#faction discourse

“You ever wonder why Dead Orbit keeps a Hawk fueled and ready in the Tower hangar at all times?”

“Do they? I just assumed that was Jalaal’s ride.”

“Maybe it is, but I checked the logs: that Hawk is always berthed on a takeoff pad, and is kept prepped for launch at all times.”

“Huh. Maybe Jalaal really doesn’t like being late for meetings.”

“Or maybe Dead Orbit knows something we don’t, and the Arach goes out of his way to be ready to skip out at a moment’s notice.”

“C’mon, Dead Orbit’s whole thing is preaching about abandoning Earth. Of course Jalaal wants a jumpship on hand to get back to their fleet in short order, but that hardly means they have some specific reason to think he’ll need to do that.”

“What if they do, though?”

“Then whatever intel they have is pretty weak. How long do the logs say that ship’s been there?”

“Just about since the new hangar got up and running.”

“Well there you have it. Just general paranoia, Dead Orbit style—and I can’t really blame them, after how badly Ghaul surprised us.”

“I don’t know. Something about it just feels... off.”

“It’s Dead Orbit. They’re all a little off.”

“Don’t care if they seem to be helping prepare for oncoming disaster, I still don’t trust New Monarchy further than I can throw ‘em.”

“How can you be so cynical? They’re contributing resources to the evacuations, and donating huge amounts to the preparedness funds set up in the City.”

“Their good works have always, always been cover for their shady, regressive agenda. Now is no different. They don’t actually care about people; they’re just buying influence and positive public perception. Doesn’t change the nonsense they stand for.”

“Maybe not, but we’re looking at a hellish crisis. Maybe it doesn’t matter what their ulterior motives are. The help is still help.”

“Sure, in the short term. But where’d they get all those riches in the first place? You think Hideo was just born swimming in glimmer? That concentration of wealth was extracted and amassed at the expense of the very people New Monarchy claims to help when they dole out little slivers of it from their bottomless coffers. Why should New Monarchy get to decide how to deploy that concentrated economic power? And sure, their largesse comes in impressive bales of glimmer, but it’s invariably a pitiful fraction of what they have. Proportionally, you spend more on ramen in a typical week than New Monarchy spends on charity. Wouldn’t we all be better off if that wealth were more equitably distributed or controlled? You know, in the public interest?”

“...Huh.”

“The Cryptarchy seems to be in New Monarchy’s pocket.”

“I noticed they’re practically handing out swords now. Those things might as well be neon projection ads.”

“This is why the Consensus should’ve passed that ordnance against corporate influence on political organizations.”

“But New Monarchy is a political organization.”

“Yes, but the statute had provisions that would’ve limited their influence-buying as well. Scuttlebutt from Consensus chambers is New Monarchy more or less single-handedly stopped it from passing.”

“Maybe that explains the sudden profusion of their flashy gear: they know there could be more legislative restriction coming their way, and they’re trying to build a surge of popular support among Guardians before the rest of the Consensus tries to rein them in again.”

“Could be. Or maybe they know they have such a chokehold on the Consensus that they can give away their swords and armor and retrogressive indoctrination without fear of consequence or accountability.”

“The War Cult warned us about this.”

“Sure they did. They’re always talking about doom and gloom, so of course it always seems like they warned us about whatever goes wrong.”

“You might be less cynical if you actually paid attention to the details of their warnings, which specify certain particulars about the coming threat. You know, kind of thing that could save lives. Whatever though.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Listen, if you don’t care about the possibility of foreseeing disaster, how about this: ever wonder why Omolon makes weapons for the War Cult?”

“I always assumed their mutual devotion to trashy mod aesthetics destined them to work together.”

“Very funny, so incisive—but no. Unlike, say, New Monarchy and their multibillion-glimmer contract with Häkke, Future War Cult doesn’t pay Omolon anything. Any idea why?”

“I have a premonition you’re about to tell me.”

“Because Omolon relies on the War Cult’s predictions to anticipate market conditions, supply disruptions, research breakthroughs—they know what’s going to happen that affects their business before it happens, and they rely on that information because Future War Cult’s predictions are accurate.”

“Wait, Omolon gets business intelligence from Future War Cult? Is that legal? Like... insider trading or something?”

“Perhaps it shouldn’t be legal, but as it stands the City code doesn’t have any prohibitions against using future information to make business decisions—maybe because most people have your small-minded attitude about that kind of thing being impossible.”