Utari's Puppies (Formerly Off-Topic Thread)

Fiction Portal Intergalactic Summit
3028

I’m sure you don’t think you’re being heretical, and it’s entirely possible the Council’s been completely ignoring the things you sent them. I, however, do not want to be accused to attempting to foment heresy and schism among the Amarr more than I already am, so I will simply leave you with one final thought to consider:

And yes, Arsia, this, unlike everything else I have said, will be a semantic argument.

The word you wanted there was ‘ultimate’, not ‘penultimate’. They do not mean the same thing. ‘Penultimate’ means exactly what you lay out in the preceding sentence: that there is someone above the penultimate, that someone else is ‘ultimate’. Because Penultimate means ‘almost ultimate’. It’s funny, because two sentences later, you use the right word[1].

So, I dunno. Maybe the Theology Council thought you were saying all sorts of things based on the words you used… that didn’t mean what you thought they meant?

(See? That is a semantic argument, Arsia. Logic chains are not.)

  1. Also, the word you want upon having that pointed out is ‘Goddammit’.
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3029

I see.

Yes, you’re right. that’s semantics.

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3030

I’ll tell you what, Arrendis, just to put your mind at ease, I am meeting with my Pontifexis in a few hours. I will copy the entirety of this thread, and I will hand it to him directly. And I will ask him what he thinks of your doctrinal argument and the depth of your theological understanding. And should he feel I am guilty of heresy, he is precisely the authority which would have me punished, arrested, and put on trial.

That way, I can assuage all your fears that my superiors are not fully informed of my potential infractions, and your doctrinal argument will be duly considered.

See you soon!

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3031

Well, also get his opinion on your misuse of ‘penultimate’.

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3032

Oh, I will! I am sure he will find that most instructive.

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3033

So, did everyone have a good weekend?

I did. It was very busy, but good.

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3034

I’ve been very stressed lately and my weekend did little to alleviate that. Although I suppose the weekend didn’t make it worse either. So I guess it was fairly basic.

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3035

That does sound pretty rough. I hope this week is better.

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3036

We’ve talked about this some, you and I. However, now that things are being dragged out in public again: this is dangerously close to nihilism. By your statement, Idonis Ardishapur, the Butcher, freed the Starkmanir Tribe. Every slave murdered by the Amarr on Thebeka or Kahah was also freed.

No, Enkil. A loss is a loss. It might be better that they died fighting, and even I would agree with that. But death is not freedom.

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3037

You miss the mark. The Amarr freed not one slave on Thebeka or Kahah.

Those men and women freed themselves, and died fighting to secure the freedom that they by their own self-determination and grit had taken for themselves.

To deny them that in death is more heinous than anything I ever did. However briefly, they all breathed free air before they fell.

Matari Invictus.

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3038

I don’t deny them that, at all. They were presented with the one single chance they would ever have in their lives and took it. I know that had I, while still enslaved, been presented with that choice, I would not have had the strength then to take up arms and fight.

That is not my point. However, I seem to lack the nuance and emotional distance needed for this discussion on the forms, so I will message you on the neocoms to meet in person sometime.

3039

For the record: the Amarr did free a small number of slaves on Alkabsi during the larger Thebeka issue. This constituted slaves who had been brutalized by their Amarr overseers before the Deathglow incident. The incident involved the Holder being compensated for the loss of property, and the former property in question being sent for medical care and trauma counselling in non-Amarr space. All of it legal, given the emergency authorities available to military leadership in-theatre.

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3040

First I’m hearing of this. Welcome news. Thank you, Arrendis.

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3041

As the matter did not impact anyone on these forums, there was no need to focus scrutiny on the traumatized. It is offered now only as a matter of clarification, as—once again—it did not impact or touch upon anyone on these forums.

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3042

So, let’s just get this out of the way?

I’m not with the Cartel, though I’m probably something they cooked up. Long story. My predecessor would be saying something similar, even: she apparently left on bad terms. It’s possible she’s even still alive somewhere, hiding from them. (Hence the long story leading to me maybe being a Cartel project.)

Either way, I don’t think of myself as one or owe them any loyalty to speak of.

One or two of my old Cartel associates are still in touch, but the ones who don’t think of me as a “ghost” mostly seem to think of me as a different person.

If you want to keep using that as a taunt, well, you’re welcome to I guess. I don’t expect I’ll be hurt by it all that much, though. It’s not like I have all that much against the Cartel; I just don’t work for them. And I don’t claim to be an especially moral person; possibly the opposite.

By the way, I don’t think my predecessor ever answered to “Seraphim,” either, but whatever. Also, the Amarr call celestial beings “sefrim.”

I’m not one of those, either-- just a shadow, scared of the dark, willingly bound to the strongest light she could find.

Oh-- we can get this out of the way, too: you can call me weak if you like. You seem like the type who might try that, and think it’d sting. I made the mistake of listening to that kind of taunt once before. It’s how I wound up here.

I won’t be so easily manipulated again.

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3043

Why do you assume he’s talking about the Cartel? I mean, he might be… but he might not.

3044

You’re overthinking this.

Don’t mind if I do, Seraphim.

If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t use words. I’d investigate you and your associations, find the screw worth turning. I don’t care about hurting you. That’s not what I am.

That light is a slaver in the Empire of enslavement? Gods and spirits, Jenneth…

There is a reason I’m using the Seraphim “taunt”, but this isn’t it. And whatever else you are, you are a predator. Like me. I would not underestimate you, nor would I call you ‘weak’. I’ve never been stupid. And, to the best of my knowledge, neither have you.

You’re just a crap judge of character.

Oh, I am.

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3045

Hee. I wonder if it’ll work, what you’re doing.

Let’s find out.

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3046

I resigned my commission as Spike Lieutenant with the Minmatar Republic

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3047

Okay … um. While recognizing that it’s really none of my business, may I ask why, sir?

It seems like a really important step.

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