genessia | [Video]

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[When the feed starts, Ozpin can be seen sipping coffee at a table belonging to a cafe in the central city looking curious.]

Because I've seen several of our newer residents talk about the educational facilities in their worlds, I've decided to make a casual inquiry. Call it professional curiosity. I am curious as to how the schools in each of your respective worlds operate. As an educator myself, I know how vital these systems can be in shaping and guiding our next generations, and am always looking out for ideas or methods that could better improve the situations at my own school. So please, consider this an open dialogue for the subject.

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Hmm... I cannot speak for the number of souls, however that does not sound unlike some of the Semblences that my own students posses. The only difference is in my world, all people possess the Aura needed to manifest such abilities. It is simply a matter of choosing to take up arms, or leading a simpler, more peaceful life.

[He takes a sip of coffee as he examines the blade, nodding in approval.]

That is indeed an impressive display, but I will take your word for it.

[She'd be surprised if it turned out Ozpin's students were really a match for the Dragonblooded, but the idea of a whole world of Essence-users is impressive regardless.]

In my world, the Dragonblooded do not have the option of a simple and peaceful life. Some serve as bureaucrats or merchants, but we all have the responsibility of protecting Creation and its mortal population.

[Those who do focus on politics and economics are no less supernaturally empowered for their specialties than the warriors. A large portion of her own Charms are focused more on leading troops than personal combat.]

I see. That must have been hard, to have that choice taken from you.

[In some ways these Dragonblooded shared a social standing with the Faunus but... in a rather inverse way at the same time.]

Some delinquents have difficulty accepting their responsibilities, but no, I've never minded. Even among those who most resent their duties, I've never heard of anyone who would rather be mortal than Exalted.

[Part of that was probably the influence of the Realm's state religion, which venerates the Dragonblooded as the divinely mandated masters and protectors of Creation. The rest was simply how powerless mortals inherently were in comparison to... well, pretty much everything. Even a mere local river-god could push around whole villages of mortals if no Dragonblooded were there to keep him in his place.]

If you think I lack freedom, you misunderstand. The responsibility that comes with power is one thing. Servitude is quite another.

[She'd actually accepted command of the Vermillion Legion specifically for the freedom it offered. It had been the only posting she could get at the time with no superior officer who could override her decisions.]

Yes, I'm well aware of the burden of responsibility, and the freedom allowed those wearing that badge. It is simply... foreign to me that this particular choice would be expected of some.

I do not mean to say you are subservient or superior to anything, really. I do not have nearly enough information to make that call. It is simply different, and I only have my own world to compare to. I meant no disrespect.

I did not take your words to be insulting.

It is not as though we are conscripted into military service. Merchants, bureaucrats, spies and all the rest naturally contribute to their Houses and the Realm as well. When I say a peaceful life is out of reach for the Dragonblooded, I speak of the inescapable realities of House politics just as much as the military enemies of the Realm.

[The Realm is a highly militaristic society, and every Dynast does learn to fight, but it's not like they all serve the army directly.]

Perhaps your world is very different. Are citizens not expected to contribute to the survival and prosperity of their home? Is this contribution not greater for those with the most power?

I see. That is indeed very intriguing.

[He takes a sip of his coffee, a look of combined frustration and hopelessness in his eyes for the briefest of moments.]

Yes, they are expected to contribute where they can. However, the choice - and thus requirements to make that choice - are in place to limit the numbers that do take up arms. Mankind is ultimately a fragile and fallible race standing against the innumerable darkness of the void. The Dust that Huntsmen and Huntresses use to unlock their auras and unleash power that allows them to stand against that darkness is finite as well.

Were the floodgates to open, and everyone were to take up arms, it may begin to turn the tide of our eternal stalemate, but it would quickly burn out, and we would be left powerless against the Grimm. That day may yet come... it is my job to make sure that it is not during the lifetimes of myself or my students, however.

[The general is silent for a few moments while she takes in Ozpin's words.]

If your goal is merely to delay the apocalypse for another generation or two, you have already lost.

But then, I sometimes think Creation is ultimately doomed myself. I only hope I am able to change that once I am Shogun. It is... perhaps not hopeless. Doing the impossible is, after all, the very purpose of the Exalted.

[You think Grimm are bad? Try being surrounded by an infinite plane of formless chaos full of Fair Folk while also having to deal with constant incursions from Cthulhoid monsters, omnicidal deathlords, and perpetually-reincarnating shining golden god-kings.]

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