Intergalactic Summit

Uh ... Mr. Syagrius? As you might remember I'm not actually all that attached to the State. It's got a bunch of issues, including treating people of mixed lineage (like me) as third-class citizens to the point where I feel more welcome among the Amarr. (I'll probably never be more than a servant, here, but that's more because of my beliefs than my blood.) It's cold and aggressive and hostile to intellectuals and dissidents and self-consciously more-hard-ass-than-thou on any number of topics.

I'm really fond of a lot of individual Caldari, a lot of friends and old comrades. But I don't care very much about the State.

So ... please understand when I say you're making even me want to hurt you right now.

Pieter, with lots of respect, I'm not sure you've ever really experienced what it is to be a half-blood in the State.

In fairness, neither have I. I just have the remembered "facts" my predecessor left me.

Like:

"Fact": a half-blood isn't likely to be allowed to marry-- or rather, probably just won't ever be paired with anyone.

"Fact": a half-blood's prospects for advancement are implicitly limited.

"Fact": one who is of two bloodlines will be recognized by the culture of neither.

Maybe it's really just that my first memories of the State are of being a prisoner among barren metal walls, waiting to find out whether I'd be allowed to go or just put down, as an illegal clone-- a person who shouldn't have ever existed to begin with. Those are some of the first memories I ever formed.

Caldari architecture makes me feel kind of trapped.

But, I don't really like the idea of experiencing those "facts" first-hand, either. Even if a lot of it doesn't really apply to a capsuleer, who can pretty much ignore the rules if we want to....

I have a lot of affection for you and Des, and others of our kirjuun, but ... the State doesn't feel like "home," to me.

It's not for everyone, Aria. Hell, I get called out for being a Liberal in a Patriot block Okusaikan, and my genetics certainly proclude me from ever being in the matching program. I don't blame you for your view on that, at all.

Well, that's true. Obviously I have absolutely no experience with being half of anything - many have said that I'm at least three of most things.

But I have never treated people according to their race - only according to their cultural affiliation. I was raised in Suvee so I know that what you're talking about exists on many levels - but it's not universal, it's a twisting of the Way, in my opinion, and it's not explicit, it's merely permitted. It ought not to be.

Sadly, the Caldari are not perfect. It's very easy for flawed humans to take a good idea and twist it into something demeaning and unfair and limiting. I hate that and I try to fight against it. I also try to distinguish between a good system and the system I am simply familiar with.

In my experience it is entirely possible to not only live your own life according to the tenets of the Way, but it is also possible to treat other people in a manner that is consistent with it. It affects my marriage. My relationship to my son. My relationship to my kirjuun - both current and former. I even try to treat my enemies according to it - because the Way is about how I live my life and not about how they live theirs.

I'm breaking the rules of the game, aren't I? I'm talking to the people I'm talking to...

James, we can be compromised with. Most of us want peace. But compromise has limits and we have too much experience with peace bought at too high a price - and almost all of that experience is with the Federation. When one is at war with the Federation, one knows what one has gotten into. When one is at peace with the Federation then the threat tends to be so much more subtle and devious. The one thing that doesn't change is the fact that you are under constant attack.

Veik has... A view that few agree with. Consider me echoing Pieter's sentiments, and honestly... I didn't know this was something of an issue for you. You'll find no judgement here. I'm a lot of things, but never actively a hypocrite.

Thanks, Saya.

It's not really a big thing on an individual level; I never really got such an impression from anyone in PY-RE, and even Veik was only like that, when she was like that, until the wind changed. It was a face she tried on; that's all. She claimed it was her real face, but, she always did that.

... only, I guess she was a mask, herself.

Anyway, it's not like I thought it was something all Caldari had in common or anything. Just, if someone goes pushing your buttons like that, the resulting sensitivity might linger a bit.

It did for me, anyway.

Well, Pieter, forgive the proverbial 'you', but 'you' have a funny way of showing it. We were close to something not so long ago. Our cooperation deep and constructive, if unknown. I think you know that I wanted an 'honorable' peace. You will understand then when I say, I hope the 'cause' is worth the cost. The damage is done, the dye is cast, let us then decide the issue.

Wait what?

Mr. Syagrius, that was (1) a capsuleer matter and, (2) by all accounts, personal.

And I thought attributing acts of the Templis Dragonaurs to the Caldari generally was kind of bad.

... okay, so much for Mr. Spymaster.

(Thanks, Ms. Arrendis. I think he's kind of past persuading at this point, though.)

It's personal until it's not, Aria, the same as with anything else we do. Frankly, though, everyone I heard the most about it from, with VERY few exceptions, are those with the least involvement. As in, none, beyond what they've decided must be true via whatever sources.

James is the exception, in this case. I assume he knows all he wants to. And I know more than I care to, for all the stupidity that's come my way thereafter from the peanut gallery.

What's done is done, and the opinions of the mob are worthless coin for as fickle as that market is. Those that were involved know where to find me. Those that weren't, I don't waste consideration for.

Ms. Jenneth, actually the Gallente declared the war against us earlier - after the Sobaseki's sedition, and what Templis Dragonaurs did (the successful demolition of Nouvelle Rouvenor) was a result of gallente blockade of the planet.

Attributing this action to Caldari generally was Gallente's excuse not to start the war, but to commit probably the largest terror act and a war crime known in our cluster - the bombardment of Caldari Prime.