You have a pure heart, Mr. Atruin.
Be that as it may, I can’t help but wonder what you expected things to be like when you signed up to be a living weapon at whichever school you attended. The cluster has never been short on conflict. I also wonder what you expect out of other people who signed up to be living weapons. Capsuleers seem to be, by in large, what I would expect them to be.
No. Again, this is the thinking that led the Kybernauts against the Big Four, thinking that the paradigms must be destroyed. More of the same just isn’t working.
In short, I expected to become what was needed, wherever and whenever I saw a need. A self-sufficient police contractor. Sword and shield for those who couldn’t become what we have.
I expect nothing except disappointment, but that doesn’t stop me from advocating for greater cooperation and goodwill. I hope that the same spirit of cooperation I witnessed in EDI will extend further. I insist that any hostilities be contained to a reasonable level and not more bloody genocide.
In all things, there is duality. Conflict is indeed a fact of existence, right down to the subatomic level. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Look at the Jove; they were powerful enough to destroy all their enemies, once, and now they’ve become a pale shadow of their former glory.
If the Four continue their ways of total war, and one is successful at becoming the single governing authority, its destructive force will then be turned inward.
Look at history.
The Khanid have split from the Amarr before. The Caldari megacorps have their internal conflicts. The Gallente have their political feuds. The Minmatar, their tribal strife.
Look at the Triglavians. Best guess, their entire way of life is centered around struggle and proving. Should we follow in their footsteps?
Cooperation and goodwill are the only counters to the implosion of a victorious Empire. Even then, on a cosmic scale it’s a mere temporary solution, the difference between persisting for centuries rather than decades.
As capsuleers, we’re very likely to still be around for that, directly affecting things one way or another. I don’t wanna end up like the Collective, or the Jove, or the Drifters.
Do any of you? And if you do, at what cost?
I expect nothing but disappointment, but I follow my conscience regardless. I can’t let all this nonsense go unchallenged, but I expect most capsuleers will just keep killing until the only thing left to kill is themselves.
Federation is not a paradigm. It’s a criminal organization, a system that brings war and instability into our cluster. It’s a poisonous snake, and the best way to kill it is to decapitate it. Cut this abominations’s head and see how it crumples, how its former nations break chains of gallente occupation and create their own governments, without humiliation of gallente influence, without freedom cultists and inefficient democratic norms that were preventing them from development into progressive societies, without unjust norms that were preventing them from building colonies, without gallentean indecencies and filth.
While it exists, it will keep waging wars, commit atrocities and seducing more people into depraved way of life. We kill them when they come, we are trying to protect our worlds from these monsters, but they are still pouring from Federal borders like from motherlode of scum. This must be stopped. We must render them unable to invade and kill now and in the future. The Federation must be destroyed.
Except… that’s not conflict. All of those physical mechanics work in a continuous harmony. Energy is transferred, distributed, spreads out, and becomes more diffuse over time. Temporary turbulence is just fractal recursion writ large. There’s no conflict in it, only the limits of our understanding and perception.
And this happened… without conflict. The decline of the Jove had nothing to do with violence or conflict, internal or external.
None of the Four are practicing ‘total war’. Not a single one. Even the worst of their planned atrocities are contained within the systems all four of them have designated as CONCORD-overseen war zones. They are happening where all four empires literally agreed ‘that’s where they should happen’. What’s more, they’re exercising considerable restraint within those warzones. They even have designated arenas with limitations on how large a ship you can get in.
That’s not ‘total war’. That’s not even close. When total war erupts, you’ll see titans firing doomsdays at planets. It’s happened before, and killed nearly the entire biosphere. When the gloves come off… someone will get desperate, and it will happen again.
Somehow, you see conflict and cooperation as only opposites, rather than often being complements. Two groups have similar aims, but different ideas how to go about achieving them. This produces conflict in the form of rivalry and competition. Inevitably, as the competition continues, each side finds lessons to learn from the other, and each side is pushed to further improve and refine their own methods, and so both benefit.
Even when the conflict turns violent, each side learns, each side improves, and thus, each side is better-positioned to survive future conflicts against different foes. Conflict and cooperation aren’t an either/or. They’re all part of the same fractals as turbulence, and we just don’t see the small moments and supermassive patterns as part of the same unified whole.
To some degree… don’t we already do exactly that? The industrialist who finds a better way to produce at less cost. The leader whose choices of method determine whether they fail, and are replaced, or succeed and prosper. In the marketplace of ideas, different ways to achieve your goals compete—the struggle. Some succeed, while others fail… the proving. It’s all the same thing, just… sometimes… less violent.
I definitely don’t want to end up like the Jove that we thought we knew. And I don’t want to end up like what we think we know of the Drifters or the Collective… but we still don’t actually know anything about either, really. If we knew about the State what we know about the Collective, we’d know… the location of the warzone, a few ship types (probably Ravens, Blackbirds, and Ospreys), that their culture weeds out the unfit and exalts individual self-reliance in the furtherance of collectivist effort. And when Grandpa can’t carry his own weight anymore, he’ll do the right thing and go wander off to freeze to death outside during the winter.
We don’t actually know much at all about the Collective or the Drifters. But I promise you: nothing we’ve seen from the ‘Big Four’ has come close to the ‘total war’ level of conflict you’re afraid of since… the Rebellion, maybe longer. Even the Battle of Caldari Prime saw the Caldari Admiral exercise restraint… even in the face of Heth’s monstrous intentions.
I could say the same for any Empire. All Four are guilty of atrocities.
The fanatical elements are more akin to a hydra. The militant zealots operate in a decentralized cell structure for exactly this reason. Indiscriminate destruction will only drive more to their ranks.
I’d wager a few mil that more than a few such governments would resemble the Federation, with all its vulnerabilities and its strengths. Indeed, its very nature would preclude a headshot strategy. The government would reform relatively quickly, with more fanatical elements in positions of power in response to the hostility. Such a strategy would merely feed into the cycle. Really, only the Amarr Empire would be vulnerable to such a strategy, and only if correctly implemented. Miss one key individual and you’re back at square one.
I have a two part response to this.
First, not all in the Federation are the propaganda caricature you seem to perceive them as.
Second, such a diaspora would be accelerated by your proposed strategy.
There are other methods than destruction. One could take a page from their book and sponsor political parties more favorable to consolidation, or expansion in other directions.
It’s not a perfect analogy. It would be more accurate to say duality is a fact etc.
I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate. From what I’ve read on the subject, their Jovian Disease is a result of rampant modification, which I would argue is a very personal conflict between what they were and what they wished to be.
I meant to address those advocating for the total destruction of their foe, and any planetary or civilian casualties as well. The designated warzones and rules of engagement are… not within my scope of experience, shall we say. However, the dirtsiders in those systems should not have to suffer for a war they have no part in.
Again, and in conclusion, I meant to address those who, at least by my reckoning, are calling for ‘total war.’ The current situation is… eeeh, less than optimal but still nominal. Mainly, I aim to condemn “kill’em’all” rhetoric, and perhaps redirect some to more constructive paths.
But if you’re going to be that broad, then isn’t all of existence nothing but endless conflict between what was and what will eventually be?
They shouldn’t… but we’ve yet to hear anything from CONCORD about the acceptability of Sarum’s actions. If CONCORD decides those worlds’ surfaces are legitimate battlegrounds, then any nation who doesn’t want their people attacked needs to get them out of the CONCORD-administered warzones.
Which, of course, leaves those planets open to recolonization, and territorial claims by their enemies, should the CONCORD-run warzones be dismantled.
All invaders must die. If they can be convinced by other means to stop invading? Great, they’re no longer invaders. But those who can’t? Well, then that’s the only option that remains, isn’t it?
In a manner of speaking, yes. Even if my wildest pipe dreams came to pass and everyone started getting along, there would be those who wish to create more conflict for their own gain. Which, also broadly speaking, is what we have going on today, warmongers perpetuating conflict for their own purposes.
The vast majority of each Empire’s population has little or nothing to do with any invasions. A purely defensive war is quite the opposite of what I’m speaking out against. In essence, I’m trying to do just that, convince people to stop being invaders.
Good luck with that, but remember: ‘invader’ is, in a lot of cases, entirely subjective. The Elder Fleet was considered an invasion, even though it neither made nor sought any territorial claims—only the rescue of our people.
Similarly, the Caldari ‘invaded’ Caldari Prime, according to the Federation, when all they wanted was their homeworld back.
Nonsense. We Minmatar are paragons of unity and cooperation. Truly, a society to be emulated. 
Alternatively, you could just stop sticking your nose into Tribal business, like everyone up to and including @Lauralite_Anne_Brezia has told you to.
More so I told him to be mindful about the way he does. Not that he should not.
Given this post is directly referencing an RSS anti warclone unit formed directly in response to my own activities within the Republic and investigating and documenting RSS crimes?
Pretty sure I’m far more entitled to voice my opinion on the matter than yourself, peanut gallery.
Not while you’re busy allying yourself with the enemies of the Republic, you’re not.
Wait…
WAIT…
Did I get it right, did you just freaking DARED to assume I WOULD PROMOTE indiscriminate destruction?
Can you even READ what others are writing to you?
I am not in the mood to deal with such blatant and ignorant trolling from your side.
Now I feel sorry for wasting my precious time on someone like you, when I was writing you a proper response. Oh, well…
The original post is about a SARO operation on Mikramurka. SARO is more than the Red Troop. We just had a deathglow attack by Blood Raiders in Sundsele, and warclones have not been one of our problems there.
Not every dot connects to you and yours, and trying to make them to is meddling.
I’m just going to say it. Starsi tastes better. Lodovica’s even better than that. Quafe is honestly my least favorite soft drink in the cluster.
But reguardless of what I think of Quafe, I really hate nonsense Quafe advertisements being inserted into the IGS like this. This is a forum for discussion among capsuleers about current events, political issues, and so on and so forth. I don’t think that you’re a real person. I think you’re a marketing drone and I’d prefer you spam somewhere else. Go back to your soda bigwigs and tell them to stick to promoted messages on social media and the like and keep off of the IGS with the pure propaganda.
Sounds like something a drone would say…
I can’t believe you would faithfully quote me misquoting Enjoy the Refreshing Taste of Quafe.
I didn’t think people could be so heartless…
I really wish you wouldn’t bite my colleague’s head off when they have done nothing to insinuate anything of what you have claimed. Captain Chet-Shi has put themselves out to listening to those State loyalists to hear about what can be done to assist during this tumultuous time.
Helping the Caldari State does not necessarily mean taking up arms in it’s name via the sanctioned CONCORD militia. Insulting those from another nation that are willing to offer their aid to assist a nation ravaged by the Triglavian Collective does not bring any benefit either.
You might come to understand this in due course. A slim chance, but you might.
His head shall be biten off just for the mere fact of him being your collegue. For there is not greater disgrace than treason, no greated dishonor… well, at least among Caldari people. Maybe he doesn’t understand it, but single your existence is an insult and offense to whole your bloodline.
Did I ask him to fight in our militia? Stop just making up things and then fighting them off like some sort of starmen. Besides, you don’t even have to be in militia to be able to save tortured by Federation Navy prisoners of war from such brutal inhuman treatment.
I can say, it’s quite expected from someone with more gallente way of “reasoning”: when they’re unable to actually counter an argument, they make up their own representation of it to attack it to show they can do at least anything. But, you know… that just comes up as squealing and you achieve nothing except showing off your incompetence and using up the traffic.
I wonder now, can you come up with something more than a simple logical fallacy to bark at people you disagree with?
How precisely do you think I would go through the process of breaking the prisoners in question out? I would effectively have to find and raid the facility, distinction without a difference in that case as i’d be aiding the Caldari military regardless. I do my best to work within the Federation and treat any prisoners I come across fairly, to disapprove of any cruelty I witness, but actually helping the State government is a bridge too far.
Their soldiers, and occasionally their citizens, are no less vile in their actions. Living in Solitude we had to fight Caldari terrorists who would often go out of their way to kill and torment civilians. The reasons varied, many of them sympathized with the Amarrians and took up the faith. They claimed that they were part of a broader holy war on our people, often these terrorists would be aided by Tibus Heth and his Provists, who become increasingly common culprits behind atrocity after atrocity. Not only that, but Caldari often signed up to assist in Amarrian slave raids on Gallentian worlds, and merely letting the Amarrians roam free in and of itself allowed them attack population centers with virus bombs. I say this not to condemn the State as uniformly evil, but to simply point out that calling Gallente ‘Murderers, Rapists, and Torturers’ just puts them on even footing morality wise in my eyes.
All the Empires have done horrible things on a scale that most people can barely imagine. But I fight for the Federation because I refuse to let those bandits and thieves torment either the people of Solitude or Placid. Beyond that because, even if imperfectly implemented, the notions of Liberty, Justice, and Freedom as well as the cultural identity of our people is worth more to me then being the Mega’s lapdog.
Hence, i’m doing my best to help the citizens who I think are innocent. But I won’t so much as raise my hand to defend the State itself.