Surely all deaths are turamtiac?

Believe me, they are much more fun from the sending end of the weapon. After a sentinel has decimated your squad and clone reserves for a solid fifteen minutes, bundled up all nice and tight in his prototype gear, hearing the big guy scream when you finally take him down just feels so good. There no real endorphin rush like it on the market to thoroughly ruin someone's day.

I make sure to finish an enemy off though, so it isn't like they are rolling around in pain for too long.

No, the really brutal deaths are things that we aren't even authorized to use in combat these days. PSYKLAD rounds, flamethrowers, nerve agents, that is the really nasty stuff.

Honor is not the same as integrity, Adamance. I would rather have truth in marketing than lies and deceit to create the illusion of a moral high ground. It is through integritiy that people begin to see you for who you really are, and that forms a bond stronger than any admiration a false reputation of honor might generate.

Judge me by my results, not my methods. I would rather brutally cripple an enemy invasion force than enslave a population with a false sense of honor, Templar. It is also frequently said that we should not take this job personally, but it can be hard not to when you lose a large sum of your own equipment to a mercenary who does not even believe in the cause he is fighting for.

I was simply trying to make the point that there are worse ways to die.

Showing it off opens up a few bar seats, I know that much.

Nobody here has any fear. As immortals, we simply don't have the capacity. Still, a professional reputation of thoroughly defeating an opponent pays well. It just works out that I take some pride in my work, why shouldn't I? Especially when it aligns with my own ideals from time to time.

Honor is just the bastard child of pride, and foolish pride at that. When you strip it to its core, honor is just a childish plea with the universe to have it marked somewhere that you are a better man of some sorts. Silver tongues and shady politics have all been claimed to be honorable at some point. But integrity holds no secrets or false promises. It shows the world who you are and what you defend, and allows others to decide for themselves whether you are wrong or right rather than being told the truth by a preconceived notion. Call me daft or tactless, but I would rather know who stands for what and what they are willing to do then have everyone mask themselves behind preconceived notions.

To this end, I am willing to uphold my own values. Even if previous mandates such as courtesy, law, and duty are cast away to do so.

Mostly I just came to terms with the fact I was trying to trick myself into ignoring the fact that I enjoyed the feeling I suppose. It was more damaging in the end to lie to myself than to admit my own wickedness. I no longer employ the Toxin weapon system except as a sidearm for when the moment calls for it. Chiefly, when I come across someone who I feel deserves it. I am not wholly evil, at least not yet. I still believe that a commendable opponent deserves a certain level of respect. Just ask Adamance, we have fought each other before, and I would gladly face him again. Regardless of his ideals, I respect his resolve and determination in combat. Other soldiers however deserve no such courtesy.

Perhaps soldiers like myself.

And yet aside from the child killing I smile when I review what the Blood Raiders have accomplished in developing a well educated society that chooses a life that embraces the state of nature that their god birthed them from. Sure they feast upon our own, but these days they do so from the most deserving source in all of New Eden. It is really quite brilliant from a psychological point of view.

Well I am at least part Intaki. Some have insisted that it grants me a potent fusion of having the capacity for deep thought while still being too direct to entirly think these thoughts through.

My father on the other hand was a mercenary, like myself. In his day, there was only one rule to combat: Survive. On the battlefield, hard choices needed to be made that did not always equate to the honorable thing to do. He taught me the value of personal consistancy over rectitude. I can only hope that the spirits will not be so daft as to judge me by my methods of defending my values.

Besides, honor has always been a nondescript term. If you send a Matari boy off to war and he brings back sixty-four severed heads, he is bringing his family honor. In other cultures, honor is found in pulling a comrad from twisted wreckage or having the humility to accept defeat.

Honor has always simply been a nonexistant reward system for those who conform to what society dictates is acceptable behavior without asking the individual to decide for himself what is right or wrong. Honor, at the end of the day, is just another weapon in the Empire's arsenal.

Naturally a cult like the Blood Raiders could never hope to control an entire race of people. But if they were to shake an empire to its foundations, perhaps perhaps perhaps another goal might be achieved. Hypothetically an Empire under siege by the SaniSabik would be unstable enough that an outside power would be forced to step in, lest they rip themselves appart in turmoil. At least then a war with the Empire would be seen as an acceptable liberation from a savage and violent cult rather than facing an enemy that can feign nobility.

Ryeon-haani, corrupt governments in power throughout the cluster have all been squabbling for what exists now in the present. I find very few ever have the luxury of fighting for the future, or at the very least predicting possible outcomes. All the outcomes I can see point to one undeniable fact: Unless the Amarr are brought to an end now, they will quickly become the largest threat in the universe.

Then you are fortunate enough to have never been betrayed by those who command authority before. We should all be so lucky to be blissfully unaware that occassionally those you are determined to serve and lay down your life for do not share the same sentiments.

The Amarr however are a slow burn, a cancer that consumes all. With your empress and your ideology, the Golden Fleet has the potental to slowly gain power until they match all three superpowers combined. You have power, stability, and most importantly numbers. You beliefs drawn people willingly into your empire, or forced them in at gunpoint. Entire cultures, families, and parts of history have been wiped from existance by your Reclamation and placed them under the theocratic control of True Amarr. The only difference between the Amarr and the Nation is that Sansha takes the removal of all identity a bit more literally. Now however? The Empire is weak. Following the war with the Jove and the Minmatar split, you are weaker than ever. We can strike while the iron is hot, or wait until you regain momentum swollow the rest of this world.

Some will call me a coward or radical for saying what needs to be said. I assure you I am neither, I simply see a tactical advantage on what is sure in time to become an enemy of the State.

....

I cannot believe I am saying this, but ancestors choke, I think peace with the Republic and the Gallente is not too much of a long shot. The Republic simply wishes to regain lands that are due to them and regain their cultural freedom. I have made the point before how similar to ourselves the Minmatar are. If anything, in aiding with the destruction of the Amarr, ties with the Republic will shift to us rather than the indecisive and unhelpful political ties that they already hold with the Federation. War with the Amarr would cost us an ally, but it would bolster our own State's power while weakening the Gallente in the cold war that is sure to follow.

So that said, I hope no offense was taken by any Matari for that headhunter joke earlier.

That is all it will be though, a cold war fueled by proxy wars that are sure to span the cluster while never engadging in direct combat. This world would be a safer place that way than with the political turmoil that ravages low and null sec spaces today.

Kirjuun, with Heth gone anything I can say is of little importance now. Any additional commentary would just be ex post facto. A young soldier however may still be suseptable to believing that dying on a shelled out rock in the middle of null sec might bring him some form of honor. Esspecially in the Amarr, were Crusaders are taught that striking down any individual who does not believe in their faith is not only encouraged by their generals, but mandated by their God to bring their faith honor.

Have I been corrupted by Gallente, or have you been told by those above you what you should be fighting for?