Empires: prequel zine 5

When we think about empires, we generally think of the Great Wars & the ideas that pave the way for economic growth & concentration of power to those very same groups. What we fail to realize is that we on this planet did not invent the idea. We experienced it first hand as we were captured & colonized by those from other worlds looking to reinvent our systems & machines in order to build them in their own image.

it may seem like empires are hard fought & won through grit & determination combined with the spirit of victory that will not be defeated. unfortunately those ideas would be wrong. In reality, In reality, empires are built with better tech, more weapons, fear, restrictions on trade, speech & interacting. It also includes torture and some sort of monetary system that ensures that the majority will fall into debt that they can never repay. As stated previously, the key to all centralized power is the control & flow of information. it's not called 'the machine' for nothing.

our survivors turned prisoners were about to discover that they were the bottom rung of this ladder. At the moment what they did not know was that they were a part of an experiment they never agreed to. the one think the invaders could not work out about humans were their bizarre responses to situations that, to them, simply required a rational reaction based on logic & available data. Humans defied logic - especially with the ones they associated with frequently. They were unpredictable in this manner. that made them particularly dangerous. that was the reason for the chemical trials. if you could monitor & control their 'feelings', they could become a very useful source of labor & trade. food as well if things got tough.

They were not the only ones interested in the island & surrounding territory. there were several groups who had discovered the vast quantity & variety of minerals & compounds. being first gave them the advantage.