Intergalactic Summit

Seems like someone touched a nerve with the truth about Caldari duplicity, eh?

Oh, dear me Pieter you should treat that at once! Allow me to recommend... you were speaking figuratively, weren't you?

A weakness shown should be a weakness exploited with maximum prejudice. If I were to make a mistake I would fully expect to be punished for it, so better not to repeat them. Those who decry duplicity in life or business are those who would support mediocrity.

What? I have certainly never prescribed to a do as I say, not as I do, mentality as regards my own sentiments. I have made mistakes in life and had others capitalize on my personal and professional failures -- as they should. At times it was duplicitous, but I cannot fault others for having played their games well. It at least taught me the dangers of being overly sentimental.

As for being a security risk? I do probably place the security of others at risk on a lot of occasions these days. Is that what you mean? Because I have not been ambiguous about the fact that I will not seek friendships or positions of trust where duplicity would gain me any conceivable advantage.

Oh, gods, Veiki. Where should I begin....

So, you say that you can't fault others for playing their (duplicitous) games well. That's a fair sentiment, but the path you've outlined for yourself in the past is that of a weapon-- a blade to be wielded by others.

We have differences, you and I. This is something we've sort of had in common, though. I've tried to be something pretty straightforward, a simple blade of high quality and fine workmanship. You've ... been something a little more exotic. To my eye, you appear to have a really excessive number of barbs, blade breakers, disembowling hooks, blood channels, and maybe that triangular blade that makes stab-wounds really hard to close. But I would say that, being as I am. I'm prepared to accept that you are who you are, and that you do a reasonable job pursuing the person you try to be.

This, though, isn't really optional: a weapon, to be worth using as anything short of a desperate act, has to be reliable. It has to be trustworthy.

It's fine to accept others' duplicity. I, also, don't really hold it against people; there are a lot of ways for people to live. But in our present time, I think the avatar and exemplar of the attitude you express is Anyanka Funk. You'd think no one would trust her, ever, but somehow she seems to constantly find new people to play with ... and to play.

You say that you don't seek friendships or positions where duplicity would gain you any conceivable advantage. ... well, you might not have sought it, but you do have a position like that. If you can't see the possibilities, you might be a better person than you imagine you are. Or maybe you're just really unimaginative, but I don't think that's the case.

Actually, I think you're a hypocrite about this. ... and I think that's to your credit. If I thought you actually believed what you've been saying, I could never have trusted you at my wing or back. Neither could anyone else. And yet you're a trusted and reliable member of the most effective team of pilots I know.

In spite of all you've said, I think you're a trustworthy person, Veiki. As a weapon, you're flashy and unnecessarily vicious, but you're not the sort to turn on your wielder.

Okay. So let's examine that in terms of your earlier comment.



You didn't say "A weakness shown should be exploited when it is in both your short and/or long-term self-interest to do so." "With maximum prejudice" means something else.

"Those who decry duplicity in life or in business are those who would support mediocrity." Another unqualified statement. If I agree with your apparent belief that trust is an ingredient in effective function of a combat unit, though, I would be decrying duplicity in at least one kind of business.

Does that mean I support mediocrity? Does that mean you support it?

Honesty is maybe not so much a virtue if you're honest about what you think, but not careful about what you think. Or about what you say.

Veiki, you didn't limit your remarks in any such way. You said it like some sort of universal truth. "In business or in life?"

Saying one thing for basically all situations, and then saying "oh, that's different" when someone points to how it would apply to your own, is pretty much classic hypocrisy.

I would pat your hand reassuringly if physics permitted, Lady Noh. The injury caused was purely mental, I promise.

Well, that is a relief, Pieter! I should have known, of course. You are young and healthy! When you get to an age where being animated is really about being reanimated, one minute you're screaming like a spoiled Gallente seven year old for more gelato at her birthday party; and the next, a trusted Brutor is reattaching your nose or, you know, putting an eyeball back in your head.

Ah, ha ha...!

Yes, Cylindrical Kameira? Is that mine? You're sure? Oh! Yes! Look at that right there! Missing pinky toe.

Well, I am a paragon of sobriety and clean, honest living.

I am not joking.