Thread:Zillafire101/@comment-5496489-20151108071955/@comment-25309944-20160427172204

I've been thinking about the Hegemony's Fall a bit, and with the upcoming Treaty of Viel, the Covenant of Mirus might be put in a very uncomfortable position. To speculate, the Fall might be the first major challenge to the integrity of what was outlined at Viel.

After all, the treaty bans the use of force as a tool of policy, as well as acts of aggression. This means that the Mirusian attack carried out on the Hegemony (though not executed by state actors) is illegal under the new framework. In other words, the Hegemony's attackers would be considered rogue actors under the perview of the treaty (though the Covenant needs to agree on this in order to make this true).

This is especially dangerous for the Xonexi states. If they don't react and push for these acts to cease in favor of a response endorsed by the Covenant, they'd essentially be weakening the framework of Viel. They'd be conceding that if anyone in the galaxy wants to attack them, or want to carry out acts of violence against a third party, all they have to do is attack in an unofficial capacity, get non-state actors to do it. Not only does this endorse proxy wars as a tool of policy, it demonstrates the limits of the Covenant of Mirus to put an end to illegitimate violence.

In France's view, this kind of "blood for blood," "violence begets violence" revenge cycle cannot be tolerated. It requires a Covenant response, and if the Covenant does not respond, then it is lost. It would intervene alone if necessary.