Zeroth Directive

Archive II

[Analysis report of current data on Ju] File Number: 0375687 Classification Level: ■■ This is an unusual investigation: the entity sitting opposite us is not flesh and blood, but a mechanical body made from countless intricate components, containing the consciousness and memories of an ancient Yanese Feranmut. Ju's form was destroyed in the war, and his current vessel was built during a time that he claims was 'insignificant'. When asked why he kept it, Ju said, 'Taking human form is one way to understand humanity.' This helped us understand the importance of Ju's principles to himself—his current form may be considered an extension of his ideals and philosophy. We can see an inkling of this from the Sui Regulator's files: From a worldly perspective, the result of an attack is determined by victory and defeat, and that is how history is written. But Ju seeks to answer a more fundamental question: What is victory? To Ju, the nature of attack lies in a lack of mutual love. People loved themselves but not others; they loved their community, but did not care about other communities. As such, they viewed others from a perspective of pillage rather than respect, destroying cities, killing people, expanding territory, and flexing their power. But the dead do not come back to life, shattered families cannot be repaired, and trampled pride cannot be restored. The victor stands atop a mountain of bones, basking in glory earned with blood. In the course of history, war is abstracted into a conflict of interests between nations or factions, but Ju sees war through the lens of each individual victim. Children who lost their father, mothers who buried their sons, survivors despairing amongst the ruins... they are not numbers, nor pieces on a chessboard. Ju told us, 'The victor does not love.' Indeed, he believes that anyone engaged in victory and defeat cannot love. Ju spoke of wars that became far more than what the instigators expected—a campaign that began under the banner of justice became an indiscriminate massacre; an act of self-defense became another invasion. War has its own logic and rarely stops when the one who began it pleases. Those who partake in it become drawn into its logic, and are driven to do things they would not have under ordinary circumstances, regardless of the ideals they once held. Based on what we know, Ju and his followers participated in several actions to stop war. These were not grand events filled with fanfare—they simply arrived on scene before the siege began and attempted to persuade the belligerents to lay down arms. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. At times, they helped poorly defended cities improve their defenses. At others, he went alone to beseech the aggressor to stop the conflict. He cares nothing for personal gain and loss, only for the hope that human dignity would not be trampled by martial strength. For Ju, victory is not the vanquishing of the foe, but the elimination of hostility. It is not about occupying territory, but winning over people's hearts. Those who rely on violence may win this day, but they are simply setting the stage for their defeat tomorrow. The same applies to the war between humanity and Feranmut. Ju could not stop it, but at least he provided a standard to judge right and wrong, a framework for reflection. The power of thought is already being exercised if people ask themselves whether peaceful coexistence is truly a fleeting dream when they take up arms. At the close of the meeting, Ju told us that he does not expect his ideals to change everything. He has only done what he thinks should be done, following in his own nature. His ideas are like seeds—people centuries later will not remember which seed grew into the great tree, but hope will live on as long as it exists.

Archive III

In the beginning, when the primal void first gave way to order, people urgently sought peace and plenty, and the learned folks of the time traveled the land to express their convictions. Some advocated ruling through courtesy, others through law. Some said the government should be quiet and stay out of everyday life, others saw strength and strategy as the way. It was a time of chaos, yet in chaos there was vitality; a time of conflict, yet through conflict came progress. Different schools had different ideas, but all harbored the same hope of making the land a better place. It was an era that was never seen again. It was a time of infinite possibilities. Perhaps there was a chance for humanity to coexist peacefully with Feranmuts, but it was buried by Its will and obsession. —Ju The war for which Sui was responsible drove an irreparable rift between humanity and Feranmuts. New schools of thought had risen prior to the war, emphasizing defense against external threats and securing internal order, distinction between close and distant relationships, and a clearly delineated hierarchy, but all of them came down to emphasizing the existential threat that the difference between humanity and Feranmuts represented. The House of Yan is built upon the decline of the Feranmuts, and so the people must be united and order established, building consensus for the great campaign to come. In such a climate, Ju's idea of 'universal love' was akin to heresy, scorned for being a pipe dream that ignored the realities of life and the selfishness of humanity. Meanwhile, those who were moved by Ju's ideals and became his followers continued to pursue this distant dream, despite being few in number. Stubborn and rational, they became known as the Shanhaizhong. But being a Feranmut was a 'sin' in itself. Ju knew that he would only bring doom to his followers if he stayed with them. As the shadow of war spread to the land that he and humanity had developed together, his existence became a sword that hung above the heads of the Shanhaizhong. When war came, the Shanhaizhong lost Ju and were scattered, but they survived. Centuries passed. The Shanhaizhong have changed. Some offshoots have faded into history, while others have drifted from their ideals over the years. Ju's teachings have become abridged, distorted, or mixed with other ideologies, becoming unrecognizable. Ju understands the reasons for the change. Hate begets hate, and blood begets blood. 'Centuries' is a long time, enough to turn the most gentle of ideals radical... Obsession can claim even Feranmuts, never mind humans. These people view Ju with veneration, confusion, and barely disguised disappointment. They expected a leader who would lead them to victory, but all Ju could offer was principles that had been cast aside centuries ago. He is not surprised—he knows that his ideas will never become mainstream, be it past or present.

Archive IV

Ju is not the only one who seeks a path of peace under heaven. Unlike Ju, Hou's ideals are only seen in fragments, often in the form of allegories that are absurd yet thought-provoking. Some see him as a cynical ne'er-do-well, others an idle hermit, but a select few see something deeper in his satire and castigation. Every encounter between Ju and Hou has ended in a lengthy argument. Their differences seem to be fundamental—Ju advocated for active engagement with the world, changing things with universal love and non-aggression, while Hou thought that such hard work was futile, and it was better to let nature take its course and distance oneself from things. Ju saw humans as easily deceived and prone to selfishness, and that order would eventually become the accessory of violence if humans were left to judge right or wrong based on their own preferences, turning it into a tool for the strong to oppress the weak. Only by appealing to a higher order that does not easily change can justice find its home, just as craftsmen make vessels from specifications, which in turn are born out of practice. Meanwhile, Hou sees Ju's attempts to communicate peace through pure rationality as a source of conflict unto itself. For every person who advocates for universal love, there is another who advocates for partial love. For every person who advocates for non-aggression, there is another who advocates for conquest. The more heated the debate of right or wrong, the more chaotic things become. It would be better to forget the differences and let everything settle itself according to fate and nature. For his part, Ju has long understood that Hou's was a path of compromise and transcendence. It demands that people set aside their obsessions and differences, to be one with heaven and earth through serenity and non-action. Fundamentally, both paths lead to harmonious coexistence, only Ju wants to overcome the barriers separating people with universal love, while Hou wants to eliminate them through transcendence. Their methods may be very different, but there has never been a dispute about each other's goals. They both know that, ultimately, their paths converge upon the same destination. One of Hou's allegories talks about a great tree with soft and gnarled wood that was no good for building or furniture. No one bothered to cut it down because of its uselessness, and so it lived to a ripe old age, offering its vast canopy shade as shelter. He said that Ju devoted all his life to what was 'useful', such as elaborate and effective siege defense equipment, and concise teachings of a greater good, all efforts that point toward something tangible and actionable. But even the strongest walls can be breached, and the most elaborate equipment solved. The arts of siege defense may protect against one attack, but not the endless greed and hatred of man. Siege defense equipment will no longer be necessary when people truly forsake aggression. Ju understands this, and it is precisely what he is seeking. The ideal of peace, the mentality of non-aggression, abhorrence of violence—these things can neither be built nor defended, but they are the foundation of all that is material. One is pragmatic, the other transcendent; one wants people to set aside their selfishness and love others as they love themselves; the other wants people to forget there is a difference between oneself and others. Their ideals are so different, and they will continue to think back to the sentiments that their differences created many years into the future. Those arguments only truly carry weight when they come from the mouths of the debaters.

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