Chapter 233: Chapter 184 Formation_1
Despite the external tumult, Duanmu Huai paid it no heed. Taking advantage of the widespread fame of the Tribunal, he began to establish similar organizations all over the continent.
Duanmu Huai’s first Tribunal organization was not built in the Sky Province, it was instead erected in Locrux.
The reason is straightforward; when the Imperial and the Elves first signed the Platinum Treaty, it involved ceding Locrux territory largely to Elf sovereignty. Naturally, the residents of Locrux Province wouldn’t accept this. The roots of this matter trace back to the war between Elves and the Imperial city.
According to historical records, the Elves had always held the upper hand in the war against the Imperial, they even occupied the Imperial Capital, carrying out slaughter and looting. After this, the Elves sought the king of the Imperial City intending to negotiate with him. The king misled the Elves into believing his willingness to surrender, while covertly gathering his forces and attacking the Imperial Capital on three fronts.
In the end, the humans successfully reclaimed the Imperial Capital. However, the war took a significant toll on the Imperial, resulting in the total annihilation of three of their legions, leaving behind only exhausted survivors. Leveraging this victory, the king signed the Platinum Treaty with the Elves, thus ending the war between humans and Elves.
Of course, such an action could be comprehended; although the Imperial Capital was recovered, the Imperial had suffered greatly and was unable to continue the war against the Elves. Politically speaking, securing a peace treaty with the Elves utilizing the victory was understandable.
However, the residents of Locrux Province were not supportive. They felt the Imperial should not have surrendered after recapturing the Imperial City. Instead, they should have pressed their advantage and driven the elves into the sea.
It’s worth noting, the residents of Locrux Province felt their sacrifices were not for ceding their homeland to the mixed-blood Elves!
Truly, due to this circumstance, even though the Imperial and Elves signed the Platinum Treaty, anti-Elf conflicts in Locrux Province were just as fiery. Regarding the Imperial’s orders to cease war with the Elves, Locrux Province turned a deaf ear. They were determined, even if everyone were to perish, they would reclaim their land from the Elves!
Therefore, the current Locrux Province was practically semi-detached from the Imperial.
Under such circumstances, the appearance of the Tribunal naturally lifted the spirits of the people in Locrux Province. Considering the hatred Locrux Province held against the Elves, Duanmu Huai decided to set up the first Tribunal base in a mountain range in Locrux Province.
The operations of such a base were completely handed over to the Night Guard by Duanmu Huai. After all, the Night Guard was originally doing similar work for archen society. Training warriors was their expertise.
Duanmu Huai also established the Holy Canon of the Tribunal.
In Star Ocean Online, there exists a contradictory setting.
According to the original set-up, the Tribunal represented the Imperial and the Emperor, every Judge fought in the name of the Emperor.
However, in reality, Judges who are players are indifferent to the Emperor. There were even many Judges who regarded him as a heretic and a traitor within human society. They believed that the Emperor was not the savior of humanity, but merely manipulating humans in a grand scheme.
These players also have their own thoughts and basis.
Firstly, the Emperor strictly forbade any superstitious activity among humans.
At first glance, it appears that this was to prevent humans from discovering the Chaos Evil God, thereby reducing its strength. But looking at human history, it becomes evident that humans will form a belief system regardless of the existence of deities. Furthermore, it is widely accepted that in their world, deities and demons existed. This dual denial made by the Emperor was meaningless in the eyes of the players.
This behaves similarly to the prohibition era in the United States. When the prohibition was first enacted, the US Congress believed that alcohol was the root cause of crime. It contributed to a significant amount of domestic violence, and it was also associated with sin on a religious level. Capitalists believed that workers drinking would affect their work discipline and productivity, hence the prohibition was issued.
The result was rampant illegal brewing and alcohol smuggling. The prohibition did not play any effective role and indeed did not limit the occurrence of criminal behavior. On the contrary, due to smuggling and illegal brewing, even more criminal problems arose.
The Imperial Truth issued by the Emperor at the beginning was no different from prohibition. Denying the existence of objective facts and attempting to stop them through subjective will leads to the ultimate collapse of the Imperial Truth.
Players, in the forum, also criticized the Imperial Truth. Many players consider that viewing the Imperial Truth as materialism is a misunderstanding. Because, according to the dialectical materialism paradigm in reality, the unifying feature of the world is its materiality, and consciousness is a product of the material world developing to a certain stage, a reaction to what objectively exists.
In short, materialism does not represent atheism, but because there is no objective existence of facts to prove the existence of God currently, materialism dismisses it as non-existent. If there existed deity(s) that could be objectively acknowledged in this world, then materialism would acknowledge its existence too.
Therefore, from our materialistic viewpoint, the Imperial Truth in Star Ocean Online is clearly not materialistic but idealistic — Though Gods and demons exist in the world, they are all rejected. The attempt to negate the existence of objective facts with subjective will is itself a huge lie, on a path to short-lived existence.
Just look at the result.
Prohibition was enacted in 1919 and repealed in 1933.
The Imperial Truth existed before the death of the Emperor, who else bothered with it after his death? Otherwise, how did the Imperial National Religion arise?
In conclusion, materialism always triumphs over idealism, any attempt at influencing or even denying the existence of objective reality through personal, subjective will is meaningless.
You say the deity doesn’t exist; then stop blessing people when they pray. Your actions of offering protection while stating the deities do not exist cause a dilemma, it’s absurdly ironic.
Therefore, many players think that issuing the Imperial Truth was the Emperor’s big mistake at the beginning. The Emperor could have used some method to teach humans to objectively realize these existences, instead of outright denying them. Reality has proven, denying the existence of objective reality solves no problems.
Frankly speaking, distorting this cognitive truth that “the supposed deity is merely a larger and stronger existence” is even better than outright denying the reality of the existence of this deity.
Furthermore, the actions of the Emperor appear to be contradictory to many players.
Take the matter of repairing the network path for instance, why didn’t the Emperor repair it before initiating the great expedition, insisting on waiting until after? Doesn’t he understand the principle of ensuring supplies before deploying the troops? Moreover, it has been proven that the Emperor knew about the existence of the network path long before. Couldn’t he have repaired it before launching the great expedition?
Of course, the Emperor is also human and humans make mistakes.
However, the Imperial records depict the Emperor as wise and bravely, like he has five thousand years of foresight and hindsight.
Well……for the players, it raises doubts.
Either the Emperor is not as intelligent as the Imperial records portray, meaning he can be foolish and it has happened more than once.
Or the Emperor has ulterior motives, contemplating some unknown conspiracy. All these could be just a part of a grand scheme.
For these reasons, even though the Judge, as a player, carries the responsibility of guarding and saving the human race, they are not likely to completely accept the Emperor’s actions. They may even entirely deny them.
In the heyday of the Empire, Duanmu Huai’s behaviour would have been condemned as heresy.
But now, with the Empire in ruins and no one paying him, Duanmu Huai is free to do as he pleases.
The canon of the Tribunal is quite simple, to guard mankind is the utmost priority. Any threat to human existence must be crushed. Whether the threat should be obliterated or spared to see what happens next, is left to the Judge to decide.
Of course, there is also a statue representing the Tribunal here.
After receiving a blessing, you might gain a 10% damage bonus against non-human races.
The people of Locrux Province are robust, and the Red Guard Soldiers excel in combat. Many of them joined the Tribunal to resist the Elves, becoming a part of it.
Everyone is waiting for the final moment to come.
Meanwhile, Duanmu Huai is meeting with an old man.
That old man is the Imperial Emperor – Titus Med II.
“You hope the Tribunal will stop attacking the sovereignty of the Elves?”
Duanmu Huai stared at the old man before him, his eyes cold.
“Yes, great warrior.”
The old Emperor nodded. Although he wasn’t as tall as Duanmu Huai, sitting in front of him, he still displayed his mettle.
“Now is not the time to break with the Thalmer Elves, the Empire ……”
“I think you’ve misunderstood something, Your Majesty.”
Duanmu Huai raised his hand, interrupting the old Emperor.
“The Tribunal is not a friend of the Empire. As I’ve said before, the Tribunal’s duty is to eliminate all threats to humankind. Politicking within the human race is not a concern of the Tribunal. That is to say… the survival of the Empire is meaningless and worthless to the Tribunal. Even if the Empire is annihilated, as long as humans are still ruled by a new nation, we won’t care.”
Hearing Duanmu Huai’s words, the old Emperor’s eyes revealed a trace of unease.
“Is this… the attitude of the Tribunal?”
“Exactly, this is the attitude of the Tribunal.”
Duanmu Huai stood up and looked at the old man before him.
“For the Tribunal, any existence that threatens humans must be crushed or destroyed. The Elf sovereignty has proved their threat and hostility to humans with their actions. Therefore, for the Tribunal, they are enemies that must be eliminated.”
While saying this, Duanmu Huai looked out of the window.
“It’s about time. It appears that the Elves have made their choice.”
Then, he spoke coldly.