Vote tally - Steel and Ambition: No SV, Just Building the Guns Won't Make for a Successful Business. You Need More!
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[X]Write in
-[X] I think… being a ruler doesn't mean you deserve respect. It just means that you're in a position where you can easily earn it through skill and honor. Yet many also avoid that path, relying solely on cruelty and the power of wealth to enforce respect. I can only hope that by making weapons that allow the common person to fight back against those who abuse their power… I can, in some small way, ensure that the world becomes a kinder place.
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[X]Write in
-[X] ... "I'm not a thinker, or a noble, or even an emperor. I am but a simple blacksmith, gunsmith. I don't think I have a perfect answer, or perhaps any answer. But ... if there is one thing that I do understand, it's that firearms are an equalizer. You don't have to be strong, you don't have to be smart, you don't need a trace of noble blood. Load, cock, and shoot, that's it. If those in power don't care about the contract, if the people below them don't have the strength to fight back, if justice were only a word meant for those who could afford it? Then there is nothing I can do. Nothing but one thing. Build the firearms that shall force those in power to care about the social contract. That shall force the word 'Justice' to mean something for all. That shall give the people the power to fight back if they are oppressed. I am no lord, no philosopher, no great leader. I'm but a simple gunsmith, and that is all I shall need to do."
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[x]"I think there isn't a clear answer, certainly not from thinkers a world away who have never set foot in our land. Not yet anyway. If we wish to find one, we will need more than just your opinion and mine."
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[X] The only real path we have is the one that can be forged. We can think of many things and it could be true to that person. We forge our honor, we forge steel, and we forge war. Though each chain is the one we have to be willing to carry. We have to continuously change as the steel changes under the hammer. Non ever the same. Taking time, we need a bridge between the two powers. Destroying one or the other gains nothing. It is the links that need to be between them that change can happen.
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[X] I think… being a ruler doesn't mean you deserve respect. It just means that you're in a position where you can easily earn it through skill and honor. Yet many also avoid that path, relying solely on cruelty and the power of wealth to enforce respect. I can only hope that by making weapons that allow the common person to fight back against those who abuse their power… I can, in some small way, ensure that the world becomes a kinder place.
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[X]Write in
-[X] "I don't think there is a clear answer that can be applied everywhere and works in every era. It seems these foreigners struggle with that even in their own lands. The answer in each nation must be found in each nation. What must be done however is to ensure as many people who are natives to this land have the power to shape that answer. This should include the low: farmer, the craftsman, and the merchant, not just the high: Emperor, the Shogun, or the Samurai. I'm not completely sure of what I have said earlier but the I am sure of what I am about to say: the gun and who controls it shall decide on what Japan shall look like and I intend on giving some control of it to the people so they can never be stomped on again by those on high like they did with my parents."
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[X] I think we are only responsible for ourselves. We observe the world, we act on those observations, and are responsible for those actions. If that means trusting someone, and others are hurt because of that trust, then it is our fault for not acting with more care in choosing to trust them, just as the betrayal itself is their own fault. This does not make it wrong to trust others, only to do so blindly. We are responsible for the actions we take, even as their effects ripple out into the world, physically and through the ideas, words, and deeds of others.
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[X]Write in
- [X] "Much in way of how the older generation of blacksmiths would consider the new, better ways to be heretical to the old one, it's the same with how the Shogun is doing right now with the current state of our country. All I know is that if a leader wishes to be followed, they must set an example by practicing their own words. It's meaningless if they merely spout ideals without living by them. And if they wish for respect, they must show that they are worthy of it, to be entrusted with it. If I must give an allegory, then we must temper the blade that is Hinomoto with the fires that are the foreigners, to expel the weaknesses that have plagued the blade for too long in the form of dismantling the Shogunate, for absolute power corrupts, and it cannot be entrusted in the hands of a single person for too long of a period of time. If it must remain as such, then they must have the council of those wise with the ways of the world, and not mere bootlickers. Only then shall the blade of Hinomoto be forged into a fearsome weapon."
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[X] Plan: Why do people make a Plan for only one decision?
-[X] Write-in: "These talks of political systems have made me confounded rather than consider any side. I know this as I do not consider myself becoming some fool in the Emperor's court when I can be swept away at any moment no matter the reason or rhyme. Only I can agree, however, is these philosopher's focus on the people. There may be come a time when I have apprentices of my own, and instead of treating them as how a tyrant that they speak of against their subjects - it shall be one of a family: a home. Best way to see it is a 'People's Home', the only way I can ensure the people under my employ and apprenticeship are to be satisfied and live the best lives whilst working with me."
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