Quoted By:
The Hegemony is founded on a few fundamental ideas and beliefs. While the Supreme Ruler must remain Supreme being among the most forefront of all these beliefs- there is another. When the Hegemony was formed in the ashes of a nuclear holocaust on Jaxt; it was promised that now and forever, the Hegemony would eliminate the threat of nuclear war. <span class="mu-i">The Hegemony cannot abide nuclear weapons being used on it.</span> This directly lead to the disarmament of the Swalli within your own borders many generations ago; but against your larger neighbors who have nuclear weapons- the Esaal, the Consortium, probably the Aristocrats too- you have only been in an uneasy state as you know you cannot force them to disarm at the present time. This is a tense situation. If the Consortium was successful in nuking your base; you would be forced by tradition and assumption of your throne to put on the <span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">Deathmask of Akule the Unspeakable</span></span> and declare total and absolute destruction to the Consortium- down to the last man, woman, and child. But that isn't a guarantee you could actually conquer them all- and may simply lead to an extinction war where you end up defeated and wiped out. It is either that, or violate a <span class="mu-i">core and founding principle</span> of the Hegemony, which would not only break your legitimacy of office but also shatter the single, unending, unbroken line of Supremacy that has gone back for over a thousand years. Without that, the Jaxtian people would be lost- all their belief and culture based on the rock solid stability of this one and only office.
It is only by the skin of your teeth that they decided not to use the nuclear weapons against the base prematurely. It also puts you at a disadvantage, as while you will not use nuclear weapons, the Consortium is not bound by any such moral or traditional qualms. In fact, the Hegemony has <span class="mu-i">never</span> used nuclear weapons even during its military invasions and genocides- all were done with smaller and more controlled arms, or systematic uses of drones, troops, and chemical agents. Your simulations already prove you could have annihilated the Swall and Vetucker populations much faster and more effectively if you did use them and simply clean up the radiation afterwards. But Supremes before you refused and you never will.
The threat of these nuclear weapons being used against you and forcing your hand in the future is too great to ignore. You need to do something about it- but you aren't exactly sure what. Even you, the Supreme Ruler, is bound by certain powers outside of your control. What are you going to do?
>Contact the Consortium and explain the situation
>Revive the Anti-Nuclear Weapon Defense project (expensive)
>Ask Cijan for advice
