Yacov
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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- Jan 1, 2021
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Allow me to elaborate about the further context that went right over Wes' head and I couldn't find a way to fit it in.I did not understand half the words in this omake, I did not click any of the hyperlinks, and I know I understood what was happening more than Wes here did. Excellent work.
The situation on Romin for the Romins
You notice how the members of the MIBC really liked torcs? Funny thing about those bronze torcs. They are not a fashion statement or a prestige item, those are the mercenary's life savings. Like keeping all your money as cash inside your mattress. Yeah the foot soldiers in the MIBC don't believe in banking. They understand the concept intellectually, they just think it is a stupid idea. That's why they are buying something valuable, easily portable, easily pawnable, doesn't draw as much attention as Credits, and could be worn or carried around in large quantities. Yes that means they drop vendor trash loot when you kill them.
This is mostly because the Romins' planet (also called Romin) is a terrible place to live. The one glimpse we got of it was a planet where a vast majority of the Romins lived in slums. Their planet's previous Tyrant-Dictator (yes that was his title) actively invited criminals to his planet for sanctuary in exchange for massive bribes from said criminals. He built the planet's economy primarily on being a legal haven from galactic law and building mansions for criminals to live in while letting his citizens wallow in destitution.
Now that Tyrant-Dictator was overthrown in a citizens' uprising at the end of a short story. Unfortunately that was in 24 BBY. My take on a post short story fate for the planet of Romin is that the new citizen government collapses after failing to meet their promises and the state of mass poverty persists. This is not really their fault given the Clone Wars and the rise of the Empire were right around the corner at the time they staged their uprising. If anything the situation probably got worse with both the criminal underworld and the wider galactic community support they were reliant on probably got withdrawn in a year or two after the revolution.
The Empire would certainly not help them rebuild given the Romins weren't human, and probably just put a new Tyrant-Dictator in charge as a puppet so they don't have to deal with the Slum Planet. So the planet is still probably filled with slums and poverty. Also with said Tyrant-Dictator might end up bringing back the Republic era policy on redacting poverty, so being caught in the act of Being Poor outside the slums without sufficient reason or documentation is likely to see one arrested.
All this horribleness of growing up in endless slums and the massive offworld criminal population trying to prey on the Romins is going to lead to a deep distrust of institutions. For the Romins in the MIBC, that manifests in their view towards wealth. Mainly the belief that the only wealth you truly own is what is on your person and what you can hide from others. The idea of declaring how much wealth you have and handing it over to an institution for safekeeping just doesn't click with them.
The Nobility and the Old Monarchy on Yulies
So about the Nobles siding with the Empire. They might be twisting the truth a tiny bit to fit their agenda. The Nobles actually killed the royal family for their own selfish reasons. They were in the middle of squabbling over who should be in charge when an Imperial fleet showed up in their system a month afterwards.
They couldn't agree who could lead, but now they all definitely agreed it would be better to suck up to this massive fleet to try to keep their status and wealth. The Imperial fleet in question accepted mainly because they were passing through on their way to conquer somewhere more important. They just hastily promoted one of their onboard administrators to Liaison to avoid wasting time on this dirtball and the arrangement has held up ever since.
The bandit leader mentioned in the Omake was an ex-Royal Guard still pinning for the days of old. Most of the surviving royalists were not happy or cooperative with the new regime. The NCC is currently using Guild mercenaries as a politically outside force to stamp out the remaining monarchists who are also anti-Imperial. All these wider political implications are completely lost on Wes because his mind is empty of everything that doesn't involve indulging his hobbies, indulging himself, and petty high society gossip. Trying to discuss anything else is likely to earn a vacant uncomprehending stare from the man.
It was really frustrating having all this lore and not having a good place to put it in the Omake if you couldn't tell.
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