Yearning

We have seen, in recent years, many attempts to explain the Empire's immigration policy. All of these have foundered on the rocks of the assumption that it is, indeed, an ends-driven policy - which is not a reliable guide when dealing with people who see themselves as merely revealing certain eternal verities; merely providing, if you will, the necessary preconditions for the gold to sort itself from the dross.

To understand this as an Imperial would, one must first grasp that while an Imperial citizen might concede that the Empire might not have an absolute monopoly on civilization, it is understood that civilization does radiate out from the Dragon Throne in tiers of enlightenment all the way to the uttermost Barbarian Darkness, emphasis intended.

And thus the point and purpose of immigration, in the mind of the citizen-shareholder, is to allow all those whose souls are Imperial, though born in strange bodies and alien realms, and all those who yearn for civilization in their hearts, to follow that beacon and find their way there.

"Welcome home, cousin. Where were you?"

- "Invictus", op-ed, Independent Worlds Router