Violence is an essential characteristic of imperialism, a core component of the relationship of power and dominance that one state might seek to establish over another. It is not merely the exercise of physical force against another, but the things that might be allowed because of that; hunger, exploitation, genocide, enslavement, all of which are forms of violence that are actively perpetuated and expanded upon by systems of imperial oppression. The result of this dominant relationship is the transfer of wealth from the colonial periphery to the metropole, something that typically necessitates the destruction of the old modes of society in the periphery and their subsequent reorganization into a dependent satellite state for further exploitation. The resources and labor of the periphery facilitate the rapid development of the metropole, thus allowing this central authority to more capably project the force, military or economic, required to further cement its relationship with the periphery. The export of finished products to the colonies further cements this relationship, forcing the periphery into a position of economic dependency upon its exploitation. This mutual dependency might then be used to provide a shroud of legitimacy to the relationship, typically characterized as mutual and legitimate interests rather than a purely exploitative relationship.
The Fire Nation's colonies in the Earth Kingdom are no different; the lands upon which the first colonies would be organized were among the most resource-rich in the Earth Kingdom, resources which would quickly be developed to fuel the nascent industrial base in the home isles. The destruction of the aristocracy saw an end to serfdom, though Sozin had little interest in allowing the lifestyle of feudal peasantry to continue as it had for the last thousand years. The lands that had once belonged to the great clans were reorganized under several commercial agricultural concerns, typically operated by close allies of the government, and a great number of the former peasants were forced to become urban laborers, soldiers, or colonists. The consolidation of power in the Fire Nation could, in a fashion, be seen as a form of internal colonization; the economic systems and cultural traditions of the periphery were typically crushed to make for reorganization that suited the interests of an elite in Caldera City, existing identities being swept away so they might be replaced by a more cohesive national identity that emphasized Sozin's ideals of one people, one nation, and one sovereign. Much of this class of displaced peasantry was forced to turn to the fledgling industrial base of the Fire Nation for new livelihoods, further contributing to the emergent resource demands that sprouted from that. Those who sought out other options found them in the colonies, the incentives offered to new colonists allowing them to develop homesteads or businesses that benefited from the cheap labor of the new earthen underclass.
While there has always been an undeniable ideological element to the imperial expansion of the Fire Nation, it should primarily be understood as an economic development resulting from the industrialization of the homeland and the resource demands that ensued from that.
As the colonies grew, the oldest among them developed further, essentially becoming extensions of the homeland; the political and economic systems they played host to were easily equal in development and capability to those of the metropole, though friction began to emerge as the homes isles refused to afford these territories equal status. A not-insubstantial part of this refusal was ideological pressure: while those of Fire Nation descent remained the economic and political elite in the colonies, decades of intermarriage had ensured that their cultural and ethnic identities had diverged substantially from that of the home isles. These mingling traditions had allowed the colonies themselves to lower the tensions of governance, the emergence of a new colonial creole further smoothing integration while distancing them from both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. It was Azulon who ultimately sought to settle the tensions that emerged from this status quo by allowing a limited degree of self-rule in the oldest of the colonies, something that was intended to allow for both greater self-management as well as ensuring that there was less pressure for the integration of these territories into the Fire Nation proper. While this was perceived as rampantly permissive, the Fire Lord had ultimately determined that the Old Colonies were most worthwhile as a highly taxed but semi-autonomous region of the country, the aging tyrant deeming practicality a more important measure than some vague notion of ethnic purity.
This status quo ensured that the coastal regions had room to continue to grow, much of their economic orientation beginning to revolve around the processing and transport of resources to the home isles and the provision of necessary non-military goods to the military in the Earth Kingdom proper. It ultimately proved quite beneficial for the Fire Nation, particularly given the release valve that the colonies offered when it came to societal pressure; while the home isles operated under Sozin's Civil Code, a sizable document that guaranteed certain rights and pay to laborers, the colonies had no such restrictions and thus proved fertile ground for aspiring industrialists and profiteers. Those of at least partial Fire Nation descent could find good-paying jobs in the growing bureaucratic, managerial, and military classes, while those purely of earthen descent often found themselves in a similar position as Fire Nation peasants decades before, forced to abandon their traditional livelihoods in favor of the developing industrial economy in the colonies. The loosened grip in colonies like Yu Dao allowed individuals who might have otherwise seen persecution in the home isles to find some degree of respite, a sizable community of Fire Nation exiles forming in the major coastal cities, something that lent itself to the development of an increasingly involved political scene in the colonies.
The necessary resources to feed the Fire Nation were now increasingly found in the so-called New Territories, the extraction apparatuses there designed from the ground up rather than being restrained by some pretext of being civilian colonies, further freeing both the home isles and the Old Colonies to fulfill the resource demands of their new economies. The provisions of self-rule ensured that resentment only simmered, never at risk of boiling over… at least until the rise of Ozai.
Not so restrained by practicality as his predecessor, it did not take long for Ozai to turn his attentions to the colonies; while he had little interest in direct governance, it proved an easy enough measure to dispatch various viceroys and administrators chosen from among his sycophants to govern these territories. He refrained from openly deriding them in public statements, though it was well known within Caldera City that he viewed the emergent Colonial ethnic identity as little more than a bastardized that made a mockery of the Fire Nation and its vaunted traditions. Such attitudes proved endemic in the court, particularly given the official sanction of the Fire Lord; this open hostility did little to benefit the stability of the Old Colonies, though the relatively short reign of Ozai prevented this discontent from going into outright sedition.
Mere days ago, the prospect of a Colonial working in the imperial court would have been absurd, even the more permissive reign of Azulon having kept them distant from the engines of power in the home country… but the world changes quickly in this day and age.
\=l=/
Qin had never been particularly impressed by the average fighting men and women of the Fire Nation. While the propaganda office liked to emphasize their heroism and self-sacrifice, lauding them for giving their lives and bodies to the national cause, Qin couldn't help but feel that they were perhaps being somewhat overly generous to the assortment of half-illiterate teenage peasants and street rats that seemed to make up the bulk of the national army. There were certainly times that demanded you throw a few hundred eighteen-year-olds who didn't think they could die at something, though such occasions only rarely came up in his line of work.
While he could never say it out loud, he blamed much of it on the education system; on the few occasions that he'd been unfortunate enough to visit sites of lower education, he'd been unpleasantly surprised to find that much of the curriculum now seemed to circulate around indoctrinating the next generation of soldiers rather than cultivating the necessary population of engineers, bureaucrats, and other intellectuals that would be necessary for the continuing development of the nation. It had been the perspective of Ozai that the technical institutes would be sufficient for that goal, never mind the fact that those institutes drew their recruits
from those same schools that had been handicapped by mindless propaganda.
It was then, with some reasonable chagrin, that Qin realized that he'd perhaps allowed himself to be too vague when he'd ordered the city guard to bring the soon-to-be-chancellor to the imperial palace. In his defense, it had been a
very stressful day and he was exactly thinking about his phrasing while he was trying to get everything for whenever the new Fire Lord managed to
find his ruling council; Saojo had opted to keep the boy busy while Qin settled things with their appointee, the rest of the cabinet having not jumped at the occasion to put themselves in the line of fire just yet. Still, he shouldn't have been surprised to find that the army rejects who called themselves guards in the capitol had seen fit to haul the woman who'd seen be the second-highest authority in the country before him like she was a common prisoner.
No, this
really wasn't his day.
He wasted little time in ordering her freed, his attention switching between vigorously reprimanding the guards for their impudence and apologizing to the woman who would hopefully help manage the Fire Lord and the pubescent killing machine the boy called a sister.
He idly made a note that he should check if she was still chained to that grate, though that would have to wait until after the meeting.
The woman herself was…
[] an imposing older woman, possessing a soldier's build, though such was to be expected from an officer in the Colonial Security Forces. While technically just a state-backed militia, the Colonial Security Forces had long filled a similar role to that of the Domestic Forces for the colonies, handling inter-colonial policing and territorial defense in situations where the army proved insufficient. The formalization of the CSF had come in the last years of Azulon's rule, the generals having advocated for the formalization of existing colonial militias, and it was an open secret that she held close ties with the militarist faction in court. [Willful, Honorable, Colonial Officer, Mild Militarist Inclinations, Early 50s][] a wiry woman of middle age, possessing a scholar's frame much similar to his; that wasn't much of a surprise given her role as a Scholar-Bureaucrat in Yu Dao, though he found some satisfaction in the idea that intellectuals might once more find influence in the court, even if they were Colonial. His office had dealt with her in the past, her authority over commerce in Yu Dao having made her a necessary contact for the construction of the air fleet, and the things he'd heard were good for the most part. She had little fear of the new but was not an iconoclast or radical; he was told that the mercantilist faction had fostered a healthy partnership with her over the years, in large part due to her influence over colonial commerce. [Tactful, Diligent, Scholar-Bureaucrat, Mercantilist Inclination. Mid 40s]- [] a beautiful young woman, clad in the disconcertingly foreign garb so favored by the socialites and debutantes of the Colonies, though such was not a surprise given the fact that she stood foremost among them. While holding no official title, she was a sufficiently Popular Debutante to have attracted attention even within the home isles, an unusual feat for one so disadvantaged by the nature of their lineage. That alone was not sufficient to warrant her for this position, however; the fact that she'd carried modernist politics to the colonies was far more relevant to their reasons for meeting here tonight. The salons, reading groups, and rallies that she'd played a role in were… numerous, to say the least, and extended to those within the Fire Nation proper, where she was apparently seen as a prime exemplar of their goals. [Eloquent, Passionate, Popular Debutante, Modernist Inclination, Mid 30s]
[] a subdued and almost strangely normal woman; a part of him was surprised that the guards managed to pick her out at all, though he supposed that the Ministry of Domestic Harmony was well incentivized to keep tabs on individuals such as her. After all, she was a Sanctioned Broker, a more polite term for a spy, and one of the few people that the Fire Nation retained to handle under-the-table talks with the Earth Kingdom, a fraught endeavor given the hostility that exists between the two powers. Still, given the Fire Lord's evident intentions of making peace with the Earth Kingdom, it might prove advantageous to have someone familiar with them to arrange it… and her lack of allies in court would make it relatively easy to see her removed when the time came. [Likeable, Subtle, Sanctioned Broker, Earth Kingdom Contacts, Late 30s]
The circumstances for this meeting were certainly less than optimal, particularly given the fact that
he was trying to gauge how well she'd serve in the intended role while
she was trying to gauge whether or not she was about to be executed. It was one of the unfortunate artifacts of Ozai's rule that individuals brought to the Fire Palace had an
unfortunately significant chance of never being seen again; while a not-insubstantial portion of them left the palace less recognizably than they'd entered, he'd been
quite perturbed to find that there were a rather sizable number of cells in the tunnels beneath the palace. The prospect of winding up in one of them had long been a specter that hung over him - it still did with the new Fire Lord of course - but he'd always been quick on his feet to limit the avenues through which he might be so detained.
The conversation was more a formality at this point than anything else - it wasn't like he could have someone else brought in at this point - and so he pivoted away from the stiff interview-like questions he'd begun with and attempted to warm the atmosphere by pivoting into a somewhat more conversational topic. Her accent was less pronounced than he'd feared, something that would prove beneficial when it came to dealing with the rest of the cabinet, and he allowed himself to believe that the situation had developed beyond its beginning. He was entirely sure if that was the case - he'd never been the most natural conversationalist - but he liked to think it was, particularly given the receptiveness she had to the discussion of…
- [] bending revitalization, a movement across both the home isles and the colonies that sought to maintain and restore the knowledge of the traditional forms of fire bending, both those of a ritual and cultural nature. Fire dancing, calligraphy, and sky shows were all major features of the movement's efforts, all of which are arts that were significantly deemphasized in the national academies which have since begun to focus primarily on the combat applications of firebending. This is respected among the traditionalists, though lacks broader appeal outside of those who yearn for the largely lost arts of the Fire Nation's past.
[] public benefit reform, where she'd advocated for the further modernization of Sozin's Prosperity Programs, a wide-ranging package of welfare programs that sought to provide for the health and well-being of the Fire Nation and its people. In recent years, these programs have failed to keep up with modern issues, most notably the labor laws and the national apothecaries. The first is not well fit for the modern needs and risks of the workplace, while the second has failed to integrate modern medicine into treatments. This is a broadly popular position, though one that has the potential to be both expensive and step on toes.[] natural stewardship, a more politically acceptable term for environmentalism within the context of the Fire Nation. While complaints about pollution have traditionally been dismissed as merely a lack of resolve and endurance, recent movements around natural stewardship have seen success in making arguments for the preservation and restoration of natural environments specifically rooted in the romantic principle of maintaining the beauty of the homeland. This typically plays well with traditionalists and rural populations, though faces the potential for major pushback from the industrial interests of the Fire Nation.[] family code reform, where she's taken the controversial position of arguing for the reform of the family code set out by Sozin a century ago. The family code lays down standardized national laws around marriage, divorce, abuse, adoption, and inheritance. The code notably restricts divorce, mandates single-child inheritance, restricts domestic abuse, and bans homosexuality. While it has since come to be lauded by some as a defense of the family, there is a quiet movement for its form; supporting such openly would be controversial, but has the potential to be a somewhat popular move should it succeed.
The conversation proved to be surprisingly engaging and he allowed himself to consider the situation with some degree of hope for the first time; while they would still have seen how they fared before the Fire Lord himself, he imagined that the woman before him would not prove too disappointing to his majesty. At the end of the day, she was not too terribly stained by the messiness of the previous Firelord's rule, nor did he imagine that her politics would be particularly offensive to the young man. It was good fortune more than anything that had ensured she was available in the first place; if she hadn't been in the city, she wouldn't even have registered as an option. He would have to offer his compliments to his youngest son; while Sakai had never been the most studious of the boys, it seemed that his fixation on the social scene here in Caldera had proven worthwhile after all.
Just as he was considering how to pivot the discussion to the role she'd (hopefully) be assuming soon, Saojo proved
kind enough to resolve that particular puzzle for him by leading the Fire Lord into the room.
Qin managed to restrain his curse as he banged his knees while standing up, forcing a pleasant smile onto his face as he restrained his anxiety - Ozai had given him much practice - and offered a lengthy formal bow to the young Fire Lord. It was hard not to squirm under the bright-eyed gaze of the teenager who was now the absolute autocrat of the Fire Nation, particularly given the fact that Qin had stood by while his face was seared off, but the minister had never been particularly prone to shame and had little intention of starting to today. Somewhat more concerning was the presence of his Water Tribe mistress - he didn't like the hard look in that child's eyes - though, fortunately, neither seemed to display any direct enmity towards him.
He could work with this; he'd always been good at the whole submission routine after all.
"Your Majesty, Fire Lord Zuko, most honored and wise sage, it is the honor of a lifetime to stand before you in service. It is the privilege of this humble servant to present the most leal and able…"
- [] Namiko Morishita…"
[] Kaminari Morishita…"[] Delan Morishita…"[] Zheng Morishita…"[] (Write In) Morishita..."
