While the Indagatrix is made ready for the expedition to Curse, I took care of paperwork that had been waiting for me in Mehatoor. There was also another letter of brother Hugo.
He appears to be taking a dangerous interventionist course.
He starts his letter with the opening passage of the Book of Gheinok the First: "And the flames of the Lord died within them. Yet one flame remained."
Dano Gheinok, first of the great prophets, found that the world in which he lived had forgotten about God and lived in sin. He was the sole flame that remained, and he decided to go away from the damned society and start a new one. Gradually he gathered fellows to join him in his quest - these became known as the conformists, and after many years in the (spiritual and actual) desert they found Amarr island and settled there.
Brother Hugo sees a parallel with Origin. To him, their society is an abomination, and the White Paladins are the one flame that remains and that gives hope. He has clearly been under increasing influence of this group...
The flame also stands for the conditions on Epikouria V, a mineral-rich lava world known to the originals as Crucifix. Life is harsh there, and the prohibition against slavery (enshrined in the Exodus Charter) has made it even harder on the formerly well-off Amarr, who no longer live in comfort but now have to toil the lava fields and metalworks themselves. The "lava belt" from Iluna to Pyrewind has become the political powerbase for the White Paladins and their supporters.
Their political program is as hard as the iron they produce: they want to secede from the Origin Colonial Authority, rescind the Exodus Charter, re-instate a traditionalist version of Amarr law and slavery, and expel those that do not agree with them. They have very little chance to succeed at this, at least by the political and diplomatic processes of Origin. They have been whispering insurrection for a while, but would stand no chance against Origin's military force, once operated by the warclone corporation Oneieda Paradox. They remain a fringe group.
Now, to my surprise, Brother Hugo is asking me to help bring Amarrian forces and weapons to Epikouria to aid the White Paladins... I would never consider it appropriate to mingle in such foreign affairs, unless ordered to do so by proper authorities. The Empire, interested as it may be in Anoikis since the conquest of Sanctified Vidette, has no plans to start a reclamation in Epikouria, so neither have I. I have written brother Hugo a clear refusal.
I think it will not stop him to reach out to other contacts that he may have...
Links to keep track of the letters of Brother Hugo:
II. Diplomatic Talks
III. Refugee crisis
IV. Setting up a new home station
V. Epikouria under siege
VI. Prince Seraghis visit
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