to: free cities

[frontlinetitties]

Yo~

So I've been kinda thinking that in light of the shit that just went down, maybe I'd sign up with the military. I've got a pretty sweet gig monster hunting, but it just doesn't feel like it has any meaning, you know? I've trained for this shit (the military) pretty much my whole life, so I figure they could use me. I’ve been here for like a year now and I kinda figure that if I was brought here for a reason, this is probably it.

I was just wondering if anyone else here has had much contact with these guys. What are your impressions? Have you signed up already? How's the pay, and do they seem decent to you? Any spectacularly hot babes I should know about?

That's it. That's the message. Thanks for your time.

~Gideon Nav

Comments

[frontlinetitties]

What kinda perks are we talking about, here?
And you didn't answer the most important question of all.

Seriously though, I dunno.
I'm considering it?
I just don't wanna sit around on my ass when people are getting killed, you know?

[earthborn]

Well they've got me, so it goes without saying.

[Hot babes? Ha! She really does like Gideon so much. What a good kid.]

The service, any kind of military service, isn't a job for people who are interested first in what's good for them, personally. The perks are good because it's not about you, it's about keeping you effective; room and board, medical, free food, usually free equipment, weaponry, that kind of thing. You don't get a lot of choices, but you also don't get a lot of bills.

And if you wanna get out there and do something... it's not a bad option. Most of the people I see talking to you right now are thinking about it from the outside, and they're not really wrong. This job can be vicious, violent, and dehumanizing; it demands you shift your loyalties away from where you might otherwise place them.

But y'know something tells me that Gideon Nav can handle a little hardship in the name of getting shit done.

[frontlinetitties]

Fair one.

[Ah, a woman after her own heart!]

And yeah, I'm not worried about a bit of hardship.
I guess if we cut right down to it it's not me I have concerns about here.
It's whether I'm gonna end up asked to blow the shit out of uninvolved bystanders.
People just trying to get on with their lives, you know?
With the Cohort it was pretty cut and dry.
You're serving God and all of the Nine Houses, like nine whole planets full of people.
You're not razing the cities of your neighbours to the ground.

Admittedly I have a couple of questions about God and his motives right now but it's not like he's around to answer them, so.

[earthborn]

I know that it's the quiet part that people aren't supposed to say out loud, but mutiny IS an option if you find your superiors asking you to gun down civilians in the street. Every fuckup has consequences, but that's as true for them as for you.

That said, war is messy, and when your leaders take you to war that means everybody; you're not going to have your pick of target. They might've started it, in Libertas, but once we get going, there is no option to be "uninvolved"

[In war, whether all you're doing is buying bread or knitting spare blankets, you're still generating purpose even if you aren't paying the taxes that fund the damn army. Going after the civilians is a time-honored tradition for the desperate and the cruel, it's true, but it doesn't follow that it's necessarily a bad tactical decision. As she said: for every fuckup a consequence, for good or ill.]

Worst case scenario, we all go to hell together, but the more likely outcome is that a few thousand people die before the people in charge grow up and start using their words to resolve conflict. Either way, signing up doesn't make you responsible for what other people do, it makes them responsible for what you do: that's why they get to order you around. That's what being in command means.

And, speaking as someone with a little practical experience, there have been some neighbors that the world could do without.

[frontlinetitties]

I guess that's my problem.
No matter who's calling the shots I don't see why some lady just trying to make ends meet for her family has to die.
Or like, kids.
Or people just going about their god damned business.
Fighting the enemies of the Necrolord Prime and all of the Nine Houses feels like a pretty different ballgame to me.
Regardless of who's calling the shots.
Although hey, I'm not above a spot of mutiny if a situation calls for it.

I guess it's just a hard one to comprehend, you know?
You just didn't do that shit where I'm from.
Sure, not all of the Houses actually liked each other.
I'm pretty sure the Ninth were fairly universally reviled or like, feared at the very least.
But we never blew each other up.

[earthborn]

Don't take this the wrong way, Gideon, but from what little you've told me, it sounds like the only reason you weren't blowing each other up, is because you were all working for the same guy.

But whoever your Necrolord Prime was under all the titles and bullshit, there isn't a ruler in existence who wants to deal with his dogs biting each other, especially when he's keeping them around so that they can bite someone else.

[Might makes right is the law of nature; that doesn't make it right, fair, or the best way of organizing things... but it does so very often make things functional, where they otherwise would not consent to be.]

Biggest badass with the most guys working for him sets down the rules, and anyone who doesn't fall in line gets put in line. In a perfect world that would mean army against army; and since Cadens is gonna have the biggest and best equipped, not to mention more Summoned actually cooperating with them, we're gonna have the advantage. But let's say that something like Thorne's leadership doesn't like their odds, so: they figure, they'll bomb civilian centers. It does a lot of damage and makes it hard to bring the army's force to bear against them in return.

But it means asking their guys to commit an act of terrorism. It's just murder, for political reasons. You think there's nobody on your world who'd kill for an advantage, if they thought they could get away with it?

Lots of bastards in the world, Gideon. You can bitch about it, or you can get off your ass and be one of the people who're doing something about it. I know where I stand, but you're young enough to still be making the choice. Let me know which way you fall.