“The Protectorates. Where should I begin? In ancient history, the word Protectorate had negative connotations, those called that way tended to be subjects of other nations, with very few rights. But today this is different. In fact, the average protectorate citizen has more rights than the average citizen of the UE. Even though the UE is who makes certain that they have these rights. Some might ask why. Those are unlikely to be in this lecture. But still, it is vital that everyone has the same basic idea. The basic reason, for this situation, at its core, is very simple. We have failed the citizens of the protectorates. They have more rights, more protection, because it is necessary. The average technological level of the protectorates is roughly equivalent to our technological level in the fourteen hundreds. And they all share a single piece of history. Someone from the UE has exploited them. It is the stated mission, one of its core tenets, of the UE to prevent the exploitation of civilizations with lower development. This is the reason why roughly eighty percent of the entire UE military is stationed in the protectorates. This is the reason why a disproportionate part of the infrastructure budget is allocated to them. Someone has broken the rules, and it is thus our duty to help them rebuild. There are those that say the protectorates are a drain, that we do too much about them. But if you look at the real policies and those arguments, you will find that these people are lying. The support is not infinite. It has clear limits, which are put into place at the beginning of the operation. The only thing guaranteed for perpetuity is that a Gate will be kept open upon their earth, and that we will deal with any aggressors. And aggressor is very well defined. Nothing more, but also, nothing less. Is there anything you want me to prioritize?”, a professor giving a lecture about the diplomacy within the UE, concentrating on status of the protectorates, three years before the Kyreikon invade.

, Angry post on a Internet forum, published: 7163-9-8, 13:08 EDT. Many others parroting the sentiment would be written over the next decade.

“We have failed. We have failed to not only protect ourselves, but also to protect those that are the weakest of our society. The Protectorate of Kas’Aron has been cowardly attacked by mercenaries. We do not know who sent those mercenaries, but we will find out. And then the attackers will burn. Through the use of illegal biological weaponry, Class 1 weaponry, to be precise, more than a million people are dead. Kas’Aron has hereby lost more than a third of its population. We know that at least some have been kidnapped, likely to be used as test subjects or slaves. We will find them. And if we need to declare martial law for that, well, it has been authorized. We bowed to public demand reducing the amount of troops in the Protectorates. We have no voted to increase it beyond prewar levels, considering that it is obviously a necessity.”, A speech by a representative of the UE after a devastating attack on one of its newest protectorates, hold in the improvised Parliament on Ladron, dated to 7172-2-5

Anonymous open letter, published three days after the attack.

“The population of the protectorates does not only consist of humans. Yes, humans are a part of it, a significant part even, especially if you take into account ther homo species, but there are a lot more different species. Some of them look very human, for example the people, which tend to be called Elves by most, but are not human at all. The elves share roughly the same amount of DNA with us, as we do with crocodiles. Including branches of humanity that either never developed on Terra, or which we have not found yet there, thirty-eight percent of all earths in the Protectorates are populated by humans. Who amount to roughly forty-six percent of the population. This is not good. It is a sign that different species tend to be hunted near extinction by the organizations that break one of our most important laws. The law, which is the reason for the UE’s existence. The law, which essentially says that you do not use earths which have prior, intelligent inhabitants. Oh, and for those that say that the humans have at least a somewhat better life in that situation, think again. They tend to be enslaved, far to often for sexual reasons. And this is why we protect them. They cannot do it for themselves, for a multitude of reasons, which boil down to our relative technological level. And so we do it for them, rebuild trust, and help them to reach our tech level, after which the goal is to assimilate them into the UE. This has sadly never happened to date, but uplifting a civilization that has very good reasons to hate your guts is not easy. I hope that I will see the first Protectorate becoming a member of the UE in my lifetime. And it looks very good for that.”, an anonymous lecturer on the internet, two months before the attack on Kas’Aron was initiated.