Same. The default desktop style is a bit tacky but changing the style is not exactly difficult. Other than that it’s just a more convenient Arch.

Eh, the nobility made sense before HPGs because you can’t run a space realm when communications need months to get from A to B. Afterwards it was kept around because that was a lot easier than redoing everything.

Amaris had some good points but his conclusions were complete bullshit:

• The Periphery is oppressed by how the Star League is structured… therefore we should keep doing that but with me in charge.
• My main opponent is loyal to the Cameron family… therefore I should murder them all instead of trying to get them to formally sign the place over to me.
• I’m trying to draw the League into a costly war with the Periphery so I can take over… therefore I should piss off the Great Houses as well so they won’t be on my side when Kerensky comes.
• The Periphery tying down the SLDF is crucial to my plan… so let’s drop them like a hot potato the instant I come into power and then be surprised when they do the same to me. For that matter, let’s make sure they’re in the loop about some of my internal planning so they can sell me out to Kerensky more effectively.

Dude was like Hitler with a hereditary title: Charismatic enough to talk himself into absolute power but strategically inept to the point of delusion.

I’d say that it was more his reaction to how Stefan Amaris redecorated the Star League throne room that set the stage for the Succession Wars. Previously it was unthinkable to deliberately kill nobles in war, now ending entire houses was on the table. That set the stage for the total warfare that followed.

Of course all of this could’ve been much less terrible if the other remnant of the Star League hadn’t decided to go into politics.

Full disclosure to avoid claiming false valor: I’m not a firefighter; my girlfriend used to work for a special purpose vehicle company.

No, that’s actually the official term for a very specific type of vehicle. It’s a hybrid between a Löschgruppenfahrzeug (a multipurpose firefighting vehicle) and a Rüstwagen (which carries equipment for light non-firefighting purposes).

People who actually deal with them just say “HLF”.

I don’t like systemd on the meta level but I must admit that it’s quite pleasant to use. So I’m not quite on the fence about it but rather of the opinion that both camps are correct in their own way.

You need to construct additional outgroups.