Tampines Air Base, Selatapura, Osean Federation — January 3, 2020
Trigger, we’ve selected you from the rest of the Lighthouse Division as one of the best pilots that the OADF has to offer, for a special mission to both test out our most advanced aircraft and to showcase to Elysia what our technology has to offer: you are to fly on a round trip on the SR-72 Darkstar from Selatapura to the Gra Valkan capital of Ragna and back.
For maximum fuel efficiency, you will first launch from here in Selatapura and head on a southbound route above the Rodenius and Vestal continents, passing by the Annorial city of Bushpaka Lakan before cutting through the Conshal Islands and the Mu continent towards Gra Valkas. Your return path will be through the northern half of Elysia, passing by Leifor and the northern extremities of the Agartha and Emor Kingdoms before cutting through Topa to reach the Osean mainland—with the long-range capabilities of the DarkStar and your weapon loadouts optimised for the standard operations that this aircraft is expected to participate in for its service in the Lighthouse Division, we believe that this aircraft will perform well within its operational limits with the most qualified pilots of the Osean Federation at the controls.
Due to the sheer scale of this operation, you will be reporting to multiple units in different stages of your trip: from takeoff in Selatapura until you begin scramjet procedures, AWACS Sky Keeper will be overseeing your flight. Between here and Gra Valkas, both the Arkbird and Basset Space Center will be monitoring your route to Ragna and back, while AWACS Long Caster will assist with your final approach to Selatapura. In the unlikely event of an emergency occurring mid-flight, you are to immediately head back towards Sand Island—if that does not appear to be feasible, HQ and the Osean government will make the necessary arrangements with either Mu, the HME, and Gra Valkas for an emergency landing at their nearest airbases. Needless to say, such an action would be of a last resort, if every other option appears to have failed—for what would perhaps be rather obvious reasons, it would be ideal if we would not have to rely on such an outcome.
The Arkbird has determined that no foreign satellites or objects will likely be within your flight path, but is prepared to take immediate action if anything poses a direct threat to yourself or the aircraft—a significant portion of the Ancient Sorcerous Empire’s satellite network remains active, and we have yet to fully determine the scale of the threat they pose. Further details are available to you on the documents before you; HQ recommends you take a quick look at them before you head off. Regardless, if anything acts against you, move swiftly and decisively with your weapons at hand—your actions could easily determine how the next generation of warfare pans out for us with our present course.
Trigger, do you have any questions?
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Selatapura, Osean Federation — January 3, 2020
News had spread quickly about an imminent demonstration by the Oseans of their new fighters—the details surrounding the newly-unveiled DarkStar and FALKEN had been met with near-disbelief amongst the Elysian delegates present, with even some of the most open-minded members present suspecting some kind of hyperbole on their hosts’ part. Yet the very nature of the Lighthouse seemed to suggest that perhaps there was a certain element of truth behind the Oseans’ words, and a mixture of reporters, tourists, and observers had managed to make their way to Tampines Airport (or took a ride aboard a La Chaos aircraft that a particularly foresighted and enterprising Muan noble had managed to bring to Selatapura for sightseeing) to witness the advanced aircraft take flight.
From an observation deck within the spacious Tampines Airport itself, a Qua Toynan merchant pointed towards a distant runway in astonishment. “Look, over there!”
A black, sleek, angular craft fired its engines (blue dragon-like flames shot out from its exhausts, eliciting several gasps) as it rapidly accelerated and ascended into the skies in a matter of seconds—brief layers of air shimmered on the aircraft’s surface as the aircraft broke the sound barrier with shocking nonchalance, easily exceeding the capabilities of even the fastest Alpha-3 fighters in existence. The skies themselves boomed and echoed, what came across to the guests as a report of a massive cannon; already the DarkStar was quickly vanishing into the distance, continuing to accelerate faster and faster even despite its sheer speed at that very moment.
Walking away from the display within the Lighthouse, Minister Phiam caught a glimpse of Director Gesta observing the spaceplane’s ascent with visible defeat, the Gra Valkan diplomat seeing his country’s martial ambitions receding yet further into the realm of improbability. Much to his own surprise, however, the Milishial minister found himself somehow sharing his counterpart’s sense of dread—with such advanced technologies easily exceeding the legendary weapons of the ancient Ravernals by decades, how could the Holy Milishial Empire even hope to pose a defence against the DarkStar and whatever else the Oseans could come up with?
Was there even anything that could even remotely pose a threat to the Osean Federation at this point?
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“Trigger, you’re approaching the outer limit of our radar range. We’re going to transfer you over to the Arkbird—in the event of an emergency that affects the Arkbird’s communication relay, you’ll both report to Basset Space Centre as planned, copy?”
Nodding to himself, Trigger pressed a couple of buttons on his communication device, signalling his affirmation to the AWACS operator.
“All right, Trigger. The Arkbird will be reporting to you shortly—the callsign for the Captain herself is Edge. Follow her instructions and remember the training you received for this aircraft—we’re not expecting anything to affect your flight, but Elysia might have something up there that we haven’t detected just yet. Arkbird, do you copy?”
“Reading you loud and clear, Sky Keeper,” a female voice cut in. “Thanks for watching out for our young nugget; we’ll take it from here.”
“Roger, Arkbird. Sky Keeper, signing off—”
The static from Sky Keeper’s broadcast abruptly cut off as Trigger switched over to the Arkbird’s frequency, clearing up the background noise until the woman’s voice was perfectly clear. Edge spoke again, and Trigger’s eyes widened in recognition.
“Hello, Trigger. I’m Captain Kei Nagase, but you can just call me Nagase or Edge. Is that all right?”
Even if the pilot could actually speak, the burning sensation on his cheeks would have prevented him from doing so as his grip on the controls abruptly hardened.
“Ah, I remember reading your file—you’re not exactly the talkative type, are you? You remind me of Blaze; the two of you would definitely get along. Actually, he should be on this radio channel as well, shouldn’t he? Blaze, come here and say hi, will you?”
A vague murmuring noise could be heard in the background. Nagase laughed, a sweet melodious sound to Trigger’s ears.
“Anyway, as you no doubt already know, the process for you to reach Mach 10 involves multiple steps—first, you’ll need to be able to exceed the sound barrier; next, you’ll need to transition from standard jets to the DarkStar’s scramjets to exceed Mach 3.5 and gradually transition to Mach 10; lastly, you’ll be maintaining this speed as you continue your flight above Elysia to Ragna and back. Now, as you’ve already gone through the official training procedures back in Basset Space Centre, I’ll just be monitoring your procedures and informing you if anything happens in the air—or right below the Kármán Line, for that matter. Do you copy?”
Another press on the communicator signalled Trigger’s affirmation. Nagase smiled.
“Excellent, Trigger. Now, you’re already accelerating past the sound barrier—you’ll now need to prepare to transition to your scramjets. On my mark, point down and prepare to execute the next manoeuvre in five, four, three, two, one, mark—”
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On that day, a singular manned aircraft reached the edge of outer space for the very first time.
The DarkStar’s tips glowed a faint orange as the sheer speed of the hypersonic aircraft cut seamlessly through the few air particles that existed in the upper layers of the atmosphere; from the small windows in the cockpit, Trigger could see the horizon’s curve as the Elysian planet itself almost began to slowly recede into the distance. With the speed that the hypersonic fighter had now achieved, the Osean pilot was now soaring steadily above the eastern islands at the edge of Qua-Toyne; in a matter of minutes, the DarkStar would soon reach Altaras and leave the Third Civilization Area behind.
From television screens (or their magical equivalents) throughout Elysia, countless eyes saw with awe the horizon along the DarkStar’s rear—it was early in the afternoon in Selatapura, but the sun had barely risen in Leiforia; it would be early morning in Ragna with the expected arrival of the Osean aircraft. With the pilot’s sheer speed, the sun seemed to be slowly retreating behind the cover of Elysia itself as the bright blue colours of the planet’s surface gradually gave way and transitioned into a deeper, darker hue; even now, the spacecraft’s scramjets continued to blaze bright as the DarkStar maintained its unprecedented speed. Trigger’s eyes never turned away from the display, that said—with each careful gesture, the aircraft slowly adjusted its trajectories with near-robotic precision, following the instructions of the Arkbird as it guided the pilot’s path above Elysia.
Elsewhere on the surface on the planet, however, other preparations were now being made.
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With a ferocious roar, four boosters attached to a central rocket burst to life as a sizable spacecraft slowly lifted itself into the heavens.
As two winged researchers observed from a platform below, the rocket similarly began unleashing its fiery fuel as it continued to accelerate further above the clouds and into the hazy border between the blue skies and the blackness of space. Its target: an aircraft currently making its way above the northern waters of the Annorial Empire—
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Aboard the Arkbird, Nagase’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Basset Space Center, are you picking this up? I’ve just received signals suggesting some kind of missile launch coming from the Branchel Continent, and its estimated flight path has a possible chance of intercepting with Mage One. Please advise.”
“Basset to Arkbird, standby while we contact HQ. Recommend you keep an eye on the unidentified object for now and have Mage One perform the necessary manoeuvres to avoid a potential collision, over.”
“Copy, Basset. Trigger, just a heads up: we’ve detected an object rapidly ascending from the Branchel Continent to your southwest; we’re still trying to determine what it is, but keep an eye out in case it tries to intercept you. Got it?”
A signal from Trigger confirming his acknowledgment of the situation. Nagase turned back to her instruments and frowned, pondering on what to do.
The Annonrial Empire was known throughout Elysia for their reclusive, isolationist nature and their suspected heritage from the infamous Ravernal Empire of old. Both unconfirmed rumours and classified intel had gradually come to Nagase’s knowledge about a potential superpower in hiding wielding weapons on par with the pre-War Belkans, silently taking a page from the Grey Men themselves with their not-so-subtle interventions in Eshirant and Esperanto—intercepting the DarkStar mid-flight as it flew near their borders would definitely be a possible way for the Annonrials to undermine Osea’s international standing as well as to gauge their technological capabilities. But would they be so brazen as to do so while the entirety of Elysia was watching?
“Basset to Arkbird, be advised—HQ has determined that the DarkStar is to either evade or directly intercept and eliminate any potential weapons or objects that could pose a threat to the aircraft. Use the Arkbird’s laser capabilities to protect the DarkStar if you have to, Arkbird.”
Nagase frowned. Wasn’t the Arkbird’s presence restricted knowledge to non-Oseans? “Basset, we run the risk of exposing our military capabilities to the rest of Elysia if we do so—”
“And we run the risk of losing a valuable prototype and damaging our image if the DarkStar is destroyed, to say nothing of the pilot on board. Don’t worry, Bright Hill’s already assessed the possible consequences of a premature deployment of the Arkbird, and we have reason to believe our counterparts might already know of its existence—our space plane takes precedence, Arkbird, copy?”
The Captain sighed, seeing no further cause in arguing against her orders. “Understood, Basset. We’ll protect the DarkStar if we have to—we’re changing our course to intercept the object, over.”
In anticipation of a possible Ravernal or Annonrial orbital weapon attempting to interrupt the DarkStar’s inaugural flight, the Arkbird had glided in low orbit along the planned flight path ahead of Trigger and begun gradually clearing out debris and satellites that Osean scientists had calculator to pose even a slight risk to the aircraft with its laser modules, microwaving materials into minute particles in a matter of seconds. Now several dozen kilometres above Cartalpas, the Arkbird gently turned and changed course under the careful ministrations of its pilot, the seasoned veteran quietly calculating the best route to quickly insert the spacecraft between the DarkStar and its potential partycrasher.
“Alright, Blaze; we’re right on track—damn it, something just happened to that object!”
“Basset to Arkbird, what are we looking at?”
The unidentified object—clearly artificial in nature—split off from what Nagase recognized as a secondary rocket stage, two smaller objects detaching from the main body and each expelling an outer layer of fairing to reveal a barrel-like device. Two corresponding pairs of solar panels rapidly unfolded from the satellites, and Nagase’s eyes widened as the two secondary objects began to slowly shift towards the general direction of the approaching DarkStar—
“We have possible hostile orbital weaponry targeting Mage One! Trigger, I’m calculating the direction of those weapons and sending the data over to your HUD—evade whatever they throw at you as much as you can!”
The two orbital weapons glowed and discharged their magical firepower, producing a series of concentrated blasts of energy directed at the estimated path of the DarkStar. Trigger yanked on his controls as the fighter slowly navigated out of the incoming enemy fire, weaving through the barrage at hypersonic speeds and quickly running several diagnostics checks on his aircraft’s condition and the status of his armaments—Nagase similarly continued to track the movement of the hostile satellites, relaying critical information to both Trigger and Basset while her pilot swiftly positioned the Arkbird to prepare to fire its own countermeasures.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Good job, Blaze! Basset, Trigger, be advised: we’re preparing to fire our lasers at the satellites attempting to destroy the DarkStar. If that doesn’t work, use your hypersonic missiles to eliminate the problem, copy?”
“All callsigns, break—we’re detecting additional movement from the main satellite itself! Watch out in case that—“
The rocket that the two satellites had detached from reignited its engines, now rapidly accelerating towards the DarkStar even as it began to rotate in a similarly increasing speed—
An explosion unexpectedly struck the unknown spacecraft, instantly disintegrating the main satellite into countless smaller objects, microparticles, and debris all hurtling in the general direction of Trigger; Nagase’s eyes widened in horror even as she began to mentally calculate trajectories of the approaching projectiles for the DarkStar to avoid. The astronaut whirled her head towards the general direction of the cockpit, but the pilot was already reacting to the rapidly deteriorating situation—a pair of lasers began systematically vaporising debris left and right even as the spacecraft they were protecting began to weave through the cloud of instant death with breathtaking precision.
Leaning forward, Trigger’s hands seemingly froze—his adjustments on the joystick reduced to mere micromovements as the supercomputers aboard his hypersonic aircraft began running trillions upon trillions of calculations per second to identify their two main targets—and squeezed hard on the controls. On the underside of the DarkStar, the weapons bays shot open and a pair of anti-satellite missiles fell out: originally designed to eliminate Yuktobanian satellites, the redesigned ASM-135s burst to lift and soared through the vacuum of space towards the orbital satellites.
“Mage One, Fox Three!”
With miniaturised microwave shielding embedded onto the missiles, the two projectiles cut through the cloud of microparticles and debris like a knife through butter; the faint blue cover shimmered and scattered as countless objects burnt and spread through the surface like raindrops on a puddle. Nagase watched from her display as the ASMs rapidly decreased their distance from the satellites, silently praying to the gods that the projectiles would find their targets—
A pair of bright flashes instantly outshined the sun for the briefest of moments, revealing the rapidly disintegrating remains of the two hostile satellites. From the cloud of debris, the DarkStar shot through, a stream of lasers searing a path through the storm of hypersonic death with the aircraft itself looking none the worse for wear. Nagase sighed in relief, collapsing onto the console as the tension of the past five minutes instantly dissipated.
“Mage One, splash two! Trigger, you might just actually give Blaze a run for his money with that flying there—well done!”
“Basset to Arkbird, what’s the situation up there? Is the DarkStar still functional?”
The captain quickly glanced at the readings for Trigger’s aircraft. “Affirmative, Basset; the aircraft took some slight damage on its control surfaces, but all of the key systems on the DarkStar are otherwise at peak efficiency.”
“Roger. Be advised, HQ has authorised us to abort the mission and return the DarkStar to Selatapura as possible—sorry, correction: we’ve been ordered by HQ to abort the mission altogether. Have Mage One begin the necessary protocols to change course and head back to Sand Island or Tampines—we’re not going to risk losing the plane and its pilot after what’s just happened.”
Nagase sighed. “Copy, Basset. Trigger, standby for—”
A stream of signals interrupted the captain’s orders, causing her to look at the console in surprise. Her eyes widened even as she read the message being transmitted.
“Trigger, are you sure? We don’t know how the DarkStar is going to fare if we attempt to repeat the Mach 10 procedures heading back from Ragna—”
Another stream of signals came in. Words of reassurance and confidence. A request for faith. A query—no, a plea.
The astronaut blinked. Coming to a decision, she turned towards the communications console.
“Basset, we’re countermanding that order. Trigger’s already returned to his original course and his aircraft has more than enough fuel to complete the trip well within the mission parameters—the mission will be continued as planned.”
“Arkbird, switch to secondary radio frequencies; we repeat, order the DarkStar to—“
Rolling her eyes, Nagase reached for a nearby dial and tuned out the voice speaking into her earpiece—no need to let their Elysian observers publicly know they were blatantly violating orders from the top. “Standby, Basset—we appear to be experiencing some issues with our communications module…stand by…do you copy?”
“Arkbird—”
“Alright, Trigger, you’re cleared to proceed with the rest of your flight—we’ll keep an eye out for any more partycrashers up here. Safe travels!”
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Ragna, Gra Valkas Empire — January 3, 2020
From several vessels anchored or stationed along the southern waters of the Imperial Bay, several sailors caught sight of a singular angular object cutting above the sea in speeds beyond even the fastest known Antares fighter could achieve. Yet even as they managed to reach for their binoculars or even radio the Capital Defense Force to alert them of the unknown object, the craft had already shot past the vessels in the direction of the Gra Valkan capital to the north, the sky warping to form sharp clouds across its surfaces and the waters themselves seemingly parting in its wake.
With an increasing trickle of reports of an unknown object rapidly approaching Ragna, all major radar installations both along the coast and within the Conquest Fleets stationed throughout the Empire’s major bases were placed on high alert—yet even as eyewitness accounts continued to circulate (each one distressingly closer in origin to Ragna itself), no abnormal radar signatures were detected or observed throughout the entire continent. In desperation, all Antares squadrons within operational range of the capital were ordered to launch immediately, their orders succinct yet explicit: intercept the object, and protect the Imperial Capital at all costs.
An earth-shattering crack in the skies shook the streets and buildings of the glorious capital of the Gra Valkas Empire, shaking hundreds of thousands of civilians, soldiers, and government officials alike from their morning stupor. In an instant, all semblance of a routine tradition of typical industry ceased as the entire population of Ragna slowly trickled out of homes and officers into the streets, looking up in wonder at the unknown object in the sky. From the Imperial Palace, the Emperor and his advisors stared at the aircraft in shock; from the Senate, Doves and War Hawks alike squinted at it with confusion—had the Empire’s scientists created some kind of new technology to assist their nation in its plans of conquest?
Far above the towers and buildings of Ragna, the aircraft peaked in the skies amidst the clouds and slowly began to descend back down, circling across the districts of the capital with fluid circular movement and clear precision as its two engines glowed a bright blue and the three claws emblazoned on its wings shined against the reflection of the sun. From a rooftop below, a Gra Valkan information technician quietly pondered the appearance of the fighter itself—compared to the industrial and mechanical appearance of the Antares or even the prototype Orsen jets, this aircraft was austere yet complex, graceful yet sharp in its design; its futuristic aesthetic highlighting its heavily advanced nature and making even the state-of-the-art designs of Gra Valkas’s future planes look near-barbaric in comparison.
The thought made Naguno shudder—what truly powerful nation existed out there that could easily reach Ragna and potentially pose a direct threat to the Empire even with such aerodynamic grace? Was this what the fabled Oseans themselves were capable of achieving?
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In the Royal Palace, an aide rushed to the Emperor, hurriedly whispering a message to his liege. Gra Lux’s eyes widened in surprise as he turned to the officer, the aged man clearly at a momentary loss for words.
“…from the Osean Federation, Gesta says? Fascinating…”
“Sir?”
“…very well, it seems that we might truly have to rethink our long-term plans. Summon the War Committee to the Castle at once.”
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Genette, A. et al. (2020) ‘Viewpoints on the Lighthouse Conference: Peace, Globalism, Unilateralism, or Neo-Colonialism? A Range of Opinions”, GAZE Magazine, 7 January, p. 15.
Our now-concluded conflict with the former Parpaldia Empire stands as a stark reminder of the complete disparity in viewpoints over the concepts of civility and so-called “barbarism” in Elysia, as the likes of Jin-Hark and Eshirant once promoted to the rest of the Third Civilization Region: compared to the seemingly self-evident truths held by our peers in our old world where rules of conduct in war and peace supported the interests and concerns of nations and peoples alike, a belief of “might makes right” prevails over the countless kingdoms and nation-states vying for power and survival.
The total defeat of Parpaldia has demonstrated to the nations of Elysia on their own terms that the Osean Federation and the International United Nations is a force to be reckoned with, but we need to demonstrate beyond our immediate neighbours that we do not desire to display our own potential as a nation-state through subjugation, conquest, and the destruction of our potential enemies in war—such a path runs counter to our views of peaceful cooperation with the nations of Elysia, and invites only further aggression from the powers that see our exploits through their own lenses as the actions of yet another rival vying for domination of the known world. With these conditions in mind, the Lighthouse Conference is meant to accomplish two different goals, similar in aims yet comprehensively different in how the successful execution of these plans will affect our international standing: to show to Elysia in their own terms about what we as a so-called “superpower” can achieve compared to its peers, and to show to Elysia on our own terms what we can offer to Elysia as a nation dedicated to spreading our own ideas of peace, prosperity, and the mutual benefit of nations and peoples alike through technology, multiculturalism, and science—regardless of whether or not traditional perspectives would consider us and our ideals to be “inferior” or not.
In the eyes of Elysia, no single nation in known existence barring the Ravernals themselves have ever touched outer space—the Lighthouse’s presence in Elysian terms stands as the ultimate sign of Osea’s position as a so-called superpower, a symbol of what any would-be aggressor from beyond the Third Civilization Area would have to face in order to impose their version of superiority upon the Federation and its partners. Mu and the Holy Milishial Empire have barely begun their ventures into the skies, and even the Gra Valkans have several decades to go before they can even consider reaching their pre-Ulysses Belkan counterparts—and mind you, this is as much as we know regarding the “superpowers” that have even bothered to publicly make their presence known. The Annorials are an unknown entity (and their suspected Ravernal ancestry has through multiple well-documented incidents already been a cause for concern), and even with our new satellites and orbital facilities, we still know little to nothing about what lies beyond our eastern and southern borders. We could easily talk about peace and cooperation with every nation we encounter, but without a show of force to back our words, we are just as likely to see another Osean ambassador held hostage by a nation arrogant enough to believe that it can somehow manage to defeat and subjugate us in total war—in a nutshell, we should not have to fight an inconvenient and costly conflict every time we encounter yet another would-be rival in Elysia’s seemingly-endless battle for power and prestige.
This perhaps brings us to the second objective of the Lighthouse Conference: the introduction of our old world’s system of international order to Elysia, and the gradual technological, economic, and cultural diffusion of our ideas and practices to the rest of the known world. Granted, our own system is still very much a flawed one—I can still count on my hands the number of wars our old Earth has had to endure even after the double catastrophes of Ulysses and Belka—but surely even an inefficient system like ours is far more preferable to one where wholesale slaughter and genocide without repercussions is the rule of law? Qua-Toyne was unfortunate enough to be an unwilling recipient of the so-called Elysian Concert, and Altaras itself would have become a victim if not for our own timely intervention—in a world where the worst atrocities of the Estovakian Generals and the Rald Faction are but casual events that the so-called “shining pearl of the races” and its partners either ignore or willfully sanction or even outright participate in, our partners in Rodenius, Philades, Grameus and beyond look to us as an alternative means to coexist and survive.
Our technology has accelerated the development of the Third Civilization Area by centuries, our weapons have halted almost half a dozen conflicts, our products have improved the standard of living in countless households between Esperanto and Quila, and our resources dedicated to foreign aid alone are expected to help completely eradicate hunger in Rodenius within the decade—with each contribution that we’ve made to the rest of Elysia, we’ve gradually dismantled the underlying factors that have driven the nations of our side of the world to resort to war. All that remains are the actions of madmen and opportunists who seek either personal glory or an outdated perception of might and order on behalf of ancient empires—and for them, our peacekeepers in the IUN are ready.
Our actions in the past year have already irreversibly determined our image and legacy in Elysia—what we choose to do in the Lighthouse Conference and in the years to come will define our legacy and whether or not we survive under our remarkably new circumstances for another generation. What option should we as a nation choose: isolation in the fanciful hope of the rest of Elysia and its countless players ignoring our arrival, or integration of the New World into our way of life?
Ambassador Vincent Harling was the President of the Osean Federation from 2004 to 2012 and served a pivotal role in ending the Circum-Pacific War in 2010; he now serves as Ambassador to the International United Nations as part of the outgoing Bartlett administration.
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There is a term for the countless horrors Ambassador Harling refers to in his piece and his prior remarks regarding the conduct of Elysia as a whole, yet something he never even considers to explicitly say: colonialism. It is a brutal practice of the New World that deserves to be consigned to the history books just as we in the old world were able to dispose—on that, Harling and I are in agreement—but the former statesman himself oftentimes comes across as if Osea was always a paragon of virtue on the subject. Surely even he knows of the dark past that the Federation similarly indulged in before Ulysses and Belka seemingly changed our country’s ways?
The Lighthouse stands as a remarkable achievement in the history of mankind and a newfound symbol of peace both in our own world and that of Elysia, but must we forget the circumstances that brought the Space Elevator to existence? The very process of constructing the monument in Selatapura was fraught with controversy, from the destruction of the biological ecosystem surrounding the Sentosa Crater to the understandable concerns of the Erusean government about the sheer range of the Arsenal Birds within their already reduced territory—and have we even forgotten what happened the last time we tried to intervene in Usea’s affairs? Surely Harling himself should remember the destruction and setbacks that the Usean Rebellion caused even with the impending arrival of Ulysses—who are we to similarly determine what the future of Elysia is on behalf of all of Elysia?
To ignore our own shortcomings even while criticising our Elysian peers for exhibiting them does both us and them a profound disservice—the Muans and Milishials can hardly be blamed for the atrocities of the Parpaldians, even if their “Concert” serves to them as some sort of justification for their inaction (as bizarre as it may seem to us), and to imply that their system is inhumane or backwards simply because they do not conform to our values threatens to come across as a not-too-dissimilar arrogance that we ourselves seek to avoid. And what is to come of them if Osea is to supplant them as the main leader of Elysia’s international affairs—if we were to replace their ideas, practices, and products with our own without a place for these nations in Harling’s new world order, wouldn’t we be risking the creation of new rivals and competitors where we could have ensured the establishment of the former President’s desired new era of peace and mutual cooperation between nations alike?
An argument no doubt is to be made that Elysia operates on a vastly different system of diplomacy compared to that on Earth—the remarkably unpleasant circumstances surrounding the Eshirant Crisis being one particularly notable example, or perhaps even the ongoing occupation of Leifor by our Gra Valkan counterparts to the west—and that Osea needs to operate on their terms in order to gradually replace Elysia’s politics with a far less brutal and arrogant alternative. But the implications of the proposed approach by Harling (or perhaps his peers and protégés, assuming they do not share the same ideas as to how this commendable goal is to be achieved) are just as bleak as they contradict the very principles of demilitarisation that Harling himself previously upheld in the aftermath of the Belkan War—if we were to use the superweapons now in our hands to justify Harling and Bartlett’s unilateral actions in Elysia, what kind of so-called “peacemakers” does that make us? With that logic, Belka could have had just as much a justification for attempting to single-handedly decide how the world should operate over twenty-five years ago—and where are they now?
Ambasador Harling and President Bartlett’s motivations are no doubt noble, but their actions to that end risk taking the Osean Federation down a path that we’ve already traversed in the past—and that particular route has already proven to be far too costly to our liking. If we are to achieve a universal peace for all of Elysia to enjoy, then Elysia deserves to have just as much of a say as us in how we are to reach it—we would like to avoid the circumstances that brought us into the Circum-Pacific War or the ongoing situation with Parpaldia, but just as many other solutions exist out there that do not require us to needlessly dabble once again in the affairs of our neighbours…
Senator Aadarshini Kumari is a leading candidate in the upcoming 2020 Osean presidential elections.