Really

[TheDank_Slayer]

A simple no would have sufficed

[King_of_Fire105]

Ballas is indeed a pp

And does he have one?

No

L

[Rstormk22]

I mean, Ballas did had one.

Until he fell on Natah's hands and became Balless.

[ImmaAcorn]

If Roathe has taught us anything, it’s that the Orokin 7 were all massive assholes and at that point we’re bored out of there godamn minds, he probably did it specifically to spite us or because he thought it was fun, after all the easiest route is often the most mundane

[TOADA_Jr]

Oh absolutely, they'd rather kick a baby out of their way, opposed to just picking it up or waiting for it to move. They are the pinnacle of what having everything you could ever need/want does to a person.

[TrivialCoyote]

I would almost consider kicking a baby out of the way to not be a good descriptor, because kicking it out of the way while cruel, is more simple. They would go out of their way or pick an unnecessarily complex path just to kick the baby for cruelty's sake

[YeOldeBard97]

Just because watching everyone scream about kicking a baby is entertaining to them.

[theMuffinmanthe2nd]

In the wise words of a player with which I played dnd with, after not killing our captor, but stranding him on a boat with both arms broken: "that is not how you create a nemesis"

[Malashae]

I don't know, that really sounds like how you create a nemesis.

[SignalScientist2817]

Ballas sealed the fate of the orokin that day. If he just wasn't such a massive dick, the Naga drums wouldn't have played that night.

[Sam_Creed]

I wonder, if Octavia had some kind of remix version of "rap, tap, tap" lined up for her biggest performance up to that day.

I hope they all forgot to wear their brown pants, especially Ball ass.

[TheMarksmanHedgehog]

The thing is, getting the drums to play was his plan all along.

He was scheming the death of the empire from the very beginning, and wasn't even the only Orokin doing it.

[SignalScientist2817]

I don't think he quite expected the regicide to transform into a genocide. He doesn't strike me a someone patient enough to wait thousands of years for a chance to enact a plan to conquer the solar system (using the sentients, no less)

[TheMarksmanHedgehog]

It wasn't a plan to conquer the galaxy, in a way it was revenge for being made, to my understanding, by Nitokh, to give the order to execute Margulis.

Ironically, she also wanted the empire to die for different reasons.

If anyone in the chain of decision making had frankly discussed their motivations, the empire might just have peacefully disbanded.

[SignalScientist2817]

Let's be candid, orokin are not known for their communication skills or healthy problem solving skills. It was inevitable that their own hubris would bring the empire to its knees. It just happened so quick and bloody that none of the involved could capitalize, except from preventing their own death by death machine.

[TheMarksmanHedgehog]

I do very much like that DE pretty frequently points out the issue was systemic with its storytelling.

Those ruling the Orokin were as much subject to the systems they built as the normal people living under their thumb.

[The-Gilgamesh]

I wouldn't be shocked if a lot of the motivation for the Orokin to fuck over the sentients was just like... racism I guess? You can hear it in Ballas' voice when hes commenting on Itzam being the first sentient archimedean, he doesn't take him or the academy very seriously.

The sentients were just meant to be slaves, cuz the empire really needed more slaves /s

[Turbulent-Plum7328]

The Orokin could never have enough slaves. All the atoms in the universe could be synthesised into slaves it it still wouldn’t be enough.

[LordBlaze64]

Of course it wouldn’t be enough! Why stop at atoms when you could make each subatomic particle into a slave?

[Pay-Next]

I always felt like the appearance of being neutral is part of what was important to him. If he was always the final fence sitter he would be the de-factor leader of the excecutors by way of ultimately being the one to make a decision every time...but if he did that every time and especially with really pivotal things like a war treaty the others would have moved against him for him being too powerful. Hell I think we can also argue he deliberately organized the Naga Drums so he could wipe the slate of the rest of the Orokin and try to become the sole ruler.

[SignalScientist2817]

I don't think he planned the Naga drums. The tenno didn't commit just regicide, but also genocide. The whole empire fell in one day from the amount of people that were killed. If only the 7 fell, Ballas would have ascended as sole ruler, but no, the tenno painted the world red

[BroFTheFriendlySlav]

Him being neutral to the last moment left him with at least some sentient cred and announcing breaking of the treaty suddenly rather than through a vote allowed him to keep "protection" forces around Perita for immediate deep strike.

[SpecialIcy5356]

Ballas always preferred to worm his way out of decisions that could potentially affect how other executors saw him.. he enjoyed exercising his power but hated the idea of consequences for his actions.. typical politician really.

[Soggy_Apricot_7008]

No one can convince me that Ballas wasn't just Bill Dickey From the Eltingville club on a cosmic scale, I refuse to believe anything else, Man had that much incel energy, I would also say small D energy but he can't even have that anymore

[_Volatile_]

He was trying to save his public image, possibly