Damn the Citadel Council for plotting against us. Well Liara is practically worshiping us as her goddess, but is that enough to ensure that she doesn't back-stab us in the back to help the Council?
It's something that I'm curious to see play out, certainly. Overall, though, I think she's solidly in our camp; her Carrier of Dreams aspect and its portrayal in the prior update gives her an ardent
purpose that she clings to beyond all sanity, driving her to keep going even when she ought give in and give up because she feels that she simply
has to keep going lest she let down and fail everyone who came before her and sent her on in their stead. She felt a damaged, lowly thing, unclean and unworthy, not even so much a survivor as simply a tattered scrap that had to endure for the sake of others because only by their sacrifice had she managed to go on in the first place. She is not at all the same person now that she was when she started, now more akin to a war veteran forced to watch time and time again as her compatriots effectively died for her because they believed in what she represented to them. It was merely a training exercise, but it was more than real enough for her... certainly real enough to warrant a therapist or two. And then on top of all of that, after her not-so-metaphorical journey through hell—or rather
Hell even in the privacy of her own mind—she finally reached the end and
God came before her to tell her that her trials were over, that she had done
enough.
God pronounced her struggle to carry everyone else's dreams to not have been in vain. From there, I do not think that she could so lightly raise her hand in treachery against the Eventide, not when to do so would be to spit upon those dreams and snuff out the very will that drives her.
That all said, that's
Liara's perspective. How do others see it? We've already had a taste of what her parents think of this. Aethyta's chief concern is Liara's wellbeing, but Aethyta may perhaps come to disagree with our methods of looking after her. She seems hesitant but accepting of Liara's training thus far, but an argument could easily be made that it was so much torturous brainwashing, however voluntary it was, and other Asari may well take up that argument, be it out of genuine concern or petty politicking. Benezia seems worried as well, but also interested in the possible advantages of Liara's new position, and that too could be a stance that we could expect to see others hold. I remember a post a while back remarking on the possible impact of cultures clashing for this mashup of different groups and sub-groups coming together, and Liara as the first Asari of the Asari Republics that form a core element of the Citadel to become a Knight of the Eventide is quite the prime candidate for that kind of issue to flare up. Will the Asari Republics see this as a cultural threat, worrying that the Covenant and their deified AI may subvert their own people? And how many Citadel factions see Liara as a tool to be exploited now? Or indeed an example to be followed? That Liara's graduation coincides with the threat of the Metacon looming over everyone may well be for the best, giving them bigger problems to worry about, and Liara might even serve as a rallying standard, but I imagine that she won't be forgotten, all the same.
[] The Forum – Even though the Metacon motherships are hiding in deep space they'll need to mine materials to produce fleets, and that means mining operations near a star. Coordinate the search for elusive Metacon miners with every polity willing to lend assets to the cause. With more scout ships and without duplicating effort you can cover a lot more ground. Or space. Once the miners are found an Eventide Spiritrun stealth form can follow them home unseen, and then you can apply the Eventide's dreadnought-led fleet with extreme enthusiasm.
Well considered. I'll have to ponder all the options more carefully before committing to a vote, but this certainly merits bearing in mind. Like us, the Metacon are a dire threat as an enemy simply for logistical capacity. They can produce a nigh-endless font of war materiel, and do so from virtual obscurity, but (hopefully) unlike us, the raw materials for that have to come
from somewhere. How would we fight an enemy similar to us? If
we drew upon our enormous production without the benefit of less conventional supply, the impact that our scouring foraging would have on our surroundings would be much more difficult to hide than our actual position; perhaps we could surmise a location from that, looking for evidence of their presence more than the actual presence itself. "Follow the money trail", basically.
