Mmh. Well, she does have a point, sir, but it’s not quite the one she thinks she has. Arrendis has a habit of looking at things in binary terms (“either it’s this or that”); ambiguity isn’t really her thing.
It’s very much mine, though.
The Imperial Rite does carry the requirement of seeking to reunite humanity in God’s service. This has traditionally been done through straightforward conquest, but that method got its wings clipped pretty sharply when the Amarr tried it on the Jove (Vak’Atioth).
While it’s popular (and in certain cases accurate) to question their motives, to the Amarr as a culture and faith this is a form of rescue: every soul, friend or foe, that remains outside the Rite through death is, quite simply, doomed, though whether to simple destruction or to some unpleasant afterlife seems to be a matter of a little debate. As a result, as a matter of simple mercy the Reclaiming should proceed as swiftly as it practically can … but the practicalities have gotten really sticky since the Empire found itself with peers.
Unable to simply roll over all opposition, the Empire’s been forced to learn pragmatism. (Though of course there’s always going to be someone spoiling for a fight. “Come on! We can take 'em!”)
The Imperial Rite, then, has actually a lot in common with the Federal notion of “human rights”: each empire has something to offer, something precious to offer all humanity (inherent rights recognized / grace of God recovered). But, “must” has met “can’t,” and what won’t work cannot be the correct path.
So basically Arrendis is just pointing out the obvious: the Empire is an outward-facing power seeking to spread its dominion and ideals. She talks about this as though it should make the State more suspicious of the Empire, but in practice the State has already taken measures to counter it (more rigidly than either the Republic or the Federation, in fact), since Amarrian religious practices are banned except for Khanid Kingdom expatriates (and even then it’s to be practiced only in private).
Yes, like the Gallente, they want to rescue us from ourselves. So what? We knew that already.
If I remember her angle correctly, Arrendis is one who feels the Caldari and Matari should make common cause, each nation abandoning its association with the Empire and Federation, respectively, and forming a third power block to resist all expansionist aggression from any quarter. My sense is that this is unworkable precisely because of what each people has in common: a lack of concern for outsiders and a lasting historic grudge against different outward-facing powers.
The Republic isn’t going to go to war with the Federation for a bunch of outsiders. Neither is the State going to “come for” anybody else’s people.
As it stands, each side’s more outward-facing “partner” has some not-so-quiet ulterior motives in the arrangement, but that’s neither a surprise nor much of a problem. The Amarr aren’t going to try an armed Reclaiming in the State any more than the Federation’s going to invade the Republic to impose democracy and ban voluval rituals, and both the Republic and State are well-prepared to fend off cultural attempts by their respective partners to influence them.
It’s maybe reason for a bit of inter-empire wariness but what else is new.
In other words Arrendis is pointing out that Triglavians like blue stars. The appropriate answer is something along the lines of, “Yes, we know that, thanks.”