Intergalactic Summit

Let's hope the more militant of your flock take a lesson or two from her in her memory....

"Every Minmatar slave of ninth generation and up, along with Minmatar academics and religious figures."


This wasn't really a good thing.

Look, this "emancipation," it caused more problems than it solved.

This act released a few hundred million people. But most of those people were so ingrained into the Amarr culture that they didn't know what to do with their "freedom." Emancipation didn't mean a free ticket to the Republic. Many were able to pool resources to get there and there were those in the Republic and even Federation that helped transport people...and it caused a flood of refugees that quickly became a problem for the Tribes. The Republic didn't have the resources to help them all. People went hungry. People were lost in a strange land with no job, no skills. In many cases, they were separated from their families (8th Gen and lower). A lot of Matari stayed in Amarr. Without money for transportation or a position in society, they became a new underclass of workers. Some turned to crime. Some hopped on any Capsuleer ship they could crew for and fled to NullSec.

These people were raised to believe that their position in life was ordained by God. And it was like God abandoned them. Some praised Jamyl, but others cursed her. Ever walk through the market of Rens with an Amarr holy symbol on your jacket? You can't walk through two decks without someone harassing you, calling you a race-traitor. But for the faithful who landed n the Republic, they quickly found that their faith made them a target.

And this wasn't an end to slavery. Gallente, Caldari, Ni-Kunni, Khanid and even Amarr slaves were never released no matter what generation. Some of the Ninth didn't know their generation and some Holders falsified records to keep them.

What this "Emancipation" accomplished, was that it weakened the Republic. It gave some Amarr the "proof" they needed that we Matari were incapable of governing ourselves. It gave the Republic a mass of Matari who didn't like the Republic. I faced a lot of similar problems when I was "rescued" a long time ago. It was not a good life. I'd been much happier as a slave in Amarr than a free girl in the Republic.

And there is no real indication that Empress Kitty and the Theology Council are going to continue down Jamyl's garden path.

For those lucky to have a good Holder family, life will continue to be good for the Matari slaves of Amarr. For those who were POWs, criminals or who suffer under bad Holders, nothing has changed or will change.

This wasn't a blessing for Matari. This was us getting our faces spat on.

Eight years on, things are a bit better. The Ninth Gen have had time to assimilate into their new lives. Most have done ok. Some haven't. Still others ended up within the arms of the Cartel, the Guristas, the Syndicate or Serpentis; not as slaves, but as members.

Take a look Brothers and Sisters. Take a close look at the Empire and yeah, take a real close look at the Republic. Why the hell was Shakor being all nice-nice with Empress Kitty? Didn't that sting any of you?

Above your place? What? You don't have a right to know what the Republic is doing? We have to question them! If not, then they're just Masters of a different stripe, right?

And yeah, I know faith. I had faith in God and the Scriptures. I lost that. I had faith in the Empire. Lost that too. Had faith in the Republic for a bit, then had to fight and claw my way up and out of the Republic. I'm long past innocence when it comes to matters of faith.

There's questioning what's right, and then there's blindly questioning without seeing the full picture. I have a right to know what the republic is doing and I should question things that at face value don't add up. I don't have the right to kick down the doors at the RSS's hq and demand classified information. I don't have the right to know what is in those who lead my people's head. Honestly I can't look at the big picture without the finer details to guide my thoughts to the right conclusion. I do know I trust Shaker's judgement. Shakor has done more than I could dream of doing for our people and that leaves me feeling confident they're doing what's right.

Going back to Jamyl, what she did very well could be considered an unconventional attack on the Republic, it also can't be denied it IS buckling on Amarr's old ways of "might makes right" and could possibly bring some form of peace for us both. If calmer heads prevail (doubtful I know), we could see peace both sides could live with in our lifetimes.

The emancipation does indeed cause problems. This had happened while the Republic was busy transitioning from the democratic system of governance into a tribal system of governance. Republic economy was not really up to snuff to accept all these immigrants. Not to mention many of them are still struggling with vitoxin infection, and the Republic is, apparently, depleted of Insorum supply to deal with this. No idea where the Republic got the Insorum and why the stock isn't yet replenished quickly enough that she had her own R&D going to figure out how to deal with this problem.

Not to mention the hard feelings the free Matari had against the Amarr religion.

Jamyl did an amazing job making the Republic look bad.

It is very fortunate that not all the Emancipated immigrated into the Republic. Some chose to stay in the Empire, rest went to the Federation (of which I hope they acquire gainful livelihood) or move into the depths of nullsec. This could have been worse.

Nope. Close examination of the Winds, Tribal beliefs, Amarr God and what have you reveal so little in common they are very unlikely to be the same deity. For one thing, Tribal spirits do not act as a central authority figure, unlike the Amarr God. We don't even just have one spirit to override all spirits either. The Winds acted less like an authority and more like a guide. There are other deities I couldn't quite remember as of now. Regardless, too little in common.

It's not a new concept, no. There are variants of this belief all over New Eden, ranging from "every faith and belief are 100% right", somehow ignoring the parts where faiths end up diametrically opposed to each other through "none of the faiths or beliefs get it right, but they all carry truths that must come together for a 'real' faith to emerge" and so on. These don't tend to get much traction, understandably.

There's no getting around the fact that studying any of these faiths or belief systems past the most superficial of surface levels will reveal irreconcilable differences that clearly show that these are not just different interpretations of the same subject, they are simply that. Different subjects.

This leaves the only reasonable variant of this kind of Universalism to be the one where you cherrypick the 'good' from all the faiths and live by such standards, but the obvious problems are the same there as in all other faiths: Who gets final say in what is and isn't 'good', or dogma or doctrine? What interpretation is then the 'correct' one? Not to mention that this inevitably also means dismissing sizable chunks of all faiths, antagonizing all of them as well as non-believers.

I can't tell you what to believe, Deitra. I really shouldn't tell you what to believe. At best, I could tell you what I believe, or point you in the direction of those who taught me so they can teach you. Then to those of other beliefs, and yet more, and more until your spirit finally resonates with something to the point where you too believe.

As long as opening an eye towards the spiritual doesn't close the eyes upon the measurable and demonstrable reality of New Eden, there is no harm in that.

You are confusing 'what we believe in' with 'what is preached in these religions'.

You must first consider the fact that the Amarr religion preaches that the existence One True Deity whose will is absolute, and that He created everything, dictates the path everyone walks. A good Amarrian must live in accordance to His Will. Also, the One True Deity dictates what is good and what is evil. They also believe in the existence of the Sefrim, who are God's messengers and harbingers and work to execute His Will.

Compare with Minmatar spirituality. Our creation myth states than Mother Matar and Father Pator breathed life into all of us, but nothing beyond that. In fact, the myth is only limited to just the creation of our homeworld and our people. Nothing about other worlds. There isn't much in the way of 'we must live in accordance to His Will'. Morality isn't something dictated by the One True Deity, it is instead treated as a social contract, the glue that holds Tribe, Clan and Kin together. What is Good is what brings us into harmony with our vital essence (amongst Sebiestor, we call this the Andesh) and our kin. What is Evil is what leads us away from harmony with our vital essence and our kin. Then there is the belief in the spirits which are treated as, well, people with their own concerns and such, rather than as something to be worshiped.

Then we will bring up the topic of the Wayism. They have a Maker, who is their Creator Deity from which everything is originated from. That is where the belief diverges from the Amarr religion. The Maker is the instigator and the observer. He rocks and shakes the universe, but beyond that, does not directly interfere with the entities that inhabit the universe. Then we get to the Winds, who are guides, providers and protectors. Their morality is more based around the example of the Winds and serving the needs of their society over the needs of the individual (again, following the example of the Winds caring for the collective rather than the individual) than something that is dictated by His Will or anything like that.

Here, a distinction must be made between Minmatar belief in nature spirits and the Winds as taught by Wayism. For the Minmatar, the myriad spirits are 'people', and as such, our rituals focus on bargaining and smoothing relations, coercing the spirits to work with us or to listen to the spirits and figure out what tidings are sweeping across the land. When one comes down to it, it is very similar to negotiating with merchants or administrators, trying to employ another person to do work for us or listening to the pub gossips or hailing a traveler for news from foreign lands. We just had all these rituals because, well, the spirits, as the other people, have their own languages and can't be expected to understand us or be understood if we are to use our own ways of communication, yes (well, other than the part about music. Seems that the spirits love music as much as we do. Apparently)? The Winds, on the other hand, are treated with more reverence, as teacher, guide and protector.

Of course, both cultures also believe in the ancestor spirits. Can't really say what's the difference between them, though, other than how the idea of ancestor spirits are treated in our respective cultures (the Sebiestor for example have an entire festival dedicated to interacting with our ancestor spirits, who are believed to walk amongst us in that particular time period. I do not know if the Caldari have the same practice).

I won't touch upon the subject of faith in the Federation because they do not have a shared faith even amongst their member states and cultures (beyond the faith in Democracy and Freedom as an innate human right that is). Also, I do not know all that much about all these faiths.

I can think of a very large number of reasons, including 'to ensure a surprise move like that to destabilize the Tribes doesn't happen again.'

Did it sting me to have Shakor there, with all those Amarr hungry for his blood? To have him stand up there in front of all of them, free, proud, and so very obviously Minmatar, in the face of their impotent rage? And don't let them tell you there wasn't any—there are those who frequent these threads who are in positions of influence and notoriety within the Empire who have openly called for his head, in the last ten months.

Did it sting me to watch him stand there and demand by his presence alone, to be formally acknowledged by the Amarr Empire as a peer to the Federation President and the Big 8 CEOs?

No. Not even a little. Not even when he was on the reviewing platform with the new Empress, watching her rivals meet their fate.

Betcha it made a bunch of Amarr more than 'sting', though.

This is just flat out untrue. Stop pandering for sympathy by exaggerating the hardships of returned slaves.