A Critique of historical Imperial Reclaiming Policy

Fiction Portal Intergalactic Summit
183

How many times do I have to explain this?

I am a lord of House Sarum. I am a Captain of the Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris. I am a capsuleer loyal to my homeland.

This means I am duty-bound to kick the ass of any idiot attacking the Empire until they die or stop coming here.

What do you want from me? Because it isn’t going to be to shirk that duty even while I state I’d rather be at peace with the Republic. My desires do not matter when I am obligated to fight because some fool decided to come to the wrong system.

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184

Can’t we agree that there are almost no capsuleers in the warzone who haven’t signed on for exactly what life brings them? In fact, with death being so trivial for capsuleers, it’s hard to see killing one as any kind of dramatic event.

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185

That’s not just a one-directional thing, Aria. You’re the one saying you really don’t… care… beyond the effects that events have on your small circle of associates. You’re the one saying you don’t think your voice should carry weight, your judgment trusted, or your values to matter in the wider cluster…

… but you keep using that voice, offering that judgment… and every time, that judgment seems to be ‘I got mine, screw the rest’. You’ve got your comfortable situation. That’s great. But your objection to war is ‘think of all the lives that will be lost’… while ignoring all of the lives lost, mutilated, and maimed in the absence of war. And when you’re asked why we should ignore them… why we should ignore the fact that all of the lives brutalized by the Reclaiming outnumbers the number of people who might be killed by the war to end it… the only real answer that you offer boils down to ‘because it might make my life less comfortable’.

If you’re going to claim to oppose the idea of war because of the human cost… then you have to address the human cost of maintaining the status quo. If your answer to that is ‘it would be inconvenient’, however you dress it up… well… the status quo is inconveniencing a hell of a lot of people, too. How about you go visit one of the breeding facilities and tell one of the women being serially raped there how you’d love to help, but it’s just not convenient right now?

Like I said: It’s not a matter of ‘enemy’… it’s a matter of consistency. The very reason you oppose something… is opposed by the reason you tolerate something else.

That’s pretty telling, Aldrith. I appreciate her viewpoints even as they’re a threat to me and mine. I may not agree with them, but I do appreciate them and want to understand them, rather than only tolerating people who serve my ends.

Which of us was hard-hearted again?

Well, except she’s not. She’s completely ceded that over to Luna. After all, by saying “recognize what you value and how best to serve it with the power you have”, you’re telling her to trust her judgment… which is exactly what she’s expressly said she won’t do, by saying, “I try never to put my sense of her interests before her own sense of them; I don’t trust myself to have that kind of judgment.”

I mean, we’ll completely set aside the issue that a retainer and protector like her owes her employer the best use of her judgment, even where it conflicts and overrides their own in the execution of that protection. She’s been pretty consistent on that, at least: she doesn’t trust her own judgment, and she doesn’t want, or intend, to do so, because she thinks she’s seen where that leads her. She’s expressly rejecting the idea of responsibility.

So it’s all well and good that you’re not judging her harshly… but are you even seeing her? Or are you just projecting onto her an idea of what you think she should be? And if that’s the case… it’s not her you’re judging charitably… it’s your image of her.

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186

All fair criticisms, Arrendis, but you forget that the consciousness that is Vesper is still only a few years old. She, rather wisely, is currently deferring to others until she has learned enough to act on her own. I, too, would not trust the judgement of a two-year-old, even if they have the cognitive ability of a full grown adult.

You are frustrated with her because she is learning from your enemy, just as I was frustrated with her when she was learning from Pyre. You fear what she may become, just as I feared what she may be come. But your fears are less founded than mine were; there are many differences between us and the darkness the mercenaries of Pyre represented. Despite what you make us out to be, our acceptance of slavery does not make us monsters.

Even if her current teachers are thoroughly Amarr, you can rest assured that we will not lead her astray on a wider moral standing. That moral standing may just be different than your own, and you will have to accept that if Vesper comes to accept it. Lunarisse Aspenstar is one of the most kind and just people I have had the privileged of knowing, and will offer Vesper the freedom to choose what she comes to believe is right. In the meantime, have patience with her. There are worse people in the cluster she can be influenced by than us, even by your standards.

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187

No, I don’t, Aldrith. I simply don’t look at an amnesiac who actively shows evidence of having fully-formed logical and emotional decision-making, discipline, and analytic capabilities and say ‘well, you can’t remember your life before the last two years, let’s treat you like the toddler you clearly aren’t.’ I mean, not for nothing, but if her judgment is so bad, why the hell does anyone let her fly a multi-ton engine of death and destruction? You wouldn’t let a toddler do that, would you? Would you even trust a pre-teen to fly around in a cruiser, deciding who lives and who dies?

I don’t think you’re that insane.

I’m not frustrated with her because she’s learning from my enemy. I heartily encourage her to learn from absolutely everyone she can, in fact. I’m irritated because she demonstrates the capability for internal consistency, expresses the claim to internal consistency and adherence to a particular set of values (even if situationally-applied, which is fine, because anyone who doesn’t take the situation into account is a moron), and yet… the most consistent thing she does is to demonstrate that all of that goes out the window the moment it endangers her comfort.

Kindness on a limited, personal scale, while ignoring the greater, systemic suffering around you, again, is just a sop to salve the guilt that one dare not admit, even to themselves.

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188

Well, don’t really need to explain a thing here, especially since I did say “dont take this as blame or what not.”

Simply put I find it funny that some of the more ardent fighters do the right thing as warriors and hope/strive for peace. The rank and file see nothing more than a battlefield. I don’t think I need to say i want PIE to burn, Its just refreshing to atleast see that they aren’t the degenerates looking for the next “good fight braah” or “die stupid slave” and see the forest through the trees.

To blame you would make me a hypocrite, I’d prefer to avoid that label if possible.

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189

No, I wouldn’t trust her with a ship, which is why I refused her services years ago and still would until she shows some moral fortitude in a direction that I at least somewhat agree with. However, I do not have the choice of depriving her of the right to fly one, so I make due.

Vesper does have the lingering memories of Achura philosophies her previous incarnation was schooled in. After having spent some time with her, I feel that I have a better grasp on how these beliefs shape how Vesper sees the world. The radical moral relativism and solid objective observance it espouses creates a very interesting mix. As I’ve come to understand it, she lives in a world where any belief or position that is not rooted in objective truth has the potential to be correct, but nothing really is.

To her, any moral assertion has just as much validity as another in a vacuum. She is considering every position as impossible to be either right or wrong unless it harms or helps something she considers valuable. She is still building her list of people, concepts and things she assigns value to, so this process is not complete for her. She may yet come to value someone or something harmed by slavery. However, even if she, say, befriended a slave that were being treated cruelly, or fell in love with a Minmatar terrorist, she still would likely not extend her moral judgement to the entire institution of slavery, because of this recognition that every aspect of her moral world is subjective and can end up interfering with her understanding of the objective world. The fact that at least some people see value in slavery means there is something more complex going on that she needs to reserve her judgement for in order to understand. She cannot be internally consistent on such matters because there is no consistence in the outside world.

This bothered me as well, believe me, because this inconsistency can lead to some very dark paths. As I said, I was convinced she would fall into the trap of casual murder in exchange for the comradery of the Pyre Falcon pilots. Eventually, however, she recognized something that dissuaded her from that life, and turned to Lunarisse instead. We have yet to see where she turns from here, but I believe when she does decide it will be a positive one.

Now, the foundations of her values are still limited because she values only a small number of things and people thus far. This is bothersome but completely understandable and forgivable. It pains one to see a person who values little in the world while recognizing so much, but I am convinced she will grow her heart to encompass more of this world. I eagerly wait to see how it will grow.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: slavery still exists, we’re working on it, stay out of the Empire or I’ll stab you in the eye with a crab fork.

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190

Keep working. Just understand that every day, every hour, more people decide you really don’t need to get more time to string us along while producing no noticeable results. Some day, likely soon, that’s going to hit a tipping point.

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191

And we’ll be waiting if that day comes. War still has its place for the Empire, and House Sarum will deliver it upon you should you deliver it upon us.

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192

I fully agree with that, thats why it sounds so odd (in a nice way) to me.

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193

Well see, Aldrith, that’s the thing: from where we sit… you already are. Your navy’s raids are an act of war. The continued rape, abuse, and murder of our enslaved kin is an act of war. It’s a war your people started a thousand years ago, and it’s not going to end until that wrong is set right.

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194

Really? Do I really have to repeat the standard disavowal of illegal slave raids? If you find one please tell me and I’ll blow the traitors up myself.

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195

That’s adorable. I’m sure the perfectly legal and sanctioned breeder facilities aren’t Empire approved either. This is unbecoming of you, Aldieboo, to play pretend like that.

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196

Maybe if the Imperial Navy didn’t keep sending them, we’d believe they’re actually illegal. Disavow whatever you like, that doesn’t change the fact that interests above your family’s pay grade continue to send them, capsuleer.

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197

An abhorrent practice that ought to be abolished, but that is not up to me to decide, let alone up to a terrorist with far more bark than bite. You’re going to try hard to catch me at be a hypocrite, Mizzy.

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198

Present your evidence to our governments and CONCORD and let the diplomats handle it, then.

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199

Ah, an abhorrent practice you nonetheless support in action, just like the slaver raids, by so vehemently supporting the nation that fully supports all these practices. Hypocritical at the very least, Aldieboo.

Your Empire are violating my people on a daily basis, within and outside your borders. The war you started has never seen even a cease-fire, as you perpetuate the horrors every single day since the Day of Darkness. Perhaps it’s time to stop pretending you’re some kind of victim here. Own up to what you do, cowards.

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200

BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. And your government will do what? Nod, smile, and tell the same lies you’ve told? What’s CONCORD going to do? Have any decision vetoed by the Amarr? Damn, yer funny.

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201

So, I can’t do anything.

Neither of you can do anything.

The combined diplomatic might of CONCORD and the assembly of nations can’t do anything.

Looks like you just have to sit and wait with the rest of us.

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202

More like won’t.

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