Intergalactic Summit

At the cost of countless suffering under the Empire yoke. While I do not have high thoughts of the Republic, I think most of its denizens would consider that too high a price to pay.

I know you're a combat pilot, so I find it odd that you can't view the constant loss of blood and treasure involved in the wars and not see "any reason to even entertain the idea of peace". As a Minmatar Capsuleer, I know that you are insulated from the masses of starving refugees and the poverty and crime and brutality that is a direct result of focusing so much economic output on war production, but still - you can see it. And seeing it, how can you have no "reason to even entertain the idea of peace"?

I understand your need to free your kin but you MUST have somewhere to free them to. Or are you intending to send them all to the Federation while you break the Republic on the rocks of endless war? Since your current approach is achieving very little progress, you would be better served in seeing it as a long term process and prioritising accordingly.

When I was locked up in an RSS prison, they had these mandatory "Anger Management" classes we had to sit through.

In these classes, they warned us of "talking yourself into a corner." That is, stating that you will do a thing and thus, no matter how self-destructive (or simply bloody boring) it may be, because you have said a thing before witnesses, you are cornered into having to do that thing.

Of course, deciding later that it isn't worth it, or worse yet, failing in the attempt, leads to a great deal of embarrassment.

Sometimes this embarrassment comes in the form of assholes reminding you years after the fact how you lost to this remote-repping Dominix fleet this one time.

I'd hate to see this happen to you.

I was more less responding to Erin. Inflexability should be met with inflexability. If there's no room for compromise there's no reason for striving for peace. Believe me when I say majority of the points you made were clear and on my conscience when I said that, however we shouldn't forget the reasons why we fight to only make peace for ourselves and doom our children.

As far as not having any place to bring them when we finally free our brothers, when we were finally free, we built ourselves back up from nothing. If what you said were the case, we would be starting from a much better point then that. Whatever hardship we would face, we would overcome. We have before, we most certainly will again.

Agreed. I would trade four-fifths of the population of the Empire in war if it meant the total extermination of the filthy Minmatar Republic.

Kellie pings Nauplius's neocom repeatedly.

Pleeeeeeeease Mista Nauplyous.

I will argue that the Empress didn't do this without any pretext. These were indoctrinated slaves, still wracked with Vitoxin afflictions! We had to deal with Scripture-thumping door-to-door missionaries in the crack of dawn who wouldn't leave the clan commons even after five hours of heckling! Worse, they had this problem where they will suddenly seize up, flop about and spill the communal coffee all over the carpet out of the blue! They are also utterly rubbish at fixing or doing anything useful other than preaching semi-coherently and seizing up once a week!

Can't even train them to do anything useful either! They are pretty resistant to it! Something about 'Pagan rubbish'.

Andreus,

Honestly, though I admit I'm irresponsibly playing devils advocate to a certain extent, a part of me is almost inclined to disagree with you there. If you think about it from a purely pragmatic standpoint (or perhaps even a somewhat deific one), the idea of a truly homogenized human culture is at least as wonderful as it is horrifying - Most of the clusters civilizations that achieved spaceflight on their own terms got a taste of it in the years before the illusion was shattered by first contact with other races, and there's a reason they're usually called golden ages. The idea of a world where people not only don't fight, but have no reason to ever fight again, is a concept so wonderful that in the modern day it almost seems fanastical.

The problem is less the idea itself, and more the horrible sacrifices, both willing and unwilling, one would have to make to realize it - since each culture is obviously a unique and precious thing to all of it's followers, with it's own objectively compelling advantages. I fully admit I'm no exception. Unless humanity decides to draw straws on it, any means to reach it is going to be insidious at best, and absolutely nightmarish at worst.

I digress, though. I see what you're trying to say, but I still don't really think it would be a terrible thing. Speaking realistically, it's obvious to anyone who doesn't believe in a literal divine mandate of fate that the idea of the Amarr converting the cluster by velvet is a non-starter; It's had a hundred years to do it already, and the only place it's caught on notably is in pockets in the Federation, and I very much doubt the Theology Council has a high opinion of how it's metamorphosed to be compelling in that environment. Even in the State, the Empires closest ally, when you hear "Amarr Missionary" it's usually as a punchline, or failing that, an angry complaint.

So what's the harm in them trying? Most religions have practically unfulfillable mandates, and still manage to function in wider society just fine, so long as they don't have a sword in their hand to go with it.

Now look what you've done.

Now you just need a proper dress and you'll be all set. I'm thinking something in green....