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Remember the Seven Nations
Jun. 14th, 2011 11:04 pmIt's the same question every time. "What does this have to do with the war effort, Mateo?" Well, I'm sorry, Warmaster, but some areas of study have nothing to do with the war effort, and yet they're still important things to pursue. Of course I don't say such a thing to the Warmaster, but I certainly think it.
Blast this all-consuming war! It really was dreadfully bad fortune that the nation that decided to worship Nihil, God of Destruction, was also Barratura, the northernmost country in our world. Under the continuous pressure of the Veil advancing upon them, the Barraturans are forced to advance and make war with their neighbors – and because they consider war to be a divine mandate, they're deucedly good at it! Currambakor has already fallen and is really just a vassal-state, and The Four Damsels (Merrechi, Szalando, Uher-la and Uher-ro) have their hands full just keeping the Barraturans from crossing southwards across the River Sepp. Only we, the ever-expanding southern backwater of Alaya, have no front in this battle. We support our allies, The Four Damsels, providing them with food and supplies and warm bodies – the fuel upon which the engine of war runs.
Sadly, these same things are also the fuel upon which runs the engine of science, but that must take a back seat to the conflict in the north. My little academy used to have a relatively free hand, but now it's all "Make us a dirigible that can deflect bullets, Mateo," or "Can't you decant a neurotoxin gas that disperses faster?" There's no time or resources for the really interesting, really important projects, most of which have absolutely nothing to do with blowing anybody up.
And it's all so pointless! Even now the black spire approaches the Veil in the North. Of course the Barraturans are overjoyed; they worship that indestructible obelisk as an incarnation of Nihil himself, and when it hits the Veil they think they're all going to some kind of bloody unpleasant afterlife. Idiots. As we know from the carvings of Merxis the Wise, we're all going to lose our minds in a few short years and go back to rooting around in the filth like animals. What is the threat of war compared to that?
Bah. The Warmaster says "War is immediate; your Apocalypse is only theoretical." Well, Von Mateo says there's nothing theoretical about planning for the worst case, and anybody who says otherwise is a dolt. So, we're continuing to labor at the Great Work – to prepare the next incarnation of society to rise as fast as possible – and also sneak in a few pet projects of mine. My own personal work at the Southern Veil, for instance.
We're going to put a man through it.
( Read more... )
Blast this all-consuming war! It really was dreadfully bad fortune that the nation that decided to worship Nihil, God of Destruction, was also Barratura, the northernmost country in our world. Under the continuous pressure of the Veil advancing upon them, the Barraturans are forced to advance and make war with their neighbors – and because they consider war to be a divine mandate, they're deucedly good at it! Currambakor has already fallen and is really just a vassal-state, and The Four Damsels (Merrechi, Szalando, Uher-la and Uher-ro) have their hands full just keeping the Barraturans from crossing southwards across the River Sepp. Only we, the ever-expanding southern backwater of Alaya, have no front in this battle. We support our allies, The Four Damsels, providing them with food and supplies and warm bodies – the fuel upon which the engine of war runs.
Sadly, these same things are also the fuel upon which runs the engine of science, but that must take a back seat to the conflict in the north. My little academy used to have a relatively free hand, but now it's all "Make us a dirigible that can deflect bullets, Mateo," or "Can't you decant a neurotoxin gas that disperses faster?" There's no time or resources for the really interesting, really important projects, most of which have absolutely nothing to do with blowing anybody up.
And it's all so pointless! Even now the black spire approaches the Veil in the North. Of course the Barraturans are overjoyed; they worship that indestructible obelisk as an incarnation of Nihil himself, and when it hits the Veil they think they're all going to some kind of bloody unpleasant afterlife. Idiots. As we know from the carvings of Merxis the Wise, we're all going to lose our minds in a few short years and go back to rooting around in the filth like animals. What is the threat of war compared to that?
Bah. The Warmaster says "War is immediate; your Apocalypse is only theoretical." Well, Von Mateo says there's nothing theoretical about planning for the worst case, and anybody who says otherwise is a dolt. So, we're continuing to labor at the Great Work – to prepare the next incarnation of society to rise as fast as possible – and also sneak in a few pet projects of mine. My own personal work at the Southern Veil, for instance.
We're going to put a man through it.
( Read more... )
