Vice President Aquila speaks on war crimes

The following is a speech by Vice President Aurelia Aquila regarding war crimes committed or planned by various nations recently.

You know, I thought it was over back when the war ended.

Back during our revolution, we had all these hopes and dreams — these ideas that this would change someday, that we could be something extraordinary together — two sisters standing at the head of a nation truly ruled not by us, but by the people, with power vested in us by them; a democracy working seamlessly after the fall of our oppressors.

But, of course, that dream was shattered, and I, despite standing right where I thought I'd be, with my sister's best friend and a wonderful leader, feel so very alone. But that is not what I am here to speak about, simply an anecdote of sorts.

I hear the discussions you have, discussions of death and pain wrought upon those you dislike — President Arpina, my closest friend in these difficult times, included — and it makes me wonder, where is your humanity?

Were you, the leaders of Guoryou and Dreamistan, even those in Lunoria hurting the people of Eden's Gate, born without a moral compass to guide you through life?

Perhaps I have been called unstable in these times, and perhaps they claimed I was unsuitable to lead after my sister's untimely demise, but I know this as a fact: it is a terrible fate to befall a human being. You claim, too, that they are evil, but it makes me wonder-

What are good and evil but a scale guided along by your own morals? If hurting innocents is evil, what of those hurt by your torture and the crimes you commit claiming they are part of an effort to win some war? Is that not just as evil as what you claim they did to deserve it?

And war in and of itself leads to nought but another war inside the minds of each person who has lost somebody; the stronger army is written into history as the winner, but does anyone really win?

I know that we called for a ceasefire in the first war, but I am still fighting inside — I have lost my guiding light, my hero — my sister, who saved this nation — and I know I cannot end war on my own, but I am constantly wondering why the world had to take her, one of the best people I knew.

It is a battle nobody wins.

This isn't any kind of official statement. All I ask is that those hurting good people, those causing pain and torturing even their prisoners, stop these actions. I do not ask you as a leader. I ask you as a fellow human being.

- Vice President Aurelia Aquila

Note: this speech isn't specifically about the war and does not affect the treaty in any way; it is more a general speech by the VP about the widespread war crimes and torture and things happening lately. I mostly wrote this to really show why we're so opposed to war crimes, but it's also a sort of continuation to the Aquila story (which I kinda began in my "The Beginning" bulletins) in a way, so maybe read those if you'd like more of the story.