Sorry, I keep forgetting your words and actions are barely ever connected and matching each other.
2 Likes
Well at least youâve dropped the lies about wanting peace. You just want a conquest you donât have to work for.
Nevermind, youâre back to the lies. âGive me time to reloadâ isnât peace.
Yes, it is. By its very nature it demands unquestioning obedience. You all even demonize someone just for saying âso we know X can happen. Can we please make sure it didnât?â Because it was too mean to your all-powerful queen. At least she had the stones to not even bother calling Max names and getting pissy about him. The rest of you were just so damned quick to take offense and call for blood, though. Over words. Over a man saying âhey, listen, God put this in our hands, and we can screw it up. Can we doublecheck?â
Trying to be loyal to your god in a way you donât like is enough to get you zealots charging weapons. Hell, itâs enough to get you shooting one another. And weâre supposed to believe that kind of rabid blood lust in the name of a thing you canât even demonstrate exists is not a âmalignant blightâ?
You arenât just lying. Youâre mad, too.
4 Likes
Arrendis. I never lied about this. I told you that we have to, no matter what, carry on the Reclaiming. I just donât want to doom myself and my children to serveral lifetimes of war and horror to do it.
Having a loaded weapon does not mean it needs to be used. You have one, we have one, letâs settle this with civility.
Well, thatâs not very civil. But again, thankfully your opinions, like Mad Mizzyâs, are not going to win out in the long-term. The longer we maintain peace, even an uneasy one, the more your words will ring hollow.
As for whatâs going on inside the Empire, as I said before, we will sort our own so we can better coexist with the cluster as it stands. Ongoing process, Arrendis.
Crazy for not having to kill you. Yep, guilty as charged.
1 Like
Arrendis, you know you donât have to shoot each other to prevent the Empire invading you, right? The State/Empire alliance is a mutual defence pact. It doesnât cover us getting caught up in offensive wars against the Republic and I can fairly safely say thatâs never going to change.
We donât want to conquer you for us, so why would we want to conquer you for someone else?
So that means the Empire knows that it can only attack the Republic whilst opening up itâs flank to an attack from the Federation - an attack that likely would NOT be covered by the mutual defence pact due to the original Empire aggression without casus belli.
In other words, neither of you is terribly at risk of being attacked by a sane and rational actor - itâs only if one side or the other goes absolutely crazy that things will escalate to the point where large civilian populations would be at risk. This means that diplomatic negotiation is pretty much the only method of likely resolution to this issue.
Back to square one.
4 Likes
Theocracy with a divine mandate for total domination.
Pick one.
2 Likes
Theyâre a bit past charging into projectile fire with a cry of âDeus Vult!â, Miz. Theyâre not going to attack the Republic - because they know the cost of that.
2 Likes
Yes, our mixed-blood merchant Empress seems very keen on all-out conquest. I will keep you posted on our plans for trade fleets filled with sneaky Paladins and slavers.
Whatâs that? They all filled with manufactured goods and wheat?
Well, this invasion isnât going well at allâŚ
1 Like
Do they though? I think youâre vastly underestimating how much of a prime directive the reclaiming is to the Empire. Trust me when I say as someone who has both been brought up in the Empire, and someone who has studied and fought it pretty much my entire life - barring the bits I spent in a puddle of piss and/or vomit as a station rat - that itâs not something theyâre willing to set aside.
When they recognize that their Rite isnât going to successfully âreclaimâ cultures like the Tribes (hah! We learned what the Rite is the hard way.), the Federation (good luck trying to get any cultural injection into it that could survive the onslaught and chaos of Federation culture), the State (might as well try to break down a blast door by sneezing at it) they will be forced to do it by force. Itâs the only way for them to perform their mission in the end, and they will try.
I think you mean TCMCs and Vitoxin. Your slaver Empress might have more financial and powermongering motives than religious ones, but sheâs one of the nastier slavers of New Eden and you know it. Youâre spinning harder than the outer regions are, Aldieboo.
2 Likes
I honestly donât think theyâd have more chance of doing it by force - they couldnât take you guys and the Federation couldnât take us. The Empire is not going to manage to conquer any of the other three of the big four.
They couldnât conquer the Khanid Kingdom.
4 Likes
Successfully? Of course not, but they could still do enough damage to severely threaten the societies they go for. That is why the Empire is and sadly will remain an existential threat to all other nations. The only question is when that threat fully materialize and whether or not the rest of us will finally wise up and cut it off at the pass.
2 Likes
This one stings a little.
1 Like
Sorry, Aldrith. I know itâs mostly because of how many Navy ships they stole.
2 Likes
Itâs okay.
Weâre not mad.
All may be forgiven.
Soon.
1 Like
Hmph.
6 Likes
Pieter;
And still the Empire continues its aggression unchecked. The Empire attacks the Matari people every day, and what do the politicians do? Do the Republic and Federation even begin to talk about some kind of diplomatic pressure, whether through CONCORD or not? Oh, sure, the official position of both is âslaveryâs very bad and we donât like itâ, but whenâs the last time either actually pushed on that brick wall? Here, letâs try this: What odds would you give me that either the Federation or the Republic will even go so far as to issue a press release amounting to âAs we begin the final year of the second decade of CONCORDâs second century, we reaffirm our opposition to slavery everywhere in New Eden. We call upon the Amarr Empire to end this barbaric practice and join the rest of the Cluster as a free and civilized state.â
I mean, itâs not like Iâm expecting the State to say that. Just the two powers that officially claim to oppose Amarr enslavement of other cultures. Just words, that cost them nothing. Words that donât even present a new posture.
What do you think? Any chance at all of a public statement like that? If they wonât do that little, what chance do you think there is that theyâre actually providing any diplomatic or economic pressure for change?
You talk about a cassus belli⌠but trillions of Matari enslaved and subject to constant attempts to break them, to steal their identity and culture⌠how is that not one? You went to war over dirt. Dirt that will still be there billions of years after the State and the Federation and everyone who remembers them are dust. Actual flesh and blood people who feel pain, who suffer in misery and are subjected to daily abuses⌠theyâre worth less than dirt?
How frickinâ rational is that?
Only because they canât get away with it. That doesnât make them sane, just cunning.
((Edit cuz Sami pointed out I had an OOC brain fart.))
3 Likes
So, anyway, Iâm sure we can solve this with beer.
1 Like
I hope you have a multi-trillion pint pitcher of the stuff. One pint for every one of the Matari held in bondage.
By the way, you repeatedly attack us Matari for being âangryâ and âholding grudgesâ but Iâm betting you know your parents and their parents and so on back for generations back into the mists of time. Well, guess what? I donât. (Best guess was that I was born in Aridia, likely somewhere in the Chibi system and was liberated by the couple who adopted and raised me as their own.)
Iâm betting that you know all about your Ni-Kunni heritage and culture (at least what the slavers allowed you to keep). Iâm betting that you know whether you have siblings, whether your biological parents are alive, dead or enslaved. I donât.
None of the worlds in Amarr space have been ravaged by orbital bombardment as punishment for one manâs murder.
I could go on but I hope you get the point. We have a thousand plus years of enmity between our peoples. Youâre godsdamned right that many of us are angry about what youâve done to us and we have every right to be.
I guess I appreciate the effort youâre trying to make but, no amount of high-minded talk or moot discussions over beer can change history or give us back what was stolen by your masters.
I think Iâll continue to work to build up the Republicâs industrial and military infrastructure as a credible deterrent to Amarrian aggression. Iâll hope for something more than the current status quo but wonât hold my breath.
7 Likes
I have some fine aged cheese if youâd like?
An effect of being insignificant in the social order. Perhaps there are records, perhaps there are not. If they werenât worth recording maybe they arenât worth you knowing.
Instead, honor these people, they deserving of your time and attention.
What exactly is preventing you from learning about whatever culture you choose now? Stop complaining and just do it.
A continuation of my first two responses which basically amounts to - so what? You donât know them, have never known them, and likely never will even if they exist.
2 Likes
I know heâs cheesy, but Aldrithâs not that old.
Gosh, how could anyone find such an understanding, compassionate, loving Holder wanting as a caretaker figure? I wonder how youâd react to someone offering to take your kids, wipe their memories of you, and raise them to never know you.
5 Likes
Thatâs why we made extras. 
1 Like