2021.12.1
ATLANINS III - IMPETUS PUBLISHER, EVERYSHORE
An overwhelming chorus of negative reviews has accompanied the general availability of Gallente holoreel star Jacques Benoit’s latest release, The True Emperor, a project funded by the Amarrian Orthodox Church, Sedevacantist. The controversial holoreel features Mr. Benoit in the titular role assembling an army among Amarr defectors, Jin-Mei caste system enthusiasts, rebel Intaki, and more as they challenge Empress Catiz — revealed to be the weak, submissive plaything of Minmatar ruler Maleatu Shakor in both politics and the bedroom — for possession of the Amarr Golden Throne.
Gratuitous (and un-Amarrian) levels of sex and violence mark The True Emperor’s script, written by sedevacantist leader Nauplius, with the steamy scenes between Catiz and Shakor only the tip of the iceberg. Early in the motion picture, the True Emperor seduces and takes as his mistress a Vherokior lounge singer named Larissa, who somewhat incongruously accompanies the True Emperor on his horse, her indecent red sequin dress riding up her thigh as the pair bounds into battle. Also alongside the Emperor is his sidekick Chastity, a Ni-Kunni woman with a tiny waist and enormous hips who sends scores of Minmatar warriors flying to their doom with her powerful hip-checks. In a climatic scene, a bare-chested Mr. Benoit himself slaughters thousands of Minmatar — civilian and combatant alike — dual-wielding Prototype Nuclear Small Arms.
Critical consensus is running overwhelmingly against The True Emperor, with Galnet aggregator Rotten Long Limbed Roe Eggs scoring the film a rare “0% fresh”. Famed critic Bernadette Renault panned the holoreel, writing, “Again and again a dull pattern pervades The True Emperor. First, a sermon encouraging some new party to join the crusade. Then, a shameless, over-the-top battle scene — during one particularly low point, the Emperor summons a yak herd with some sort of magic scepter and crown which literally stampedes the enemy into the ground. Finally, the Emperor and his willing mistress consummate the triumph on the field of victory as defeated, captive, and chained Minmatar are carried away in the background. Repeat.” Minmatar rights activist Astrid Svensson expressed concern over the portrayal of Minmatar in the production: “Minmatar are shown as monster-like cannon fodder and slaughtered in numbers never seen in the history of holoreels. I’ve heard reports of midnight showings of the picture including a sort of hologame ‘scoreboard’ that rings and counts up every time a Minmatar is killed — which is often.”
The Amarr Empire’s Ministry of Internal Order quickly banned The True Emperor in all the Empire’s territories. Responding to criticism of the production’s sex and violence, church spokesperson Calyce Io said that the holoreel does not present the theology of a mature sedevacantist believer, but instead attempts to spread a taste of sedevacantism among those who would not otherwise encounter it.