Posted 26 January 2014 - 03:03 PM
"MechWarriors! We are at a crossroads. Six hundred years ago, after interstellar wars threatened the extinction of our race, the leaders of the Inner Sphere created the rules of warfare known as the Ares Conventions. And entrusted with the responsibility of conducting battle according to these rules were the warriors of the Inner Sphere. When wars were fought, it was you, the MechWarriors, who monitored the level of destruction, who were careful to engage only other warriors, not civilians."
"Although the first BattleMech was not built until several decades after the creation of the Ares Conventions, they were the perfect tools to implement the ideals of the Conventions. A 'Mech empowered the noble man or woman to settle the disputes of parties at war as they should be settled: through the skills of the warrior, not through an indiscriminate rain of bullets and shrapnel."
"The spirit of the Ares Conventions did not truly take hold for hundreds of years, not until the treasure of humanity's knowledge was nearly wiped out during the first three Succession Wars. Lacking so much of the science that catapulted humanity on our voyage among the stars, we had to fight wars much more cautiously. Through sheer necessity we limited the conduct of war. We respected our warrior class, allowing the enemy to retrieve wounded soldiers. We kept the fury of battle low in order to salvage parts of 'Mechs for future battles."
"But now these chivalrous practices are in jeopardy. Times have changed. Our scientific progress has retrieved knowledge that had been lost through the devastation of war. Wars like those in the days of old are becoming possible once more. Fear now grips people across the Inner Sphere. They no longer trust the warrior class, but want victories at any cost. Cities are now battlefields, civilians killed at a terrible rate, production facilities becoming targets once again. I fear that we are headed down the same dark path that nearly destroyed us centuries ago. This time we may not escape hurtling over the precipice. This time we may simply fall."
"Across the Inner Sphere, hundreds of light years away, we know of the invasion of the Clans into the Inner Sphere. We have heard the tales. We know that though Clanspeople are descended from our stock, they are not human. They have no respect for life, but worship only war."
"Some say we must be ready to fight as they do, to descend to their barbaric level. I say no, we must not. If you become the enemy, the enemy wins, no matter the outcome of the battle. We must be ready to fight the Clans, and we must be ready to fight the other desperate Successor States that surround us, but we must fight them our way."
"We must remain true to what we know is right. In the last few centuries we have taken steps toward saving our race from total destruction. Now we find ourselves at an old crossroads. Will we continue to work toward the goals established in the Ares Conventions, or will the proliferation of combat technology return us to the days of indiscriminate total war?"
"I have gathered you here to make you an offer. You are aware, no doubt, that the face of the military caste is changing quickly. The day of the MechWarrior families is quickly coming to a close. Soon the noble title of MechWarrior will no longer be passed down through generations, but won by anyone who can apply to the appropriate academy. MechWarriors have become sucked into the same organizational structures as the dry military units of the past."
"I do not speak of anarchy. We need units of organization, of course. But MechWarriors are not merely soldiers, and that is what the worlds of the Inner Sphere would have you be. Where once a 'Mech was a prized and valuable object, making its pilot an exceptional person throughout the Inner Sphere, technology is making BattleMechs cheap and common, and thus, by extension, also the warriors who pilot them. Think of Solaris Seven, a world devoted to turning the art of 'Mech warfare into a cheap sport. This is not what we want to see happen."
"I offer you this. I offer you a place in my new order of knights, the Knights of the Inner Sphere. I know, it is a presumptuous title, for I can speak only for the Free Worlds League. But I have chosen the name because my knights will represent all MechWarriors who believe that a warrior should be free of the petty politics of transitory warlords, bound only by the ideals of his profession. These ideals extend far beyond the borders of the Free Worlds League. And far beyond the borders of the Inner Sphere. And, in fact, far beyond the flesh that binds each of our souls. For these ideals existed before our time, and will endure forever. They are the ideals mirrored in our religions, our philosophies, and in our stories. We can only try to represent them in our lives, as you, all of you, attempt to mirror them in your conduct as MechWarriors."
"If you would live to be more than common men and common women, join my cause. I ask you now, who stands with me?"
-- Captain-General Thomas Marik, January 1st, 3055
Ideal War, pgs 30-34
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ValdnadHartagga, on 25 January 2014 - 06:48 AM, said:
