[SoNE Ep. VI] 2 - Worse than war

[BEAVeR]

The Fondorian at the reception told us his employer was inspecting his mine. The officer I accompany just had to lower his eyebrows a bit to convey he was in a hurry. One of the mine’s hover platforms was assigned to us promptly. Your average platform. Average enough for me to pilot it. I was brought to make sure we didn’t need any unwanted guests. That would only complicate things.

So now I’m flying this primitive platform around on this primitive facility. This place where they never end scraping the skin of the planet, to dump it in great piles, in search of whatever preciousness they may find. Because war’s hunger for construction materials is never satisfied. So they dig, dump and search. No need for fancy, clean equipment. The planet doesn’t charge tax for keeping it clean anyway…

Between this chain of dusty mountains, inhabited by dirty excavators and with conveyors for trees, a bold white figure stands out. This vision of neatness in all of this toxic chaos. The officer has no doubt is the boss of this mine, inspecting the premises. We’re about in hearing range.

[soNE Ep. VI] 2 - Worse than war by Bert.VR, on Flickr

“The bounty hunter Boba Fett frequents this place”

It wasn’t even a question.

“Tell us what you know of him”

“No one knows him. How could I help my friends of the Empire?”

“Tell us everything, or we’ll make this official”

The Fondorian seems the kind of businessman to understand what this implies.

“Well, I don’t know him. Not beyond the point of his business. I can’t really say he works for me, but let me say I give him… inspiration. From time to time, when my sales aren’t increasing, I give him ideas what to do. War is great for business, you know. Because war brings fear, and fear brings the want for protection. And for that, you need materials. But war seems such a far-off thing for some people. The fear disappears. The money disappears. So we need to get war back to those people”

“And that’s what you need the bounty hunter for”

“He eliminates certain well-chosen targets. He destroyers certain facilities. But that’s something every bounty hunter can do. But to make the people believe it were the Rebels, you need the best. You need the best to frighten people with their own illusions, to make them feel unsafe, to make them long for protection, to make them buy, whether they really need it or not.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of terror. On the contrary. It’s good for commerce. And it keeps people awake, always on the lookout for the enemy. And it keeps people asleep, not complaining – this world is perfect, as long as they keep those Rebels outside. That’s why you Imperials let me do this off the books. You’ve known this for ages. But why this sudden interest?”

“The bounty hunter was here recently. For a job of you”

“People in the junkyards of Ord Mantell seem to think they have nothing to lose. They think everything there has been destroyed already. It was time to make them see that differently. And the loss of a concurrent won’t hurt business”

These last words can only faintly be heard from the platform I’m steering back to our ship. But that doesn’t stop me of feeling a deep disgust. Of this man in whose mind resonates only the vocabulary of commerce. It’s not about the planet he is poisoning, it’s about the resources. It’s not about the fear people experience, it’s about what makes them hunger for those resources. Using war as a lucrative selling strategy. Using terror as marketing. There are no casualties, only losses of clients. I thought war was the worst thing imaginable. But people fighting a war are no villains. They want to end the war as soon as possible, in their favour. They are no villains compared to these… They don’t want the war to end. They want it to go on, to be everywhere, to destruct everything as long as it is profitable. This is not a human. This is not even a machine.

But these villains could be stopped. If there was no cause, if there were no means to accomplish their goals. War gives them the ideas. And scum like bounty hunters, like Boba Fett, give them the opportunity. He doesn’t question what he’s doing. He can say he’s just the blaster in another’s hand. And he is right. The blaster never questions the actions of that hand. The killing is not his responsibility. But the blaster gave every one the opportunity to murder without having the need of the courage to look into the victims eyes. The blaster invites the user to use it, to kill. And so it is with the bounty hunter. The killer doesn’t even have to see his victim, he never has to touch a weapon. Boba Fett can say he hasn’t killed a soul in his life. But he offers the possibility. And should he who offers the opportunity be a bit less despicable than he who takes it?

I never liked the bounty hunter, but now I’m utterly disgusted by him.

_____________

LDD File to be found here.

I really wanted to go for a different side of Fondor for this one, vast and dirty. I had a lot of fun with the bucket conveyor and the platforms, but the heap of dirt proved to be very difficult, both due to the shape and to the limited amount of bricks in dark orange. I hope you like the way it turned out (with a lot of studs!). It was quite impossible to contain it to the 16x16 base, so I hope the judges are okay with a one stud overhang of some plates.

I also had to make the decorations for the torsos of the officer and the pilot. They can be found in this album, if anyone would want to use them for their renders.

I hope you like this installment! Comments are always welcome!

[Yzalirk]

I'm speechless! The least I could say is that this is awesome! The ground technique is just insane!

[grum64]

Love the use of (what I'm sure are) the treasure chest lids on the bucket conveyor. Brilliant!

[MstrOfPppts]

A nice simple creation. I really like this one though simple is for it looking a bit empty. I understand that positioning those plates in the hill shape was far from simple, good job on that one! Maybe to make it less empty, you could include a part of a mining facility in the back corner instead of continuing the hill. Yet it includes everything I imagine finding at a Fondor mining site. Also like the choice of the ground color!

As for the story, I'm beginning to like your excessive writing. At least I think that this part of the story is your best so far. It has some tone of actual world problematics and is surely much better than some furry creatures loving drama.

[VK-318]

I'm not sure I see where this is going. MstrOfPppts, I recommend you launch an investigation into the indoctrination procedures currently in use for TIE pilots. This kind of rant isn't supposed to be happening!

Philosophical disagreements aside, this is still an excellent build. The bucket hoist is brilliant. I would question whether you aren't trying to do in your officer, though. You've got him parked almost right underneath it!

Edited August 19, 2014 by VK-318

[MKJoshA]

Beautiful. Writing and the build. You are going to give Locke a run for his money. And if we aren't careful we are going to get labeled as a political/philosophical forum instead of a Lego forum! All kidding aside, this is a great piece of writing. It causes the reader to think and I find that quality lacking in many aspects of online life so I'm glad you're including it here. Your build is stunning as well. Great part usage all around and I love seeing this side of Fondor.

[markus1984]

Another great build!

How i say it on flickr - really good work and all this great details, greebles and MOC`s only build with LDD .

STUNNING!

markus

[Wat Tambor]

Wow! Your skills with the LDD always impress me.

This is a stunning build! I really like that hill made out of plates and the mining facility is also well constructed.

Great work!

[BEAVeR]

Glad you liked it and took the trouble to let that know, everyone! Really appreciated.

A nice simple creation. I really like this one though simple is for it looking a bit empty. I understand that positioning those plates in the hill shape was far from simple, good job on that one! Maybe to make it less empty, you could include a part of a mining facility in the back corner instead of continuing the hill. Yet it includes everything I imagine finding at a Fondor mining site. Also like the choice of the ground color!

As for the story, I'm beginning to like your excessive writing. At least I think that this part of the story is your best so far. It has some tone of actual world problematics and is surely much better than some furry creatures loving drama.

You're absolutely right, MstrOfCmmnts, it does look a bit empty. Truth is, I put so much effort in the bucket conveyor and the hill (and amazingly much in the platforms), that I though I might get in trouble for my other builds. So I will do those first, and then I might come back to this build. I did try to make some kind of sample taking droid, but cramming something into that corner seems a little bit weird, and it clutters the view with the platforms, and it somewhat destroys the sense of vastness I wanted to create on a 16x16. I think some kind of superstructure that connects to the conveyor could be the best option, and I'll see how I can work that out. I hope you have some patience though .

Glad you like the color (working with rare colors is nice, but difficult: I had no disposal of 1x1 plates, so I had a hard time to make the texture look realistic. I'm very pleased that you like the story as well! This one has some actual kind of political implications, but I'm still thinking my other stories weren't irrelevant. They were on a more personal level. But I'm going a bit in the direction of war-encompassing stories that highlight some 'hidden' sides of it. I hope it makes you think about the real worlds as well, and you liking the story is the first step!

I'm not sure I see where this is going. MstrOfPppts, I recommend you launch an investigation into the indoctrination procedures currently in use for TIE pilots. This kind of rant isn't supposed to be happening!

Philosophical disagreements aside, this is still an excellent build. The bucket hoist is brilliant. I would question whether you aren't trying to do in your officer, though. You've got him parked almost right underneath it!

I wouldn't get worried about the indoctrination of the TIE pilots, MstrOfHmr. I worked great... for some time (for now, that was not really shown in my builds, since that's not very interesting to me!). And there are still some 'right' (in your opinion, I guess) pilots, like Goatman. Anyway, I think the problem is not the indoctrination, but the recruits! There are so few Imperial pilots, that you just have to do with what you've got, even if it isn't the best of material!

Glad you like the build, that bucket conveyor was what really started it. Often, I'm stuck on beginning a MOC, and it's just a simple idea for a parts usage that kicks it all of. So if you're stuck, have a good look at your assortment of parts, and you'll feel the inspiration coming (only today, I was stuck with my next entry, but luckily a review of Cragger's command ship brought a certain part to my attention that started it all (spoilers! oops...) And about my officer: I don't like him, but I still like him more than that businessman. It's just an illusion... Maybe you can have a build later as an enlisted specialist working in the laundry room, with a certain officer complaining about all the sand that got inexplicably in his clothes .

Beautiful. Writing and the build. You are going to give Locke a run for his money. And if we aren't careful we are going to get labeled as a political/philosophical forum instead of a Lego forum! All kidding aside, this is a great piece of writing. It causes the reader to think and I find that quality lacking in many aspects of online life so I'm glad you're including it here. Your build is stunning as well. Great part usage all around and I love seeing this side of Fondor.

Thanks a lot for the great feedback, MstrOfStories! I do like to have some content in my builds. There's more to life than Lego, but we can use Lego to explore those sides of life. And a fictional universe can learn us a lot about our own. These stories allow myself to think about all kinds of problems I don't face on a day to day basis (unlike SNOT-problems ), and it's great when other people are encouraged to think as well. That's what I'm really trying to achieve (besides giving you a great build), and I'm glad I can achieve to contribute to the content on the internet. Thanks for giving me the opportunities through keeping SoNE up, running and improving!

Another great build!

How i say it on flickr - really good work and all this great details, greebles and MOC`s only build with LDD .

STUNNING!

markus

Thanks a lot, MstrOfMOCs! It's really encouraging that you like it. Building with LDD is different than with analog bricks, both in a positive as in a negative sense (+. I have acces to almost all bricks ever produced! -. Building complex shapes like that hill really is a pain), but I try my best to make it as real as possible, through both ways (e.g. not using too much of those rarer bricks and trying to build complex shapes like that hill), to keep it as fair as possible. And I'm glad people can put away their prejudices and like digital builds!

And to be honest, I often marvel more at the 'real' MOCs. Where you find all of the bricks, how you find certain ones (and what to do when you run out of them!), what you do when you misplaced a part, the effort it takes to build parts multiple times (instead of copy-pasting them), and the sheer will to go on with sore fingers of building! After all, building with LDD seems like the easy way... Glad you still like it!