Intergalactic Summit

And you're advocating returning to it.

Like that'll ever happen. Our fight will never end, Caldari/Gallante has alot more potential towards ending long before we forget our struggles to rebuild ourselves from the bottom up, or our people, or the culture that to you was so worthless it didn't deserve to even be a footnote in history.

Cluster-wide violence? It only ever does. But you still haven't explained why you think endangering countless people in dozens of systems is... well...

Hmmm been in Republic Space for a time funny when you get to meet the people the heathen seems to fade.

But you're not talking about removing chaff. You're talking about removing a release valve from a high-pressure boiler. Again: do you think removing the Pendulum will solve centuries of unrelenting hatred on both sides? Or is it more likely to return the cluster to the kind of unlimited engagement that was prevalent before the Pendulum was introduced?

What you're endorsing, the end of the Pendulum, will cause the explosion.

That doesn't even make sense. You're talking about an active conflict as a 'powder-keg'. It's less of a powder-keg than what existed before. Those looking to vent their hatred on the cultural enemies of centuries past are funneled into a controlled system where their energies are contained and directed.

How is removing that, and turning them loose to wreak havoc on society throughout the cluster a 'noble' cause?

I am all for the pursuit of peace. I do not necessarily agree with the form of this initiative, but I acknowledge the nobility of it's goals.

Message me if you want my suggestions Ms. Nihil.

Thanks Thal, definitely always open to suggestions.

I'm still waiting to hear why anyone thinks this is a good idea. Not platitudes, mind, actual reasons. Intelligent, substantive answers to either of the two main questions and the reasons for them:

1. Why do you think this has any chance of success?

The proposed course of action is to enter a theater where capsuleers and baseliners alike explode in droves every day. The threat of someone coming and blowing them up is clearly no deterrent, as that threat already exists. As a result, the only potential cost, involved to those who are going to be targeted is one that is already factored into their operational expenses. So the proposed course of action offers them no incentive to alter their behavior.

At the same time, the cost to CONCORD and the empires—the entities who maintain the facilities used, set the 'arena' for this bloodsport, and in every other respect are actually the ones running the 'wars' isn't even something they have to factor in: there is no cost to them. This proposal in no way even begins to affect them. So no incentive is being provided to them to alter the conditions that are being objected to.

This proposal seeks to alter the behavior of both individual actors—capsuleers—and government entities. People don't alter their behavior without a reason to alter it; not as individuals, and not as organizations. So preciesly what about this proposal do either its authors or its supporters see as having any potential for success?

2. Why do you think ending the CEWPA conflict is a good thing?

We know that the current 'faction warfare' system was introduced in the wake of a number of significant, unlimited, military campaigns between the empires. Those campaigns saw widespread destruction and loss of life, both among active combatants and civilian non-combatant populations. Those military campaigns were the result of long-standing tensions between different nations, tensions which are centuries-old. Despite the interests of politicians and leaders in trade, peace, and stability, those tensions continue to exist within the populations of each empire, often openly.

The current CEWPA system was introduced to provide a controlled, regulated outlet for those tensions, and the violent extremish that arises from them. Despite isolated flare-ups and tense encounteres such as the recent destruction of a Quafe convoy, there has been no new breakout of open warfare between the empires since this system's introduction. There has been no new Elder Fleet. When evaluated in light of its actual goals, i.e. reducing the scope and collateral damage of warfare between implacable, intractable cultural extremists, the system appears to be a success. It has promoted improved stability through a contained simulation of instability.

Make no mistake, it is only a simulation. At no point do the CEWPA warzones slip beyond the joint control of CONCORD, and the two empires sponsoring each extended tournament. No-one has ever seen a CalMil blops team hot-drop the Federal forces placing their new ihub. It's not allowed to happen, so it simply doesn't. Nobody cheats the system, because nobody can.

According to the latest economic report from the DED, production outside of the comfortable womb of high-security space is continuing to rise. This means more and more economic and military power (as the two are inextricably linked) is in the hands of capsuleers. What took the Thukker Tribe and the Elders years to build up can be produced in a matter of weeks now, without requiring the infrastructure or economic support of nations or powerful cartels. Loyalists from every national identity in the cluser have access to the facilities to produce capital ships—and for the few who can't build them, there now exists a relatively easy-to-use infrastructure for the acquisition of supercapitals. For all their firepower, though, these massive assets don't see much use in the CEWPA conflicts. This is because of 'the rules', which limit the scope of engagements in a number of circumstances.

So CEWPA not only serves as a funnel for directing the release of aggressive impulses, it serves to innately limit the loss of life and the scope of the damage inflicted. In the years since its inception, there has been some minor progress in resolving the old conflicts, in defusing the underlying tensions. That progress has been minor, though. Caldari Prime remains contested ground, as Gallente populations consider the planet they have lived on for centuries to be their home as well, and Caldari loyalists want every inch of their homeworld to be freed from the invaders. Countless Matari remain enslaved by those who stole our history and our freedom, while the Amarr faithful lament the willful rejection of salvation and fight to defend those whose souls they still hope to save.

Tragic events in the past have placed people who all seek moral resolutions on course for conflict. None of these cultural conflicts are resolved. None of them will be resolved, any time soon. In every nation in the cluster, those who hold these viewpoints do so because they believe in the righteousness of their cause. They are willing to fight, kill, and die for what they believe to be right. Remove the CEWPA warzones... and they will do so across the whole of New Eden, just like they did before it was introduced.

Only this time, they will do so with far more powerful ships, inflicting far more damage to a greater number of non-combatants.

How do you claim this is a good, or noble, thing to foment?

And yes, I fully expect Lashrac, the Nihilism Sibs, and everyone else pledging their support for this plan to continue to deflect and avoid those two questions.

Why, Miz?

I mean, let me be clear here: As a capsuleer, I find participation in the Pendulum Games to be a ridiculous proposition. From the perspective of the pilot they are useless. You will never achieve anything. Nothing you do will ever matter. You would get more long-lasting results out of spilling genetic material into a petri dish and seeing if the fedos will eat whatever grows on it.

So, you know, don't think for a moment that I'm saying 'OMG, these things are the bestest thing in the cluster to do!'

At the same time, we all know that unrestrained warfare between the empires would involve collateral damage on a scale where even the Scope might (for once) not be able to over-inflate the numbers. And, you know, as a daughter, I really do prefer not seeing my mom's corpse floating around in space after some booster-fueled PIE or CVA nutjob drives an Aeon into the Pator III Republic Security Services Assembly Plant.

And from what I saw of your own response to this, at no point did you say 'hey, this is a great idea'. What you said was exactly what I'd expect you to say: 'I've seen worse reasons for fighting'. Well, yeah, I'm sure you have. There's a lot of really, really bad reasons for fighting out there, but let's face it, Miz, what matters to you is that they fight. We're weapons. It's what we do. As reasons to fight... yeah, I've heard a lot worse reasons than 'trying to promote peace'.

But you know, as reason go, 'because I want to reach the moon' isn't a bad reason to strap feathers to your arms and start flapping. That doesn't mean what you're doing is actually going to work, or that it's at all a smart way to go about getting what you want.