True. Getting the feeling that intention might have changed a little bit, though.
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I see the goading and blaming has stopped now that Daeuuas. has declared war on PIE. Seems certain parties are re-evaluating the acceptable limits of violations of terms.
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Actually, the only reason I haven’t wardecced them yet is because the surrender imposes a two-week suppression on any further war decs. As in, I can’t dec until Thursday.
Try again, Lord.
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Amusingly, I too am stuck behind the two week limiter.
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Nothing new to goad or blame over yet. The topic’s pretty done to death until new developments.
Whether or not any wardec will come up again is not something I’m going to bother caring about until I see how Thebeka looks by then. I have a suspicion the system is going to cease being a hot spot sooner or later.
So, is there anything beyond “look at me being evil pirate” behind the decs on EM?
I’d like to point out that we did not attack your structures. You showed neutral to us until now. We have not had real fights with your suspect flagged individuals. I didn’t even shoot your gods-be-damned depots. The most aggressive thing we’ve done to you was to point out, using words not bullets, that given that Angels are famous for human trafficking, it is quite understandable if people have trouble trusting an Angel-run refugee center.
Not to imply using chaos to build a reputation as a pirate organization is a bad strategy as such, or that having Angels on the valid target list is somehow an issue for us. And not that there’s not names in your ranks I look forward to dance with. Just curious.
Else
This may sound a little bizarre, but the real answer is a fairly simple one: Symmetry.
I’m really not taking sides.
Girls just wanna have fun.
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Oh, but you are. I am sure you do not imagine that for example PIE will at some point in the future think “oh but they must be nice angels, because for symmetry they also decced EM”?
You are not “not taking any sides”. You are taking a side against everyone. There’s a difference.
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Fair enough. Perhaps I should have been more specific.
I’m not particularly favouring any one side over the other in the space around Thebeka III. I have no illusions that this will be forgotten by either side any time soon. This doesn’t overly bother me, as neither side liked me very much to start with.
I am not attempting to build a particular reputation for DAEV4, because considering history I’ll likely have moved on myself in a few months.
This makes it sound so personal.
That was not intended as personal, merely pointing out that there is no such thing as “not taking sides” or “neutrality” when you start throwing wardecs around.
So, if you are not trying to build a reputation, and you do not really have an objective, what are you doing? I mean, if you disregard the publicity value, which you claim is not the motivation, these explosions are not really the most interesting to be found in the cluster. (No offense intended to anyone on the field. But in all honesty, it is the objectives here that make it interesting.)
They are to me. It’s so very rare to see the kind of display we have in Thebeka right now. I wouldn’t miss it for a world.
Personally I feel that what is exceptional about Thebeka is not the fighting itself, which is (lucky for us, I guess) very close to what EM is used to, but the publicity and the objectives involved.
To enter into it just “to not miss it” and because it is “a display”, or indeed because you just want to see stuff blow up, is interference and serves only to hinder the actual purpose and value of the events.
Also, you diminish yourself stating that neither side “likes you very much” and (in your interview published elsewhere on this board) that “Angels gave you a home when you had none”. You had the chance to several, and that only because people do like you, and you threw them away.
You could be so much more. And you throw it away for cheap thrills.
Well, so be it.
Else
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I would perhaps contest this, but not here. I will say that there’s more than one kind of home, and a potential home does not guarantee acceptance. Or even a warm welcome.
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Perhaps. And perhaps you would have good reasons to do so. A home that does not feel like one is maybe a reason enough to move on.
People do like you, though. A lot of people do, and always did. And it is painful for those people to see you diminished.
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It is. But more painful to see such willful, self-righteous mistrust directed at her, mistrust that even outside inspections couldn’t reduce from the level where apparently “something” had to be done.
Painful, also, to understand how she feels.
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And more painful still to see the self-righteous, holier-than-thou understanding and compassion from people who will never understand the pain of betrayal or sympathize with the grief of sacrifice because the only thing they are able to commit to is their personal likes and dislikes, to the extent that they support slavers while claiming to be sad about slavery.
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Selfless things like understanding and compassion can never, in and of themselves, be self-righteous or holier-than-thou: concepts deeply interlaced with pride.
Not that I’m immune to pride.
I can empathize easily with Kala because we’re maybe not very different, she and I. Really, the Directrix’s presence in my life might be the only true difference. That’s a bit of luck I’ve had-- totally unearned. I won’t answer it by teaching someone that close to me the pain of betrayal.
And yes, even if I don’t pretend to any higher cause I do know that pain. I shot down my favorite student the other day, and I’m sure I’ll do it again. I’ve felt that pain before, and not always at her hands. I know she’s doing what she thinks is right, so I don’t hold it too much against her. But it still burns.
If you can’t understand me, then don’t presume to tell me what I will or will not understand. Even a petty thing like me can understand sacrifice and betrayal. I’m not righteous. I might even be wicked. But I’m lucky, for which I am sincerely grateful.
And I’ll prove my sincerity by etching my gratitude into your blasted hulls.
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They can be holier-than-thou exactly the same way as any virtue can: when you parade them in front of others, “look at me, look at me being virtuous, unlike you”, oblivious to what others are going through, uninterested in understanding.
Indeed.
Oh, I believe I can.
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It seems to be a common quality of Matari thought to believe that those who understand will naturally be on your side.
You misunderstand, Else. I’m completely aware of your pain. It’s hard not to be: your whole faction shouts it all over these boards all day long.
And I’m not sure I’m uninterested in understanding, either. And probably I do, at least in part. Only, your pain’s not mine.
I didn’t help Kala, either. I kind of maybe thought I had, when I responded to Mr. Adams and he didn’t answer. Only, it kind of turned out they’d just decided to skip the debate and go straight for guns, and it’s not like I did anything more when those fools attacked her.
I didn’t do anything for her, in the end. Maybe I should have found a way. Too late, now.
And she’s closer to me than you are. By a lot.
I have my own reasons. I have my own purposes. I have my own beliefs. And I wasn’t joking around when I called Arrendis an imperialist. If your people can’t understand those who won’t stand with you, can’t empathize with those who lack your pain, and, most of all, insist that we have to stand by you or violate some kind of universal duty, shared by all humanity?
You, too, are meddlers, imposing your beliefs on others. Like the Gallente. Like the Amarr. Only motivated at least in part by revenge, which neither of those powers normally seems to be.
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