Doesn't Veni Vedi Vici mean "Traveled, Viewed, Conquered" or, to be less literal, "I cam, I saw, I conquered," anyway?

 

My mistake.

Logrus: Yes. I meant to quote the same person, not to imply they meant the same thing, Sorry.

 

Please refrain from describing people as 'light' or 'dark'. It is very simplistic, naive, and incredibly cliche in fanon. Also, there is no 'light' side. There is the side of those who support the current government or are against change by revolution (DD, Harry, and co), and those who fight to change the system by force (Voldemort and co).

There are morally ambiguous characters on both sides of the conflict. Even if you must categorize, a 'dark' wizard is not necessarily on Voldemorts' side, and likewise, a 'light' wizard is not necessarily on the Ministry's or Harry's side. The main conflict in canon is not a conflict of good vs evil, rather it is a conflict of ideals.

 

People don't start wars over ideals unless they believe, or have been lead to believe, that it is a good-versus-evil kind of thing. In canon, Voldemort doesn't give a rats ass, he's just out for power. Harry's just a kid, who hasn't been allowed a view from the other side, except in high quality fan fiction. Dumbledore is too philosophical to believe it isn't G-vs.-E

Demons is right, though; don't over simplify, make your characters complex. Also, I hate people saying 'Drk Magik is just minsudorstud.' I prefer, say, Nuhuh's work; Light has just as much power, and its easier to live in a society that's power comes from love, and happiness, than from hate, and pain. Thats why Dark Magic is illegal, not because its too powerful for Dumbledore - yes, Vorlon, I'm thinking of you.

Then again, Dark might be easier for military use: 'I'm killing out of the love I felt when you bombed us!' Thats probably humans invented guns, to disassociate killing from... well, killing. But that's not supporting 'Muggles are stronger than Wizards,' or even 'Muggles have a larger population than Wizards.' In fact, two added rule for Conquer:

* If you go to war with Muggles: Evolutionarily speeching, Wizards will probably have a larger population than Muggles. Perhaps Hogwarts, Beaxbatons, and Durmstrang, commonly called the best schools in Europe, are very selective, and England has been small since the first war. Civil wars can be brutal, after all, and maybe people left the country.

* If you go to war with Muggles: Muggles have had just as much time to improve their technology as Wizards. Even though Wizards have a few obvious advantages, including being able to work for hundreds of years in almost complete secrecy, Muggles are not defenseless.

Imagine Muggles are Bears and Wizards are Humans. Hand-to-Hand, Bear wins. With a rifle and time to shoot, the Human stands a good chance, or he may make the bear angry, and be drawn into Hand-to-Hand.

 

I would debate this. In my opinion, Voldemort uses and manipulates his death eaters. While Voldemort does indeed despise muggles, it seems he really doesn't care about the superiority of purebloods as much as he wants to rule magical Britain and be top dog. In other words, his motives are more selfish instead of being motivated by ideals.

Most of the death eaters are purebloods, and their motives are generally political and ideological in nature although they go about achieving it by violence. The purebloods feel privileged and believe they are inherently superior to muggle born wizards and half bloods, and feel that magical Britain is on the downfall and/or feel threatened by the muggle born wizard population. There are some death eaters who are motivated by selfish reasons (freedom to do whatever, sadism), but I think it's safe to assume that most death eaters fight for pureblood rights, a society free of muggle born wizards, and believe that Voldemort's motives are their own.

Voldemort however, doesn't give two shits about his followers and only keeps them around as long as they are useful (perfect example is what he did to the Malfoy's). He doesn't fight for pureblood rights, he fights for himself.

In this way you have two sides who are primarily motivated by ideals. The purebloods who fight for their superiority and discrimination of muggleborns, and those who believe that all magic users are equal, disagree with the pureblood ideology, or simply do not want an authoritarian regime ruled by purebloods with Voldemort at the helm.

 

I agree.

On the Death Eaters side, I suppose your 'pureblood rights' - I've never heard it phrased like that - is the primary motivator.

New Conquer rule - Even though no ones going to take it, meh. Let it not be said I wasn't thorough.

* I'll quote... was it Surrarin or Vash?: Sice vs. Side is not as cool as Side vs. Side vs. Side.

By the way, does anyone know any good Conquer!Harry stories where he remains sane?

 

Don't forget:

side vs side vs side is not as cool as side vs side vs side vs side. If I remember correctly, Dream Red's time travel fic is like this. Harry is on his own side, and then there's the 'new' ministry faction, the 'old' ministry faction, and the death eater faction. Also, the OoTP is it's own side as well. So I guess his story might be side vs side vs side vs side vs side. It's a pity it hasn't been updated in awhile.