The Mech Touch

Ves navigated the bright and roomy interior of the expansive palace until he reached the double doors that led into Shederin's office.

After passing a routine security check, he entered an office that was much more impressive than his own. Minister Shederin hadn't taken much time to decorate the interior with grand furniture, artful statues, tasteful displays of different territories and the obligatory symbols that stood for different elements of the Larkinson Clan.

Lucky split off from Ves and began to sniff and inspect each and every display piece. He already detected a couple of bugs that he recognized from his time at the Black Cats. As a dutiful friend of Calabast, he declined from snatching them like he did with every other bug.

"Patriarch Larkinson. Welcome to the Golden Palace. I hope it is to your liking."

"It's a bit more extravagant than what I am comfortable with, but I suppose a clan of our size and strength needs to be a bit more ostentatious."

"Just so. Architecture is one of the many levers that we can use to shape the culture and opinions of both clansmen and foreigners. A shabby or functional palace will have a different impact than one that is designed to impress from the start. I imagine we will host many foreign dignitaries on this ship in the future. You wouldn't want them to step aboard the Spirit of Bentheim which contains many of your trade secrets, correct?"

Ves nodded. "You have a good point. While I have taken great efforts to lock up everything sensitive, it is best not to risk it in the first place. Now that we have a place like Dawn City and the Golden Palace, there shouldn't be any reason for us to host foreigners aboard our factory ship. She is first and foremost an industrial ship after all. She was never meant to serve as our functional seat of power."

The inclusion of the latest batch of capital ships provided a lot of utility to the clan. The Discentibus and the Vivacious Wal were already showing why it was worth to expend capital ship quotas on them. While they would doubtlessly become a burden in battle, for now they added a lot of value to the Larkinsons.

The only ship that hadn't shown her value was the Andrenidae, but her time would come later. The clan was already taking its time to staff the mining ship and prepare sufficient low-aptitude mech pilots to crew her expansive swarm of mining mechs.

After chatting a bit on how they were doing, Ves soon decided to address the mean reason why he visited.

"Let's talk about the Vulcan Empire. I'm sure that you have gained a thorough understanding of its current state."

"I do. Let us start with a basic rundown." Minister Shederin replied as he sat up from his desk and began to pace around his enormous office.

He reached an active projection that already displayed a map of the Fermi Star Cluster. He tapped it a few times in order to zoom in on the area around the Amswick Star System.

The port system that belonged to the Empire of the Lost was relatively close to the border between the Bertrand Obsidian Star Sector and the Smiling Samuel Star Sector.

"For reasons that I am certain that you are aware of, Smiling Samuel is a closed and isolated star sector. The Vulcan Empire that dominates this star sector does not adhere to a rational diplomatic strategy. Instead, the Vulcanite policy makers prioritize courting other dwarves and dwarven organizations over befriending their closer human neighbors at home. As a result, every other state and star sector in the vicinity either hates or fears this dwarf polity."

"Do the dwarves have any friends at all in the neighborhood? Why do they still maintain a hostile posture?"

"There are no other dwarven states in the region. The Vulcan Empire is all alone and what 'friends' they might have are thousands of light-years away. Every dwarf that could have been persuaded to join or support the dwarven state has already emigrated to it. In my opinion, the Vulcan Empire should have pivoted towards engaging with its neighbors instead, but it is still playing into the hatreds and prejudices of its people."

"If this is the case, why haven't the neighboring states done anything about the dwarves, then?" Ves gestured towards the map.

"There are many theories why. In order to find out the answer, I contacted several notable active and retired diplomats throughout the Fermi Star Cluster. Not many of them were as forthcoming as I wished, but I received enough information to be certain that the Mech Trade Association is secretly guaranteeing the continued existence of the Vulcan Empire."

Ves suspected as much. It was way too suspicious for a band of dwarven rebels to grow to the point where they were able to rally dwarves everywhere and conquer an entire star sector out of nothing. It was even more suspicious that the surrounding human states did not do anything and pretended that it was fine for a huge amount of humans to get slaughtered while many more still lived on in captivity as the dwarves turned the tables on their former slave drivers.

"So all of the rumors on the galactic net are true?"

"Not all, but some." Shederin replied. "From what I can conclude, the Mech Trade Association has allowed the Vulcan Empire to claim Smiling Samuel as its exclusive territory. This guarantee does not extend any further, though. If the Vulcanites ever decide to invade the Empire of the Lost, its invasion forces will become fair game to any nearby human army. The MTA will not lift a finger unless the defenders attempt to launch a counterattack and cross the borders."

Ves frowned. "This is unfair. The dwarves essentially enjoy a safe haven where they can sit back and relax without having to worry about any invasion. Meanwhile, they can launch destructive raids or even commit outright invasions onto any neighbor without incurring any penalties. If I didn't know any better, I would have accused the MTA for favoring heavy gravity variant humans above other humans."

Shederin sardonically grinned. "Welcome to the world of affirmative action. It is no secret that dwarves are nearly always discriminated against. The nature of their historical purpose, their abnormal staturess, their different environmental tolerances and their lack of widespread support has led to a consistent lack of opportunities. It is objectively worse to be born a dwarf as opposed to a normal baseline human. For whatever reason, the Mech Trade Association has attempted to address this injustice by doing the opposite. It has flipped the script so that the dwarves enjoy numerous artificial advantages while the original human population of Smiling Samuel paid the price for this policy."

"That doesn't sound very just to me." Ves skeptically replied. "I don't mind if the MTA thinks the dwarves need a hand, but is it really right to give them help while they gleefully explode in power and kill or drive away a huge amount of innocent humans who have nothing to do with their oppression?"

"The MTA must have its considerations. It is not led by short-sighted career politicians who never think about the consequences of their actions. We don't have the complete picture so we will never know the full truth. In my opinion, the Vulcan Empire is being used as a positive example of how the Association is a benevolent organization that guarantees the rights and freedoms of every kind of human. By parading the Vulcanites as a model minority, it hopes to assuage and calm down restless dwarves and other human minorities in the rest of human space."

Ves was sure there had to be more to it than that, but just like Shederin he didn't have enough information to make any further conclusions.

"So the only reason the Vulcan Empire still exists as it is today is because they are sheltering under the umbrella of the MTA. Does that mean the dwarves respect the Association?"

"That is a complicated story, patriarch. Their relationship is… ambivalent. The Mech Trade Association for all of its attempts to portray itself as an inclusive organization is still dominated by people we associate with normal humans. The Vulcanites do not identify with the mechers, but have to depend on them for protection. It is a persistent source of frustration for them as they essentially see it as another form of human subjugation. They do not want to be ruled by humans but cannot survive without them. It is similar to how they are frustrated by the belief that their god and patron is a human rather than a dwarf."

What a sad situation. Perhaps the dwarves took their hatred a little too far, but they were right to express their dissatisfaction about being forced to rely on normal humans to survive.

Still, despite all of the wrongness that Ves perceived about the situation, the MTA was probably happy with the current arrangements. The dwarves got their own star sector to play in and wouldn't stir up any rebellions in any other places. It was a win-win arrangement that benefited both sides, though their gains mostly came at the expense of many human space peasants.

"Speaking about the dwarven faith, according to my own studies, the Vulcan Empire is currently locked in a schism, is that right?"

"Correct, sir. The Vulcan Faith is centered around the belief that the dwarven people are favored and protected by a deity that appears to be a lazy bastardization of the original god of the ancient Roman pantheon. As far as new religions go, Vulcan is an especially flawed construction of a god. If the original dwarven worshippers were a little more critical and better educated, it would have been extremely unlikely for them to embrace this faith. Alas, the standards of enslaved miners are not particularly high."

Ves shot up a bit straighter in his chair. "What do you mean by lazy bastardization? What is wrong with Vulcan?"

"Whoever chose to use Vulcan as a rallying symbol for the dwarven people selected the wrong version of this deity. The ancient Greek interpretation of this deity is Hephaestus. He was commonly known as the god of blacksmiths, carpenters, sculptors and other productive professions, although fire and volcanoes is also part of his portfolio. The ancient Roman interpretation of the deity that bears this name is primarily that of a god of fire, volcanoes, deserts and so on, though he also oversees blacksmiths."

"What's the difference, then? They pretty much sound the same."

"Few people who have learned about Greek and Roman mythology are aware that their pantheons are not equivalent. They are not the same gods with different names. While you can argue that their responsibilities are identical, Hephaestus is more slanted towards creations and the productive uses of fire. Vulcan on the other hand is first and foremost a god of the destructive force known as fire. It is a terrible energy that can burn cities, sow destruction and kill many lives."

"Oh."

"Given these historical associations, I would not have chosen Vulcan as a model for the dwarves to follow. If they worshipped a god called Hephaestus instead, then it would have been considerably more likely for them to be less aggressive, less xenophobic and more consumed with productive pursuits. He is a true god of craftsmanship that could have led the dwarves to create a much more benign state rather than the openly supremacist empire that they have decided to found."

"Oh." Ves replied again.

Shederin smiled. "Then again, the ancient Roman deity is also associated with some interesting myths. Did you know that Vulcan also represents male fertility? In one myth, he caused a spark from a hearth to drop into the womb of a woman, thereby impregnating her with his child. In another story, he impregnated a goddess who eventually went on to birth Jupiter, the king of the gods of the ancient Roman pantheon. That is certainly an impressive accomplishment."

"Uhm, okay?"

"Of course, this interpretation is rather obscure. It was more commonly believed that he was the son of Jupiter instead, so don't take it seriously."