The Position of the Ring
Yonaguni Ring[]
The Yonaguni ring is underwwater at a place called the Yonaguni monument. This is a stone work temple mound located off the coast of Taiwan in Japanese Waters. The Ring itself is in a chamber along the monument's northen face. The chamber Is dark, and covered in ocean plant life, so the ring is not terribly obvious.
Platform Side[]
The fourth ring looks like it is made of damp limestone.
Planet Side[]
The Ring leads to the Yonaguni Monument off Japan and Taiwan Coasts. There s a full ring there. The Chamber is large enough for vehicles to exit from the ring into. The floor is relatively flat and leads to a slope which may have been a ramp at one time. The wider entrace seems to have been bricked in, at some point, so the entrance to the chamber is little over two meters wide.
A Diver at Yonaguni Monument
First Transit[]
The next scout to do a quick peek in Veres. Veres goes through the gate and I had Dennis make three d20 rolls.
First - does Veres panic in shock and surprise to find himself 30 feet under water? No
Then - does he panic when he looks around and really comprehends that he's under water? No
Lastly - to make it back to the portal and go back through. Veres exits the gate on the plaform side soaking wet and spitting ocean water. He was amazingly lucky. Dennis rolled really well. This established that Gate 0P4 is under water. Idemann annd Washburn elect to come back to that one.
Further Investigation[]
Idemann and Hanney, having some experience with Scuba gear (Due to Special Forces training each has), bring Scuba Gear to portal 0P4 - this is the one that almost got Veres by dint of being underwater. Idemann and Haney go through the portal. The find themselves swimming in an underwater cavern in front of four suurprised scuba divers. the scuba divers motion the FW to surface.
Encountering the Locals[]
The six people surface near a boat.
The four scuba divers are young adult Japanese people, two female and two male. Tando Satomoro makes a living as a scuba guide for the Yonaguni Monument area, just south of Japan annd Just east of Taiwan.
The Yonaguni Monument is a rock formation under the water that crypto-archaeologists claim is artificial, perhaps the remains of a building or monument created before the area was inundated by the rise in sea level at the end of the last Ice Age. Well, now we know.
Satomoro brought his friends out on the boat, in the vain hope that enough scuba diving wonders and cheap beer would convince his date to get romantic.
She brought her friend as chaparone and asked Tando to being his friend. Their trip turned out to be unusual. Idemann and Haney talked in the water, briefly, with Satomoro and company confirming their location. Then, bidding a cheerful goodbye to the Japanese kids, Idemann and Haney returned below the surface of the oceean to their chamber. It has a ring station in it, just as plain as the nose on your face.
Haney and Idemann returned through the gate.
The Japanese kids returned home and reported what they saw to the press.
Scuba Divers off Yonaguni
Public Revalation[]
By the day it was news all over Japan. That evening, the Japanese Ambassador to the U.N. Called Gen Washburn. He confirmed the story and asked if Idemann and Naney were available to appear before the press. Washburn described the event and declined to reelease the names of the agents involved or allow them to speak with the press. The next morning it made the papers - "According to Government press release - there is an alien artifact related to the one discovered by the famous professor Hatsumi last year. Apparently these objects are some sort of portal - Agents of the United Nations project to investigate the artifacts have discovered that they are a sort of transportation system."
Public Reaction[]
This has exploded across the landscape. Making news world wide. With the revelation of the Japanese ring portal - the Kenyans announced that they, too had one. Gen Washburn called his command authority to request that the Yonaguni Monument area be secured. This was relayed and the Japanese defense force send a couple of cutters to the area to try and make a perimeter. This was difficult as the are was already swarming with boats and crazy people trying to catch a glimpse of the alien artifact. Or aliens. Or anything else.
International Politics[]
In discussions, China was obstreperous. They felt slighted by Gen Washburns "Obvious Pro-American Bias" (Meaning he didn't kiss their butts enough while setting up the project) and now felt slighted that one of the three publicly known gates was just near Taiwan and Japan, two nations the Chinese don't especially like.
They wanted a guarantee that the platform on the other side of the portals would be considered international territory, but Dennis Playing the American Diplomat refused to commit to that, saying it was fair game for discussion at the international Summit.
The Chinese, miffed, sent the equivalent of Vice-President to the summit, instead of the premier. they also announced that they'd be purchasing fewer T-Bills from the U.S. treasury, creating a certain amount of hardship annd difficulty in the U.S Economy during the summer of 2014.
The Chinese are also letting Japan and Taiwan know that they expect to be treated with all due respect in regards to access to the portal - and that they consider Taiwan a break away province - any attenmpt by Taiwan to complicate or obstruct the issue might be just the push the Chinese need to go ahead and retake their breakaway province.
Taiwan is keeping their head down. there is little benefit to the thing, so far, and China is BIG. Having it's attention focused elsewhere is better.
Japan huffed in a very polite way. Chinese scientists, explorers and tourists will be greeted with politeness and respect, but Japan does not appreciate being bullied.
It will take some time to smooth the ruffled feathers. Japan and China are tense rivals. Tensions between the two begin tight and get worse from there.
Map showing the Proximit of the Ring to Taiwan