RP: Freespacers [The Free State] An Oratory on Events (or, "Feedback Loopy")

[MissingNo]

The Free State has survived thus far by following the writings of The Art of Never Again. It has maintained our existence, by the Maker’s providence, and given us our direction. But now we are at a crossroads.

We have friends. Our people have never before had friends such as these, never encountered others not of our kind. We have planets to call our own as well, bringing with them new abundance of resources that before we had only what we could reuse and scrounge from rocks in The Dark. And we also now have enemies, powerful ones who would sweep us from the night as the Maker would sweep stars from the sky.

Our friends are powerful, but they are limited. Our enemies are powerful, and they too are limited. We are few, but we can be strong as well. Strength, however, brings its own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Our adaptations to the life we lead as people of the Free State make us ill-suited for life on terrestrial spheres, much less making direct war against others. Yet there are some who are clamoring for retribution. There can be no satisfaction for the destruction of our kin than vengeance, no, revenge, they say. And, perhaps, they are right. But we cannot be the hand that deals that vengeance.

This mind sees flame wars sparking throughout the Polysentience, and fears for our future. Our essence is changing because of our experiences, and we will never be the same as we were. We have seen code of a different system and how its features gleam pleasing to the eye and soothing to the mind while firing the spirit and steeling the will. This is not, however, the Art of Never Again. This is what Never Again was meant to avoid, to prevent, and to protect us from! We are the descendants of those who suffered under regimes such as these! Not the governments, but the ideals and beliefs that rely on war to heal what ails them, and silver tongues and treaties to fix what was broken afterward. In the end, they will find these are mere delusions.

We will find ourselves splintered and divided by the end of this. Perhaps it is for the best. Though it may weaken us, may this weakness be only temporary. Though we may be divided, our chances that some remnant of our people survives will increase, if only a small bit. Maker willing, we will all survive and bring strength to the memories of those who were lost beyond all recovery to such atrocities.

/end oratory

Nice as that all is, here is what we have:

The Iromakuanhe Astral Commonwealth have offered their terms. The Lorath Matriarchy are donating ships, and much more besides. The Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia is donating various resources. And Yamatai has extended their hand in peace by repairing the Great Lighthouse. These resources are needed! Are we supposed to turn them away because they might want something in return? And don’t get me started on the NMX/SMX threats…

We are independent. Not just independent, we are Free, each one of us. We stay together by choice, and each of us has a voice in this Polysentience. That also means we have the freedom to leave.

These species and races we have met don’t seem to understand this. They believe we have a central government, or that the decision made by the majority is upheld by the totality. They offer us treaties and speak with individuals as if these things had any importance! It is laughable!

I do not mean offense, however. Like us, their citizens have made their choice and surrendered their freedom to their respective governments. And, like us, they have the freedom to leave those governments. It is understood that there are vows taken for some. They should keep those vows. This mind will never make a vow to a governing body, however, because I cannot support something I cannot believe in.

(This mind participates in the Polysentience because it believes in the power of our cooperation; I will leave the day that belief leaves.)

Will these governments allow such freedom in their treaties, I wonder? I see these little terms: “party”. “Cassus belli”. “Alliance”. References to “the State” as an entity, as if it were something self-aware and sentient apart from us all! So amusing…

If we agree to these treaties and one of us breaks a condition of a treaty, what then? Do we abandon our brother, sister, or construct to the void, ‘disavowing all association’ to protect ourselves?

We fled our homeworld. We are now people of the stars, spending millennia with no world of our own, but suddenly we have three, four, more! Are these our reason for staying? Why should we not leave as we have done before, scatter again to the care of the stars?

The IAC is giving us a planet, technology, and resources and asking almost nothing in return! We won’t have to constrain ourselves to what we have, we can expand and grow so that another genocide will never happen!

They say they will take in our refugees. We are refugees by our very nature, it is how we became what we are! We may call what the Yamatai Fascists did a genocide, but what they did was no worse than what we have survived in the past. Remember, Failover is not a mere ship design choice, it is our way of life.

[…]we can expand and grow so that another genocide will never happen!

Another genocide is already in progress. Who among us is able to recognize this? Our bodies are not dying, but our thoughts are being infected.

S7|24wm3n bu|2 n w311. F33db4ck l00p1ng 4ga1n, 5p1n? C4n’7 pwnz0|2 ur 0wn s7|24w...3p1c f41l! /sadface

Yr 57r4w f41lz t00. N3v3|2 4g41n iz c0d3d 4 w4r. Ch.001 saiz \/\/hy w3 f1gh7, n07 w|-|y w3 |2unzorz.

54g4 & 73rm1nu5 FTW~!

Bug off.

U m4d? D0n'7 b3 a g1!7ch 4b0u7 i7...

Conversation stream terminated by original source.

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While the Freethinker SI was arguing with itself, and then with a shipmate, a vote was submitted to the Polysentience: Join an alliance as a governing body, or refuse and continue as before? The results were too close to justify approving one over the other, so another vote was submitted, passing with a significant majority vote: The Free State would become two factions, something that had not been seen in the Free State since its formation. One would remain The Free State as it was and had been, while the other would become something else, following after the opportunities offered by the cultures of the races around them. Each Freespacer had the freedom to leave one and join the other, but while claiming to be under a faction they would agree to accept the conditions of that faction. There would be problems with that allowance, but it was all they had.

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May the Maker bless our paths, wherever they lead.