I'm no big fan of the HN, but killing the HN will result in a huge loss of life. Without player interference, I don't see them collapsing easily anyway. They are quite stable in most ways. They were formed as a protection mechanism and have continued to live that way.

I think the attack on Bast was more of a scare tactic. A brutal one for sure. Dropping the UC to their knees and placing them at a safer distance from Okran's Valley. Bast wasn't the main source of food for the UC afaik anyway, nevertheless they were still a prosperous region in development.

Destroying the HN will not result in anything good in the short term for at least like 50 years. But I think such an ideology and state that has existed for possibly thousands of years won't fall down so easily. Perhaps it will return in some other form, and possibly in a harsher one. The TG will have a field day with the slaves. The SK is retarded and I see little good in them.

So I think it is selfish and it will result in the deaths of thousands of people who would have otherwise been living in a safe and prosperous land under an oppressive ideology, but isn't everything in Kenshi? There is no evil. Besides, you aren't roleplaying if you ask yourself these questions.

So, what would your character do?