//An essay can be observed posted on several sapient’s rights and philosophical forums on the Nexus and published as a paper on Renaize that can be taken for free.// A Critique of the Vampyr Condition; The Horrors of Hubris in Isolation By Gossareime Poinsettia Prior to reading this paper I suggest that you research all you can regarding the subject of La’Megoth. Omniscience is not a trait I have claims to, and nor should anybody, and my views may be biased, skewed, or outright uninformed. Should this be the case I would not wish to propagate dishonesty in press or garner undeserved animosity for either observed side of this article, be it mine or the one I am critiquing. That being said, every detail being exposed and each point being made are observed by me or me alone; I am making this essay on my own accord and in secret, with none of my peers swaying me. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way... I would suggest that the Vampyric empire of La’Megoth personifies nearly every single downside of authoritarianism and to ally with them, or merely tolerate their existence as a greater power, would be to falter in the face of evil and the restriction of rights that all sapients are born with, as well as the antithesis of the true purpose of government and law: to create an environment in which citizens are safe and to ensure fairness in possible conflict. The following paragraphs will address the issues plaguing La’Megoth’s government in the following order; the caste system in place within the nation, the aristocratic and bureaucratic nature of its ruling bodies, as well as the dangerous political climate one will encounter upon attempting to break the glass ceiling of oppression and inciting anything other than the festering wound of conservatism that has the empire in its grip. Firstly we will address the caste system. A conclusion one may come to when visiting the planet is that there is simply no middle class on La’Megoth. Ignoring that the middle class tends to be the lifeblood of most nations, acting as respected and paid workers, the gap between the lower class (labeled officially as peasants,) and the upper class is so wide that most nations with a decent grip on social structure would be abhorred. La’Megoth thrives on the oppression of their lower class and their treatment is unacceptable. Quite literally, the nobles are known to eat the peasants as if they were livestock. Additionally, the peasants that I have met have been exceedingly unhappy with the state of their homeland, have some of the worst literacy rates I have observed from nations in recent times, rivalling that of Floran tribes, and have been forced to eat dirt, generate income for their lords with zero to minimal pay, and are often lost to the harsh, virus-mutated wilds of La’Megoth trickling into the civilized lands. These facts alone are abominable and enough to renounce the Vampyr but the rabbit hole only grows deeper when the factors of the “lesser” species of La’Megoth are added to the equation. Me and my partner are Cieleblod, often referred to as “hill-folk,” and “savages,” by the ruling Drakablod class, and despite what the empire would tell itself, our people are treated little better than the peasants they squash under their own boots. Rather than treating us as equals and allowing us a place on their “council, which will be covered later in this essay, they tax us for what money we do have and are treated as second class citizens, repaying us with the opportunity to occupy land that we hardly own in the first place. La’Megoth belongs to the Drakablod, and is occupied by them and their vassal peoples. I should not have to describe to you, the reader, why this is outright inhumane, but if I must, I would state that the Vampyric empire’s mistreatment of its lower class alone and its oppression of people below them is enough to never consider touching the place with a lightyears-long pole. While many would argue otherwise, the very nature of dictatorship is to grind the essence and free will of a people to dust. Many authoritarian regimes over the thousands of years of recorded history we have to observe among dozens of species have proven that. However, while some dictatorships, such as the one presented by the Atlas Empire, are covert and hide their strong grip on the people with the glitz of a feudalist coat of paint and a booming economy, the empire situated on La’Megoth is an overt dictatorship to the greatest extent, and they act as if they are proud of it. La’Megoth functions off of what appears to be a constitutional monarchy, but warped beyond recognition and with any system of checks and balances scrubbed from existence. At the very top of the ladder lies the emperor, who is somehow followed by an archemperor. I have met both of these individuals and while one has proven more competent than the other they are equal in their capacity to breed evil. Below them lies a council who acts as parliament, and while one would finally think that the government system of the empire has something going for them, it would eventually be revealed that the differences between each house figurehead are nonexistent. They are each out to help nobody but themselves and are the ultimate aristocrats. The council is made up of nothing but old, rich, conservatives and sycophants, all mindlessly agreeing with the emperor and arch-emperor in hopes not to lose their place on the council. The nature of the council is stagnant, nothing changes, and the archemperor himself has stated to me that nothing can change for the sake of upholding tradition. Nobody within the council or the ruling body of the empire has any desire to support the people and have little desire to change, as they are getting fat off of the wealth they acquire from within their high towers above the people. I can say without a doubt that La’Megoth politics are broken, heartless, soulless, and gilded with greed that fails each and every tenet of good that comes with the founding of a government. It is sickening and to see outsiders put up with it brings me genuine physical pain. Reform is incapable of occurring on La’Megoth and I have come to the belief that it is hardly worth the effort of saving within the near future. This council that they have thwarts each and every attempt to make a difference and nips its possible issues in the bud in the blink of an eye. Even now they are preparing to march on my home for its population of Vampyr that are sick of the empire’s sick regime. They prevent their peasants from leaving for greener pastures and I am sure as I write this the riots that occur in the very streets below the council’s high tower are being quelled with wanton force. Change is but a twinkle in the eye of the peasants, for they will live their entire lives doing the same thing and being shown no respect of value, only to be eaten once the end of their life comes. There is a devastating lack of representation by the peasant class within the council and the ruling body of La’Megoth likes it that way. The requirements to join the council as a house figurehead is extremely steep and the last rise to power I have witnessed thus far only occurred due to the fact that the house involved was a merchant house that extorted those below them for great amounts of money. Money and blood are the only things flowing throughout the political intrigue of La’Megoth, as even if you are one of the few individuals who can rise to become a prolific individual, you won’t stay one for very long. If you pose a threat to the cushy lifestyle of the emperor and his supporters you will be vilified, accused for crimes you had no idea happened at all, such as what is aligning with the current situation of the Cieleblod, and if you’re anything more than a nuisance to the council they’ll have your throat cut, as shown by the bloody history that the empire has displayed over the years regarding succession. In short, the glaring flaws that are present on La’Megoth cannot be fixed. They do not want to be fixed and the higher class is fine with the fact that they treat their lowers so poorly and thrive so well in this perceived order that they would do anything to preserve it, even kill. I thank you, dear reader, for reading all the way through to the end of my analysis, and hopefully, if you are somewhere up high or in any position to make social change, you do so, but watch your back-- a knife may just go through it the next day. I am Gossareime Poinsettia, and am currently defending myself and my home against the Drakablod, who claim to have rights to my land and wish to snuff out any semblance of freedom, wishing to turn us into a vassal state. I implore you to share this with your fellow individuals and, should I fall in the fight to protect my home, to remember me, and to remember the example that was made of me.
