The Mandromenoi are appalled that so many of us would use the Papist Gregorian Calendar! Christmas isn't for another week by the proper calendar!
Prepare the Purging Engine!
Prepare the Purging Engine!
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As the Mojmirid prepare for the holiest of days, we remind our fellow senators that the holy days are about love and acceptance. So we can avoid the purging until after the holiday season.
I'm just coming in here from Crumbling Europe. Is the Empire still a vile sinkhole of evil that destroyed the moral value of Christianity long ago?
IMO, the Imperium Romanum governing ethics are a lot closer to a form of utilitarianism than any traditional Christian virtue ethics. Though still falling short.
Oh, did that change? I am sorry if the Empire reformed, cutting down on the genocidal racism/rampant slavery/brutal punishments for mild offenses/constant lying propaganda from CK; I haven't read the EU one yet.
The Empire is pretty much as evil as the WH40K Empire, just as much as it needs to be.
I'd call the Byzantine Empire worse, honestly. Admittedly, it's only because the Imperium of Man is so disunited that it'd be incorrect to say that it had a coherent policy on much of anything, but there are sizable chunks where things aren't resoundingly awful. The Byzantine Empire of this incarnation, however, is Naziesque in its wickedness, and deserves a similar fate.
You have to remember that this incarnation of the Byzantine empire is merely a product of its time. Extreme pressure on all sides from those who want to see it dead would lead any nation to become very closed off. Viewing anyone who is not part of the empire as Other. However it is still really open for being constantly threatened, there are people who are descended from Mongols, Bohemians, Germans, all of whom immigrated to the empire and were accepted with open arms. Just remember to not judge too harshly for things that occurred in the past, with eyes focused on the future.
Everything is a product of its time. Some policies and beliefs have no excuse, no justification, and no absolution other than destruction. But, as I said, I'm willing to give it a bit more slack if it has, for instance, now accepted that Aztecs are people.
Ah, naturally.Oh sweet summer child
I'm an enthusiastic follower of the AAR... but only to root against the Greeks and their diabolic empire. Bad as they are, the Aztecs have not, to my knowledge, declared anyone inhuman.
You say that as though the Empire doesn't sacrifice (i.e. kill for religious reasons) people all the time... it just uses things like "heresy" as an excuse.
Funny how some will condemn the actions of Europeans in a fictional universe. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Tell me, would you let a genocidal foreign people conquer your lands because they haven't declared anyone inhuman like yours has? Despite you likely being a sacrifice victim you would rather your murderers rule over you than one who called the murderers inhuman?
Well, the latter would probably burn me alive for lying with women. Women sacrifices under the Aztecs were frequently beheaded, so that'd be a net gain right there; having my heart ripped out would be tougher to directly compare, but I still think it slightly wins. Either way, though, I'm statistically less likely to be a sacrifice victim than a subject or possibly slave. For the latter, Aztec slaves were significantly better off than this version of the Roman Empire's slaves; you can only be sold if you've been shown to be impertinent or lazy and have been scolded three times, your children are born free, and you can be manumitted, or buy your way out of slavery, or even legally escape (there was a ritual for that; getting away with it and being approved by the right official meant you were free.).
This doesn't change the fact that the Aztecs are invaders and partially responsible for the Empire's policies. Life under the Empire is such because it was a necessary evil for the survival of the Empire. It was all a reaction to the invasions from the East and West, it's like being stuck between 2 boulders.
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Funny, that. When the Jewish rebels were being overrun by the Romans in the first century and on the brink of losing their independence for the next near two thousand years, they did not rip out the moral heart of their faith and stomp it to death. The historical Byzantine Empire did not, to my knowledge, turn into a Satanic nightmare even when the Ottomans were beating down the gates. And I really doubt that, in either case, policies of "kill the gays" and "all slaves are slaves for life" and "Romans/Turks are inherently inhuman doodoo heads" would have helped them last much longer.
Okay, this is a good discussion, but I fear it might get a bit off topic really quickly. Can we go back to purging heretics and xenos scum now?
What's funny is that if the Byzantine Empire had gone Catholic, made an antipope, and pressed his claim on Rome, this might have been able to be finished ages ago due to Crusades. "Mend the Schism" is a complete trap option, in my opinion, that only divides and weakens Christendom further.