Tl;dr available!
I've seen so many names that I recognise post in this thread that I thought that at the very least, I probably ought to reply as well. I was tempted earlier, but decided against it - mainly because I was afraid of dredging up the past.
It seems like many others have done it before me however, so I thought that I'd throw my pennies into the proverbial wishing well and let you all hear my opinion - for what little it counts.
As some Legion members will remember, I left not too long after the Viceroyship was imposed by the NPO. I didn't talk much about why I left at the time to anyone but my friends - and my friends had all but completely left the Legion (if they were there in the first place).
In short, I left because the Legion was changing, and I liked what it had been before.
Yes, it had had it's problems, but by and large they were interesting problems that made life more fun to be a member - at least for me. So I understand that the idea of any member putting forward and passing legislation just doesn't sit well with a lot of people - and neither does the arguments that can come about from such legislation.
The Legion that I knew had been changing for a long time prior to the Viceroy's "taking over" (I use the phrase loosely), and as some of you may remember my "leaked" resignation post from earlier on in the year, I had been contemplating it seriously - to the point of having written up my resignation notice, and given it to a friend to read over to make sure it wasn't too snotty or what have you.
So, when I say that the new Legion doesn't sit as well with me as the old Legion, I don't mean it as an insult in the slightest. In fact, from what I've seen of you, you are a much more efficient, smooth-running machine that has a better reputation (and after all, reputation is everything in Digiterra). It's just that The Legion was my home, and when it changed, I moved out so I didn't have to suffer the memories evoked by the memorabilia laying around on the mantelpiece.
Anyway, having got that out of the way (hopefully to avoid you all taking the rest of my post the wrong way), I might just be able to continue...
I'm not sure that that's entirely true. The Legion did fail, so I suppose I can't argue with you there, and it had been long on the path to failing. However, to me it is the journey and not the destination that means the most, and the journey was an amazing one. If it had continued as it had been previously, it would have died in Bob as it is now - it had to change.
Oh, and I do not believe that people feared change - I believe that people disliked sacrificing aspects of a system that they liked for efficiency. While they may not have thought about it like that; think back to the changes that were proposed, and those that were fought off. Military service that was enforced?
That was fought off because it felt wrong to make people active all of the time. The Legion's atmosphere was such that being laid back was a good thing.
Paranoia?
Well, I think that it's safe to say that the Legion had enemies. Lots and lots of enemies. Well, when I say that, I actually mean two or three, and you can probably guess who I mean without my having to voice them. To name one however was "noWedge", and he showed his dislike for the Legion time and again - deliberately putting the Legion on the brink of war (and occasionally, into war).
In the end, I imagine that it was seen by Swampy that if noWedge didn't go, he would eventually kill the Legion completely. It turned out that he almost succeeded - but it was because of Swampy's help that it happened as it did.
So, I'd say that the paranoia was justified - but it was caused by another problem: The Legion's reputation.
Hey there, Mao. I haven't seen you in what feels like an age. I would like to "correct you" however (at least, from my point of view) - The Legion is honouring it's treaties in every way. It's not trying to irritate it's allies too much, and is trying to satisfy every one of them, without doing the "cowardly" thing of sitting out of the war, as was done in the past in such situations. By most definitions in CN, that is "classy", I believe.
I agree, that it has changed a lot, but to an external perspective, The Legion during those periods wasn't all that classy at all. As with most things in life, it's all about perspective, and here it's quite obvious where yours comes from. I won't tell you that your point of view is wrong however - that's not what points of view are about.
However, I think that your post might look better if you took others into account - at least a little bit.
Now, I've rambled on for a bit, and I'm sure most of you will be wanting a tl;dr, so here it is:
tl;dr:
I'm old. I was in The Legion a long time ago. I left the alliance. I think that this declaration is classy.