The Martial Unity

Rui stared at the Divine Mother with a stunned expression. The fact that she genuinely suggested human civilization ought to join the Arakai Web Civilization in some capacity was utterly mind-boggling to him. Of course, it made sense considering that this was what her faction worked towards. So her asking him, as the leader of human civilization, to join the Arakai Web Civilization was not just a way to avoid committing treason, but also a way to take one more step towards achieving her goal.

Rui shook his head. ”Humanity will maintain its sovereignty. We will not join another civilization.”

”Hear me out,” the Divine Mother insisted. ”What I’m suggesting is nothing like what you are picturing. The reality is that we of the Pluralist Faction recognize that it is impossible to ask a civilization to simply dissolve into the Arakai Web Civilization just like that. We also recognize that species can be so different that it is not possible to maintain a conventional civilization structure. We are not idealistic or naive about how much different structures of life can get along. That is why we have different levels of integration, many of which are non-invasive.”

Rui pondered her words more seriously. While there was no chance that he would ever allow humans to belong to another civilization, he wasn’t necessarily opposed to a relationship. The reality was that even though things had wound up in a way where humans and arakai were now enemies on the opposite side of war, it didn’t necessarily have had to go that way.

After all, the only reason he had captured Divine Mother o-o-o-o was that she had attacked his daughter, and that was worthy of a death sentence, as far as Rui was concerned. And she had also found out the truth about Ria, which would have permanently put her in jeopardy.

But had those events not occurred, then it would have been possible for humans and arakai to get along.

”…What do you have in mind?” Rui raised an eyebrow.

”We can start with the lowest tier of integration, which is trade,” she spoke with a serious tone of voice. ”Trade is the least invasive web that can form between two civilizations. And without the web of trade, the web of free travel, population intermixing, and territorial overlap cannot occur. If you allow us to establish the web of trade between us, you will have given me a token reason to avoid facing the charge of treason.”

”We are at war,” Rui scoffed. ”How can we possibly establish trade with the arakai?”

”Not with arakai as a whole, but with the cells of the pluralist faction,” Divine Mother ooo—o- spoke with a firm voice. ”The reality is that the only issues that are jointly decided by the Divine Mother Council are matters pertaining to war and security. The arakai are a lot more decentralized than most other civilizations. We do not have a centralized authority. And decisions are only enforced with the collective will of the many. If you join our civilization in a trade capacity, then merely offering information to you will no longer constitute treason.”

Rui scratched his head. He didn’t understand this logic, but clearly, they had different conceptualizations of civilization. When he thought of a civilization, he thought of something that was discretely delineated. There was a sphere of territory that constituted the core of area of a civilization, beyond which everything else was merely influence.

However, the way the Divine Mother thought of civilization was evidently different. As far as she was concerned, it appeared that anything that was bound by webs was a part of the same civilization to an extent.

Clearly, she thought of civilization as some sort of a spectrum, rather than something that clearly began and ended. Such that even conducting trade meant that two people were, to an extent, part of the same civilization even if they were of different species.

It was an interesting philosophical or even psychological difference, but it meant that he wouldn’t need to take drastic measures in order to get the Divine Mother on-board.

”And you won’t suffer backlash from your sisters for establishing trade with an enemy that your civilization is waging war against?” Rui raised an eyebrow.

”Backlash, yes. But it also means that we don’t have to contribute to the war and we can’t be charged with treason,” she remarked. ”The unfortunate reality is that we have made this offer with a lot of civilizations, but most of them get intimidated and refuse to accept trade. We are also treated with a lot of suspicion since many alien civilizations also think we simply spy on them to sell information to our fellow arakai.”

”So not all cells of your are partaking in the war?” Rui’s eyebrows furrowed.

”The Pluralist Faction partakes in the war in a self-defense capacity, though we have also committed forces to our Civilizational Web Force, which answers to the Divine Mother Council,” she remarked. ”We don’t deploy our forces to invade other civilizations, but we do defend our sisters physically if our civilization is invaded.”

”So you’re obligated to defend them, but not obligated to sell them out?”

”Not to sell them out to outsiders. But if you establish a trade pact with my cell, the ——o-o- Cell, then there will not be any problem,” she remarked. ”However, do not underestimate what it means to trade. It means that your civilization, or at least the Empire that you rule, will have to genuinely be willing to transact its goods and services with our cell. Otherwise, the other cells and Divine Mothers can argue that there is no true integration between our cell and your civilization, making you outsiders, thus violating the pacts that I have forged with all other cells and Divine Mothers.”

It was messy. This was the consequence of there being no centralized authority among the arakai. There was no Constitution, just a bunch of binding mutual pacts between the arakai that served as the strands that formed their web of civilization.

In that regard, Rui understood why they developed such a view of civilization. It made sense that they would think of civilization as simply stitched together by strands of web, and nothing more.