Intergalactic Summit

If Imperials aren't attempting to convince people they come into contact with that the Imperial way is superior then they are seriously failing in their duty as Imperials.

That being said.

Conflicts between capsuleers are always going to be resolved either by changing the views of your opponents or by eroding their morale to the point that they don't resist you. So it would be impossible to triumph over proponents of the Imperial way without, ultimately, convincing them that they are wrong in following it.

Trying to do that is hazardous, because to do so you have to make yourself vulnerable to having your own views changed.

As I understand it Captain Jenneth is seeking to be a good guest and, whilst doing so, observe and learn. She isn't attempting to influence.

I would suggest that semi regular visits to non-Imperial enclaves within the Empire and occasional trips outside it would be useful in maintaining a proper sense of perspective and lessen the risk of utterly going native. That said I don't know how much of the captain's time is spent in direct service to her current corporation.

Entry Forty-Two: Weak, in Review

This has been coming for a while, I guess. It's a natural method of either scaring me off or discrediting me: make me out to be the target, the victim, of a campaign of manipulation meant to make me a tool of Empire-- a slave, even if I never wear a collar.

It's not like it's without basis, either. The Amarr, by and large, genuinely believe in the objective truth of their beliefs, and their duty to spread those beliefs to others. To some, even some Caldari, this probably looks like a memetic contagion, spreading aggressively across the world.

It's a hard one for SFRIM pilots, themselves, to answer. There's no method of denying it that can't be countered with a "See? You're proving my point!" It's harder still because its truth boils down to perspective.

Emerita Mithra tells me her thoughts; I respond with mine. Is this manipulation? ... Of course: all communication is. It's the process of making thoughts and concepts appear in somebody's mind. She's manipulating my thoughts; I'm manipulating hers.

I think she's a little stubborn, though. I think I'm a little stubborn, too.

From some angles, I should be easy prey for such a thing. I'm an amnesiac with a somewhat fragile and easily-influenced sense of self. Rather than remaining stubbornly unchanged, come what may, I tend to absorb the perspectives of the people around me.

I'm also pretty easy to hurt. A well-placed taunt isn't something I'm good at ignoring. One of those is a lot of what sent me to PY-RE: wounded pride.

I might be getting less vulnerable to this as time goes on. I hope so. I think that might be why I even care about this accusation, though. There's a thread in this narrative that pricks at my pride (it's probably supposed to): the notion that I'm a mark, a patsy. A victim. Prey.

Powerless. Weak.

So-- I guess I'm a cautionary tale, now. "Don't visit the Empire; you'll fall in love with someone, you'll meet another person you really admire, and you'll end up wanting to stay!"

Oh, wait. I'm being manipulated, so: "Don't visit the Empire; they'll make you fall in love with someone, you'll meet another person who's pretending to be really admirable, and you'll be lost forever as a slave to darkness!"

(Can you tell I resent this narrative just a bit?)

Here's what I know:

The Societas Imperialis Sceptri Coronaeque is dedicated, in part, yes, to spreading the Amarrian faith in the spirit of the Pax Amarria. This means that the method of conversion is reasoned persuasion (as practiced, yes, by Emerita Mithra) rather than the sword. (Isn't how the rest of us would normally prefer them to pursue the Reclaiming? Trying to persuade us instead of turning up with slave collars and laser rifles?) Of course I'm a target.

That is, in the very long term, because I'm also (here's where the pride comes in) a (somewhat) formally-trained Achur monk of the spiritually-skeptical Shuijing sect, which differs with the Amarrian faith on virtually every point starting with the very nature of reality itself. I'm literally someone from a different planet, and my beliefs are maybe a little bit entrenched.

I'm also permanently a curious critical thinker whose primary focus when looking at a society is its utility as a home for human beings. I'm not an enemy of the Empire, and I don't think I have to be-- but not even an atheist is likely to be as hard to convert.

I don't care for great causes. I'm loyal, however, by my own choice and at my own initiative, Deitra, to certain specific people. This has less to do with the Empire, and more to do with who they are as people, and who I wish to be. These people are loyal to the Empire, so-- so am I.

There was a time when I thought I was okay with exploring the dark, so long as I understood what I was doing. I think that act twisted me up more than anything I've done before or since, and I still haven't fully recovered. Maybe I never will.

If the light's been going out of my eyes ... that might be why. I'm not okay.

... but I'm better than I might have been. And that's because I'm here.

I apologize for rambling. It's a little hard to respond very coherently to such a broad perception, but....

If friendship, love, kindness, patience, warmth, and decency are a trap-- I guess maybe I'm okay with falling into it.

Lady, you can go stay with a Vherokhior caravan and travel with them through the Sobaki Desert and the Imperials will use a similar rhetoric back at you. You go and stay with a specialty coffee shop owner who had seen and learnt too many things in Crystal Boulevard you hear the same thing from the Caldari. If you stay with the Caldari the Feds will, okay, they don't give a damn about that.

My point is don't listen to them. You figure out what you want to do, who you choose to be your mentor and move on with your life. Any choice you make, someone somewhere is going to make it political because heck if I know. If you decide to base your opinions and life choices on someone who is trying to drag politics into something or other for whatever reason, you will end up playing an endlessly frustrating game of knocking heads with other very hard-headed individuals who are utterly convinced that they can't be wrong in any way. You have much better things to do than play that game.

Like giving out life-changing hugs of redemption, for example.

This is still happening? I know of teens that find their place and happiness quicker.

Speaking of lost and confused I finally read Mokk's post. What kind of nonsensicle, pseudo-intellectual clap trap is this from a man who has moved his personal goal posts more frequently then I aquire new teas.

To hear Mokk gushing about seeing the world through different eyes while he dances merrily between selling slaves and tcmc products for personal profit, rubbing up to the Kingdom before flipping over to the Cartel while all the while, Truly Trufully! He was still on our side! And now speaking of no longer being part of that same said process, I fail to even comprehend how one can try to speak from some moral highground.

Your esteemed former Lordship, you draw a heavy and long broad stroke about some people's intentions and desires while forgetting, as has been pointed out already, that the influence goes both ways. Yes, there are some that would put collars around Aria's neck, hell they'd put a collar round mine too for my father's blood. Others seek to teach and convert through direct education and others still by simple example. But in return there are a good number of the Amarr Capsuleers that have quietly observed and supported the choices made, the hard questions asked and the potentials filled, to whatever end that will be.

Regardless of all that, at every step of the way the good people of SFRIM, unlike your formerly ennobled self, have stuck by their principles through both praise and criticism, and that includes the option of leaving, with no baggage and no expectations, imparted on all members.

Aria's own journey has touched many, including my own, and while doubtless I have had some small imprint on her path I ever remain the dog watching wistfully at the flying bird. Where she ends up finally nesting, if at all, is no one's business but hers.

Being friends with and "going native" are two totally separate things. There are a few Amarr who i trust and consider friends, I don't drop who I was to be like them.

Well then...... I think I can......uh...take your.....um......opinions on this for what it's worth......Ya...

Well, I don't feel I'm wrong in saying it seems you've changed (in your writing in this at least). I'm a little surprised to see how fractured your people are, though honestly I guess it's to be expected given due to....well every little thing that comes out becomes a ******* match. Knowing your mainly acting in support of your own Corp, why bother supporting the other factions of it who can't trust you?

Honestly I don't think I used the correct word to describe what I meant. Either way you got the question i was asking and answered it. That makes sense, thanks for the answer.

I think Mr. Onzo was half-Caldari and True-Amarr? That.. amazing chin!