Aesthetics, Items, Tech, and Locations[spoiler]
"The gold finish so popular among the Amarr had long ago worn off, leaving only a dull grey metal."
(The Rite)
"Izoni Square was much the same, he reflected as he exited the terminal. Even at this early hour business was booming. Handmade cutlery, bootleg holosymphs, off-world condiments of varying legality, scriptural terp mods, Adakul manuals, the latest in carefully faked Caille leather. Plumes of smoke rose from innumerable stalls. A thousand smells wrapped around each other in the thick air, creating the unique melange that was the hallmark of Torsad-Laur and the reason for its nickname, the Cauldron. Most likely the flesh of every creature in New Eden was being cooked somewhere in this sprawling expanse, animal souls ascending from the shadow of the city’s bladed spires to find salvation in the copper skies. Groups of slaves passed through without cease, but whereas in other parts of Dam-Torsad they would be ghosts among the multitude, here they comprised the essence of the district’s beating heart.
Resisting the temptation to indulge in broiled blackfowl, he made his way past Chopamaia Yard, where children played among the cracked statues and worshipers swayed in communal rapture, their god-intermediaries whispering sweet eternity to them through embedded earpieces. He passed under the arch of Nekater, with its sad white little angel-guardians that every day shed tears of stone into the currents of beleaguered humanity flowing underneath them. He navigated the narrow cobbled corridors of the quarter’s south side, weaving among the people and gradually quickening his step until, some ten minutes later, he arrived at a squat flat-topped house nestled between two much taller ones. The road wound back sharply in both directions here, so that the little house gave the impression of being right outside the curve of a giant horseshoe. He looked around and sniffed the air. Flowers and ozone still."
(Chained to the Sky)
"As was typical of Torsad-Laur alone among the districts of Dam-Torsad, those few who were in here mostly kept to themselves. Dam-Torsad’s people had a great general tendency to stay in direct active communion with one another while in public, either chanting or praying or speaking loudly and at great length with their companions. At all waking hours their environment encouraged them, subtly and unsubtly, to do this; through praydrones and billboards and other disruptive phenomena, a habitual preference for communion over solitary contemplation was constantly reinforced in the populace."
(Chained to the Sky)
"Most of the people who made this quarter their home were similar to Crofton, though the vast majority were high- generation houseborn, slave children to slave children. Artists, musicians and academics, preachers and weirdoes and vagrants and madmen, all played their parts in the great cruel mechanism of the empire. It was said in the high halls of Amarr society that Torsad-Laur was the only slave-inhabited quarter where the gentry could walk at night without being attacked – and where, moreover, one could even have a conversation with a slave, if one were inclined toward an evening’s debasement."
(Chained to the Sky)
The entire chronicle: http://community.eveonline.com/backstory/chronicles/dam-torsad/
(Dam-Torsad)
"Most of the urban settlements, which were not many, had developed around huge Holder citadels, the cornerstone of imperial control on the planet. The towns were a mish-mash of large stone buildings, tottering wooden huts and raggedy tent-houses, with every nook and cranny chock full of people. Most of the citizens were Ni-Kunni craftsmen, sprinkled with true Amarrian artisans and freed Minmatar slaves. Out on the plains the land was divided between a handful of Amarr Holders, each ruling over a vast estate of up to 100,000 acres or more. The land was worked by slaves, mostly of Minmatar origin, who lived in small villages surrounded in all directions by an ocean of cornfields."
(A Visit Worthwhile)
"Idonis again regarded the scepter with mixed feelings. On one hand, it was one of the most sacred symbols of Imperial and Divine authority; and on the other it was covered with his father’s congealed blood. Idonis knew from reports that some of the rebels were already wielding shoddy replicas as weapons, calling them Khumaak in honor of his father’s killer."
(Khumaak)
"The Amarr came up with the Oracle – a ship design quite out of character for them"
(Particle Tracks)
""These are the Sacred Waters," he said. "It is said that no man shall ascend unless he has been bathed in them.""
(Methods of Torture: The Amarr)
"In front of them was a sarcophagus, on each side of which was a metal arm ending in a very long needle. "This is the Sin Eater I told you about earlier. We put the heretic inside, seal it up, then let the needles purify him. Eat up his sins, as it were." He pressed a button, and the metal arms swung into life, pointing the needles at the sarcophagus and slowly pushing them in. There was a muffled scream.
"Did you know the origin of the word 'sarcophagus'?" Dranera said conversationally as the needles penetrated deeper. "Anyway, you can't see it from this angle, but this one is connected to a tube that also pumps in oxygen. We don't want the heretic to choke before he can achieve transcendence." Another muffled scream from inside the coffin. "Let's move on. The smell does get out, heaven knows how, and it's rather unpleasant.""
(Methods of Torture: The Amarr)
"A click sounded and one floodlight set in the ceiling lit up, casting a cone of light down on the floor in front of them. It illuminated a contraption that itself seemed to cast the light everywhere: It was made of glass-like material, transparent, about the height of a man, and shaped like a five-armed starfish. Each arm reflected the light iridescently, like living diamonds were writhing on its surface.
"This is the Holy Star," Dranera said and walked over to it, the hovertable following close on his heels. He reached out and laid the palm of one hand flat against the surface of an arm, then held it out to Forte. His palm was covered in grooves, small indentations where countless tiny barbs had made their mark.
...
There was a twang and a squeak, and from out of the darkness shot a small, furry bundle. It hit the Holy Star with a sound like something soft and wet hitting something hard and unforgiving, and hung there, spread-eagled and flat like a pancake, its back turned out to the world.
"Is that a ... furrier?" Forte said.
...
The furrier began to slowly drift down, leaving a crimson trail. Dranera said, "Now let's see the Star shine," and traced the double bow of the Amarrian sigil in the air with the remote before pressing it. The star began to hum, very softly, and the furrier's descent stopped. There was a noise like someone sucking air through their teeth. Little threads, tendrils of red, started weaving their way from the rodent into the Holy Star, like drops of ink in water.
...
As the tendrils progressed deeper into the star, the furrier started thinning out noticeably. Dents began to appear in its fur, and a few hairs dropped off and floated to the ground. As Forte stared, the furrier's legs went into the star, deeper and deeper as if it were taking a slow dive into a pond of invisibility. The only thing that came out on the other end was more tendrils, feeling their way like floating strands of red gossamer.
Eventually even the fur went, and the tendrils turned from red to white and then to a brownish gray. Then there was no more furrier."
(Methods of Torture: The Amarr)
"Beneath the banners stood the royal furniture, old and splendid: chairs of thick, dark oak, covered in embroidered pillows; various old paper books on shelves, chronicling the family history; gold and silver cutlery and dishware."
(Godflesh)
"Does the name Book of Emptiness tell you anything?"
"Not really. Sounds Amarrian, but that's about it."
"It was. Supposedly a lost holy book, one that would bring immediate ascension to the reader."
(Black Mountain: The Room)
"They only knew the space colony as ABF, which some smartasses had rendered forevermore as A'Beef, but it was the square that got called Home. For most of the children in this place - and aside from the guards there were only children in this place - it represented their one chance at getting out with any prospect of a life. The ones who won the lottery were chosen into service for one of the Amarr Heirs, where they were put to use in all manner of administrative duties from sweeping the floors to overseeing transport businesses. Some of the roles the winners were given wouldn't be very exciting, but it certainly beat the alternative.
Once a child of A'Beef hit a certain combination of physical maturity, mental maturity and biological age, they'd be shipped off to the colonies for a lifetime of slave labor if they hadn't won the lottery. Nobody knew where the cutoff point was. Some of the younger children found their friends shipped off years before they'd expected, others stayed on the facility longer than anyone would have thought possible, and one or two were even promoted to guards, but Sispur expected that once you found yourself really worrying about it, you'd probably made it to the danger area."
...
The facility had many sections. There were the living quarters, where the children spent progressively more time as they got older; playroom locations that had both toys and larger recreational equipment; and a few areas reserved for schooling, although not everyone was required to attend. There were lots of large, empty rooms, often beset with climbable metal supports and with nooks and crannies that offered crawling and hideout opportunities. There were also some administrative areas, but the kids had little interest in those. One was the Baby section, where new arrivals were kept while they were acclimatizing to the facility. None of the children knew what criteria had been used to select the facility's inhabitants, nor did they remember anything of their past lives, although a few recalled the Baby section being peaceful and bright. Right next to it, nameless and uninteresting, was a section where some of the young girls were taken after being doomed to the colonies. It was whispered that marriage ceremonies took place there, the girls married off to Minmatar men and taken to new lives where they could serve Amarrian masters for five years without Vitoc before being set free.
Every now and then a cargo ship would dock, stay for a day or two and then depart, which spawned rumors that the men from those ships had been boarding the facility to get married. Sometimes larger ships also came, although they only stayed a few hours.
...
Tests of all sorts were periodically conducted for the children, and there were countless myths about how to perform in those to improve one's chances of being drawn, but nobody had yet discerned a pattern.""
(The Lottery)
"They were in the garden of contemplation, Lerenge and he, arguing about the tenets of faith and their service to the Chamberlain."
(Of God and Her Beast)
"The walls were covered with icons: Woven tapestries illustrated with the crests of the five Heirs and beset with their iconic gemstones,"
(Of God and Her Beast)
"A genial chat with the wrong word let loose could mean a trip to the cleansing pits.
...
Whether he begged, pleaded, threatened or cajoled, he would still end up in the cleansing pits. Nothing mattered now; but conversely, nothing was forbidden. Through the pounding noise of his heartbeat, there surfaced the realization that he was free to say what he wished, in this last confession."
(Of God and Her Beast)
"The walls held Amarrian religious icons, forms and images, but most of these were partly covered by the recently hung banners of House Sarum. Aside from the metal chairs the main type of furniture, spread mostly over the center and far end of the room, was small backless benches, soft and upholstered with a purple, suedelike material. The entire far end of the room was overtaken by a curved wall of transparent polycarb glass, and through its unbreakable wall lay open space, infinite and constant."
(All These Wayward Children)
"Arek could never get used to the utter stillness after an EM-set multiburst had been thrown into a room. Quietness, yes; after you throw a proper live grenade into someone's living room there's not going to be much noise apart from a few dying gurgles. But the utter undisturbed serenity of a post-EM room, with everything in its place and all the pictures hanging undisturbed from the walls, set his teeth on edge. It was like firing a laser in the dead vacuum of space; you found yourself looking for the burn marks merely to prove the act of violence to your very own senses."
(And to Live in Peace)
"My lord's back was burnt and scarred, as if he had walked through the hellfires themselves."
(The Part Where I Play the Devil)
"Shortly before the visit I went through the room to ensure nothing was out of place. I aligned my lord's copies of the Pax Amarria, and his selections of ancient scriptures. The banners were hung in the appropriate order, while the ceremonial weapons were kept, at my lord's request, well at the back. Subtly hidden among them was the Khumaak, a weapon not many Amarrians would dare keep in their possession. I had always had my own sentiments about my lord's reasons for keeping a copy of this bloodied relic among the more proper holy ones of our own people, but what happened later that evening cast its presence in a new and disconcerting light."
(The Part Where I Play the Devil)
"The Sansha were always a prime surveillance and acquisition interest for Imperial intelligence. Their advances in cybernetic technology provided the live realization for the kinds of medical experiments that Amarrian scientists could only dream of."
(End of the World: World on Fire)
"This virtuality was the best he’d ever experienced. He’d heard of the tanks, of course. Everyone with practical knowledge of naval warfare in the Empire had. Combat information virtualities capable of simulating space battles in perfect resolution, at many times the speed of reality. They were used for research, testing and, most importantly, during combat itself. All the major powers used them but he believed the Empire had the edge. How could it be otherwise?
...
“More to the point, I’m talking about several tanks. To be precise, the Carthum-Viziam Military Research Virtuality, the Duvolle Quantum Holography Facility, the Hyasyoda Naval Research Cluster, and Project Dreamwalk. That last one is the rather picturesque name the Minmatar gave to their military-industrial virtuality program.”"
(Particle Tracks)
"I rise from my bed and walk slowly across the spartan room. It is a small, insignificant thing, nowhere near grandiose enough for an empress. It sits deep beneath the ground of the Imperial Palace in Dam-Torsad, far from the traditional Imperial Bedroom. It is not what I once imagined, as a little girl, dreaming of becoming empress."
(And I Shall Hide)
"The Heirs are arranged by some intricate calculations Pomik made to present the proper amount of respect and offense each deserves. To my left is Aritcio Kor-Azor, due to his to rank as Imperial Chancellor, then Merimeth Sarum, probably granted that spot thanks to his relation to myself. Next is Catiz Tash-Murkon and beside her, furthest from me, was Khanid II.
To my right is Pomik first, awarded the chair due to his position, then Yonis Ardishapur, the furthest the most powerful man in the Empire could rightly be placed without too-grave an insult, and then Uriam Kador, the least concerning of those present.
The oval table we occupy supposedly dates back to the first Council of Apostles founded thousands of years ago by Emperor Amash-Akura. I run my hands over the smooth wood and wish the Ametat and Avetat had survived instead of a powerless table."
(And I Shall Hide)
"In the final weeks of each year, the personal press of the Court Chamberlain is entirely devoted to turning out a new printing of the Pax Amarria, Heideran VII's seminal treatise on all things Amarrian, and nobody notices."
(Pax Ammaria)
"The western beachfront was a hive of activity, with Sarum troops constantly moving between hastily erected emplacements and surveillance equipment. Looking over the scene, Ulfbrard was reminded of slave children playing in the wind-swept courtyards of his neighborhood, back before the star, back before everything."
(514)
"Inside, the rib-vault is twice as high as it is wide. Dirty light spills in through aging windows, filling the room with a sick, yellow glow. Cracks trace elaborate patterns across filigreed sections of the walls and floor, wrap around a statue, like decrepit fingers searching for something to strangle. Blood-red rust feeds on the faded gold surfaces. There is nothing quite as depressing as Amarrian architecture."
(Stranded)
"The guards from the lower level came charging into the back of the group, throwing it against the line of guards at the front. Knives flashed, stun-guns barked and electro-bats hummed."
(The Artifice Maker)
"The floor of the main hall was an unblemished white marble and the ceiling was a sparkling glass dome, through which the lush Korridi planet was clearly visible. The effect was quite magnificent, something the Amarrians excelled in portraying. The sheer size of the hall seemed to engulf everyone in it and it almost had the appearance of being deserted."
(Catch of the Day)
"Take the Salted Amarrian Rockjaw.
Now this thing is a beast of a creature, quite familiar with the interiors of Amarrian torture chambers, too. It has a rather sweet taste, with a fresh salty aroma to the flesh. You can have that at Dieurelli with a side of Achuran Songbird wings in a sweet nut-and-berry sauce. This meal, to anyone there who eats it, is unquestionably Amarrian. It is a tasteful, politically correct marriage of Empire-State cuisine. Perfect for high-profile business lunches you want to keep hiccup-free (depending on your clients, of course)."
(Jita 4-4)
"Sariel's contact was based in Khabi. It's a big system, lots of belts and moons. A lot of miners, salvagers, all sorts of scratchers and looters. The Mandate's mostly inactive out there. Ammatar Fleet has a couple of listening posts, a few patrol boats. That's it. No orbitals. No stations. A couple of dirtside bases. Khabi VIII is a temperate but it's basically a huge jungle. Hot, humid. Mining at the poles though. Most of the barrens have something going on like that. The moons and belts are where the action is though. The gas giant systems are where it's all going on.
Then there's Khabi XIII, the little outer barren. It has a couple of decent underground cities. The miners and such from all over the outer planets use them for extended downtime. Anyway, we went to the third city. It's not much more than a transit launch station with a town built under it. They didn't even bother to change the name from "Basecamp 3" like the two big cities did. Well, everyone just calls the place "Basecamp", of course.
The town's as you'd expect. A dump. There's a lot of flophouses and coffinracks for miners and the like to stay in. There's a couple of hotels for the factors and merchants. The residents live deeper in, where it's quiet and away from the bars. There are ten or so bars. They're all dives and full of scum. If you're tough enough you might get a decent drink in a couple of them. We were meeting Sariel's guy in one that had backrooms where factors would meet mine chiefs to haggle over ore weights and prices.
(Mithra's Gate)
The archaeotech just looks at Sariel holding the cryschip under his nose for a second. Then he picks up something. I couldn't see properly from where I was. Couple of trinkets or something, and he throws them onto this flat dish he's got on one side. Then he nods, takes the cryschip, holds it to the light and then puts it on that dish. I saw him pick his trinkets up and kind of fiddle with them in one hand for a minute. Then he picks the trinary laminar back up and gives it back to Sariel.
Then we left. In a hurry.
***
When Kalsibah finished his account of the meeting on Khabi XIII, Narisaf drummed the fingers of his right hand on the surface of the table for a span of seconds. "You mentioned some 'trinkets' that Sariel's contact was playing with. You didn't see clearly but if you had to guess what they were, or if they even reminded you of something, what would that be?"
"Well," began Kalsibah slowly. "I suppose they reminded me of something I've seen in NiKunni clubs now that you press me. There's a game they play. For money. You know what the Ni Kunni are like. I've seen them play it. Maybe some of the Caldari guys play a game where they throw these counters around. I don't bother with it, cards are more my speed. Or maybe a little cutoutclash."
(Mithra's Gate)[/spoiler]
People[spoiler]
"After another moment of intense scrutiny, Cherall found the object he was looking for: a thin holopad with his likeness on it. He grabbed a pen and scribbled on the image before handing it to the girl. “That’s’ very nice dear. But remember, Mr. Wayward is a cartoon character. Your slave is a real person, so be sure to treat him well.”"
(Innocent Faces)
"As the theme song continued its rampant rhythm, a person emerged among the glowing shapes: a tall Minmatar man, dressed in plain clothes and covered in tattoos. Two more figures emerged shortly afterward. One figure was that of a shorter Amarr man in elegant robes and pale skin."
(Innocent Faces)
"“So today we learned about stealing, and how wrong it is to steal from God’s Chosen.” He folded his arms in an exaggerated manner and leaned back on his back leg. “As God’s people, we Amarr are entitled to the bounty of God’s creation. The Minmatar, being wayward children, have not earned their right to God’s kingdom. Thus, they must live with the lot given to them by us, God’s chosen people.” Cherall raised his arms again. “That’s why Mr. Wayward was punished for taking Flonta Furrier from his holder. By stealing from his holder, he was also stealing from God.”"
(Innocent Faces)
"When an image finally appeared, it caught the administrator off guard. The capsuleer was clearly of Amarr descent, with high cheekbones and a clean-shaven scalp, but beyond the most obvious features, little of his face could be discerned."
(Xenocracy)
"Allek placed the datapad in his coat pocket next to the Krusual history and tried to think about something else. Unconsciously he’d come to a halt. He looked about and was taken aback to see two Ni-Kunni behind a stall that seemed to be dealing in antiquities and other art objects. He thought a second and realized they must be free traders. Most Ni- Kunni stayed in the service of their Amarr masters, even if they were nominally “free” and this applied to their merchant class no less than any other Ni-Kunni. Some though went into business as so-called “free traders.” They had no direct ties to any noble house or territory. They were subjects of the empire to be sure but they could largely do as they pleased. It was an option the more adventurous Ni-Kunni tended to take. It could also bring large rewards, which appealed to the avarice of some members of that race.
The Amarr Empire found these free traders useful. They could go places that True Amarr trade vessels could not go and in greater overall safety in many other places. Much of the trade that went between the Amarr Empire and the Republic was done by such men. Lately, with the free traders having carried so many freed slaves to the Republic from the Empire, the Ni-Kunni merchants were even treated with a grudging respect. Even so, they usually restricted themselves to space stations or starbases. Evidently the new atmosphere and the absolute guarantees of neutrality in force in the caravanserai had tempted these two down to the planet where they would likely be able to get a better price and cut out planetary shipping agents."
(Cover Stories)
"His father, Engru, was a tenth-generation indentured professor to The Hedion Academy Torsad subcampus, and a specialist in the ancient texts of several nations the Amarr had conquered in the course of taking over the planet they now stood on. His days were spent in his little basement translating manuscripts and taking notes and reconstructing languages several thousand years dead. Over the course of his time living out on the coast Darmad had become accustomed to plenty of fresh air, and now the familiar overpowering mustiness of his father’s apartment – a consequence of several dozen plants, intractable mold and very little ventilation – made it hard for him to breathe. They decided to visit a taproom located not far from the house, where they could take in their morning meal.
"How are things at the research facility?" asked his father as they ambled along the broadstreet, occasionally ducking a hoverstroller or an autocaravan. "Is your holder still giving you trouble?"
"Not really, not anymore," said Darmad. "He’s been more accepting of me since that small success of mine last year."
"I was proud of you for that one," said his father.
"I’m surprised you even heard. It wasn’t really such a big deal," said Darmad.
"A polymer synthesis technique that could revolutionize high-altitude building materials? Sounds like a big deal to me, son."
"I don’t know about revolutionize," said Darmad. "And remember, as far as everyone’s concerned it wasn’t Darmad Intajaf who made the discovery, it was his grand highness the good Lord Lucretio Kor-Azor.""
(Chained to the Sky)
"Kardeth was a Wanderer, a clandestine subsection of the Speakers of Truth tasked with bringing the faith into the darkest of places.
...
The inhabitants, Kardeth maintained, would undoubtedly respect his rather clandestine authority as a Wanderer and rend unto him any assistance he required in his hunt. They would arrive late, have a prayer session and a nice dinner, get some proper sleep, and sort out their business in the morning."
(All Tomorrow's Bodies)
"The large man kept looking at the corn, but the other two stared right at the boy. He stared back, having been taught not to be intimidated by slaves and not to say anything to them unless they deserved it.
...
As they got up and left, the large man continued sauntering towards the boy. The boy wanted to flee but remembered his father saying that he shouldn't ever bow down to these people. So he stood firm while looking the man in the eyes."
(A Boy and His Slaver)
"Returning one day from the hunt, Shakor and his men were ambushed by the Amarr Royal Guard - universally regarded as the best fighting unit around."
(Maleatu Shakor)
"The master could have used service robots or android automatons, but like all Amarr Holders he wanted the respectability of having a slave serve upon him."
(Fait Accompli)
"Drupar Maak was a Starkmanir, like the slaves waiting to be executed. He was also a slave, but like many slave children that showed remarkable talents, had received a proper education in an Amarrian school, which had trained him to become a loyal, obedient civil servant."
(Khumaak)
"Involuntary, his mind drifted to the little hiding place he had down in the city, to the lithe and winsome creature he whispered words of passion and affection to during lovemaking. His family and friends would be appalled if they knew of his dark-skinned Starkmanir girl, with her almond eyes and her smile that was coy and bold at the same time."
(Khumaak)
"Idonis looked his friend in the eye as he spoke, seeing the regret there. He knew his own eyes showed the same. Regret about the life they were to leave, regret about what they had to become, but most of all, regret about what they were about to do. He allowed himself one more memory of his little hiding place, the long supple limbs of his Starkmanir lover, and the dreams he had harbored for the Minmatars. Then he let it go. Royal Heirs could not afford the luxury of dream."
(Khumaak)
"There were also accusations laid against both the Sarum and Ardishapur families concerning secret support for the Order [of St. Tetrimon], but they retained enough power in the Privy Council to ignore these accusations."
(Cult of Tetrimon)
"This all changed when she encountered the works of Itzak Barah, Amarr's foremost religious poet."
(Aura)
"[Jamyl's] retinue kept to itself, maintaining court in their section of the ship's living quarters, and while the crew was permitted to enter at will, their intermingling with the royal entourage was subtly discouraged. One knew one's place on this ship."
(All These Wayward Children)
"The people were governed by several lords - Holders all, of course - each of whom in turn owed their allegiance to a continental overseer. Those overlords served under a planetary representative, who in turn filed regular reports directly to my lord and master. We noted that in his recent reports there had been no mention of any trouble.
This setup of governance was not the typical one in our Empire, and had been put in place long before my lord's ascension to heirdom. Not only was it tied down with strings that would prove costly to cut, but the planet's economy was so enmeshed in labyrinthine pacts by the ruling body that were my lord to intervene in a lawful and justifiable way, it would be a long time before we could even hope to wrest control of the planet over to us. This struck me as a strange state of affairs, but my lord explained that it was in fact a common one, and that the Heirs, even with their ecclesial authority, did not have as much secular power as they liked to pretend.
...
The penultimate part of our journey was a meeting with its planetary leader. As I explained, the economic and political situations on this planet were very much intertwined. Old independence agreements, most of a financial bent, had held off any direct changes brought from the outside, while the extremely complex interplay between various internal forces on the planet meant there was no way for my lord or anyone else even to squeeze in among the cracks as a private investor and start working any change in that manner. The intermediary continental leaders had given us no support. Unless we received backing from the planetary representative, we were going to have a hard time enacting any change in this place, no matter how positive."
(The Part Where I Play the Devil)
"Throughout its history, the austere Amarr Empire has conquered many peoples. In its expansion it has encountered fractured Neolithic tribes, egalitarian societies, industrial behemoths and everything in between. All were crushed and enslaved: Some were eventually integrated into Amarrian society, some remain slaves and others were simply forgotten - for only the largest societies are recorded in any detail. On the Ni-Kunni homeworld, for example, one whole continent was inhabited by a fierce indigenous people who were judged worthless for anything other than the most lowly slave castes. Their rich culture and heritage has long since been eradicated and their people reduced to mere half-breeds scattered among the countless multitudes.
...
In its conquests, the military made note of the most naturally warlike, aggressive and resilient and dubbed them Martial Races. It then indoctrinated these into its armed forces, mostly as expendable cannon fodder to be used up instead of the righteous chosen of God. Some excelled, and achieved such repute that they became a staple of the Amarrian military machine. The most successful - and, indeed, feared - of these are the Kameiras.""
(Kameiras)
"The Kameiras are one of the products of the infamous Human Endurance Program (H.E.P.) that the Amarr ran on their Minmatar slave populace. It began as an attempt to measure the Minmatar tribes' durability and effectiveness when it came to various labor tasks - to see how far they could be pushed before breaking, much like a tool would be stress-tested."
(Kameiras)
"[The Kameiras] are institutionalized into the Amarrian faith - taught about the Amarr God and his love for them, their place in his creation and their duty to uphold his law for the good of all. For all intents and purposes, they are taught that they too are Chosen. Although this continues to be a hotly debated topic within certain circles of the Empire, time has proved it to be the most effective form of control."
(Kameiras)
"The Amarrians retain strict control over the Kameiras, as they have by necessity raised intelligent soldiers that can react and adapt autonomously to varied combat situations. Their education nearly always keeps them from questioning their place. A soldier sees much, though, so the Kameiras do not serve as one company but rather are attached to standard armed companies as their strike force, maintained apart from the regular infantry. The very nature of their purpose - to serve as special operation units and front line forces - means that in the very rare cases where a Kameira might suspect something is not well with the world, he doesn't remain alive long enough to act upon it. That being said, it is often true that the Kameiras troops are more devout than their true Amarr cohorts. They have been indoctrinated and trained for this way of life since they were born, and they know or want nothing else. For the most part, Kameira units are led by Amarrian officers An individual may be promoted some way up the command chain if he is deemed loyal enough, but these cases are relatively rare, and individuals that achieve this sort of modest rank are kept under close surveillance."
(Kameiras)
"However, certain traits tend to creep in. Most are relatively trivial things that are easily brushed aside by their officers; for example, Kameiras troops are allowed to keep their hair long, something not permitted and strictly enforced in the regular Imperial army."
(Kameiras)
https://web.ccpgamescdn.com/communityassets/img/chronicles/chronicleImage/manofvalues.jpg
(A Man of Values and Faith, picture is posted because it’s of Ammatar, not Amarr)
""God; Emperor; Theology Council." Nusi tapped the triangle he'd drawn on the board. "That's the theological underpinnings, at least"
(Signs of Faith)
"People worked in shifts here on the colony, and it was Parlan's week for early days in the field and late nights studying his faith.
...
The next morning it was his turn to visit the mines, as everyone who worked on the settlement had to do from time to time.
...
The mines, when he got to them, were the same pit of stink, ash, smoke and misery as they always had been. The Amarr Empire kept slaves, and on this planet some of those slaves tilled the fields alongside the acolytes, while others, not yet ascended, lived and worked in this place. Some day they, or their children or their own children, might be lifted up to the fields, but until then they slaved under the eyes of God.
Parlan was inured to their pain - the world was full of suffering and it made no more sense even if one brooded on it - but he eased it the best he could. For hours on end he walked among them, in their thousands, bringing them water as they hacked at the earth. As he poured he sometimes thought of the one he loved. Some of the slaves thanked him, others - too tired, he reasoned - did not, but in every pair of eyes there was a quiet acceptance. They did not resent his presence here, nor particularly welcome it: He was merely here, and they were thankful for him while he stayed. This life they led was their lot just as Parlan's was his, until the day God decided otherwise."
(Merely Disassembled)
"Parlan left his room, walking slowly through the halls of quietude that formed the main section of the temple. He did not meet anyone on the way. There were guests in the temple these days, travellers from other systems who wanted to explore the Amarrian faith, but they would be working in the fields."
(Merely Disassembled)
"I think we may be the Devil. My legacy will meet the Deceiver's and the Mad Emperor's once I am dead."
(And I Shall Hide)
"Besides, if I was thought mad, someone would depose me. Ardishapur surely, or if not him, Aritcio."
Oh yes. Aritcio's way to absolution. Every inch of your flesh, peeled away layer by layer. Feeling individual cells sluiced off your bones then regrown a second later, trapping you in an agony that seems never to end. The great flagellants of your people's history; you could be their master."
(And I Shall Hide)
"I sigh and bring my fingers to the bridge of my nose. The Heirs I can all manage, with varying degrees of difficulty. Garkeh Khanid, however, is a bag of vipers dressed as a man. Despite my generosity toward him, I still have no idea of his true intentions. I wished him absent from this meeting."
(And I Shall Hide)
"Yet now [Aritcio] is one of the most beloved men in the Empire, with subjects who praise his name and a respect for the great promise of our religion and traditions. "
(And I Shall Hide)
"I wonder which of us Yonis hates more? There are generations of teachings to tell him he should hate the Khanid, but I am confident I sit upon that particular throne as well.
Khanid, for his part, is unphased by Yonis's rudeness. "Senile? Why, my boy, I feel like I was just born yesterday." This is the sort of needling I have come to expect since I granted the Khanid King a seat on the Privy Council. Despite being three times the age of the next oldest person in this room, he still looks nearly as young as Merimeth. He could pass for an elder brother.
There are rumors he cloned to keep himself young, but any evidence was expertly covered up. A few times he joked he had been granted "divine youth", always with a twinkling, smirk-scrunched glance at me. I despise the man and regret every day that I had to make my political bed with him.
"You tarnish the name of the Privy Council by sitting here," says the man who had forced that pairing. Yonis rises from his chair, hands planted firmly on the table, and leans across it at Khanid. "I cast my own name in filth by being in the same room with you." I wonder, would the other Heirs respond to the insinuation?
But no, they know not to turn Yonis's wrath on them. Their own reluctance to test the Heir – Catiz's needlings aside, which grew less frequent yearly – is what pushed me toward Khanid. I thought myself so clever, burdening Yonis with the weight of the Mandate. "
(And I Shall Hide)
"So it is, therefore, unsurprising that GalNet hosts several distinct, distributed (and – naturally – ideologically opposed) communities whose sole interest is the print history of Heideran's Book. The Theology Council will declaim that Heideran's word is inviolable and unchanging, but the Paxistas (as they are derisively labelled by the wider print-history metacommunity) will quietly but insistently explain, in quite excruciating detail, the history of minor edits and corrections that "their" book has endured over the years.
That the Paxistas are permitted to exist, both within and without the Empire, speaks to the Ministry of Internal Order's tolerance, mercy, and fondness for carefully-monitored honeypot traps. Besides, a heresy so minor hardly warrants the kind of "comprehensive" solution that the Ministry overwhelmingly favors; so long as the heresy remains minor, the Paxistas can sleep easily."
(Pax Ammaria)
"As the hunt became harder, frustrations mounted and methods became more extreme, and more and more sightings were referred directly to the Ministry's elite Ordinators. Quiet infiltration operations gave way to screaming dropships disgorging armored troops into sleepy bookstores, which in turn gave way to orbital strikes against entire settlements suspected of harboring a lone copy. The Ordinators were fanatical in their pursuit and uncompromising in their methods. Lurid tales began to spread, the flames only fanned by brutal reprisals against any who spoke openly of the cursed book, and the remaining owners went into hiding.
All these things happened years ago, but the Council's hounds still bay. Ordinator cells, once activated, will never rest until their task is completed, and while copies of the Pax Ammaria remain unnaccounted-for, they will continue their bloody hunt."
(Pax Ammaria)
"Three times we have sent these demons back to hell, and three times they have returned. Today will be no different. Today we will sit and wait as more suffering is visited upon us, God’s chosen. There will be no school and no markets in the square. Today there will be only Church. Here we will sit and with heads bowed, humbly asking of God, what can drive a man to such things?
As the sirens of border defense systems are tripped for the fourth time, I fear we will get our answer. I fear God will tell us what we already know in our hearts. These are not men: They are the Beast.
(Morning Prayer)
"Etian pressed his back into the corridor’s wall, his head bowed to his chest as the process of Holders passed him by.Leading the process was the governor himself, his fine linen cloths embroidered with gold threads and platinum pearls. Out of the corner of his eyes Etian watched the others lined up against the wall, commoners like himself, stealing furtive glances at the majestic process as it passed. On some faces Etian could read envy or awe or odium, but each one also registered fear. For those men passing them were the most powerful men on Inis-Ilix station and each and every one of them had the power and the authority to dictate the destiny of any of these commoners that lined the walls in apparent reverence.
...
... The fact that the Holders had been traveling without any personal guards didn’t come as a surprise to Etian; to the common Amarrian a Holder symbolized the grandeur of the Amarr Empire and to attack one was to attack the Empire itself. Such an act was unthinkable to the common Amarr man; the Empire, with its age-old traditions and structure, was the foundation of society itself. To every Amarrian life without the Empire was nothing but anarchy, chaos, dread and darkness."
(The Artifice Maker)
"“But I know many of you also have doubts in your hearts.” Fradis continued. “You doubt the righteousness of this deed. You doubt whether you are worthy of taking the power from those that took it from you so long ago. For you’ve been conditioned from birth to respect and fear those men that claim to be better than you...
... “They have told you time and again that you’re not capable of governing yourself, that you’re too weak of mind. Their teachings have long since reached the core of your souls. I say: to free your soul you must forget those teachings. You must stop believing that you’re incompetent to rule yourself and start believing that a free mind can accomplish anything it wants!”
...
Maybe you don’t believe me when I say that you’re all conditioned.” Fradis shouted to the frenzied crowd. “But let us all look at one example. Name me a poem that we all know, a poem that is taught to all children at an early age. A poem that supposedly shows that man should not try to usurp God but put their faith in him, but which in reality describes the way the upper classes trample on the ignorant commoners.
...
“Here, we’re told that our greed and our stupidity will always come back to haunt us. That only those better than us are capable of ruling wisely enough to keep us from destroying ourselves. And the last verse tells us the ultimate price our pride may have to pay if we don’t stay in our place:”
(The Artifice Maker)
"She had told him her life story, more or less. Her ancestors were of the lowest class of the commoners, just above slaves. Her large family was still eking their living out as the poorest of the poor. But she had managed to get out, quite an accomplishment by the standards of the empire."
(The Artifice Maker)
"Dealing with the Amarr authorities on the planet was an exercise in futility. They seemed to have no understanding of the notion of individuality of slaves. Slaves were labeled for inter-stellar transportation, but once on a slave colony they lost all identity. There was no need for the slave masters to know their name; to think of them as unique or special in any way was totally alien to them."
(The Spirit of Crielere)
"“God had nothing to do with it,” [Kirlana] answered. “Because there's no such thing.”
Her words resonated in Mattias's mind. He wasn't a religious man—at least not in a traditional sense. But the comment still made him uncomfortable. Regardless of her rebellion against the religious paradigms of the culture that she was born into, to hear an Amarr say there was no God was extremely disturbing."
(Forsaken Ruins)
"“Governor Sed-Innad, you’re looking older than ever.” Naine jumped at the words, fearing the Amarrian would flare up at the insult. But when the older Amarrian just smiled he remembered that to the Amarrians looking old was a sign of maturity and stature. The younger Amarrian, probably still in his twenties, had even made obvious efforts to make himself look older than he actually was, thinning his hair and painting his face pale and gaunt. The older Amarrian, the one Gaspar had addressed as governor, was at least a century old. The two shook hands, they undoubtedly knew each other well."
(Catch of the Day)
"“Of course.” Gaspar said nonchalantly. “After all, next to despotism nepotism is the favorite past-time of the Amarrians, right? You guys never change.”
“And neither do you, Gaspar. Always the witty one. One of these days your rude quips will become your bane.” The governor replied, yet he didn’t seem the least bit ruffled.
“Forgive me, my lord.” Gaspar said. “Unfortunately Asslicking 101 wasn’t on the curriculum at my school. Instead I had to learn such useless tasks as adding and subtracting. Such a pity.” By now Naine was literally jumping from foot to foot in his anxiety, fearing the worst.
“Gentlemen, meet my diplomatic attaché, Niedanai Naine. He seems a little agitated at the moment.” Gaspar said and turned to Naine. “What’s the matter? You need to use the little boys room?” Naine, noticing that the Amarrians were still calm despite Gaspar’s words, composed himself.
...
“Look, it’s very simple.” Gaspar explained. “Both the Amarrians and the Caldari put a huge stock in maintaining their dignity and posture. If you crack that mask a little by unorthodox behavior you make them uneasy, unsure of the situation. Pierce that crack a bit more open and before long you have them eating out of your hand. And that, my dear Niedanai, is the whole idea.”
...
“The Amarrians respect power, Mr. Anoun. They, like everybody else, want to make sure that what they’ve bargained for gets delivered in one piece. Now, with all those pesky Minmatars pirates around, the Amarrians appreciate all assurances that the border-zone trade routes are safe.” The major said confidently.""
(Catch of the Day)
"“Until now we’ve been playing by the business books of the Amarrian and the Caldari - boring conversation between somber men making somber deals that might earn their grandchildren a nickel. They’re always complimenting themselves how smart they are in their long term planning, but there’s no fun in it Niedanai, no fun in it at all. I mean look at them. They labor like ants around the clock, setting aside some measly sum so they can go on some lame space cruising when they’ve become too old and spent to work anymore. They’re spending their youth toiling away so they can have a bit of fun when they’re 150 years old. Too old to have any real fun, as I see it. Where’s the logic in that, I ask you? You know what their problem is?” Gaspar paused, obviously expecting some kind of an answer from Naine.
“Uh, I don’t know, sir. What’s the problem?” Naine ventured.
“They’re too fixed up on keeping work and leisure separate. To them, the two things don’t go together...”"
(Catch of the Day)[/spoiler]
Customs and Culture[spoiler]
"“Children of God, do you know what time it is?” The voice echoed throughout the mostly empty soundstage. A chorus of high-pitched voices responded in unison: “It’s time for Dr. Adad’s Wild Time!"
...
“Hello, children. I’m Dr. Adad, and welcome to my Wild Time!” Cherall bellowed to his audience, who applauded wildly in response. Cherall hushed them with a wave of his hand. “We have a very special show to you today, as we are filming this live from our studios on Nakregde II.” More applause ensued."
(Innocent Faces)
"The woman curtsied. “Here I am, at your service, Dr. Adad.”"
(Innocent Faces)
"Religion formed a large part of life in the Amarr empire, but it was the institutional religion of rule and order, not the visceral, internalized one of formless wonder, and while everyone professed to worship the Lord above, what they did in fact worship - in the military, especially - was the framework of quiet devotion and worship where the army, if anything, was a modernized version of the cloisters of old, with the same selfless giving, and the same striving to meet a higher goal."
(The Book of Emptiness)
"In less enlightened societies this kind of behaviour would have been seen as heretical and would have earned everyone involved a brief and smoky stay on a pyre, but at that point in history Amarr was remarkably tolerant to aberrant behaviour. As Akran remarked to Skar, the religious history of the Amarrian Empire could in some way be seen as the ocean: The force with which it weighed down the free expression of its fringe elements would ebb and flow like the rising tide on a wayward beach, periodically washing in to quell and suffuse the sands of thought before receding again for long enough to allow the little kernels to cast off their influence and take to the winds. In this case, the philosopher's books were captured and destroyed, the people who'd read them were given free medical treatment, which in a couple of cases turned out to last for perpetuity, the people who'd heard those people speak were given paid leave until such point as they could see fit to return to work, which they all eventually did, and the philosopher himself was given the choice of either cutting it out and becoming a productive member of society, or following the traditional rule of mad prophecy and taking it out into the desert."
(The Book of Emptiness)
"Faith had been a notable part of life in the Amarr Empire. No more, and no less. It was there, always there, in speech and the back of minds, but it was not an important part unless cut off, much like breathing. The citizens of the Amarr Empire were not, whatever outsiders might like to believe, fanatics. They simply accepted faith, and had a tacit agreement among themselves not to violate its major tenets. Civilization, to them, worked much the same way. One did not impinge on another's sphere of being - their liberty, their freedom or their joy - just as one did not, metaphorically speaking, walk into church, lower one's pants and leave a steaming gift to the almighty. Things worked, and people understood what they needed to do and not do in order to to make them work."
(King Slaver)
"The sheen on the Amarrian's shaven head nearly matched his golden mask. He was kneeling alongside several others in the day's first prayer session, although none of them would come too close to him. Even though doctrine held that believers would be united in faith, the masked people were always given a wide berth. Nobody knew what they'd done to earn their fate, but all were eager to avoid having the same happen to them.
Chants filled the air. To anyone but the initiated it would be impossible to make out individual words; the general susurrus was more like a fading wave of sound, reverberating off the stone walls and the banisters. To the supplicant majority the voices were crystal clear, the words etched on their minds after years of daily recitation. But the masked men spoke their own tongue, and were understood by no man.
This one, prostrating himself, didn't so much chant as moan. Unintelligible sounds came from beneath the mask, soft glossolalian wails. It was no prayer anyone else in the room could recognize, if it was a prayer at all.
The Amarrian lay with his head to the ground, rolling it slowly back and forth, his metal mask picking up dirt and dust off the floor. Instead of having his hands flat by the side of his head, he held them behind his back. In that position, with his neck extended, he looked like a prisoner awaiting execution."
(Beautiful Faces)
"They passed the morning in idle chatter, eating a light breakfast, content to simply enjoy each other’s presence. At around midday, morning prayer being over, the place’s regulars started filtering in from the busy streets of the quarter."
(Chained to the Sky)
"This was Amarr’s preferred way of silencing her enemies. Killing was too crass. It acknowledged too much fear. The real victory didn’t lie in brute extermination (except in cases where required on a large scale for logistical or geographical reasons), but in defeating your picture of things with theirs."
(Chained to the Sky)
"Even the torture had been done for purification and spirituality, and it had been done in quiet. The people of Amarr had the good sense to be embarrassed about what had happened under Karsoth's rule and just wanted to send the man on his way to judgment."
(Two Deaths)
"He would have to reflect upon that during the morning mass."
(Khumaak)
"Quiet they remained, aside from a few actions taken against the Kor-Azor family -- specifically against the Heir Doriam, who flouted traditions with his releasing of slaves and liberal views."
(Cult of Tetrimon)
"It was tradition that [the doors] be opened to let in each new complainant but closed right after. The only exception was for those cases where the grievance was so vast that the horde of plaintiffs would fill the royal court, in which case the doors were kept open for onlookers...
...
As he spoke, several members of the mob marched in his wake. They were all Holders and as such were allowed to enter the court unimpeded; refusal of entry to a Holder was considered an offence, although once let in, the Holder could be removed at the Heir's whim without consequence.
The Holders, roughly two dozen, formed a half-circle around the Speaker. All faced the throne, staring fixedly at Aritcio. The doors were kept open, as per tradition when a full house was at hand, and several members of the mob held activated video cameras. In deference to the Heir's presence, they kept their hands over the camera lenses, but the microphones were very much active."
(The Speaker of Truth)
"Her breakthrough came when she translated Barah's opus, Cathedral of the Oceans, from its native Amarrian to her own Gallentean, publishing it under the title The Book of Hours."
(Aura)
"Should we treat the poetry as religious screed? Absolutely not. A man of faith must be the eternal doubter, because that's the only way to distinguish God's truth through the endless barrage of lies we're faced with, but not only that; he must possess the capacity to look at the lies, look straight at them, understand them for what they are - challenges, not of your faith, but of the way you view your faith - evaluate them and understand why they question your beliefs ... and then let go of them. All they do is distract you."
(Aura)
"The pressure of living in high Amarr society, not to mention working for some of the most high-powered men in the Empire, was such that most everyone had to find some manner of release. This was natural and expected, and people dealt with it with prayer and piety. You were expected to suffer for your faith and that you did, meandering through the random mazes of humanity's constructs in the hope of finding enlightenment on the other side. The stress and the pressure meant that you had a need for God beyond the everyday.
But not everyone found themselves able to alleviate the stress through prayer, and sometimes would turn to self-flagellation. It was not uncommon for high-ranking officials to be seen on slow walks around the many gardens in the Chamberlain's courts, gingerly feeling their way towards benches or tables after an evening of bodily abuse. This was smiled at, if not actively encouraged, by the church."
(Of God and Her Beast)
"She fixed him with a steely glance. "You react. Sometimes you have to hurt someone to make them understand how badly they're hurting themselves. You have to come to the rescue by being the villain, not just for them but for everyone they touch, lest they lose themselves in that same hellish fire." She turned away from the stars and took a seat, never letting her gaze waver from Jetek's presence. "So there is punishment, which is the wrong word for the right thing, something that marks them for life, brings them under control, makes them a productive part of society. What's the word I'm looking for, Jetek?"
"I wish I knew, Empress. I truly do." Jetek remembered this man. His name had been, and likely still was, Kerrigan Orsha. During a fiery speech he had shouted at and berated Jamyl Sarum in an open assembly, calling her names that really shouldn't be uttered at the impending supreme ruler of one's own empire. The assembly session had dissolved into chaos and Orsha's own family had renounced him in an attempt to save themselves. It had worked, after a fashion: Lord Orsha had been judged and found guilty of heresy, a charge that carried the death sentence, but the Empress had granted him clemency of a sort. Instead of death, she had decreed that he have the words of his outburst tattooed on every part of his skin. She had offered him the option of withdrawing to a convent to study the scriptures for the remainder of his life, which he had gratefully accepted, his old and public life effectively ended at this point.
The Empress had a faraway look. She said, "... Benediction."
Jetek shivered.
"I wanted to bring him into our fold, for if I hadn't, he would have railed and thrashed until he shook himself to pieces, and we'd have had no choice but to put him out of his misery," she said, looking to the stars again.
...
The Empress looked out at those same stars. "We need to save them, all of them, from themselves. We need to reclaim their fates and envelop them in ours. And we need to love them, no matter how much it hurts."
She touched the glass and added, "All these wayward children.""
(All These Wayward Children)
"No, he reflected in the silence, it wouldn't do to be too forward, would it? That would be gauche, under the circumstances. This group was a fast-track class; unprompted enthusiasm would be unseemly."
(Signs of Faith)
"As he watched, one of the settlement slaves - an assistant to the head minister, and someone he knew had family in the mines - was dragged out there, stripped, and tied down. The minister announced that he had been guilty of the recent theft.
The slave overseer arrived, with his tools. It went on for a while. Everyone watched, some looking upset, others - including Heci - horrified and disgusted, and a few looking hungry for more."
(Merely Disassembled)
""You wanted to win the war, not end it," corrected Roden.
"In the eyes of God and the Throne, those terms are one and the same, Mister President. You understand enough about us to know that much." Her syllables were coming faster now, rapid-fire, words tumbling over each other as her voice gathered momentum. "The things I speak of here today are important. Do not attempt to smother them with petty semantics.""
(514)
"But this prosperity came at a price; the migration workers were better informed and enjoyed more liberties than other workers, let alone the slaves. They gobbled up dangerous ideas regarding their rights and stature, resulting in demonstrations and protests, sometimes violent. The Holders were facing a dilemma; they were anxious to keep social stirrings to the minimum, but were unsure how to accomplish this without breaking their golden eggs – the migration workers. While the Holders were searching for ways to keep things getting out of hand the migration workers were clamoring ever louder for greater rights and higher wages – on many stations in the Trigentia sector tension was rising to the boiling point."
"Etian knew he was caught up in one of the rarest of social phenomenons in the Amarr Empire; that of social uprising."
(The Artifice Maker)
"The deification of Moreau began to resonate deeply within the souls of the Amarr among the Immensea. While some were born directly into the cult, every Amarr was still deeply rooted in his or her belief in One God, and that hell itself awaited anyone who blasphemed the Faith by creating false idols to worship. “For the Amarr,” said Veniel, “it is better to have never been born, should you be guilty of this sin.” As for Moreau, the only evil more sinister than worshiping an idol was to claiming to be one. In the end, the religious conscience of the Amarrs proved to be too much, and they tried—unsuccessfully—to assassinate Moreau.
The botched attempt on his life enraged Moreau and catapulted him even further into a deranged, diabolical mental abyss. He was now “fully capable of horrific atrocities and astounding cruelty.” He issued an edict declaring that all of the Amarr among them were to be exterminated for “interfering with the divine imperative that is the destiny of Immensea.” The result was effectively flat-out civil war and genocide. Suddenly bloodlines were drastically relevant again, and the Amarr were pitted against everyone else. In the end, all of the Amarr's—every man, women, and child among them—were mercilessly butchered by the other followers."
(Forsaken Ruins)
"Loud noise and bright lights engulfed Naine, battering his every sense. Behind the doors was a large room and at the moment it was filled with laughing, shouting people. There was a wild party going on. The attendants were mostly other Gallenteans, but a number of Amarrians and some Caldari were also to be seen."
(Catch of the Day)
"Well, Sariel had figured like everyone else that it was one of the wandering stars from the old
Amarr myths of the Early Reclaiming. The stories go that every time the Amarr "reclaimed" a
star system back then, they would wait for a divine sign and then along comes a comet and its
track points in the general direction of the next target for the "exploration fleet". Yeah, well,
that's a nice story and probably it went over well with the faithful."
(Mithra's Gate)[/spoiler]
Foreign Perspectives[spoiler]
"The prisoners, Amarrian all, were marched into the camp that was to be their home for the foreseeable future. They were somewhere in the Minmatar Republic, they had been secretly tried in Minmatar military courts, and they were considered a collective threat to the interests and the freedom of the Minmatar people. Freedom was an important concept, apparently. The Minmatar found it so important, the prisoner thought, they wanted to keep it all to themselves."
(King Slaver)
"Ironically, it was the dismissive Amarrians who capitalised most -- on the widening belief among Minmatar slaves that if they witnessed the spectacle of lights, their firstborn son would be blessed with freedom.
Despite the fact that the detour sometimes doubled the length of their journey, slaver vessels would divert through the Gallente Border Zone in the hope that a sighting - staged or otherwise - would serve to quiet an obstreperous cargo. Some slavers lent the spreading belief further credence by freeing the Luti, the children subsequently born of ‘blessed parents’. Others weren’t as compassionate, taking instead to neutering their human cargo, often by furtively poisoning the ceremonial Kapli bread baked in honour of a Lutin blessing."
(Children of Light)
"I don't even want to find a new home. I want my old home back. It wasn't an easy life, but it wasn't bad, either. It was just a life.
...
Yeah. Because we really don't want to be ungrateful. Really, we don't. But we've suddenly had this new identity thrust on us, and have no idea who we are anymore."
(Beasts of the Field)
"Some textbooks that you won't be seeing in my classroom claim the Amarr are nothing more than slave-driving zealots, old monsters gilding their fingers in the name of some wispy little ghost. In fact the Amarr are a deeply spiritual and misunderstood group of people who are trying to better the world in ways we Gallente completely fail to appreciate."
(Taught Thoughts)
""No, I've lived here my whole life." The young man's face shifted to a sneer as he continued, quite unconsciously. "My dad's a Godlover. Even wears those stupid robes all the time." The anger Chieran sensed the previous night had returned to Kestor's voice, and he twitched involuntarily, shaking the holo control in his hand.
...
"Well, grand-dad must have learned his slave lessons real well, 'cause even after he was set free, he raised my dad to be a Godlover too.""
(Present Pieces)
"Yes, Father was hard. Bitter. He was a cold man. But he had to be. What a life, the life of a slave. Yet he loved Kestor more fiercely than he ever felt about anything, I think. About me, even. Yes, that is true. We were never kindred spirits. But those two, they are so much alike. They were so much alike. When Kestor smashed the holopic, I thought, Stop! Stop, you are only breaking yourself open. But I cannot stop him. I just do not know. I don’t know my son.
Even darling Clem sees it. She tries to make Kestor understand, to help him see that our lives are precious, not to be wasted. What sort of a father am I? How can I let this happen again and again? And Cliemne, just staring down silently as her brother and I shout at each other? So beautiful, she is. Like a jewel, a brilliant, dancing jewel. Just like her mother, God bless her.
But Kestor… he is… well, he is too like his grandfather. I do not know him.
What am I to do? My son, so bright, so talented, and he does nothing but throw it away with those friends of his, all worthless. No futures, no plans. He hates me and my faith, but he thrashes about like a drowning man. Crying out for meaning, but silently, not even knowing he cries. Wanting love, the divine love, more surely than anyone I have known. The more I try to calm him, to reassure him ? to teach him ? the farther he draws away. And for all my faith, I have no answers.
I have no answers.
Ziather sat down at the table and stared absently at the plate his daughter had left on the table. He noticed just then that her meal was untouched. A silent tear gathered in his eye.
My God, give me the answers."
(Present Pieces)
"I allow my head to turn to her. "Tell me, Tash-Murkon Heir, how our loans to the megacorps are being repaid?"
To her credit, Catiz does not blanch at the challenge. "Some are being repaid on schedule," she says, leaving out the fact that most are not."
(And I Shall Hide)
""I'm sure I need not remind you that the Empire's own Templar program was the first ever successful implementation of this technology," continued Sarum. "All the mistakes you're making, we've already made. All the lessons you're learning, we've already learned. Perhaps the most significant of these lessons is that the Sleepers do in fact pose a threat, and that threat is far greater than we had presumed."
...
"What's more," continued Sarum, "all Sleeper technology has these fragments within it. The Empyreans who today wage war on the Sleepers' outposts to harvest their technology are not, in fact, mere resource gatherers, nor are they simple thieves. They are committing something far worse than theft."
"Genocide," said Heth.
...
"The risks are significant and cannot be ignored," replied Sarum. "The Sleepers are a civilization older than any other - older than New Eden, some believe. They may not exist in our physical realm at present, but it looks like that may stand to change. If they continue to be attacked in this way, there is no telling what they might do out of self-defense. And it is certainly not prudent for us to leave them any openings."
...
Sarum inhaled sharply, straightened up, then exhaled slowly through her nose. "A... most trusted advisor relayed his first-hand experience of Sleeper consciousness to me. It is," and at this her gaze grew distant, "the most rapturous thing I have ever experienced, and at the same time the most horrible. We are literally rending the fabric of their self-constructed universe into pieces.""
(514)
“So, the Amarr built them?” asked Mattias.
“Quite the opposite,” answered Veniel, who was now looking directly at Matuno. “The rise of Minmatar power was always puzzling to us, considering the extent to which the Amarr Empire went to suppress their ambitions. Amarr ships used to patrol all of the gates leading to and from Minmatar systems; nothing could travel in or out without being checked. We wondered how an enslaved nation was able to amass armies and construct warships right before the watchful eye of their alleged masters.”
“The answer was hidden jumpgates, unknown even to us until very recently. With the help of Gallente engineers, Minmatar tribes began construction on the gates in complete secrecy and without Republic knowledge. The pirate cartels operating in the vicinity were sympathetic to the Minmatar's plight, but also saw an opportunity to advance their own agenda by assisting them. The gates provided the Minmatar with a ‘back door' through which rescued slaves, construction materials, supplies, troops, and warships could travel unhindered by Amarr checkpoints.”
(Forsaken Ruins)[/spoiler]
Author
Topic: Compilation of Amarr References in Chronicles and Short Stories (Read 9393 times)