Hello everyone, today I would like to draw everyone’s attention to a concern I am having as of late. The Deathless Circle, and their plans. Now I’m not very good at things like this so ill just get into it. We don’t know The Deathless’ ultimate goal yet but I am already seeing people setting up to oppose them, which is their right, as they have been attacking inside the warzone, but I would like to argue something different.
You see, every time technological advancement is whispered about, and it’s not from their own faction, they will oppose that advancement up to and until they get their piece of the proverbial pie, which in turn sets everybody behind. We could be working together but instead some here would shoot themselves in the foot instead of seeing advancement that would better everybody. It’s not just from this side either, but from the creators of said technology as well.
Look no further than the Templar project, which was kept a secret until it blew up and everyone was set back and trying to catch up and deal with problems that arose from a sudden proliferation. There’s also a case in our own Capsuleer community, where one organization had, and strove to maintain, a monopoly on research that would have done no harm to anybody had others assisted, except for the fact that they wanted to be the sole group who solved this little puzzle and get sole credit. What dangers were being stoked by deliberately slowing progress on an important project such as deciphering the Triglavian language. My final example I will use is that the Minmatar were vehemently against the use of stellar transmuters up to and until they got access to it for themselves, then it was all fine.
As for me, I care a great deal about other people, and sometimes, it is to my detriment. When the Triglavians took systems from the four Empires, I saw people in need in the affected system of Skarkon and decided to act. Not only did my own organization, the Bosena Accords, have multiple stations there, we also had many baseliners and Warclones stationed on the ground of multiple planets, though mainly Skarkon II. So I did what I felt was best for everyone. First I began by smuggling in fuel through wormholes, which was entirely too inefficient, so I made the decision to ingratiate myself with the Triglavians enough to use their gate system, as at the time, it was locked to specific people. We kept the lights on, so to speak, for a very long time, and though high sec isn’t as welcoming as it once was, I am proud of what was accomplished.
Now that backstory and motivations are out of the way, here is my declaration of intent. I plan on aligning myself with the Deathless to help cultivate, create, and spread new research and technologies that come from the Fulcrum research. I have already had a group of scientists put in place on the station since the station was opened to the public so I already have inroads. This course of action is necessary because of the ever growing threats of New Eden, be it from angry drifters, spiteful Triglavians, ruthless Sansha, or whatever else is waiting for us in the dark of space. I do not intend to wait, I will act. For the time being, my goals are to discover the purpose of this cloaked structure, and to do that I intend to hand any Atavum I gain to the Deathless Circle for research purposes. With the Deathless giving the Empires, the Accords, and other Warclone factions a run for their money in the market, we can not afford to be left behind here. I also intend to learn as much as i can about the Fulcrums Warclone technology so as to hybridize what they have there, with what we already have in the Accords.
Whatever makes the drifters upset and the SoCT scared, interests me. I think too we should see where the Deathless are heading, without disrupting them
The main issue with this statement is that in general, everyone is out to get you. First the enemy attempted to subsume our culture, forcing us to wage a separatist war for a full century in order to claim our independence, solely to survive intact. Given the nature of their politics, there is no guarantee that they will not attempt to incorporate us again. That is before we consider the fact that not all forms of warfare are kinetic, and that they can just as easily destroy or damage our culture by means of exposing our people to theirs. When we look around in the cluster, we can see that they are not the only predatory faction out there. And that is before we consider what the minor pirate organizations would do to us if they gained an edge. The Guristas have made their intent clear plenty of times. The Angels would raid our people just the same. Sansha would take them and turn them into soulless automatons. The Blood Raiders would butcher them like animals or attempt to divert them from the Way. Serpentis would wreck homes with substance abuse if given the chance. In the light of such neighbours, you would have us make the mistake of letting our guard down, when we have been given no reason to do so? Especially when the predators outside of our borders are also not adopting that “sharing is caring” approach you speak of?
I am not a stranger to working together with enemies to achieve a common goal, if my actions during the Triglavian Invasions are any indication, and neither is the State, if it’s actions during the formation of Sansha’s Nation were any indication, and I am not necessarily opposed to co-operation (as long as the risk of cross-cultural contamination is minimized), but in general, if someone is shooting you, and their intentions are not known, caution would inform one to assume the worst.
I would argue that the Triglavians’ goals were already perfectly clear before their language was deciphered, and that deciphering their language only reinforced what we already knew. The CONCORD powers should have set aside their differences for the time being, and gone all-in on resisting the invasions, before going on a counter-offensive to wipe them out. Where retaking territory was not possible, we should have evacuated everything we could, and left nothing standing for the enemy to utilize, be it population, infrastructure or resources. Instead we got this kitten-glove approach, and twenty-seven systems are still designated as temporarily occupied territory. Lastly, any Capsuleers siding with them should have been branded outlaws and driven into the depths of Abyssal Space alongside their new masters.
As for Stellar Transmuters, one can argue that they are a bad idea, because suns are not a renewable resource. Once they’re ■■■■■■, they’re ■■■■■■, and then an entire solar system is altered forever, to the detriment of most life in them. The fact that this is objectively correct can be deduced from the fact that the Triglavians have to permanently alter sentient beings marooned in the temporarily occupied territories in order to allow them to survive on worlds affected by transmuted suns. Once a single CONCORD power started utilizing Transmuter technology, the others were forced to play catch-up or be left behind, and I predict that this will have dire ramifications for everyone in the centuries and millenia to come.
We should know better than to do this too. If you want to see the fruits of unchecked technological progress, look no further than the Jovians. Where are they now? Nothing remains of their culture, save for a few drifters, a shadow of their former glory, desperately searching for capsuleer corpses to extend their excuse for an existence. The first time we encountered the Jove, they gave my people Capsule technology. In the short term, this enabled us to fend off the evil empire attempting to erase us. But what was the long-term cost? Due to mistakes on CONCORD’s part, this dangerous technology leaked out of the control of the military, and we got independent capsuleers. One need only interact with those from the fringes of known space for a little while to realize that most of these have been claimed by insanity, and are now detached from reality. It seems to be some kind of shared insanity, as most seem to think they are actually from some ancient planet in a distant past. The ones that remained sane often become self-centered, and do whatever they think furthers their own goals, rather than concerning themselves chiefly with the interests of their people. Some, in their delusion, even pretend that a bunch of implants make them a separate species from their people, and consequently ignore all bonds of kinship.
Based on what I have written above, I think that it will come as no surprise to you, that I would urge you to see that this course of action is unwise. Things such as scientific understanding, technological progress, economic growth and military strength are, at best, necessary evils which exist to prevent one’s culture from being annihilated by the predators around us. All of these things, when embraced out of necessity, will alter the lives of the people it affects forever. And every time someone embraces change, be it out of begrudging necessity, or with misguided enthusiasm, one’s culture inevitably strays a little bit further from the way of the ancestors. In this regard, things are already painful enough, without loose railcannons speeding the process up.
Most Caldari have a keen interest in the ‘preservation of Caldari cultural identity’ and it is easy to justify the subsequent isolationism and hostility to outside influences and persons when everyone at the gates is a potential threat. While I may not agree entirely with the mentality, I can understand it to a point.
However, I would have to agree with the overall notion that throwing your support behind an individual and a group whose motivations you don’t know simply because you perceive a technological or scientific advantage in so doing is precisely what they’re hoping for and is a dangerous game to be playing. In the absence of knowing about The Deathless’ motivations and goals personally, simply observing who they keep company with and drawing conclusions from there isn’t unreasonable.