synesthesize

Nard

~12AM 31 May 2009

Nard’s rule #11 - destroy absolutism
Normalized Affairs and Research Department, Galactic Federation
Your role as a responsible galactic citizen is to question absolute authority, law, command, moral, etc. that confronts you as you live and function as a living being within the galactic boundaries. Good fucking luck!

[continued during sobriety the next day]
All the members Nard’s High Chamber are able to communicate with feelings instead of animal noises, visual expressions, etc. They are classified as superior species and are thus rewarded with more galactic influence. However, how could the High Chamber act all high-and-mighty if there wasn’t some political input from the rest of the galaxy? That’s why there exists the Equal Representation Council, which assures all life-forms have a say in the direction of their cosmic sector. In reality, though, Nard and the relatively strong High Chamber and very weak Equal Representation Council have little if any say in the happenings of the galactic inhabitants they represent or supposedly rule over. On such a large scale, government is merely an ego trip for those involved, complimented and reinforced by plenty of weaponry — if Nard is lucky. The best places in the galaxy are weapon-less and exist in a state of virtually full cooperation among beings; the worst are the militaristic black zones of the federation, or the ever-prevalent fragmented authoritarian militia roving from planet to planet seeking power and whatever passes for money. Being a trader is statistically a more dangerous job than being in the military or working on a ship that tries to harness cosmic energy, wherever it may lie (remnants of past stars, etc.). I began my life in Sector E4, System 198A, on a Niutian planet now classified as XX6. I’m supposed to have a unique being identity number, but the Ubin system collapsed under its own weight. It was harder to identify every single living being in the galaxy than the federation might’ve thought.

I reckon this is an appropriate time to provide an explanation for the Nard rule I opened this journal with. The Normalized Affairs and Research Department sets standards by which we’re expected — at the least encouraged — to live, though they are followed by few. Think if those fortunes from those Chinese fortune cookies were government orders, would you follow? Nard’s rule #11 is both surprising and difficult to follow.

This must all sound well beyond the realm of normal confusion, so let me give some background to what Nard really is. Nard was formed when the Galactic Federation realized it couldn’t influence its inhabitants — a good number of who don’t even know the Federation exists — by political force, they must turn to decrees which, if lightly enforced and propagated, would eventually rule they psyche of at least the psychologically vulnerable inhabitants of the galaxy. Nobody knows if it’s working. Keep in mind Nard’s rule #516 - “Expect not rules to be followed, expect them to take on a life of their own. One may question the validity of Galactic rules, but one must never challenge the effectiveness of the rules’ long-term outcomes.” The council wrote that gem up following the destruction of a planet from following Nard’s rules, and the rebellion of another (more powerful) system of planets following a perceived contradiction in the rule.

Considering how serious Nard’s rules are supposed to be taken, it’s excruciatingly difficult to find them all. For example, one may search accessible databases in one sector and find perhaps 100 unique rules, then go to another sector and find another 100 or so, but in no place that I know of are all the rules compiled into one list, one great list of arguably redundant but still enforced (on-and-off) rules. I found a rule, Nard’s rule #9284071, which was entitled “One may not ‘own’ a ‘pet,’ but one may adopt a companion species in the spirit of mutual happiness,” which directly contradicts Nard’s rule #2 that “All beings shall remain free and independent, and must life out their lives according to the rules of the Normalized Affairs and Research Department of the Galactic Federation.” Nard formed when Federation higher-ups began to notice galactic affairs were getting more complicated as more sectors — and thus species — were ‘discovered’. Galactic powers feared that they would discover a race far more strong and intelligent than their own, so they set about creating a number of rules to keep galactic inhabitants in check, no matter what how far their biological powers extended. Somehow, the Federation accomplished it’s goals, and by that I do not mean the rules were followed (I have already elaborated on the near-impossiblity of following all the rules), but that the rules that certain sector inhabitants did know were able to keep the galaxy’s political status quo static. However, that doesn’t mean mayhem didn’t rise from the depths of hell during the period of rapid galactic discovery. I digress…