The Loss of Faith

Fiction Portal Intergalactic Summit
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Since climbing into the pod, I have used my new-found abilities to explore. I’ve explored myself, explored my people, explored space.

I set foot on Starkman Prime. I spent two months with a sect of Amarr nuns, who were surprisingly patient to my questions. I spent a year traveling Matar and visiting myriad clans and all the tribes. I read the Book of Arzad. Some of the words still give me pause, and I still search for their meaning.

However, one thing that I know for a certainty is that the Amarr failed the Matari. We were their test, a test they failed. The Matari were not reclaimed. It is entirely possible they might not be.

Had the Amarr come in peace offering friendship, like the Ni-Kunni or Khanid, then I believe with all my heart that we would be elevated along side them in a Holy Amarr Empire. However, their greed, avarice, hubris kept them from such. They turned from the path of righteousness. The Day of Darkness was not just a horrible day for the Matari, but the death of the Holy Amarr Empire.

Since then, their sins have mounted to the point where a reformation is demanded, but their history, in the Scriptures, have been rewritten, edited, revised and changed to the whims of their Emperors to suit them. A man that I grew up learning about as a heretic and a traitor was welcomed back as a heir and king. A heir cloned and was welcomed back as Empress. Blooders were welcomed in the trials. These are things that happened in my lifetime, things that I know. Events that happened before are beyond the veil of rewritten history.

Slaves are still being executed, tortured, and ground under heel. As Torus Arzad said, “Salvation comes through servitude, the grace of your masters, the dignity of your being.” When servitude is perpetual, the masters without grace, and the dignity of each being denied, there can be no salvation found for those still enslaved in the Amarr Empire. Whatever Holy Charge holders once possessed, they have abrogated with their sins too myriad to count. They no longer have the right to hold slaves. It is the duty of the Matari people as a whole to free their enslaved kin, for they cannot find salvation in Amarr.

The Matari cause is not merely just, it is righteous. If the Amarr will not voluntarily release every Matari slave, then the forces of the Matari Tribes will be their reckoning.

It saddens me to say this, to get to this point. I didn’t even know I was going to wind up here before I started writing, but it is the logical conclusion. The Salvation of the Matari will not end with this emancipation, but begin, as their own kin can guide them to God and righteousness. Without the True Amarr (who are no longer True), or the Holy Amarr Empire (which is no longer Holy), service to God will have to take a different path, a path we Starkmanir are now walking. Perhaps, in the future, if there is a Reformation of the Holy Amarr Empire, the Matari and Amarr can meet as friends and equals.

For now, each of us alone must look for the Light of God to light our path however we can. I just pray that I can still find it.

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Such is the lie of God, sister.

I do wonder what went wrong in the history of the Empire for things to turn out as they did. Why previously enslaved races like the Ni-Kunni where uplifted while the Minmatar had never. Many generations have been spent in servitude to the Amarr ,and to this very day our race is still kept in chains, with only a pathetic minority ever attaining freedom, and only ever as exceptions.

What, indeed, happened? Why where previous races ultimately elevated and we never where? Even the Mandate, which cares only for a minority of Minmatar, was only set up in response to our rebellion.
You are probably right, that it IS their greed, avarice, hubris, and sin that kept them from seeing their own foolishness. For I will consent this much to the Amarr: Had there been a light at the end of our tunnel, just as there was for the Ni-Kunni and Khanid, I am quite certain we would not be in this situation, and that there would be no Republic.

Which I suppose, means that we should thank the Amarr for their selfishness, for had they been any more benevolent, we would be in a much worse position. Now we are free, with our own customs, and we have our own nation that can compete with, and someday surpass, the Empire they cling to.

The only thing to mourn is that it took so long for us to get here. Even if you believe in God, you don’t need the Amarr to show you the way. They don’t even know it themselves.

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Volume.

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Emperor Damius III. Formerly known as Damius Khanid.
He was the one who ordered the invasion.

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Supposedly they submitted to their fate more willingly than us as well, as did many of the Nefantar who became the Ammatar.

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Irony: those of us who did willingly submit, even eagerly embrace their teachings… had their planet glassed out from under them.

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Soo much this… Yes.

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If there is any tragedy more significant, any atrocity worse, I have not found it. To this day, the Starkmanir Tribe doesn’t appear on the population break down of the Republic because we are statically insignificant. So, maybe, just maybe, we could refrain from callous, pithy, and trite references to the attempted destruction of a whole people. Not only did the Ardishapurs destroy Starkman Prime, they attempted to have every Starkmanir who was off planet murdered as well.

I believe it is appropriate to mourn the loss of a once-great empire that had so much to offer the Cluster. I sometimes imagine how things could have been different, the glories we could have achieved with a united cluster under a righteous Emperor and find myself delving into despair. Now, we are all blind, feeling in the dark. The only difference is the Amarr do not know it.

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You must forgive me if I disagree, sister, for I have been liberated for too long to still cling to those antiquated notions.

The Amarr Empire has always been a greedy institution bent on overpowering and enslaving those around it. Even if most of the early victims ultimately “earned” freedom, the very act is no blessing on anyone, and I maintain that a god that demands such cruelty is no god worth worshiping.

Your fantasy is a noble and pure one, and it would be quite a dream indeed. But it has never been more then a dream. Amarr has never been like that. At best, there where periods in time where it had no enemy to overwhelm, and it calmed down as a matter of necessity.

None of us, however, are blind. We will find our way through this, as our ancestors did long before the Amarr arrived. And this time we know of the dangers that lay beyond our borders.

There are many ways to add your voice to the chorus, do not fear.

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There was nothing callous, pithy, or trite about my reference to a crime against humanity. What they did to your Tribe should serve as a stark reminder to every man, woman, and child in the cluster: Even cooperation will get you killed if one of their nobles gets pissy about things.

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I believe the saying goes “true nobility is Savage.” If not, well it certainly seems that way if history is to be any indicator.

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:face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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:facepalm:

No pun intended.

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There is no such thing as uplifted in the Amarr Empire. There are the True Amarr and then there are slaves…

It’s just the type of a leash that changes the context somewhat…

As to the why, there are many explanations but the most prevailing one is…numbers and size. Even with the splinter tribes we were the most advanced civilization (if not Kingdom) the Amarr had conquered( in terms of comparing civilizations they had already conquered).

So much so that even with so many years of slavery, much of our identity remained. The short answer?

They needed more time…

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“We”, Mr. Sepphiros?

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I was more upset about your casual verbiage. However, if no offense was meant, then none is taken, Ms. Arrendis. As casual as I find your language, your points are well made. it’s clear the Amarr have not been living in a state of Grace for some time. Even the righteous men, like Torus Arzad, were ultimately killed by those who wished to cement their own positions, sinecures with no obligations to God or their servants. I am sure there were others, there might still be some, but it’s not so much a rotten apple spoiling the barrel; it’s a whole rotten barrel filled with rotten apples. One single ripe fruit cannot remain so under these conditions.

It is clear now that the only way to be faithful to God and His Will is to leave the rotten, decaying structure of the Empire. While it is ruled by those like House Ardishapur, there can be no salvation. Not for the Amarr, and certainly not for the Matari.

In the days on Amarr Prime, when the True Amarr still followed God, I can see that a certain amount of Reclamation by the sword might be necessary. It wasn’t always the case, but it did happen. The True Amarr’s position as holders was also justified by their righteousness. However, without that righteousness, the surety of God’s command to his Chosen people, all of that is unjust. The True Amarr were Chosen because they were Faithful. To turn from the path of God is to cease to be His Chosen.

God didn’t command the destruction of Starkman Prime, nor the atrocities that were committed in His name. That was all men, fallen from Grace.

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Maybe so but the fact remains that the so-called True Amarr set themselves up as the pinnacle of humanity with divinely mandated power as judge, jury and executioner over everyone else, us “lesser races” and “heathens”. I have a big issue with that.

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That their actions were done outside the Light of God condemns them all the more. That they claim to have Divine Authority where they do no condemns them all the more. There are no more lesser races; even the once-righteous True Amarr are no longer True.

My words were not meant to absolve the Amarr. So yes, your taking issue with what the Amarr have done is perfectly reasonable.

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Probably means that Wannis is Starkmanir. Or at least a majority part…

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Which part though ? The spleen ?

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