Intergalactic Summit

Gutter Press today received a report from an Impetus employee, about alleged Black Eagles harassment !

Disturbing !

Impetus, the leading holo film producer in New Eden, employs many script writers and one such script writer related a worrying tale to Gutter Press personnel.

"I was in my apartment, writing some dialogue for a new romantic comedy film" said the Impetus employee, who wished to remain anonymous.
"There was a scene, in which the young female protagonist is telling her friend about a bad date that she was on, and the line of dialogue was 'It was over quicker than Heth's invasion of Caldari Prime". Not more than half an hour after I had typed that into my machine, there was a knock at the door"
"A group of dark-uniformed men were there, saying they were from the SDII, and that I should 'consider carefully' what I included in my scripts, and that 'unacceptable criticism of the Federation Navy will not be tolerated'. Then one of them without as much as a 'by your leave' just grabbed my machine's keyboard and erased the line of dialogue!"

Shocking !

Other Impetus employees also reported that they had received correspondence from the SDII, criticising them for alleged "un-Federal activities", and warning them of "dire consequences" should they continue in their course of action.
"My roommate, she was warned by some Black Eagle dudes, and the next day, a hovercycle nearly ran her down! Coincidence? I don't think so!" said one alarmed person.

Black Eagles director Mentas Blaque is no stranger to controversy, and was not available for comment on this alleged incident.

Gutter Press, if it looks like news, you'll read about it here!

I do like the Gutter Press. Truly, I do. I think because they dare to report where no other reporter dares to go they are living up to the highest ideals of Gallentean society. Individual Liberty!

That being said, I am also no fool. I can assure Pilot Raker that if anyone actually identified themselves as a member of SDII, then you can be absolutely certain that those folks do not belong to that organization. When those cloak and dagger folks "introduce" themselves... its usually with a black hood over your head, ski masks over theirs and neural probes attached to your skull. Knocking on a door and threatening!! Puh-lease. That is so beneath them as to be laughable. They'd sooner shoot you than threaten you! Who do you think your dealing with?

I think you should interview your witness again. Did he observe his visitors departure? Did they fly away in Kestrels? Personally, I think you make a far more convincing plot for a classic 'Diana Kim' operation!

Depending on what exactly you did, Black Eagles will use intimidation before lethal force when possible. If you saw something you shouldn't have for example, they typically use blackmail or just make your life very difficult through forcing you out of your job or damaging property for you to keep silent.

If they do indeed believe you are committing a treasonous act, then you'll find yourself either dead or in an interrogation room.

At the core, the Black Eagles are an anti-terrorism and treason organization. Unless you are in the military or politics, seditious statements aren't going to get you killed. A warning and maybe a punch in the face by Gustav is more likely.

And with that said. This is Gutter Press, a satire news network and as a result, stories will either be extremely simplified or extremely exaggerated, and that's assuming they are true in the first place. I'm a huge fan of Gutter Press and what they do, but I'm quite confident that even they don't pass themselves off as a definitive source of news.

Gutter Press is satire and parody, and probably the among best at doing this in the cluster.

Individualism vs communalism is a conflict in all the empires, save Nation. The difference is that the Federation, they're so heavily weighted towards individualism that they've codified a set of legal rights for the individual, specifically ways in which the community is not to disrupt the individual autonomy.

Because of this, any possible disruption of autonomy produces anxiety. Attacking the idea of the individual is often seen as worse than actually attacking a person.

Please do not mislead readers with such blatantly erroneous assumptions.

You'd be surprised actually, a fair number of people want to see the Federation turn into a more communal society. The Unionist and Ultra Nationalist are striving for this, yet have different methods of doing so. The Unionist want to see the Federation bolstered by strong working class and a more even distribution of wealth. The Ultra Nationalist essentially want to turn the Federation into something akin to the Caldari State under Heth.

This is probably the best way to go about it. I look at the scriptures purely philosophically my self, and thinking about different situations they can be applied to is quite entertaining. I've also found it a priceless resource in dealing with people of faith as you begin to understand how they approach a situation different than you. Things they do and say that make no sense suddenly do.

Of course, I'm not going to be converting any time soon. Mainly because I am a man of science. If one hundred percent verifiable, and one hundred percent repeatable evidence arises that there is not only a God but it is your God specifically, then and only then will I even consider the possibility of conversion. I feel this is the attitude most Gallenteans have as well, and even then there are folk who could get punched in the face by God and then eat dinner with him and still refuse to believe purely out of spite. This is especially common among former slaves who made it to the Federation, but you really can't blame them.

Regardless, keep using a philosophical humanist approach in the Federation. That will be your best bet. Gallenteans are typically anti-authoritarian and don't like being lectured or ordered around. I doubt you do this but it's good to keep in mind. However, there is a dark side to the philosophical approach as well. I've found that the difference between a Gallentean of faith and an Amarrian are so massive that they can't even be considered to be following the same religion. Of course, this depends on how you view liberal interpretations of the scriptures (keeping in mind that liberal for you is like conservative to us). The main reason for these loose interpretations of the scriptures is that Gallente individualism tends cause people to like to add their own personal touch to things, including religion. People will add the most bizarre and even stupid beliefs to a religion just to make it their own. I once met a rather strange woman who insisted that the winds from Caldari Waysism were literal winds caused by a cosmic giant farting in space.

I think we are somewhat more alike than you might think. Whereas your average Amarrian certainly begins with a very dry, doctrinarian approach to Scripture, we know that being able to read and quote the Scripture word for word doesn't necessarily imply that you understand it. Wise Amarrians will tell you that we can quote the Scriptures back and forth, at least as much as we have to quote, but that we have spent all these thousands of years struggling to understand all of its meanings. It is almost shocking, sometimes, that you may come across a problem today that people could not have thought about all those thousands of years ago, and yet when we finally come upon the right way we see that it was already in the Scriptures. We simply didn't understand.

By way of example, there is a very moralistic tale of a noble huntsman named Septicus that appears frequently quoted some three thousand years ago. When we finally had the complete copy, we had a story about a noble who hunted his lands every day, vowing to exterminate a rodent pest that was nearly impossible to eradicate at that time in history. The story goes that he went out into his land, firing his rifle, and every day he would think his work done. Then, the next morning, he would see another of these rodents and do it again. The story goes that the noble began to turn more and more of his attention to this work. He turned his industries into powderworks and gun stores. He razed his fields to starve the rodents. He bent himself so far towards this destruction that his people starved. His works crumbled. Soon, he was left with a desolate feifdom and himself an old man. Yet, even though he had no powder nor working gun nor the strength to fire again, he saw the rodents, of indeterminable number, feasting upon his people.

When the rodents came for him, he asked them, "Why could I not kill you?" The rodents answered, before consuming him, "We have come from the other fields, beyond you guns. You are spent. You have not been killing us, but you."

All paraphrased, this story is a bit long to quote the entire way through, though I can transcribe or send you a copy of the text in Gallentean. All these thousands of years later, we look to the Scriptures and see answers to our problems. Problems we simply did not see coming the way they did, but now seem so obvious.

As it stands, I think my approach has worked fairly well for precisely the reasons you ascribe, though I think perhaps you fear interpretation somewhat more than I do. In fact, I feel rather excited by people really honing in and discussing Scripture in a more philosophical and organic way. People without faith don't read into Scripture for meaning because they simply believe there is none to be had; they think these are just books written by foregone ancestors who could not fathom the universe at present. I think the best way to engage Gallenteans in our religion is also the best way to gauge faith in all believers. You see if they are trying to not just read, but to understand the stories they are reading.

The trick with Gallentean ministry is to present yourself as an arbiter more than an authority, like a teacher more than a legislator. Most of all, the trick is to bring your 'A' game to Gallentean space, because even people of deepest faith will ask you the most blatantly heretical, complicated, and intellectually puzzling questions just to kick-start a conversation about the nature of the faith. They take nothing, even if they know the answer, for granted because they want to hear YOUR answer.

So Gallente space is never boring. You just have to make sure you walk into it without taking anything personally or holding inquisitiveness against them. And make sure you have an extra cup of coffee in the morning. You'll need to be on your toes.

The Ultra-Nationalist government under President Luc Duvalier was around long before Tibus Heth and his provist loyalists and it remains a great misfortune that either of them were once in power at all. Hopefully they remain consigned to history, hey?

You're so filled with rage and hatred. Did your mommy not breast feed you long enough or give you enough hugs when you were an infant? I'm betting your current issues stem from a difficult time with toilet training. Poor child.