Intergalactic Summit

You may eventually find, Mr. Thessalonia, that there is a great difference between being blindly obedient and understanding one's place in things.

As an efficient but, in certain ways, damaged killer, I am fit to be a sword, not a king. That doesn't make it okay for me to blindly do as I'm told (I'm a self-wielding sword, quite a nifty innovation), but it does mean that if I decide not to serve a sword's function just because doing my part is not going to save the world all by itself, I am not doing my job.

Don't get me wrong: I am loyal to the State because it protects my mother's people, the Achura. This is nothing new.

And it should neither surprise nor disappoint you in the slightest that I value the school of thought and spirituality that makes me what I am over either the Gallentean path or Sansha Kuvakei's utopian lab explosion.



This is a statement of belief. Of course you believe you're right; you wouldn't be where you are, doing what you do, otherwise-- unless of course, you had those thoughts forcibly inserted into your cranium, which, in your line of work, is always possible.

We capsuleers are not true immortals, Mr. Thessalonia. And neither, for good or ill, are you. Ergo, you can perish. It's just a matter of working out how to do it. It may be that the one to figure out exactly how that's to be done will be a neurologist or a computer tech. It's even possible that being a capsuleer could be a disadvantage in working out the method.

It doesn't really matter. Until we come up with a method for eliminating you, or you come up with a method of eliminating or subverting us, I have something to protect, and I will do so.

And while we are expressing disappointment at the shallowness of one another's thought, here's my own:

I am disappointed, Mr. Thessalonia, that you simply expressed disappointment instead of asking me why.

We are capsuleers. Most of those involved in this conflict would be out somewhere in space killing anyway - maybe not all of those in this discussion, but most of the militia members at least. We have always been distractions, gladiators, entertainment in purely destructive form, have we not? Is that not why CONCORD cuts the strict legal ties our parent corporations and worlds once held over us, so that we remain as individual specks of dust in the void, glittering in the starlight but doing mostly random damage, rather than be shaped into the edge of a scalpel that could cut "civilized" space to the bone? Is it really worse to choose to be such in the name of one's people rather than to fatten one's own wallet for an arbitrary cause solely for the purpose of watching those ISK numbers climb?

As others have already suggested, while the proxy war is not particularly constructive and the sides appear no closer to peace now than they were when this started, buying time does allow for a change in that. If the end result is the same and the State and Federation start unleashing doomsday weapons on each others' worlds, and hundreds of billions or trillions die rather than hundreds of thousands, what was lost by delaying that outcome a few years - other than the time the militias have invested, and is it not their choice as to whether or not they find that a worthwhile investment?

I would have liked to nitpick the LG's original commentary, but it seems that it would be unproductive to do so this late in the discussion. I shall school myself to be patient, as I am sure that there will be more opportunities.

Oh, that's quite possibly true. Just to start with, I'm not quite sure who thought that turning us loose as independent operators and granting us quasi-sovereign legal status was a good idea.

... Of course, that's from a very specific point of view. If you look on us as, say, beneficiaries of Jovian web-spinning (not a possibility far from being fetched if you consider the enormity of the gift the Jove bestowed on us), it starts to make more sense. At one point, I strongly considered making that-- the possibility of being a Jovian scion-- the center of my approach to the universe.

Even if that were true, though, I would still want to see my mother's people and their faith survive. So....

That was rather brilliant Ms. Kim.

The tragedy is that they have the tools for endless war: Us.

In previous times, wars might not be won, but they could hardly be sustained at the intensity we capsuleers can maintain. Who knows? Maybe this is exactly what the Jove wanted of us. Watching you grind yourselves to a bloody paste might amuse the sick little fellows.

Hee. You sound as though you don't want to be a Jovian heir/puppet/experimental subject. You do know that your Master has been merrily implanting that same technology into plenty of skulls, himself, right? I wouldn't assume just yet that your boss has gone off-script.

I mean, directly attacking capsuleers? In ships designed to roughly match our own capabilities? Has he even pursued the "upliftings" any time recently?

With all due respect to your ideals, Mr. Thessalonia, you're starting to look a little practice dummy-ish.

A major difference between our perspectives seems to be this: yes, I'm aware of all this. Yes, I know I'm likely being manipulated from various sides. ... But I don't presume that it is necessarily bad to be manipulated. I haven't surrendered my judgment; I just "judge" that it's best to observe and play my part.

That way, if the time comes when I decide to go off-script, I might be able to.

A fragment, only, but true as far as it goes.

Oh, there is certainly a use in Jovian technology, but what I don't understand is the mindset of the Jovians. Are they benefactors? Possibly, but I wouldn't put a bet on it. More likely, and the evidence we have in the Foundations supports this, is that giving Pod technology to the rest of the cluster was either an experiment, or desperation. I tend to avoid attributing to malice that which can be attributed to ignorance, so I tend to lean towards desperation myself.

As to why? I don't know. When I find a Jovian, I will ask him.

As to this...



I'm have no doubt Kuvakei would use any technology he found to our advantage, however as far as I am aware the new Sansha ships and True Slaves are the result, entirely, of of the ingenuity of Nation, rather than the cast of detrius of a failed civilization. The Jovians overwhelmingly had a biotechnological fascination. Our fascination continues to rely primarily with cybernetics. You'll find the upgraded Nation vessels and True's to be constructed in the same fashion.

Mr. Thessalonia, a capsule interface is distinctly cybernetic in nature (to wit, a neural shunt), the original slave implants were based on capsule technology from the very beginning, and certain of SYNE's early investigations into the "upliftings" led us to a certain capsuleer turned Nation officer. Shortly after we made that find, True Slave ships started popping up with some distinctly capsuleer-like traits.

Draw your own conclusions.

If it makes any difference, I was one of the investigators.



... To the degree they ever wake up at all, yes?

Interesting claim, but I think that's a more recent development than you seem to suggest. The Master himself aside, I haven't seen or heard of many survivors from the first war, and the span in between was characterized as much by entire hidden communities perishing of neglect as by reconstruction.

In any case, I wasn't speaking of cloning technology at all. That, if I recall correctly, is our own innovation, not a Jovian gift.

The question you should be asking yourself is not whether you've managed impressive technical achievements. It's whether your Master is a madman, a visionary-- or a pawn.

If you're going to be paranoid about the Jove, there's no point in being selective about it, and there's plenty that's fishy about the Nation's recent behavior.

Did you hear that, just now?

It sounded ... a little like ...

... the largest and most sophisticated intelligence network in human history ...

... snickering.

Believe what you like, Mr. Thessalonia, but you may want to keep an open (and free-willed, if possible) mind, just in case.