Intergalactic Summit

But I thought CONCORD was supposed to be in the business of brokering peace?

CONCORD's definition of peace is a lot like my definition of chastity.

"not doing it in the streets and frightening the horses" ?

A good question. We're weapons in this war; naval combat's kind of our focus. Fire and death is in a way our default, so, maybe we really can't.

Maybe we can, though.

It seems like, for real dialog to happen, it needs to be understood that there can be a lot of daylight between someone who is loyal to their nation, or even a "loyalist," and a nationalist. (There's a scale of nationalists, too; it seems like both the Patriots and Templis Dragonaurs can be fairly described as nationalist entities.) It's basically the difference between liking where you live, wanting it to be safe, and being willing to stand up for it, versus wanting all possible power (or at least lots and lots of it) to gather at that place and in the hands of those people.

I tend to see the balance of power between the empires as a good thing. It keeps the peace, such as it is, and lets us live alongside each other for the most part. It lets people live peaceful lives, and the longer it lasts, the less likely it might become that someone will decide they ought to break it.

I suspect that there are a lot of "loyalists" who'd agree with me. A nationalist likely wouldn't, or would see the balance of power as a tool, an opportunity to jockey for position: "Why should my nation accept this endless stalemate? If we gather our strength, we can seize the advantage. It's the only way to assure our safety."

Happily there are people like that everywhere, so they maybe kind of cancel each other out by driving self-interested programs that mostly either get cancelled out by someone else's advances somewhere else or get shared by treaty or stolen by spies or something. Only, sometimes someone gets a real advantage, and then there's trouble-- especially when they mistakenly think it's a decisive one.

So, in a way, the status quo seems acceptable to me. The empires trade and bicker; the "Pendulum War" draws in strong partisans and thins their numbers while maybe simultaneously sharpening them up as tools of war without breaking the balance of power; those of us in the middle get on with our lives with a solid, reliable infrastructure still in place to support us.

Civilization remains. It probably will, whatever we small, dangerously-independent weapons do. So maybe in a way it doesn't matter whether we, ourselves, can do better. In a sense, if we can reach no common ground and all we can do is kill each other, we're only doing what we're supposed to. It's what we're for.

Only ... maybe, if we could do better ...

Ending the Pendulum War or reducing our cluster-wide body count seems like too much to hope for, but it's not like we don't have strong interests in common. There are mysteries and threats that haunt us all: Sansha's Nation, the Drifters. We can work together in a crisis; the Kyonoke Inquest proved it. Even the outer powers helped us do what we needed to. It was a Goonswarm pilot who found the final vial.

There's no need to resolve everything right now. Tensions and differences are always going to be there; it's not like they disappeared even during the Inquest. But, maybe if we set those aside for a while, to the degree we can, and focus on resolving the problems we really do share, other paths forward might open by the end.

Probably some of us will do just that-- some of us already do-- and some on the fringes will denounce us for it. That's okay. That's inevitable, even. New Eden's broad enough to leave paths open for just about everybody.

The question, I guess, more, is what your own path will be, Mr. Syagrius.

Ultimately, the underlying causes of the tensions need to be addressed before we can hope for anything more than what we've got.

The Gallente need to get the hel off Caldari Prime. It's lovely and all that those colonists have lived there for centuries, but it's the whole 'fruit of the poisoned tree' problem. It's illegal to profit from stolen goods in most places—including the Federation—and that planet was stolen.

The Amarr need to stop using cultural violation (which is not the word that best describes the Reclaiming, but it's all that will get through the censors here) and slavery as acceptable societal tools. The people still enslaved must be released. It's lovely that you all want to bring people to God. It's still a damned criminal act. And because I included the blatant 'this is stolen property, that's why it's wrong by your own damned laws' for the Gallente, and so many damned Amarr seem to think the Reclaiming is somehow a wonderful idea that can't possibly be a damned war crime...

Take Amarr A and Matari B. Amarr A has a [redacted]. Matari B wants nothing to do with the Amarr's [redacted]. The Amarr doesnt' care what the Matari wants. So they just go ahead and try to force their [redacted] into the Matari, regardless of objection, lack of consent, etc. And they keep trying, and keep shoving, again and again, ignoring protests and cries for help, because they want to make sure they leave something behind in there.

Clutch that image to your chests whenever you wax rapturous about the Reclaiming. It doesn't matter if what you're trying to shove into someone without their consent is your culture, your faith, or your meat popsicle. Anyone who advocates doing it deserves nothing short of a bullet to the gonads and a slow, excruciating death. And every Amarr Holder who currently owns slaves is participating.

The State and the Republic need to let go of their need for vengeance.

Caldri, the Federation is not coming to oppress you, your home-grown leaders are more than capable of doing that for themselves. Get back what was yours, and be satisfied with that.

Matari, if the Empire can be persuaded through diplomacy to give up their barbarism and their assault on basic human decency and human rights, we have to accept it, and not try pushing for them to make reparations, or give up their God-nonsense, or whatever else we might think will be necessary to secure lasting peace.

And then, most importantly, and most long-term, we all need to recognize that there is clearly something wrong with armor-tanking ships, because it apparently leads you to invading other peoples' homeworlds.

Only, as you're undoubtedly already aware, Arrendis, every single thing you said is more complicated than the way you said it.

By a lot.

If compromise were so easy, we'd have done it already. If we have to fight until those core questions get addressed as you prescribe, we're going to be fighting for a long time.

But there's maybe stuff we can do that doesn't have to wait on resolving all that.

Actually I was, but your reply made it abundantly clear, that you only want 'peace' on your terms.

My aim was to create a space where we might collectively tone down our rhetoric. Without clarification you assumed, a trait you seem to dislike in others, that I had judged you wrongly.

I understand that you are not ideologically akin to Ms. Kim or Mr. Horn. That doesn't mean you are not a nationalist loyal to your own if in a different fashion, as I am.

But as you say, "not worth the time." A pity indeed.

We already have. It's called the CEWPA.

They know Arrendis. Most would call it noble to strive for high ideals that you will never see the rewards of.

I'm pretty sure the "PR war" would be lost the moment someone starts death-worlding entire planets.

That is assuming that they'd have time to care, what with the State and Federation would probably again be at each others throats at a moments notice if stuff goes down between Minmatar and Amarr, while CONCORD twiddles its thumbs in the background as usual.

Oh, right. Also what Arrendis said, not that it will ever happen.

James, you aren't the only one who has had his heart broken lately. I honestly and truly thought that, perhaps, both sides were tired enough of stalemate to accept an honourable peace. I was wrong. The Patriot and Practical blocs are nervous of Ishukone's new prestige and... I've given up trying to understand the Federal Senate.

Why did I speak as I did? Because I believe it's truth. I think that Roden and Blaque are criminals. I think they're spitting on the laws and traditions of the Federation. I believe they employ other criminals who don't scruple to commit an atrocity if said atrocity is being committed against the Caldari. I believe that they mistake this for realpolitik. I know what goes on in some of the dark corners of the cluster where the news cameras don't penetrate. I believe that Foiritan would never have stooped so low. I believe few of the people I view as Gallente patriots are comfortable with this situation.

I'm no longer convinced that war is inevitable - in fact I'm bringing to an end to the evacuation project on Monday - but I will continue to ship these people out on a much more comfortable schedule, if they so wish, and I will be closing down the Arcology project in favour of a similar one in State space.

I am done with Caldari Prime. I now believe that Home is nothing more than an endless well of pain and loss that exists to tempt The State to do things which put all our people at risk. Without it, we will endure. With it we will be complete. I'm now prepared to entertain a much longer time line on that acquisition - which is good, because I think the Senate will yank that rug out from under Ishukones feet at some time in the near to mid future.