Aramis Dunn

Aramis Dunn
Character Profile
Affiliation Far Lookers
Title(s) Lord[citation needed]
Profession Noble

Aramis Dunn was a minor noble in the Taurian Concordat in the mid- to late 2900s. He is credited as being the founder of the Far-Lookers movement. He was the individual who created the movement's philosophical creed and intentions.[1]

History[edit]

Aramis Dunn was a Taurian noble of the late thirtieth century who wrote eloquently regarding his personal philosophy, a philosophy that arose in response to the state of the Inner Sphere nations after and during the first three Succession Wars. Dunn felt keenly the effects that rippled outward through human space as a result of the near-collapse of the various Inner sphere nations, effects that manifested in the Concordat as a drying-up of interstellar trade, occasional floods of refugees from within the Inner Sphere, and stories of riots, chaos and levels of deprivation that were shocking even to the minds of those living in the Periphery, already used to a leaner standard of living.[2]

Dunn published the Collected Essays of Aramis Dunn via the Concordat Free Press in 2981. Among the writings within was one titled "A Looker Far Afield" which would become particularly famous and would be studied by Taurian schoolchildren for more than a century afterwards—an essay in which Dunn argued that if the Inner Sphere was incapable of coming to its senses despite brutal wars and bloodletting, the nations of the Periphery had to take the lead in ensuring human progress. Dunn argued that the resources available to the Periphery nations at the time were enough to sustain their own populations for the next few generations, but not for the greater part of the human race, and that only through expansion could sufficient resources and worlds be acquired; he then further argued that unlike the Inner Sphere nations, who sought to acquire through conquest, the modern Periphery states should expand as their ancestors and founders had, by exploration.[2]

This credo, which became more widely known as the Far Looker creed, struck a powerful chord within the Taurian psyche, evoking old fears of the instability inherent in the Federated Suns, a reverence for the founders of the Concordat, the ideal of endeavors such as exploration as a symbol of freedom, and a natural desire to conquer the stars. By the 2990s Dunn and those who followed him had convinced scores of wealthy private investors to back exploration expeditions, even gaining the support of elements of the ruling Calderon family.[2]

Protector Zarantha Calderon found the Far Lookers to be a useful tool for channeling the efforts of those politicians within the Concordat who espoused expansionist sentiments, particularly those from worlds bordering the Federated Suns. With some, such as the planetary leaders of Amber Grove and Mithron actively arguing for a preemptive invasion of the Federated Suns to secure a buffer zone against intrusion, Zaranatha chose to redirect those unwise ambitions towards Dunn and the Far Lookers, where the results of exploration and colonization would be far more likely to provide returns rather than devastation. Zarantha provided significant support to Dunn and his followers, both from her private purse and via generous tax breaks, despite most missions ending in failure.[2]

Legacies[edit]

Between the end of the thirtieth century and the end of the FedCom Civil War more than thirty disparate political groups within the Concordat would come together under the umbrella of the Far Looker sect, with Aramis Dunn's movement being transformed into a powerful group, both politically and socially;[3] many Concordat citizens became casual members of one or more of the groups, establishing the creed as an omnipresent fact of life within the Concordat.[4]

Following the repeal of generous tax breaks for colonization by Protector Thomas Calderon in 3035 one of the larger groups within the Far Lookers, the Arcologists, founded a large space habitat in the Mithron system named Dunn, a markedly ambitious proposal that, if completed, might come to rival the largest and most famous of their habitats, Sparta, the giant habitat at the L5 point in the Burton system.[5]

References[edit]

  1. The Periphery, p. 68
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Handbook: Major Periphery States, pp. 122–123: "Toward the Stars: The Far Lookers' Legacy"
  3. Interstellar Players, p. 97: "Looking Outwards"
  4. Interstellar Players, p. 100: "Gamesmaster's Section"
  5. Interstellar Players, p. 98: "A New Era"

Bibliography[edit]