"Right. Century, show her how email works -"

(this is really time they cannot afford but Ilderia is not going to betray her own people even more than she already has by starting this war)

And Century can go show her how email works, with a laptop! "It's a general device that does a lot of different things," - screen, keyboard - "but in email mode you press letters on this part of it and they appear in the message -" he'll demonstrate "- and delete clears them..."

This is absurdly complicated and unintuitive but she'll do her best. 

She wants to ask the Good person why they're staying out of it.

If she wants she can just tell him what to type in and he can transcribe her words? He does it with other people sometimes.

(Usually when there's less fighting around and so he has spare bodies. He doesn't say that.) Luminosa's known messaging address (so it directs to her instead of someone else) goes here (he can put that in), and then...

"My name is Iomedae. I believe I'm from another world; Ilderia and Century believe I'm an idealist who came into being two days ago. I am interested in your reasons for not participating in the war between Ilderia and the Tyrant. I want to stop evil, where I can do that, and arrange peace, where I can do that, but have been told by both sides of this fight that peace is not possible here."

"Sent. Don't know how long it will take for her to reply..."

"I appreciate it," says Iomedae quietly. "We can go back to planning - I can ask for the magic that lets people skip sleep, though you'll still have to do something relatively restful -"

... Very little time, actually, considering the length of the message.

Hello, Iomedae.

First, I do not believe that it is ethical to give yourself the right to murder for a good cause. If enforcing the laws of a just, democratic society, I do not believe killing is always wrong, but if I started murdering anyone who I deemed to be evil I do not think I would still be capable of discerning who was evil after a month. There is no authority above me capable of judging whether I remain aligned with my principles, so I must keep myself aligned, and that means refraining from stepping foot on any paths that lead to damnation.

Second, I think this is especially true here in this conflict, where there is no clear path to making a better world. Ilderia is less cruel and arbitrary than the Tyrant, but she's still a neofeudalist dictator; she and her supporters ran counties for the Tyrant until they rebelled, and if she gained power, she would not restore the free and democratic government that existed before the Titanium Tyrant conquered Saint-Andrews, she would be the same sort of ruler as he was, only not as nasty.

There are places elsewhere on the world where the sides of Good and Evil are clear and clean, there are places where stopping evil will result in no evil occurring, where a villain can be arrested and tried and jailed and then the problem he presents will be over. This is not one of them.

I agree that it is not possible to arrange peace; the Tyrant declared that he would not accept any peace with rebels, and he means it. My recommendation is that you either protect the civilian population from thieves and looters or stay quiet, and either way leave for America as soon as the shield is raised.

Whatever you do, good luck.

There aren't enough people here even trying to be good.

Luminosa

"Can you say- thank you for your answer. Clarifying question, if Ilderia intended to restore a free and democratic government, would you then prefer to participate in the war?" Iomedae hasn't the faintest notion what a democratic government is.

You're welcome.

She has made too many speeches about her opposition to democracy and her support of monarchy for me to believe she was honest in doing so, so I don't believe this is likely to come up, but if I believed she was sincere I would consider it.

She reads that. Frowns. "What...is democracy." 

"It's a system of government where everyone votes on who should be in charge. It usually doesn't last very long or work very well but a lot of people are attached on principle."

"But it's so awful it's not worth doing even to get the most powerful Good person available on your side?"

"Ilderia could say this better? But I mean - it's kind of silly? If we win the war and establish a democratic republic, the people aren't really picking what happened. Ilderia picked what would happen. If they make bad laws, and Ilderia doesn't obey them, nobody can stop her. If she enforces them, that's Ilderia making people follow bad laws. If they try to arrest her, everyone will still be loyal to her. She could... not fight back? But - it wouldn't matter, right. It would just be her, picking not fighting back. If Ilderia can beat the Tyrant and Steelmind, then her people can beat all the civilians working together, and so even if she declares there's a republic everyone with any actual power would still be doing what Ilderia wants. All the civilians wouldn't be picking what happens, they'd just be giving Ilderia advice she could choose to listen to or not listen to, and they can do that anyway when she's Queen."

" - I think it matters a lot what promises she makes people about under what circumstances she would disobey their governing authorities if those accused her of a crime!"

He shrugs helplessly. "You'd need to talk to her about this."

"It sounds like I do. Would it make a big difference, to have this woman's help?"

"... Probably not? She still wouldn't be willing to kill people."

"Does she have some other method of disabling them?"

"She can punch them while being invulnerable, but no, not really."

"Then what do you suppose she meant when she said she'd consider it?"

"Probably blowing up robots and sabotaging some of the Tyrant's stuff."

" - the robots seem like a really major problem! If she is willing to take out all of those that does seem like a big deal!"

"Many of them, not all of them."

"Why don't I give everyone Keep Watch, so they can skip sleep and I can discuss this with Ilderia without it costing her time in the field."