Intergalactic Summit

[As requested by Manwe Todako from http://www.eveonline.com/iNgameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1571916]

I'm not giving up, I'll never give up, but I'm losing hope.

I won't bother to look up when Kuvakai returned... I just know it feels like it was much longer ago than it really has been. The Nation is made of flesh and machine but it might as well be stone; every battle that's been won to hold the incursions back hasn't slowed the inevitable next attack.

The sheer number of their forces has eclipsed whatever my imagination could predict. At first I was afraid, I knew they were a bigger threat than rogue drones could ever really be, but I knew there would be people willing to fight with the firepower necessary. Now I'm not afraid anymore. I'm not resigned... I do know I'm reaching a limit I've never really faced before.

Even if I step away to allow myself to recover, I don't think rest will come easy facing the guilt that I am not helping to eliminate the biggest threat to Humanity that we have ever faced. The Nation doesn't just take your allegiance, they take your dreams and expectations. They delete memes and turn people into war processors. It's not a fight over beliefs, it's absolute subjugation of our ability to hold beliefs.

That's why I have to ask all who will hear me to do the same as Sansha's Nation must do. I won't dare to tell you that your wars and conflicts are less important than this. I'm not fighting those battles, I can't understand them so I can't judge them. I must ask, however, for everyone to reevaluate their current positions and objectives.

There is a very real possibility, should the Nation forces continue to show such resilience, that they can conquer the entire cluster should they choose to. They don't suffer the limitations we do. We have to be conceived, grow, learn, practice and choose which sides we're on.

The Nation only has to kidnap and manipulate us in a way we can't resist. They change the ratio of progress exponentially with every capture. Like bacteria dividing, they not only have their initial force but they gain more with each generation.

Every person who joins the fight is important, but we'll need more... many more... because I know I'm not the only one starting to break.

People discuss the Nation in their most recent months. "They haven't achieved anything of late" "They aren't a threat anymore" "I'll go do something that actually has an impact."

It's only due to the vigilance of those who keep watch, those who stand ready and answer the call to Arms when Nation arrives, that Kuvakei's effect has been diminished. His Capsuleer puppets are sent out in force only to be beaten back time and time again.

Sentiments like those I first mentioned do nothing but undermine the resolve of those who stand guard. It is not a war that will end soon, if it ends at all. It is a boring, tireless, thankless job for those who undertake it. But there is no want for glory in this, no decorations of distinction, ranks or other honours presented. You're paid accordingly by the DED for your work, and nothing more is said or done.

But without that vigilance, without that resolve and will to stand ready and fight, Kuvakei will come back and will be the danger he was before we drew the line and opposed him. Or does it take the abduction of millions more to see this?


Never lose hope Captain. While you or I may never see the end of Kuvakei, or swear ourselves into a service that will last for generations to come, know that everything you do to oppose him matters. We may not be tearing down Stain and hoisting his head up on a pike for the whole Cluster to see. But every time we save lives, reduce his forces by another statistical number, and stay committed to the cause, we're winning.

I appreciate the input of all of you and those who spoke before I moved this discussion to the new GalNet service. When I began, I had believed that the rapid response of empires and individuals would put Kuvakei to shame in weeks, maybe months. I didn't want to think that this could be a serious and persistent threat.

This has become my life, now. Playing with propaganda and rebellion in Star Faction revealed to me a world I was unaware of in Dantbeinn. The empires and factions. The sheer vastness of New Eden. Politics. Commerce. War. Strife. From my little perch I couldn't see what was all around me. I hadn't taken any of it seriously, I didn't know who I was or what I could do.

In Aegis Militia I came to know the Amarr in such an intimate way I never thought I could understand. I'd been raised to believe they were a malignant, faceless monster. When I saw the imperialist nature, the religion and castes. The aristocracy and proletariat. I discovered that me simply being a capsuleer broke the social workings in such an incredible way. Though I was Minmatar, many Amarr were forced to treat me courteously and respectfully. I only wish I had treated my peers better.

I've had many friends and many people who I thought were enemies. I've taken many sides and learned many ways people think. I've come to see ethics as nothing near black and white, but there is one thing I know to be absolutely wrong.

Between Humans, war is a perpetual idea that is driven by any idea someone can have. We can be irrational, we do terrible and stupid things. I know it is the power of an idea... a meme... a translatable process of thought that allows us to choose to do awful things, but this does not prove we aren't allowed to have ideas.

What Kuvakei is doing isn't murder. When you murder someone, they can persist in ideas and be remembered.

Kuvakei isn't corrupting anything. When something is corrupted, it is changed. Something is replaced by something else.

What Kuvakei is doing is daring to choose on our behalf what is best for us. He is snuffing our existence, destroying the ideas we have and the ability for us to choose to have ideas. This isn't for survival. This isn't a conflict of interests. This isn't even a child with dangerous toys. This is the denial of Humanity.

I may be fighting this battle until I die, and that day I may look back on this day as history. It could be generations. It could be centuries. Someday I may be a machine hellbent on fighting machines, but, at the risk of condemning myself... I swear I will never want what Sansha wants.

Incursions are extremely expensive and fundraising is always appreciated. Screaming Meercats tries to replace losses on behalf of our cause but I know my new allies' pockets can only be finitely deep.

Awareness of the threat may motivate people to take up arms or also choose to work in non-violent ways. Good propaganda is time-consuming and, unfortunately, even pilots who are incidentally united in the fight against Sansha forces do not share many beliefs. Convincing factions to work together may not only improve the resistance against the Nation now but also forge new relationships later.

Studying the enemy has been critical in many wars in the past. Learning more of capsuleers who have voluntarily sided with Kuvakei may help to protect others from falling into the trap. This may even further your cause of non-violence by building bridges between the sympathizers and the resistance; this war may yet end with harmony and the Nation as a peaceful empire. I don't personally believe it but these attacks so deep in civilized space needs to stop.

Managing mobilized depots with packaged ships and equipment commonly used in these battles could be very profitable and allow pilots to bound back into the fight without scurrying across the whole damned cluster.

I have more ideas but I'm exhausted from a day of losing most of my property. it's disappointing that monsters like Goonswarm would want to cripple the fleets that are working to protect them from the Nation. At least those bastards destroyed the guiding mothership after us. Really not my day.

There is a vast difference between peace and submission.

Kuvakei does not offer peace, he offers to replace all that you are with all that he wants you to be.

Your attempt to say there is no victory is fallacy, Kuvakei has been defeated before, he will be defeated again. As long as there are those that stand against him, he will not accomplish his goals and I assure you, the Honor Guard will always stand against him.

Hypocritical nonsense from a supporter of a Nation waging war to spread its ideals of what it believes are best for all humanity. I do not fear the loss of individuality, I abhor it. I do not fear Nation, I fear the reality of what it stands for.

We wage war against one another, yes. That does not make it our nature to do so, it makes it a step in our collective histories. Nation doesn't bring "unity," it brings subjugation. It wages war to bring it about and destroys everything that opposes it.

Your "Nation" isn't some idealistic utopia, it's one man's vision for the rest of humanity and his obsession with bringing it about.

I'll keep my missiles, turrets, freedom and individuality. You can keep the change.

I propose a challenge then, my determination and willpower against your vast stockpile.

We'll see who's reserves run dry first.

Oh, this is rich. You presume to judge me in ignorance by claiming that I judge Nation in ignorance and insist that I am a man full of hate and rage? Please tell me that you can see the irony and hypocrisy of that.

Spoken with a True Slave? No. I've never met one.
Spoken with a True Citizen? Sure, usually when they're spouting nonsense about how Nation will conquer all while piloting a Nation carrier and engaging non-nation forces in incursions.
Spoken with supporters of Nation? Aye, I have done that as well. In fact, I asked quite a lot of questions and have had them answered. My apologies if I did not come to you first, I wasn't aware Nation had individuals that would take it personally if I spoke with someone else instead of them.

My government hasn't told me one thing about Nation, and even if it had, I wouldn't need it to in order to see Nation's tendrils and effects all around me. Haven't really engaged in hating the Federation, Amarr or Matari as a whole people or even their governments either...so, I suppose I'm failing to live up to the blind, propaganda infused, bigoted, spiteful, hateful, fearful wretch that you seem to think I have been conditioned to be.

As to your second-to-last statement, I would completely agree. Only one of us saw fit to attack the other personally instead of attack the argument. Only one of us judged the other in ignorance. Which obviously means I disagree with your last statement.

I will, however, give you a chance to prove yourself a man of integrity and courage. Instead of sitting within your pod, engaging in fighting Nation's battles for it, why don't you make your way to Kuvakei and let him make you into a True Slave? Why not let him mold you into the perfect image of his Nation? Step outside of your capsule and submit yourself wholly to your master. Because your master has made it clear that you're of little-to-no-use to him from the pod, you don't even fit into his utopia.

Individuals stand against Nation daily, or have you forgotten the fact that we're not all True Slaves yet?

There is nothing natural about Nation, it is therefore not a force of nature. It is driven by the whims of one man, not nature.

If you're going to argue for Nation, at least do so logically and with facts, not with idealistic mantras and bravado.

As amusing as your failed attempts at witticisms are, I cannot stay and listen any more. I have made my point, and my duties to the Master call. I am a busy man, and there is much work to be done to prepare the way for Nation's victory. Good day, and I hope that I have opened...someone's eyes, even if I doubt I did so for either of the pilots I have addressed here today.