Intergalactic Summit

I know of many Caldari who have embraced the Amarr faith. Many Gallente and Minmatar too, but not nearly as many as in the State. Some say people at the highest echelons of State society make pilgrimages to Amarr.

I'm astounded by how many times you manage to repeat this despite the fact that my allegiances have been firm from the very start, my love;

I want what is best for the Minmatar. I have always wanted what is best for the Minmatar.

I'll illustrate this for you;

At first, I thought that the Minmatar were the Republic, that I must serve in the Republic to serve Minmatar. I was wrong.

Second, I decided to work independent of the Republic and help the Minmatar, hoping that I could speak sense into those who followed it's errant government. I was wrong.

Now I stand where I should have from the start; under the Lord.

There's a saying about 'third times'...

For as often as you like to say that I change my allegiances (roughly once per conversation we have, my dear) you are keen to overlook that I have pursued the same goal all along.

If the Amarr truly cared about the souls of others, they would bring their religion to us in peace, not through war. We had peace during the time of the Minmatar Empire. We have not had peace since the arrival of the Amarr. If you wish to blame someone for our people being turned away from peace, blame the Amarr and their "God." Had the Amarr never arrived to enslave us, we would likely still be living in peace.

What is this I don't even.

I knew you were having problems, but. What?

What?

"You are illiterate."
"No you."

"Learn to read."
"No you."

The IGS in a nutshell.

In a way I admire the Empire and pity the Republic.

Because the Republic makes excuses for violence, where the Empire needs none.

For whatever reason, Republicans focus mostly on moralizing and justifying what little violence the Republic does (to be fair, the Republic seems grossly incompetent, directing fleets into Gallente space rather than Empire space where they belong) rather than frankly and honestly expressing a dire need for more of it.

In the old days, Matari warbands stretched as far as the eye could see, ships and equipment blocked out the sun.

Where are those warbands today? What is our answer to PIE? What is our answer to CVA? Why are Amarr POSes and stations allowed to sit in Providence with impunity?

Association with the Federation has done profound damage to our culture and way of life, to the point where we might as well have a seat on the senate and start ditty-bopping around in thongs.

Is it any wonder that our young people are running off?

In their hearts they seek strong battlemasters to lead them, and many are finding those strong battlemasters in Caldari outfits rather than Matari ones.

Halete did not fail us.

We failed Halete.

What's the fuss? It's not like she's moving to another soft drink or anything. ♥

Hahaha, "youth." And how old are you to be calling me "youth"?

Where were my mother and her mother? Living traditional Vherokior lives on Matar in our ancestral homeland, after we regained our freedom from the Amarr. As shamans, helping to re-establish the tradition of the Voluval once it no longer became necessary to hide the practice from the Amarr who tried to stamp it out.

Not all battles are fought with guns and swords, dear. Nor do the Gallente have even the slightest influence on my clan's culture.

Yes, we have always had warriors as part of our culture, but we were not warmongers as you suggest. We had peace, and our warrior aspect had, in many ways, become more tradition and ritual than anything else, and most of that found among tribes such as the Brutor. This is part of why we fell to the Amarr originally.

We are far more violent and war-interested now, since the rebellion and the assistance of the Gallente than we have been since before venturing into space.

Peace is not a lie. Peace is an ideal to strive for.

As for you, you're exactly the kind of warmongering drivel that reinforces the beliefs of other nations that we are simply spoiled/unmanagable children.

Holy crap, I'd forgotten just how ignorant you are.



You're the only one showing ignorance.



Please, tell me where you get this idea about our tribe names? it is true all our languages have been at least mildly influenced by Amarrian due to our people's time as slaves, but that's a far cry from "our names were given to us by the Amarr." For that matter, why would the Amarr give us tribal names when they were trying to eliminate our culture and our tribal identities altogether. That's one reason why there's many clans now that are a collection of "unrelated" individuals who banded together after attaining freedom, rather than being clans formed in the traditional manner, such as my own.

As for Republic, that is a term the Federation gave us when they helped us set up our original governmental system after we gained our freedom, when the Gallente were first trying to impose democracy on us. It is a term that does not really apply to our current government, but changing the name of our nation would probably carry with it annoying complications, not the least of which could include the Amarr Empire trying to loophole their way into launching a full reclaiming under the premise of "We signed a treaty with the Minmatar Republic, not the Minmatar [Empire/State/Nation/WhateverWordYouWantUsToUse].

Personally, I'm not terribly fond of democracy, and I know it won't work for us in the Gallentean format. At best, we'd need to adapt the concept to fit our Tribal systems, at worse we'd have to either abandon our tribal system (an unacceptable idea) or forego democracy altogether (preferable by far).



Regardless of the potential for practical application, that doesn't make it any less true that it had largely become tradition and ritual.



The only way in which the Gallente have been "worthy friends" is the simple fact that they helped us with our rebellion and have provided some degree of financial support. They have been quite unworthy in how they have treated us since, with constant condescension and disdain because we haven't accepted their culture and way of life.

Which brings me to another point, you are either oblivious or simply an idiot if you think that I, or my clan, has ever had any interest in accepting Gallentean culture and way of life. As I already stated, my clan are Vherokior traditionalists. We don't live in some "village." We have a settlement which we use for only 4 months out of the year for trade 4 months out of the year. The rest of the time, my clan is living as nomads in the desert.

I have also been a frequent voice in stating our displeasure and even anger with the Gallente Federation for their behavior and attitude towards our people, particularly how they treat us like children because we won't accept their culture and way of life, and view us as primitive savages because we would rather hold on to our tribal heritage and traditions than embrace the farce they call a Democracy.



Brutor are the traditional warriors, boy. Sebiestor and Vherokior, while having some warrior elements certainly, have never been the militant ones. It's not a lack of "cultivating a warrior ethos" that drives some of our people from the Republic. It's our weak economy and poor standard of living in much of the Republic that does it because we've been struggling to build ourselves up after centuries of slavery.

And your assessment regarding Halete is completely flawed. She didn't turn against the Republic because we don't teach our youth to be warriors. She turned against the Republic because we do teach our youth to be warriors, to seek out bloodshed, and deny the possibility of peace.

The only reason they're not in a position to reclaim us currently is the Gallente helping us makes is strong enough to fend them off. If they came for us and the Federation didn't help us, we'd lose. We'd put up one hell of a fight and it likely wouldn't really be worth it for the Amarr Empire to do it, but they'd still win. We're not that strong yet by any means.

As for being the Minmatar Empire, yes, that's what we called ourselves back before the Amarr Empire came and enslaved us. That doesn't mean it's what we have to call ourselves now, nor does Empire really describe the form of government the Federation convinced us to go with when we were re-establishing ourselves as a nation. It may not be as accurate now, but as I said, it would cause confusion if we changed the name now.



It had been a very long time since we'd had any kind of war before the Amarr came. Our tribes were at peace with each other and we had formed a centralized government with all our tribes working together.



Gallentean club? Where the hell did you get this idea? You're clearly refering to my comment in the romance thread about my occupation when my husband was attending university. There's not many universities in the desert. We weren't living with our tribe at the time. We were living in the city where his university was located. This was on Matar and the establishment was owned and run by a Brutor woman, and every employee and customer was Matari as well.

Clubs are hardly a Gallentean exclusive. Also, among the Vherokior, especially my clan and the other clans I've interacted with on Matar, we have very few taboos regarding sex, so I was hardly violating any traditional views of my clan. You think we didn't have strip clubs in the old Minmatar Empire? Or prostitutes?



The Vherokior were never really that involved in war, at least not directly. Once we returned from our exile in the desert, we may have been involved somewhat with selling weapons and such, but warrior traditions? Not that extensive, really. What traditions we still had were just remnants of when we'd been Starkmanir before our ancestors were exiled. And very little of that even remains today.

As for Sebiestor warrior tradition, maybe you should ask Ava Starfire about that, but it sure as hell doesn't fit what I've learned of Sebiestor.



Purpose? Yes. Belonging? Not necessarily.

Treachery is present in every culture, no matter how strong or weak. As are excuses and failures.

In fact, you've actually got it the wrong way around. Unity, industry, and success inspire strong cultures.

And by strong, I mean sturdy, resilient. Strength is not only found in combat and war. You would do well to learn this. And no, this is not Gallentean influence talking. This is something that we Vherokior learned long ago, and the more traditional Sebiestor I know have learned it as well.

You are right that we should not be simply embracing Gallentean culture, especially if it means losing our own culture. But you'd do best to gain a firmer grasp of our own cultures before you go around trying to tell others of our people what they should be doing.