maskormenace | 7th Oration // Video

[The opening shot is exactly the same as Dooku's interrupted last post. Same bookshelf, same lighting, same Count Dooku casually brushing some dust off his shoulder as he addresses the camera in his deep voice. It is as though he is continuing the previous post without missing a beat, refusing to be disrupted by the Porter, which is exactly the impression he wants to convey.]

Now then. As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted...

[Something is subtly different now, though. There's a touch of strain in the Count's smooth voice that wasn't there before, a note of tension in his face and the way he carries his body. Nonetheless, he carries on as though nothing has changed.]

It appears that the Porter's vengeance against imPort inquiries has ended, for now. But do not make the mistake of thinking that we are now safe. We remain bound by mysterious and cruel entities.

Many of us wish to be sent home. But at the same time, how many of us fear to be Ported out at any moment? Hurled away from our lives here and the friends we have made, sent back to the grim fate that may await us: conflict and humiliation, betrayal and death?

[Dooku's voice rises a bit on those last two words. He maaaaay be projecting a little here. He takes a breath.]

So let me ask you this: what does freedom mean to you, my friends? What is the heart of that word? Is it choice? Is it the ability to command your own life? If so, can we truly be called free today?

A new year is about to begin, with new challenges and opportunities. I urge you all to think carefully about what freedom means to you... and how you will seek to achieve it as we move into the future.

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There are some that think we don't have a choice in what happens. It's fate that decides.

[He's not saying he believes that, only that he's heard it enough times in his life that he feels as if whatever choice he makes is not his own.]

What would do with your freedom, if we had it here?

There are many who believe the same in my own Galaxy. But I have never been among them. We can craft our own fate, if we have the strength.

[And Dooku thinks of himself as very strong indeed, and expects to become stronger still. He now has no choice, in fact. Nothing waits for him back home but death.]

I would share that freedom with all my fellow imPorts. And I would carry knowledge and power back to my home to set right certain wrongs. And what would you do, Jon Snow?

I don't know. I have freedom here.

[Of a sort.]

I don't have to fight a war anymore. I don't have to lead or be a king. I can rest. But even with that, I'm waiting for the day it's taken away. Friends, family leave. We're never free from that, no matter where we are.

It's all waiting to come down.

Such uncertainty can hardly be called freedom, can it? Freedom is stability, security, permanence. To be an imPort is to constantly be denied these things. Your rest here can be erased from your life in an instant, as though it never happened.

That's what men say when they want to impose their own sense of stability, security and permanence. No matter how many men promise it, it's not a guarantee. No man's idea of freedom is going to be the same.

[Even the Freefolk had conflicting opinions about what it was.]

It can be taken away, but it's still a rest for a time. It's more than I have had before.

Yet still far less than you could have, if only things were a little different.

So what would you want changed and how do you think it can be? What more can be done beyond what the ambassadors are doing?

[The Count sighs, a wistful air.]

I would like for us all to be able to choose the time and manner of our departure from this universe. And with all due respect to the Ambassadors, I suspect more in this direction could be accomplished if they banded together to tell the government that things must change.

We have nothing to barter with. It isn't easy to parlay when one side holds the advantage and the other doesn't. We're not in a position to demand.

I quite agree. But where you see a reality to be accepted, I see an obstacle to overcome. Our position is not eternal or invulnerable.

Besides which, we do have certain advantages we can leverage. This society benefits greatly from our power, entertainment and technology. Our advancement should be in their best interests.

You're not suggesting we use our power against them?

[Dooku's face doesn't flicker.]

Certainly not. Only that our power is an asset to them, and that this gives us leverage over that asset. We can use this, if we have the unity and will to do so.

7th Oration // Video

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