...that during the Crimson Harvest, I'm fighting with the Blood Raiders against the Amarr, and that any reward I receive will come straight from the pirates.

Sure, they're some scary crazy psychos, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend... at least for a week.

Who's with me? Matari brethren?

((RP Mode Activated))

I am sorry, brother, but I can not agree with you. The Empire has it's faults, and they have been the sole reason why the Matari, my father's people, are struggling. The Empire deserves to be crushed.

However, after what happened with Cale and his cult, I can not stand by and allow these savage beasts rise to anymore power. Yes, the enemy of my enemy may indeed be my friend, but what if that "friend" is a greater evil?

Should we not instead side with the lesser of evils to remove the greater? Should we not cast aside our hatred for a breif moment to deal with this threat? I say, "Aye, we should."

After these monsters have been dealt with, we will revisit our previous war against the hated Amarr.

((RP Mode Activated))

I am sorry, brother, but I can not agree with you. The Empire has it's faults, and they have been the sole reason why the Matari, my father's people, are struggling. The Empire deserves to be crushed.

However, after what happened with Cale and his cult, I can not stand by and allow these savage beasts rise to anymore power. Yes, the enemy of my enemy may indeed be my friend, but what if that "friend" is a greater evil?

Should we not instead side with the lesser of evils to remove the greater? Should we not cast aside our hatred for a breif moment to deal with this threat? I say, "Aye, we should."

After these monsters have been dealt with, we will revisit our previous war against the hated Amarr.

((RP Mode Activated))

I am sorry, brother, but I can not agree with you. The Empire has it's faults, and they have been the sole reason why the Matari, my father's people, are struggling. The Empire deserves to be crushed.

However, after what happened with Cale and his cult, I can not stand by and allow these savage beasts rise to anymore power. Yes, the enemy of my enemy may indeed be my friend, but what if that "friend" is a greater evil?

Should we not instead side with the lesser of evils to remove the greater? Should we not cast aside our hatred for a breif moment to deal with this threat? I say, "Aye, we should."

After these monsters have been dealt with, we will revisit our previous war against the hated Amarr.

I don't know of Cale or his cult, but... perhaps you're right...

But something tells me no. I mean... are the Raiders truly the greater evil? They are pirates, true, but that term means little to me. I've seen noble men called pirates by those who would discredit them.

Not to say the Raiders are noble.... or aren't... I mean only to say...

I mean, they are loathsome. They are bloodthirsty murderers. But there are worse fates.

Have you ever seen a man fighting Vitoxin effects? Seen him forced to choose between the agonizing pain his freedom costs him or the numbness of captivity if he just gives in and asks for his drugs? Have you ever seen a slaver "pop a collar", watched a slaves's veins bulge as they fill with toxic chemicals, just to have set an example for would-be insurgents? Are you forgetting how many of our brethren are still alive, but trapped in Amarr chains, succored but shackled, leeched for any profit that can be drained from them before they collapse as ancient, soulless husks?

No, death is not the greater evil here. I would rather a man kill me than enslave me the way the Amarr do. The Blood Raiders may take a man's blood, but the Amarr would take his soul.

K I T T E N S

Honestly, it is this short sighted thinking and backwards logic that really shows how out of touch the matari have become.

Among many disturbing and questionable traditions, the Blood Raiders openly practice slavery.

Honestly, it is this short sighted thinking and backwards logic that really shows how out of touch the matari have become.

Among many disturbing and questionable traditions, the Blood Raiders openly practice slavery.

Mr Triefletcher, if I may, the Raiders target anyome they wish and to have no knowledge of them prior to this incursion is... well shocking to say the least. I have had a few encounters with these monsters and... lets just say I had to do things to survive that I am not too proud of.

Yes, I agree striking down the Empire needs to happen, and with the aide of like minded people, it can happen. However the Raiders are NOT people, nor will I ever consider them to be anything remotely close to human! Consider what you are doing, my friend.

*Shrug* I didn't say I'd never seen the bastards. Just never been closer than 60 meters to one. That's about the range on my Six Kin. They've been on the business end of merc contracts I've run before.

And ya, I've done contract work for monsters before. Maybe not blood suckers like these guys, but bad folk. It's not that I don't care, but first and foremost I'm trying to make a living. Throw the Amarr military into the mix as a contract target, and you don't even have to pay me that much, and I don't care much who's doing the paying.

You've given me some reason to pause, that's for sure, but I still dunno... I mean... I've got podder buddies plugging Raider chips into their goddamned brains, and painting their ships with Raider SKINs. Hell, half the mercs I know rolling out with the Amarr now are doing it because of the rumors they've heard about the Amarr handing out Raider themed SKINs as rewards. You want to talk about twisted backward reasoning, what the hell kind of backward nonsense is that?

No, the Amarr might be flawed in their beliefs, but the Blood Raiders are disturbing.

Don't paint the Tribes with so broad a brush. I speak only for myself. I'm no Elder.

And out of touch I may be. Until their recent, most public incursion, I've never had reason to know much more about the Blood Raiders than to keep them the hell off the deck of any ship I'm on. I thought they were opportunistic scavengers. Harvesters. Not farmers.

In any case, there's no way they've done as much harm to my people as the Amarr have. As the Amarr still are. And if its short sighted of me to hope they punch a big enough hole in the Empire's bulwarks to allow the Republic a stronger footing, and use their momentum to my advantage before they're inevitably pushed back to their corner, then I'm happy to be thought of as a bit myopic.

Honestly, it is this short sighted thinking and backwards logic that really shows how out of touch the matari have become.

Among many disturbing and questionable traditions, the Blood Raiders openly practice slavery.

...that during the Crimson Harvest, I'm fighting with the Blood Raiders against the Amarr, and that any reward I receive will come straight from the pirates.

Sure, they're some scary crazy psychos, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend... at least for a week.

Who's with me? Matari brethren?

No, death is not the greater evil here. I would rather a man kill me than enslave me the way the Amarr do. The Blood Raiders may take a man's blood, but the Amarr would take his soul.