Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #87: Glass Houses (12/16/00)
Nick is, as usual this at time of month, hovering closely over Arat, and making himself doubly useful by helping him get dressed.
Nick has found that such details tend to overcome some of the need-inspired apathy for non-work-related matters that Farris channels tend to experience when in need.
Nick selects a shirt for Arat; an easy task, since they are all identical Tecton uniform shirts.
Nick would have found the shirt-choosing task impossible if he had still be working with Riyyh, of course.
Nick hands the shirt to Arat.
Nick: Arat, that was a very admirable thing you did, agreeing to talk to that historian in return for his funding the camp for the out-Territory Gens.
Nick does, indeed, ~~ admire ~~ Arat for that.
Arat: It seemed the appropriate course of action.
Nick: There's no doubt that it would cause less trouble than Plum's ministry -- for everyone but you.
Arat nods.
Arat: Perhaps.
Arat was not really looking forward to dealing with Plum's ministry, as the 'head demon' as it were.
Arat: Certainly there will be no added risk of violence or unrest.
Nick: How do you think the out-Territory Gens will react, when they learn the Audnes story?
Nick discovered on his first extensive stay out-Territory that out-Territory Gens who had been -- and still were -- slaughtering their Sime children for centuries, still were horrified about the idea of Sime parents killing their Gen children.
Arat frowns.
Arat: I do not see that there will be any reaction at all.
Arat wonders if Nick has thought of something he hasn't.
Arat hasn't exactly been without paranoia about the whole historian interview plan, although he thought he'd considered all the angles.
Arat: How do you think they will react?
Nick: With shock and horror, surely. That's standard, out-Territory, whenever the subject of junct society comes up.
Arat looks puzzled and disquieted.
Nick: What worries me is that they might not accept that the old Audnes power was broken, and that your current power derives solely from your abilities as a Tecton channel.
Nick: It doesn't help that you're a Farris, as well as an Audnes.
Nick: Farrises are seen as running the Tecton, and if this historian concludes that the Tecton is just the old junct government in disguise, the consequences could be serious.
Nick: It all depends on how responsible the man is.
Arat: Mr. Birch put in an excellent word for him.
Arat doesn't look one hundred percent convinced on that basis, though.
Nick: Mr. Birch doesn't know just what that historian might discover, though.
Nick: Did he say anything about what other work the man has done?
Arat: What that historian might discover?
Arat is looking more paranoid by the moment.
Arat had assumed that the fact that the Audnes was an old and prominent family was well known already, and that that was why the historian cared about its history.
Arat wonders what he has missed.
Arat has been made aware, mostly by Elte, that he has significant blind spots when it comes to interpreting the OT Gen point of view.
Nick: He probably knows at least something about the Audnes Superfarm, and that they were one of the last groups of juncts subdued by the Tecton in this Territory.
Nick: But there are details that he probably doesn't know. The Audnes connection with the Garlenists, for one thing.
Arat: There is nothing there that would be cause for alarm.
Arat: ... Is there?
Arat has always thought of his parents' Garlenist association as similar to some juncts' association with the Tecton affiliated Householdings.
Nick: If what Riyyh told me about them is true, then yes.
Nick: It's exactly the sort of story that would send chills down the average Gen's spine.
Nick wasn't exactly unaffected himself.
Arat's expression darkens at the mention of Riyyh.
Arat is annoyed with Nick for listening the prattlings of a gossip with regards to Arat's personal details.
Arat: The Garlenist Gens were little more than Companions.
Arat: Very like the Householding Companions, though their training was different.
Nick thinks that from what he has heard, they were a bit less than a Companion, and therein lies the trouble.
Arat: If my family had not used them, they would have been forced to take kills, perhaps wild caught Prime Kills, each month.
Arat: It is not their fault that they were junct.
Nick: I know. I can't blame your family for surviving as best it could.
Nick: I'm just saying that an out-Territory Gen might easily see it differently.
Nick: Unless....
Nick looks thoughtful.
Nick: The Garlenists worked on both sides of the border, didn't they?
Nick: And this historian comes from a very wealthy family, or he couldn't afford to fund a refugee camp in order to get one interview.
Nick: Do you suppose that his family also used Garlenists?
Arat: It is certainly possible.
Arat: The Garlenists used by my family were not like those used in Gen Territory.
Arat: Nor were they like those ordinarily used in Sime Territory, which were renSimes.
Arat: This was a special arrangement, and as far as I know it was unique or nearly so.
Nick looks curious.
Arat declines to mention that it was because of very strong financial and political support of Garlen in Sime Territory that they received such a special arrangement.
Arat: In all ways, the way Garlenists were used in Sime Territory -- both by the Audnes and otherwise -- was far more humane and less tragic than in Gen Territory.
Arat: Those who are shocked should examine their own history.
Arat: And if that shocks them, they should examine what it is that the Garlenists were intended to prevent.
Arat: A practice which still continues today, I might add.
Arat is referring to the practice of shooting berserkers, and allowing them to exist in the first place risking kills.
Nick: Ah, but it's so much more interesting -- and less embarrassing -- to examine someone's else's history.
Nick: Particularly since only the very wealthy could afford Garlen's prices.
Arat: What is it that you think would be so disturbing to them?
Arat finally asks Nick point blank, since his nerves can't take any more tension.
Arat can't believe Nick would torment him in such a way so near their transfer.
Nick: The cold-blooded way in which the Garlenists were sent out, knowing that many would not survive.
Arat: But that is not how it was, with my family.
Arat: There were very few, and all specially trained. They were sisters and cousins to those they served.
Arat clearly finds this entire conversation increasingly upsetting.
Arat: Why should that be worse than what is already known of Garlenist ways?
Nick places a ~~ calming ~~ hand on Arat's arm.
Nick: Look, Arat, I don't want to upset you. But I would recommend that you steer the conversation in other directions, and don't volunteer any information on the subject.
Arat sits there looking upset [although somewhat subsided, due to Nick's calming] and doesn't answer right away.
Nick: There's always the possibility that what he's interested in is the politics of the Audnes rebellion.
Arat casts Nick a reproachful look, as he knows as well as Arat what Birch said the man was interested in.
Go on to Episode #88: Plum Loco
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