Equinox System

Despite (or perhaps because of) this fondness for the Liberation, I enjoy it when people wrestle with the concept, when they really, genuinely engage with its messiness. This includes things like having characters who are, for one reason or another, opposed to the Liberation even if they are also of the mind that heavenly law is unjust. Or critique of how the Liberation goes about its means - that this movement, so fundamentally analogous to real-world anarchism in its opposition to hierarchy, is prey to hierarchy itself. (That would be the Calendar Council, ostensibly the leaders of the revolution - but its members include an ex-king-turned-luxury-hotel-owner who treats his staff horrendously and a literal nightmare woman who drives her acolytes to suicide.) Or that many Liberationists play into the worst stereotypes of the bomb-throwing anarchist. (I personally believe that nonviolence must be a central tenet of any meaningful anarchist movement - this article explains it better than I can. Obviously, there are times when violence is necessary for self-defense, but it should be seen as an absolute last resort.) Or simply thinking about what a world without light might be like - where reality is a joint creation, where all beings have a say in how their world works, from the forms they personally take to the flow of time and space - and what the inevitable birthing-pains of such a world would be like.

That kind of engagement, I respect a lot. What I don't respect is this particular kind of dismissive non-engagement from a vocal minority of the playerbase. People who won't engage with the concept beyond calling it "stupid" and claiming that every pro-Liberation player or character is a "psychopath." (Mandatory pause here to point out the ableism inherent to this language.) People who say that they "don't want politics in games." (Another mandatory pause here to point out that for many of us, our very existences are political, and it is both privilege and ignorance to demand that stories be "apolitical.") People who say that the Liberation is an obviously bad idea because people are inherently evil and need ironclad authority to keep them in line. (This idea is a construct that has been proven wrong time and time again - read Rebecca Solnit's A Paradise Built in Hell, or if you can handle current events, her discussion of anti-ICE movements in Minnesota and beyond. Certainly, people are messy, and I wouldn't be so charitable as to say that people are Inherently Good under all that mess. However, that the typical response to disaster is compassionate unity, not selfish chaos, does say that we, on the whole, are more than our worst selves.)

And to be quite clear, I'm also rather bothered when enthusiastic young leftists in the fandom (by which I mean players, not characters - it's fun when characters do this) treat the Liberation as the best thing since sliced mushroom loaf. As something that will save everyone and everything without fail, to which ends all means and losses are justified, under which the Calendar Council are our glorious leaders, after which everyone will live happily ever after, and anyone who questions it is either a heretic or has yet to see the unlight - as, essentially, the Rapture, but with darkness coming to save us all instead of Jesus. That way is a dangerous way. That way, applied to real-world leftist movements, leads to things like telling diabetics anxious about insulin supplies during civil war that they should be happy to die for the sake of Revolution. (This is a real thing I have witnessed. It's why I keep the fediverse community at arm's length, despite generally being in favor of fedi's core idea.) But the former issue is more common than this latter one - and thus, I am here writing a 6 AM post where I complain about people not engaging with fictional anarchism Rigorously enough.

Natlan had hot air balloons and human grit. Not to mention, still relies on a torch system to know if people make it back home cause ya know, street lights aren’t a thing there.

It needs to be studied how a couple of Xilonen’s inventions broke so many players minds into thinking Natlan is greater than or equal to the technological progress of nations with robots that patrol 24/7 and actual artillery. Also let’s not forget…

A completely autonomous puppet that was built centuries ago used the power of a nation’s intranet, scholars, and science to build a mechanized god body that not only worked, but was deemed by another god to be legit. But we drew the line at a flaming motorcycle made with ancient tech.