraiths were pushing in on the East and also trying to take care of the Riders who were attempting to do the same.
Somehow or another the Wraiths managed to push deep into Rider territory and captured a slightly odd city. The city was called Heitstrenging, which in old Norse meant a vow or promise made that would be kept. My forces had gotten close a couple of times and the Riders didn't seem too agitated when they did so.
When the Wraiths sacked the city though, Oh Sweet Baby Jesus, I didn't have to fight at all, I got to watch a shit-ton of beautiful fires being lit by some very pissed women who made a very literal translation of fuck around see what happens. The Wraiths took too long sacking the city and I'm pretty fucking sure every able bodied Rider that could ride or run there in about 9 hours showed up and proceeded to beat the shit out of any Wraiths there.
I later heard that they actually had to blur the broadcast for any conflict between the Wraiths and the Riders after that. I can see why though, from what I'd read in reports, the Riders actually minced the Wraiths that died during the battle that reclaimed the city and fed the minced meat to the survivors, any of the survivors that refused to eat the remains were forcefed while being raped with any splintered wooden object found on the battlefield. They were then castrated and the wooden objects were used in all of their orifices, including the new one till they died.
Not sure exactly what the city of Heitstringing meant to them but my forces and I stayed the fuck away from it after that. The Riders until the end of the game seem to have made it their holy mission to eradicate any and all Wraiths after that. They still kept trying like hell to push through my Northern border but they focused their crack troops on the Wraiths so it was a lot easier to hold them off.
Long story short I guess, the Riders were more focused on eradicating the Wraiths and the Wraiths were focused on trying to survive, and I watched the show while eating popcorn and did my own thing until the Riders remembered the purpose of the game. At that point just imagine Early Nam levels of tech in the hands of Sun Tzu, Alexander of Macedon, and Attila the Hun and then a no holds barred slugfest between the three of them reaching
Imma Nuke Your Ass Bitch!
Come Get Some Then Whore!
I'm sorry to interfere with your name calling but my spaceship just returned from the moon so I win.
Fucking Hell! I'm Still Nuking You So Your Ass Better Ruuuunnn Bitch!!
Come The Fuck On!!
levels of insanity.
I'm pretty sure you've guessed it at this point, but yes Mika was the leader of the Riders of Valkyria. The leader of the Wraiths of the Sands was the guild leader of one of the biggest gaming guilds the Sandwraiths. They focus most of their efforts on any games that have a large sand area or desert. If any game has a desert I can guarantee if it doesn't have a Sandwraith presence there, it soon will. His name was Léon Cavarelli.
The last event was Gaze Upon My Works. During all of the previous events I had been going to work while learning blacksmithing and at that point I felt comfortable and sure enough of myself to attempt to make a masterwork weapon on television. I outperformed even my greatest expectations and crafted a weapon that I plan to have by my side till the day I die.
Asharii
No special meaning to the name as far as I know. Just a word that I enjoy and feel comfort with.
Asharii is crafted with a 6 foot piece of red ash tree core wood, a 1 pound sharpened buttcap, and respectively 2 pound hammerhead 4 inches in diameter, 1.5 pound 9inch long leafblade spearhead and 2 pound 7 inch long blade axe head set in halberd format, crafted with a combination of tamahagane, damascene, and old norse forging techniques from 1080 multifolded steel while the body is wrapped in multifolded and pulled brass wire for grip and lapellates extending 1/3 the length of the shaft from both the buttcap and spearhead made with the same techniques as the head and buttcap.
The seven master blacksmiths who were judging the event had proceeded to get within close viewing distance by the time I was halfway through crafting it. They did not say a word until the last oil quenching took place and Asharii rested upon her stand. At that point they didn't even try to pick her up, because as one of them said it felt like she would turn on them if they dared do so. She felt almost alive and would permit none but her creator to wield her.
They rated her an exemplary masterwork and with that I fulfilled the requirements for Pushing The Limit and that is how I asked the Federation Government for a fairly new and still combat capable either heavy cruiser or good condition and still combat capable battle-cruiser the battleship's little sister and the heavy cruiser's nee'sama.
For now that's all I've got for you. See you soon!