I was sitting in the spaceport when I noticed one of the many lords of the universe.
Of course he was impeccably dressed with not a lick of hair out of place with his tailored business suit accentuating every muscle.
You wouldnt know he was a member of the same society as the people selling drinks at the bar.
This is a call to action.
I might be a simple Professor of Transcendent Physics who cant tell two spaceships apart, but I do know when theres a growing problem.
The influx of wealth entering our Confederacy is dangerous, its allure only adding to the threat. With our corporations in a dominant commercial position in the Forest and only growing in the Cathedral and soon all Spinward, the wealth created as been massive and blatant inequality has once more seeped into our society. While our own shipping and corporate magnates dont have the sprawling mansions owned by others such as the Hankish, there is still enough contrast between them and our newest residents to raise eyebrows. Unless youre a Praxzen.
The Leoni Government has blatantly showed what they view as important: diplomatic treaties with foreign powers, foreign trade and foreign commercial-industrial endeavors. A casual observer might even think that the commercial-industrial complex has seized control of the ship of state! Walking in the park a few days ago with my wife, the plight of Larsillas newest residents was strikingly obvious.
Refugees from war-torn worlds with their families possibly separated by war or the echo of death, or migrants seeking a better life to support themselves and their kin , this is no way for them to begin their days in our country. Ive never emigrated or immigrated to a new society and Im not an expert sociologist so I cannot comment on the traumatizing affects of emigration might be but I heard all about that as a child.
My grandparents were political activist-hipsters who fled Hexicali almost a century ago out of rebellion towards the horribly rigid and bland corporate culture there. They would talk incessantly about how difficult life was, how many odd-jobs they took to make ends up and how they were grateful to Csserian society for offering them the opportunities that they did. And they would keep talking about how the opportunities would increase for each generation. That was the trademark of the Old Confederacy.
That might not be the trademark of our current Confederacy.
Trust me, there were a lot of things I didnt like about the Old Confederacy but the social mobility and breadth of opportunity was something I thought all of us held important when we took this voyage here. I dont see the opportunities increasing for the next few generations at the current trend. Sure, my three lovely children are likely going to have lots of opportunities but even then its limited if they dont aspire to be miniature lord of the universes and rush into banking, private equity, consulting, shipping, software design and other lucrative positions. Then there are who are less fortunate than a heeled academic.
When the first Mernt residents came to Larsilla, I was amongst the first who urged the University to hire and offer them extensive opportunities in self-education. The university ignored me and hired the first few Mernt janitors to replace the machinery. I was talking to a few of them as part of a Faculty-Staff conference when a few of them mentioned in passing how they were well versed in hydroponics and irrigation systems. I harassed the biotechnology department incessantly for what seemed like months, I even showed up at Professor Steinhard Rasars dinner on Liberation Day, before they agreed to offer an examination. Imagine everyones surprise when it turned out that the janitors were actually better versed in biotechnology than the entire faculty! One of those janitors is now the premier biotechnology researcher in the Confederacy working alongside the Praxzen scientific contingent.
The lack of any coherent domestic policy towards our newest residents and citizens on the part of the Leoni government is outrageous, something worthy of an election. While everyone approves of the recent moves such as the expansion of living spaces as well as the superior social service system currently in place, this is not enough. The Leoni Government must do more to embrace and accept our new residents. There is a huge amount of untapped talent, and potential in these individuals and they will take our economy and society to another level with their cultural, economic and intellectual contributions.
Let the Standardites keep running amok; theyre Standardites! Running amok is what they do. We need to settle, protect and provide for ours and our own in Abell. Expanding living spaces. Increase social services.
We didnt come to this sector to make money and become filthy rich. We could have done that back in the old Confederacy. We left because the actions of the Cvorak Government were despicable. We left because we believed that a government that cooperates and works with mass murderers is barely any better than being mass murderers themselves. We left because ultimately, the government betrayed our most fundamental trust: that the government will protect and provide for a better future for our entire society.
Our entire society.
Not just the native Csserians, or the financial lords but our entire society. Were all in this adventure together.
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Is he conscious?
He should be coming about soon, Sir.
Good. Send him to me when he comes about. I want a first-hand account.
Understood Sir.
He stared.
Dressed in sleek white with a fresh haircut, the man placed his hat upon the table and looked at him. A man with an air of command his Lord Commander would have envied. The man pushed a glass of water to him and waited.
He glanced hesitantly at the glass and sharply brought his head up when the voice came through.
Its not poisoned you know were the words that came out of the mans mouth, words accompanied by a smile. The first genuine smile he had seen from an Outsider.
He seized the glass and gulped down the water while watching the man the whole time. Hungry? the man asked and he frantically nodded his head. Food came and he ate it all ravishingly.
Im afraid I dont know your name. Just that you led this group from Mern.
The mans perfectly polished buttons woke something and everything came forth.
My name? My name was Sir Roger Radrit of the Vale and he saw the incredulity and surprise in the mans eyes.
Of the Vale? You are a Knight? the man asked skeptically while he quickly jotted down notes.
I was. He looked away in shame. The months had gone by but the scars remained with him.
If what you say is true, then it is certainly very odd. You are the first Mernt from the Vale to arrive in the Confederacy. Refugees and immigrants from the Oiat and Mern are common. Visitors and scholars from Lyst and the Smit are rare but not unheard of. The Vale? Never. Do you have any military skills?
He looked at the man and laughed. All Knights of the Vale have military skills. We are trained from birth. Myself, I once commanded a battalion of knights. I might not fully grasp the new weapons the Standards or your people use, but I know how to fight them.
The man smiled and leaned forward. Well Sir Roger- I am a Sir no more. Very well, Mr. Roger Radrit of the Vale, why did you leave the Vale, why were you on Mern, and why did you lead these people here?
He heard every word and the memories all came rushing back. He closed his eyes and the world went by. He opened them and smiled, flinching as the muscles screamed their defiance.
We of the Vale have a moral obligation to all of Mother Merns Children. I foreswore my allegiance to my liege lord, and with many like-minded squires and knights, took to Mother Mern to engage in glorious battle with the Standard barbarians. In battle, we sought to prove ourselves worthy of our oaths.
He stopped. All the memories came rushing back. The defeat, the slaughter and the retreat.
We failed in our duty. Mother Mern turned her face from us and Mern fell. Of my men, I alone survived. I led this group of refugees the finest I could. We found passage on one of the last ships leaving and came here. I had heard that in the Shining City, there was room for all. For there is no room for failed knights anywhere else.
Opening his eyes, he saw the man was looking at him with a certain acute interest.
Roger. In the Confederacy, all are welcome and the man stood up, with an outstretched hand. He saw the peculiar gesture and blanked before taking it himself.
Welcome to the Csserian Confederacy. Welcome to your new life.
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I have read the commentary written this previous week by the kind professor from Lantara University.
While I certainly agree with the sentiments espoused by the kind Professor such as his passion to improve and strengthen our society as well as increasing socio-economic opportunities for everyone, I frankly found the focus of his commentary quite ever so distasteful.
My ancestor was amongst those who overthrew the Imperium of the Shining all those hundreds of years ago. Something she supposedly said still rings ever so true.
The Revolution was easy, very easy. The Peace? Impossibly difficult.
The easiest part of our Confederacy has been done. We have established ourselves on Abell for quite some time and have already entered into prosperous relations with most of our neighbors. The hard part will be decided in the next few years. When our old Confederacy was first founded, Datha System was already in the dominant position. Our forefathers found Datha System to be perhaps the most sinister and repulsive system possible. Make no mistake, they were more than impressed with the cultural splendor and the material wealth of Datha. Anyone who has ever visited the Planet of a Thousand Moons before the Burning will attest to Dathas beauty.
It was their societys inward looking nature which repulsed them. Democratic, fair and just within Datha itself, Datha was anything but that beyond her fabled moons. Their citizenry lived in this perfect crystal cage for all they could ever desire could be found within and not without. The kind Professor seems to idolize that existence, that of internal peace and solitude, and seemingly ignore both the pressing needs of the time as well as the founding maxim of our country and state.
A free and just society enclosed within itself is neither free nor just and is fundamentally flawed. Fear of omnipresent oppression is the death of freedom.
There must be a general sector-wide framework to allow free and just societies to exist free of fear.
The Leoni Government is not without flaws but it has carried out to the best of its ability, the enactment of our country and societys principles and beliefs. The creation of closer knit bonds with the states of the sector and its continued peaceful development is of the utmost priority. And when I say that, I do not exclude the Standardites of the Council of Commodores. Yes, the Standardites have caused destruction and chaos throughout the sector. Yes, the Standardites can be called a plaque upon the Forest. But their impact could have been much worse. They been contained and limited by the Leoni Government. Far from being the harbingers of doom to every single polity in the Forest, Standardite aggression has been limited towards either the Mernt of Mern or other Standardites. As unfortunate and tragic as that may be, it has benefited the entire sector. The Zeran Affair aside, the Standardites have even ironically become the victims of aggression themselves!
With a development grant to the Standardites two years ago, the Leoni Government skillfully maneuvered our country out of a certain destructive scenario and implemented the plans which are now coming into fruition.
The fact that Csserian businesspeople and tourists are capable of visiting the Cathedral, I myself had lunch at the invite of a few members of the Black Iron Republics shipping council at a restaurant featuring the most delicious seafood from the Delugers Homeworld, is a testament to the roaring foreign success of the Leoni Government. Furthermore, the Treaty of Torpor in one swoop delivered cooperation with the Praxzen Bureaucracy, an entity the entire sector agrees to be an intimidating state, as well as refueling services to the Spinward Sector with the volatiles extraction services to be coming on-line very soon.
All the wealth generated from the trade has increased our society and governments ability to function and deal with domestic problems arising in Abell. In the last two years, economic growth has been astronomical and this is what allowed the Leoni Government to focus on several different initiatives at once. The kind professor is however very astute in his observation that living space has become limited; the government should indeed take more proactive measures. Unlike many of my colleagues, I am more than aware of the dangers of being a nation of purely businesspeople and financial experts. To cement the Confederacy as a force for good and peace in the sector, we must have a strong national base with self-sufficient volatiles, food and mineral operations. Doing otherwise leaves us extremely vulnerable to external threats.
Our newest citizens and residents, from places as varied as Oia, Mern and Standard, are a vital part in the unified efforts in building a glorious new state in the middle of the Forest. Working together with the Mernt, the Praxzen, the Standardites if they ever settle down and perhaps even the Leeni and Seffasians should they deign to receive our emissaries, the Forest can be built into a new shining beacon for all to know. We cannot and should not build a wondrous insular society if we abandon or reduceour external obligations.
In that sense, the Leoni Governments silence in regards to the Zeran Affair is not only outrageous, but utterly shameful. We too were once slaves who freed ourselves and slaughtered our sick and dying masters with our chains. Why did the Foreign Ministry not take a more proactive approach in offering our diplomatic services to the Zerans? We could have pre-empted the entire situation and prevented bloodshed between the Standardites and the Zerans. Heaven knows we would not have sent a naval flotilla to Lipsid Gamma without prior communication with the Zerans.
It was also at the Seat of Light that I came across an Atooan Dathic policy paper with quite alarming news. Aside from urging the Dathic powers of Lipsid Alpha to support the Standardites against us, they are also eying Abnab as a possible strategic entrance point into the forest. Abnab is also one jump away from Abell. It is of strategic importance that we prevent this.
The Government must establish a much more active foreign policy as well as expand their presence in the domestic sphere. As the kind professor put it so well, we did not come here to merely get rich. We came to build a new and free society which happened to become rich. We have an obligation to ourselves, our children and our neighbors to work for the greater good.
The old Confederacy held the Apeilic Iris in a vice-grip with its domination of the shipping and financial markets in many sectors and used their power to pre-empt and prevent the Iris from committing many excesses during the War. Our new Confederacy should do the same.
With freedom and justice on our side, we will prevail.
