[Spoilers C2E88] A defense of the Empire

I know I might get a little heat for this, but Episode 88 reminded me that I seem to have a very different opinion of the Empire then our intrepid heroes. Now this is not to say that the Empire has not done some seriously shady stuff (Trent... just Trent). But I am beginning to worry that the parties opinion of the empire might make a deal of peace difficult since they are far less trusting of one side than another.

And it is understandable, one is basically an ex child soldier, several do not mesh with authority and one is in the body of a despised race. But during their dealings with the Martinet (spelling?) I felt they are far more forgiving of the Krynn. Anyway, with that out of the way... to the front lines!

To start with, Beau's statement that the Martinet is a religious bigot. Yes the Empire restricts worship of some gods. However they are not the only ones. Every government seems to despise certain religions that are seen as dangerous or violent ( The Night Serpent, Grumsh aka the Destroyer, Chained Oblivion). They merely extend the ban to other chaotic gods. Is it fair? No. But they are far from alone in this. Also the Martinet did not seem worried about Fjord or Cads god. His concern is more with the luxon, speaking off...

The Luxon is claimed to be the remains of a god more ancient than any other celestial being. According to... the Luxon. And what does the religion do for the Krynn? It allows for a select number of lucky (and high ranking elites) to become consecuted and be free of death. Not every follower receives this, only those who belong to a great house. Basically just a bunch of nobles dodging death by hoping into new bodies. And we know the gods do not like this and we do not know what happens to the souls originally marked for the bodies the Krynn nobles jump into. I would not trust a religion of "if you do what we want, you can take over another body that is not yours" as its main premise.

And finally in regards to Notts' comment of the Martinet, about him holding her husband hostage and forcing him to work. For one, it was not the Martinet, as her son said that it was the "Mean Lady" aka the Assembly member for antiquities, he might have only been there to investigate the damage to the town. The same town that the Krynn attacked, burned buildings, killed and kidnapped from. And I don't know if it was ever confirmed that Notts husband was a prisoner in his own home, merely hired by the assembly. Also even if he was, the Krynn did THE EXACT SAME THING, they kidnapped him, threw him into a cell and starved him for weeks. A prison designed to mess with ones perception of time and break people.

Aside from that, while the empire sent assassins against the Krynn, the Krynn did the same to the empire. They detonated bombs at the Tri-spires which could have fallen on people who were just enjoying the harvest festival. And the Bright Queen has said straight up that she would rather see the empire "defanged."

Am I saying that the Empire are the heroes? No. But I do not see the Krynn as the underdogs who are merely acting for what is right or that they are any more trustworthy. And I worry that the Neins blindness to the dangers of the Dynasty might make the peace mission a lot more difficult than it has to be.

​

Tl;DR: The Krynn has done just as much, if not more messed up stuff than the empire and the Nein seem to trust them more, which might make peace difficult to achieve.