I wouldn't think they would call it fear. The Combined Army is fighting a constant war on all fronts so certain areas of conflict are going to last longer than others due to logistics. Plus I think there is going to be a breaking point for the E.I. where it will push too far and spread it's forces too thin. It happens to all empires that have "expand or die" mentality which is exactly what the UR and E.I. think. Find the secret to ascending the mortal plane into the supernatural or eventually subcome to the end of the universe. Even if the universe is supposedly continuing to expand it too would collapse & die. I see the Combined Amry having a similar goal to the Therians of AT-43. Both factions are working towards preventing or outlasting the collapse of the universe and they are the big bads of their settings. Well except the Cogs also pose a big threat to the rest of the AT-43 universe as well.
Oh, no doubt the EI will make mistakes on the long run. That's bound to happen. However, we must consider that the EI is not acting as it usually does toward newly encountered species. Largely because of ALEPH, who it sees as a rival, a reflection of its previously failed experiment, and a nemesis, as well as humanity being potentially the closest species to ascension that it encountered. So the EI basically just attacked. I'm sure even the CA can see this isn't the war they are used to.
There was a scene in star trek (I'd like to say DS9), where an old Klingon was lamenting the decline of the culture and how as long it was something that benefited the empire it was honourable, but over time it become only the warriors were capable of gaining honour. I imagine that the Morat society is somewhat similar in how it regards non-combat professions.
It raises an interesting question, then - all sentient CA units that are not AI-controlled have Cubes, why are they not brainwashed like the sepsitorized guys? Or maybe they are, and the freedom of will they seem to have is just a ruse by EI?
I've wondered about that myself. We should get some clarification on the difference between these two.
Probably because it's a waste of resources, we know that the EI can jump into anyone's cube at a moment's notice thanks to the Mnemonica effect, but most of the time it doesn't have to, because it has ensured the loyalty of it's subjects by other means. Notice how the only CA defectors we have profiles for are the Krakots, and they seem to have removed their cubes.
Something is defiantly going on with those cubes for the Kratots to get rid of them. Perhaps the cubes were removed when they became Kratots by the Morat Command? Alot of mysteries around the Combined forces that can use some lore answers.
If I remember right, sepsitorization is a difficult process to begin with. It would very costly to do it to everyone to insure loyatly so it's more likely more traditional means like propaganda and force is used, as well as misdirection by getting a common enemy. On the subject of the cube, while the EI can move from any cube at will, I'm uncertain that means mind control. More like Advanced hacking. TAGs don't count. It's likely the cube is removed to prevent the EI from talking in their mind or hacking straight into their systems. Especially if the renegade's equipment is linked to their new faction's system. So the cube removal is pretty much to cut them from the EI. It's safer.
Take pretty much every "paranoid" theory concerning Aleph's interference in the Human Sphere, you basically have to assume it's true for the El. Mandatory El-supplied (and El-controlled) comm units would pretty much be the start.
Whole lotta perverts in this thread. Just Sayin'. (previous page reference.) The challenge would be to create a believable feminine Morat face. I'd like to see CB take up that challenge. I think they can do it. They managed it with the Wulver Girl. Right now, CB seems to be in a creative rut. These new minis they've been doing, are not really, to my eyes, all that interesting. Something to shake themselves out of the rut would be a good thing.
I'm not of a perverted mindset. I just wish CB would create a good design for the Zerat and release it like they did for the female Wulver or how they redesigned the Fat Yuan Yuan from his original look. But if CB is truly in a creative rut then that is bad for all of us. Newer models will not have the same life in them that previous generations/waves had. Since we are not part of the creative process all we can do is hope that CB will remain able to complete their entire catalog of miniatures in good quality.
I like the way they are going with Defiance right now. Maybe it's an indication of where they are going.
Lets hope it is a good direction. They are certainly adding alot of new characters for factions and sectorials to use with Defiance's upcoming release. We'll have to see if this bloat will be a negative or plus in army building.
I'm not going to dig out a bunch of books for quotes, but universal free comlogs are definitely part of the generic EI subjugation process. Everyone gets connected to the network and has access to information and resources - but on the flipside, the EI is now always watching everyone. It doesn't sepsitorize everyone because that just turns them into puppets. If you look at things like the transcendence projects, it actually values the qualities that each species brings to the empire. And the "rogue weapons merchant" excuse they wrote for getting rid of the WCD Exrah in N3 pretty much proves that entire species aren't mind-controlled. I'm not going to claim that the EI is moral or that it doesn't use a lot of dirty tricks and manipulation (or even outright brainwashing, let alone sepsitorization). But those aren't its every day bread and butter. I'm pretty sure the Sygmaa fluff about how regular Tohaa citizens got conquered and then... nothing bad happened is meant to be fairly unbiased and factually accurate. The EI is an existential threat to the Tohaa empire, but not to the Tohaa race. Same goes for humans, or any other species out there that draws its attention.
Tohaa work and live together in Triads, that's how they are. When I take a look at all the Sygmaa profiles and see that there are no Triad-capable models... something smells fishy.
I agree, although in the case of humans, it's still not sure. The EI is acting differently with them for still unconfirmed reasons, so it might be a threat to all humans, not just the politic entity of the Sphere.
Well, considering the two Sygmaa troops have Tohaa analogues that don’t have Truad either, makes a sense.
