Originally Posted by
Miburo
The Nevadian glanced downwards for a moment, allowing himself to take in the thoughts and feelings that had been espoused so earnestly. Given the depth of Asha'Rah's feeling, the obvious weight of her decisions, it was a difficult moment for both of them, the tension of past decisions and memories thickening the air between the two. Held could scarely imagine the scale of conflict and suffering that Asha'Rah was describing. The mere punishment of a dissident, Hammer, was enough to kill off an entire world...It was almost horrifying in scale.
But.
Finally, here was something the Nevadian could wrap his mind around easily enough. While the concepts were still esoteric, and elusive, the core of the subject was one that anyone who had spent anytime contemplating the nature of power could understand. Asha'Rah's war boiled down to the nature of power, and if there could be any limits to the power that swelled within 'mere' mortals...And if said mortals could be trusted with such power to begin with.
"Well, It's as good a reason as any to have a war, I suppose." Held said after a moment, returning his gaze to meet Asha'Rah's own, "It's hard to really debate the point when someone like Sasheem is twenty feet away working on a Grand Tour for how he plans to decimate the universe...."
I tend to forget just how dangerous that guy can be sometimes....Even with his rap sheet, he was so childlike then, and so personable now...Well, I suppose it's easy enough to overlook when he's not nuking the whole place right in front of you. Still, I should be more cautious about him in the future....
".....And I can't say I disagree on the substance of the matter, since you've just described general interaction for the Universe with the Saiyans for as long as I care to remember.....I assume you must not be huge fans of them, then? They're not quite as....hedonistic about the whole thing as Sesheem is, but it'd be a generous sentiment to overlook the overlap."
While the Saiyans had improved by leaps and bounds over the last few decades, they could be considered the idea of moral might gone away, albeit to a lesser degree to Sasheem. Terrorizing worlds, wanton destruction, decimation of resources, outright oppression of other races--and even of their own-- an ever expanding trail of conquest until a few scant years ago, left the Nevadian with a slight distaste for Saiyans from a social standpoint.
It wouldn't have been an overstatement to credit the overwhelming power and cruelty of the Saiyan race with the formation of the Merchants Guild, and the Nevadians success in making alliances. Had the Saiyans not been so elitist, so violent and cruel, who would be able to say how the map of the universe would be drawn.
"Then again, I suppose you could make the same claim about all races, to a certain extent; With the Saiyans just being the most extreme....My people tend to focus a bit more on other pursuits, for what I like to think are more...Er...Benovolent reasons, for lack of a better term, but even our history has some level of bloodshed."
Held shrugged slightly.
"I can't say anyone wouldn't do the same in your situation. For better or worse. It's hard to negotiate, when one party won't even sit down to discuss terms with one another....It's practically an invitation for conflict to escalate..."
...Still, I'm surprised to hear the Gods to be so in conflict with one another. It's not that far removed from what you'd encounter in any other society....I guess bickering and infighting truly is a universal concept...
"That said...I do have to ask." He continued after a moment, choosing his words carefully, "What kind of universe did you envision? What kind of world did the gods who disagreed with you? I have to believe that all this came about because of more than the idea of 'might' in and of itself..."
Still...I'm not sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, limits on power would make this world much more....Peaceful, I suppose...On the other hand, I'm a bit leery of entrusting anyone to decide my fate, even a group of gods. If nothing else, the current system makes change possible...I shudder to think how the universe would look if the Saiyans were decreed the ultimate in mortal power by the gods, with little that I or anyone else could do about it...Or, if somehow our lives ended up in opposition to the gods, heaven forbid..
"Surely, you all had your ideals...I can't imagine that you all lived and died so violently solely because of the nature of power..What were they? How did you all see this universe panning out?"
Held frowned for a moment, considering something.
"Then again...That's an unfair question to ask someone who can barely remember themselves, isn't it?"
He laughed nervously.
"Maybe we should save that bit for another time?"