Arrendis, there are certain things the Caldari mostly just donât do. Thereâs a morally relativistic strain running through the State that a lot of other peoples (including the Amarr) have trouble understanding, and itâs by no means limited to the Achura. Its heart goes like this:
Our way is ours. Your way is yours.
Thereâs more to it, of course, but a way of looking at it is that the Caldari are nearly unique (I donât know how the Matari look at it, but otherwise âŚ) in considering mercenary work good, honorable labor that can be undertaken by honorable Caldari-- even if the people they are fighting and killing are Caldari security personnel.
Mercenaries are professionals providing a service. Itâs nothing personal, and itâs a mercenaryâs proper role to serve a client. If that clientâs needs force a confrontation with State forces-- well, so be it.
Naturally itâs a little messier than that. If Morduâs Legion took contracts against the State all that often I imagine their standing would wither. But I think most pilots handling wetwork for the State have faced the Legion a time or three. Relations remain excellent. Itâs just business, and duty. Thatâs understood. We all do as we must.
To this day, itâs understood that Morduâs mercenaries are guaranteed State citizenship when they retire.
The Amarr are way farther removed from the State than Morduâs Legion. The practice of slavery is similarly seen as proper for the Amarr, though it would be unacceptable for any Caldari. The Caldari keep the Amarrian faith out of the State, the same as they do for anyone else. They donât interfere in Amarrian culture beyond offering to sell them stuff, the same as for anyone else. If some of that stuff is TCMCâs, and those get installed in humans, well, what the customer does with a product is none of the supplierâs concern.
There are a bunch of ways the Caldari could arguably be well-served by influencing the cultures of others. It might actually be a particularly poetic form of vengeance on the Federation, to manipulate its democracy into a failure state and laugh as it crumbles, as a thought. But thatâs not who the Caldari are. The Caldari are themselves. And if someone, or even a lot of someones, or even every last someone, should choose to join their interests against the State, theyâd most likely take it with the same half-grim, half-jolly attitude.
To the Caldari, life is a crucible, burning weakness away. They are determined to weather every test, without becoming other than themselves. They might not actively seek trouble, and donât turn up their noses at allies, but, to the threat of yet another outnumbered battle, I can pretty well summarize the collective Caldari attitude:
âBring it on.â
Pretty sure Veikâs been sharpening her sword for just that kind of eventuality.
Theyâre a little jingoistic, really, and itâs not for no reason. The Citadelâs not called that because it looks like a castle, you know.