Gunpowder treason and plot

Beneath this mask there is more than flesh, Mr. Creedy.

Beneath this mask there is an idea.

And ideas are bulletproof.

-V, V for Vendetta

The phrase ‘gunpowder plot’ got stuck in my head while plexing a few days ago and it took me a while to figure out how V for Vendetta and my faction warfare efforts were related.

I think the main connection is that if I could choose how to lead the Matari, it would be like how V led his country to rebellion. That is, by being the vanguard.

Funnily enough, that starts with ‘v’ too.

Inspiring your followers so that they want to follow you of their own free will, to me there is nothing greater, because such a task is so damn difficult. Understanding another person is hard, let alone showing them your dream and trying to get them to follow you in chasing it.

So my march to warzone victory for the Minmatar, I suppose, reminded me of V’s plight. In the end he died a martyr, alone, but never once did he take his eyes off his goal. It’s a bit different for me, already there are people around me who seek the same goal I do. Gratifying. But every day I wonder whether they will decide to leave to go indulge themselves in things they may find more fun. I won’t blame them if they did, it’s a game after all.

Should I, therefore, pretend I walk this road alone? Definitely not, that would be an insult to the enormous amounts of effort everyone has put in so far to achieving victory. Some more so than myself.

It feels lonely sometimes, though. I feel like a broken record, talking about warzone victory while we plex. Drone on about it too long and people will start to get bored. Then I wonder if my mistrust of the loyalty of my fellow militia pilots stems from a mental projection of the same mistrust I have of myself, of whether I can last until we reach the finish line I painted for myself, so far in the horizon.

Perhaps it does. But nevertheless, I don’t think I will give up until the fat lady sings, sings until she loses her voice.

Besides, recent signs have all been pointing in a good direction.

I don’t force pilots to join fleets anymore. I don’t say things in militia chat like “wow 100 people in militia only 10 in fleet”. Rather, it’s a matter of starting the fleet, telling people there is a fleet, and letting them join.

Recently, people have been joining. When I ask myself why, well, we go in a full circle, and it’s back to the quote above. Oh, here’s a good one too:

What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm?

An idea.

Resilient… highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed – fully understood – that sticks; right in there somewhere.

-Cobb, Inception

I suppose that my desire to take the warzone can be… well, infectious. To be specific though, I think it’s more the passion with which I strive for the goal that is infectious, not the goal itself. People are swept up in my enthusiasm, I guess you could say, even if they do not think their journeys will lead to the same destination as my own.

I guess that’ll have to do. I don’t like imposing myself upon others. But the problem is, my own passion stems from the idea. It’s like trying to grow a flower by plucking at the pretty petals and planting them. Did I just refer to myself as a flower?

Anyway, I’m being a bit arrogant pretending people participate in this war solely because of me. I have no doubt I’ve become one of the more active fleet commanders, and especially during my timezone, if I’m not running a fleet there’s usually nothing happening, but even so, as an individual I really shouldn’t pretend I have so much influence. If it gets to my head, oh lord, I don’t want to think about that.

I only have my ideas. My grand schemes. Whether people will follow or want to follow them is something else entirely. I’m no V. I’m not an expert at planting ideas in peoples minds. For now I will, as a royal blue tang named Dory once chimed, “just keep swimmin’ “.