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'''The Path of Now and Forever''' is the guiding philosophy of the culture of the [[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za]]. In short, it dictates that all other forms of sentient life have the potential to one day enslave the [[Ur-Quan]] as the [[Dnyarri]] did. To solve this problem, the Path of Now and Forever calls for all sentient life to be either imprisoned within a [[slave shield]] as a [[Fallow Slave]], or to serve the Ur-Quan as a [[Battle Thrall]].

==Name==

Strangely, the [[Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah]] use the same name to refer to their alternative [[Eternal Doctrine|philosophy]]. This may be a communication error (''i.e. accidental mixup in writing the game dialog'') or may indicate that the phrase can be broadly applied to the Ur-Quan philosophy of dominance. However, it is general practice to follow the example of the Kzer-Za, the [[Melnorme]], and [[Human]] sources, using the name to refer specifically to the Kzer-Za philosophy.

==History==
===Origin===

After the success of the [[Ur-Quan#Slave revolt|Ur-Quan slave revolt]], the Ur-Quan found themselves in an extremely vulnerable psychological position, having seen the entire context of their culture, their place in the [[Sentient Milieu]], completely destroyed and having been forced to suffer the unspeakable torture of living in the [[Ur-Quan#Dnyarri slave empire|Dnyarri slave empire]]. Their natural xenophobia and distrust of other sentients was now fully unleashed and stained by the traumatic memories of ultimate enslavement under the Dnyarri. Thus, all Ur-Quan became convinced of the absolute necessity of maintaining their dominance and freedom at all costs, by acting as rulers of the lesser sentient races; all races that were not immediately useful to their goal of subduing other races would be kept alive but in as harmless and confined a position as possible.

===Doctrinal War===

They therefore developed the [[slave shield]] technology as the ultimate means of imprisoning and neutralizing possible threats, and proceeded to use it on the [[Faz]], one of the few surviving races of the Sentient Milieu.

However, the Path of Now and Forever developed by the Kzer-Za was rejected by a charismatic [[Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah|Black Ur-Quan]] fleet officer, [[Kohr-Ah (Character)|Kohr-Ah]], who formulated the [[Eternal Doctrine]], that all other sentient life must simply be completely destroyed. The Black Ur-Quan unanimously accepted the new philosophy, going as far as to rename their species "Kohr-Ah", in the honor of the founder of their Doctrine, and incinerated the [[Yuptar]] homeworld, afterwards proceeding towards the last remaining free world, the planet of the [[Mael-Num]]. The Kzer-Za were unable to accept such a gruesome conduit and confronted the Kohr-Ah in orbit above that world, initiating the [[Doctrinal War]].

After discovering the [[Sa-Matra]] and subsequently defeating the Kohr-Ah, their high regard for the Ur-Quan species as a whole, coupled with their willingness to accept that they might have been in the wrong, left them unable to destroy or enslave their Kohr-Ah brothers. Instead, they agreed to pursue the Path of Now and Forever in their travels spinward around the galaxy with the use of the Sa-Matra, while the Kohr-Ah pursued the Eternal Doctrine in their travels anti-spinward without it, agreeing to fight a ritual reenactment of the War once they met again and award the Sa-Matra to the next victor.

Since then the Kzer-Za have conquered thousands of species throughout a large portion of the galaxy, before finally being defeated by the [[New Alliance of Free Stars]] during their second Doctrinal War with the Kohr-Ah and being forced into flight.

==Beliefs==

The Ur-Quan Kzer-Za are not willing to accept the murderous Eternal Doctrine of their Kohr-Ah cousins, whom they view as "the only real devils". However, just as the Kohr-Ah, they also have a moral justification for their doctrine — they believe that a sentient species left to its own devices is likely to eventually annihilate itself, either through nuclear war or gaian collapse, a situation whose results they claim to have observed on countless worlds; thus, the "boon of slavery" they impose upon their slaves actually is considered a necessary evil, since by accepting the social framework set by the Kzer-Za, sentient species will finally find peace. The Kzer-Za state that although, today, they are the enemy, in time, the [[Human]]s will come to respect and love them for this gift, of salvation of their entire species.

[[Category:Kzer-Za]]
[[Category:Hierarchy]]

Path of Now and Forever - Revision history

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