Saturday, November 13, 2010

And now, the Eastern Delegation's response

Dear Dr. Chambers,

I have read your report, and am ever grateful for the security you and your associates have so ably provided me. I thus ask why you have decided to cease providing for my security, since you know as well as I that I am unable to leave Peace River with negotiations well underway. I now realize that the answer lies in our meeting, and the demands you made on the Free Emirates. I have spent much of the day in quiet contemplation, and I believe I have a concise response to your demands that should satisfy your thirst for freedom.





Go to hell.

I wondered who exactly you are, Dr. Chambers, to believe that you could make these demands on a society that is dealing with the after-effects of a massive revolution, followed by untold bloodshed visited upon us by a decadent madman backed by the most powerful army in the world. I have had time to research your history, and find a man who is afflicted by the same hubris that has afflicted so many politicians before him: unbridled ambition.

It is, however, unfair of me to first attack you, without explaining my decision.

The Basal revolt has been criticized, and rightfully so, for being a feudal revolt. Why should Emir Shirow be taken seriously as a revolutionary when his actions are like so many petty tyrants before him? Why should we present ourselves as anything other than power-hungry aristocracy taking the power for ourselves, and not sharing it with the rightful seat of power, the Patriarch? The answer to these questions is directly related to the nature of Eastern society.

The Eastern Sun Emirates is founded on a single sacrificial act so awesome in its scope that without understanding it, nothing follows. When Enri Masao decided not to abandon Terranova when the Concordat Recall Order was given, he sacrificed any chance he would ever have of seeing his home, his people, and his loved ones, for the rest of his life. But he saw the inhumanity of the Concordat leaving Terranova to its own devices. Instead of using the contents of the holds of the Eastern Sun to conquer the region, he bartered, he negotiated, he traded, and yes, sometimes he resorted to force. The end result was a stable, prosperous society, one that has a rich and vibrant culture, and one that could, for many centuries, look back on Enri Masao's legacy and say "we are still worthy of this sacrifice."

Are we still worthy of that sacrifice? The sajhalin are. The solicitors might be. But the Patriarch is no longer a Masao in anything but name. The Emirs who still follow him wallow in decadence and power, and do not see the suffering they are causing to their subjects. The Emirs of the Eastern Sun do not represent the values of sacrifice, devotion, and duty that they once stood for. Being an Emir of the Eastern Sun means being the embodiment of these values. The Universal French term is "noblesse oblige", nobility obliges. Perhaps you've heard it? That is the Eastern Sun Emirates in its ideal, reduced to two words.

Do you now understand that the rot in the Eastern Sun Emirates is only at the top, is only among those who are obliged to be noble, in the truest sense of the word? And the Emirs have failed to meet their responsibilities. There is no need for a worker uprising in Strathclyde or Cimmaro, Skavara or Javari. Simply replace the current ruler with one who understands what sacrifice, duty and devotion really mean, one lives those values every day, and the Eastern Sun Emirates will no longer be a brutal, sadistic, decadent place.

I wanted to explain this, because we Easterners (Free or otherwise) understand the nature of our problems, and do not need your demands to help clarify things and set us on the right path. And yet, I will point you to two initiatives that Emirs Shirow and Boash have enacted in order to make their rule more democratic and benevolent.

1. The Council. Emir Shirow regularly meets with the sixty members of the Council. This group, formed of solicitors and notable sajhalin is an advisory body that produces legislation and recommendations regarding the day-to-day running of Basal and Bangweuleu. Should Okavango hold off the Patriarch's assault, we plan on expanding the Council to include that city-state.

2. Emir Boash has, in consultation with the Council, drafted a basic Human Rights Charter for all citizens. It is as follows: Right to Life, Right to Property, Right to Movement, and Right to a Fair Trial. Both Emir Shirow and Boash understand that codifying the obligations the Emirs have to the sajhalin will go a long way in healing our league.

Your demands might be grounded in political idealism, but I wonder where exactly they exist in reality on our world? The Southern Republic? The Protectorate? Perhaps the Mekong Dominion? There is no league, no city-state, on this planet that lives up to your ideals, no matter how worthy they are. This is not to excuse the problems of the Emirates, but only to ground them in their proper context.

As for you, Dr. Chambers, I have delved a bit into your own actions of late. Tell me, when you were sacrificing the lives of the workers of Lance Point, did you think of the greater good? If you did then, then why have you stopped working for the greater good now, when even more lives, and more freedoms are at stake?

I sincerely hope you would reconsider your decision, and continue to act for the greater good of a Free Emirates, and of Peace River.

Lady Victorya Hiro
Basal Delegation to Peace River

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