Okay, I’m going to apologize for this first, in the even that this post is either (a. absurdly long, or (b. not conducive to helping us come to a decision, as a group. My goal here is not to “end all arguments” or to escalate things. Right now, we as Mounties are being faced with a choice that’s hard, and it’s understandable that when we’re faced with decisions like these, there will be conflict. That’s perfectly normal. But what we need right now is to stick together, even when we don’t all agree. If we make a decision, we make it together.
I’ve already stated which side I stand by in the thread for Deirdre’s latest post. I stand by Sullivan’s plan, through and through, but I understand that doing so could destroy so much of what has been created here. Maybe it’s an easier choice for me because I’m a newer recruit, and I’m not as established here. I’m not like Robert, or Oracle, Brendon, Kelsey, Deyavi, or Revenir or Furia (I apologize that I didn’t list more, there are just the names I know the best). I’m new, and that might make it easier for me to make this decision. It might also be because I’m first and foremost a Weatherwatch, so I’m more than willing to follow this unknown path which Sullivan has set before us. But there are also a couple of other things that have helped me to firmly decide upon this path.
Firstly, we know that Sullivan has had this plan for a while. He knew we would be stuck here, and while he may not have guessed at the bonds that we would form, he knew that we would be here to help Deirdre. And he cares about Deirdre, so much so that protected her from the truth so that she wouldn’t have to live her life like he did, in the end. For this reason, I don’t think he would have done anything in direct danger.
We also know now what we’re dealing with now, to an extent. We know now that we walk a new path created by Sullivan, but that is still under threat from those of the path of Silver and their main attack force, The Storm. This information is invaluable to us, though incomplete, as Sullivan says. We don’t know when they will strike or with what force, meaning that if we do nothing, or if we wait too long for another plan to become apparent, then we may be wiped out like the 94 Mounties.
And with Augie’s message early this morning, we know more about the 94 Mounties’ situation. We know that at whatever time we are contacting them, they are working on the 13th Fragment. That means they have passed Phase 3, just like us, but unlike us, they have a book that’s still intact. I personally don’t think sending them the key we got will help them much, unless it helps prove to them that we are sincere in that we want to help and that we have made it to the same point that we are at. After all, Sullivan set out this plan pretty clearly to us: “your book is gone, but with our guidance you are going to help your predecessors open theirs.” We have this path, laid by Sullivan, to do what the Mounties were meant to do: to open the book. That’s our job, our end, and unfortunately, that might mean sacrificing Basecamp, unfortunately.
I have always been staunchly against the phrase “The ends justify the means.” It doesn’t try to calculate the actual cost of achieving something. But here, I think the ends do justify the means. Basecamp is precious to a lot of us: some of you folks have been here almost since the beginning, and since then you’ve spent countless hours working on this, making it a place to enjoy and explore for the rest of us. It’s a special community: others have told us so. But with this, we have the power to help our predecessors. We have the power to help and save, and to me, saving others is worth the sacrifice. It is unlikely that any information that we learn will sway me from my position: I operate first and foremost upon intuition. And it tells me to follow Sullivan’s plan.
