Singer Reparations: Apologizing for Colonization Without Admitting Fault
A trauma-informed framework for accountability without legal liability
To: King Dalinar Kholin, The Bondsmith
From: Major Solas Khyron, Radiant Intelligence (RADINT), Kharbranthian Special Operations Group
Date: Shashab 1174.6.7
Executive summary
King Dalinar,
The Eila Stele has unfortunately confirmed that Humans colonized Roshar and committed millennia of atrocities against Singers, the native Rosharans.
It is imperative our Knight Radiants come to terms with Humanity’s role in this conflict to eliminate any risk of a second Recreance. However, admitting any fault would create untenable legal precedents.
We are still at war.
To take accountability without liability (at the advice of Azish legal counsel), we propose a “Restorative Justice Framework”, using Princess Jasnah’s ideas about Singer reparations as a starting point.
With this approach, we can acknowledge historical wrongs, address past harms and provide symbolic restitution to Singer communities without compromising operational capabilities during wartime.
Context: navigating our shared history
Odium’s counter-intelligence psyops against our Knight Radiants exploit an ethical legitimacy gap that undermines the Coalition’s moral authority for ongoing war efforts.
To put it bluntly: we fight against enslaved descendants of the Singers we colonized, against our former god that claims to be liberating them from Human oppression
Our Knight Radiants have begun questioning whether they fight for justice or to simply perpetuate historical subjugation. If they believe they are “evil colonizers”, we risk a second Recreance as their Nahel bonds break from the cognitive incongruence from (perceived) moral hypocrisy.
We must retake the narrative to protect Knight Radiant warfighter lethality.
Yet we cannot, under any circumstance, admit fault.
That would imply Odium is right, and that current day Humans are somehow liable for transgressions committed by our ancestors millennia ago. Expecting modern Humans to pay for ancient crimes is unreasonable.
We simply inherited the system.
It is not our fault.
Recommendation: accountability without liability
Since we cannot confess to any wrongdoing nor can we deny the facts of history, the only path forward is to acknowledge without admitting fault.
Based on our general counsel’s interpretation of applicable law, an apology does not constitute a legal admission. This absolves Humanity from owing Singers any restitution.
However, acknowledgment provides emotional closure for both species, giving our Knight Radiants the moral confidence to kill without guilt
To start this healing process, we propose a phased “Restorative Justice Framework”:
Phase 1: Acknowledgment of truth
Land acknowledgments: we must acknowledge the Shattered Plains as traditional Singer territory. This non-binding verbal statement will be read before all Coalition mission briefings
Reconciliation commissions: a detailed Singerological report will document every Human atrocity against Singers so injustice can be narratively processed
Listener listening tour: we will invite Singer representatives to share their “lived experience” of millennia of slavery. By hearing them, we validate their trauma, which is the same as helping them
Phase 2: Symbolic restitution
Cultural competency training: mandatory workshops for Coalition officers on Singer sociocultural dynamics and sensitivity, administered by Human facilitators certified in cross-cultural leadership
Renaming initiative: select Urithiru spaces will be renamed after famous Singers. Reframing Human property not as spoils of war crimes but as monuments to Singer strength that celebrate their resilience
Performative iconography: For one month each year, all Humans must paint their faces with carapace-patterns, learn Signer rhythms and eat ethnic food
Phase 3: Conditional empowerment
Land restitution: while returning land is not possible with a war going on, we will allow Singers to reclaim land through a “willing buyer, willing seller” program. Note: these will be 99-year leases with monthly payments. Land reverts to Coalition ownership upon default
Naturalization through military service: Singers can acquire Alethi citizenship and associated Human rights by enlisting in the Coalition army (combat roles only). This helps ensures they are one of the good ones like Rlain of Bridge Four
Bureaucratic representation: model Singers will be appointed nominal roles within the Coalition government so any complaints from Singers will be handled by one of their own. This redirects any frustration at the system to indigenous stakeholders that manage the dialogue in a healthy, non-destructive way
Impact assessment: maximizing perceived allyship
We are confident this empathetic and trauma-informed “Restorative Justice Framework” lets us navigate, with dignity, the legitimacy gap posed by Humanity’s original sin.
By maximising perceived allyship through symbolic and conditional restitution, we validate Singer suffering without giving up anything and compromising operational readiness.
In fact, unlike more traditional forms of reparations (which are prohibitively costly), this forward-looking framework is revenue positive in just five years. It is a testament to the financial acumen of our Thaylen policy-accountants that these reparations are self-funding
Critics may argue this framework entrenches existing power structures and actually leaves Singers worse off.
We acknowledge these concerns.
However, any feasible and viable solution must work within current geo-political and economic realities. We are fighting an existential war. We cannot defend Roshar from annihilation by dismantling Human society.
We are doing the best we can.
Compared to before, Singers will now have:
Formal apologies from Humanity (not an admission of guilt)
Cultural recognition (once a year)
Access to private property (renting ancestral lands)
Pathways to citizenship (conditional on military service)
Advisory roles in government (non-voting)
So what if reparations reinforce and entrench existing power structures of subjugation and injustice? That the path to restitution is only for those that fully assimilate into the system that oppressed them?
This is the unavoidable reality of using an existing system to help people within said system
It is an ontological necessity.
We really do mean well.
Looking ahead: the ultimate compassion
This brings us to the final, most sympathetic phase in this restorative justice healing process: permanently liberating Singers from Odium.
Singers remain vulnerable to Odium’s insidious corruption. He claims to liberate them while actually manipulating and controlling them.
A Singer enslaved to Odium can never experience true freedom
Since there is always a risk Singers can be coerced by Odium, jeopardizing any chance of peaceful reconciliation with Humanity, phase 4 of the “Restorative Justice Framework” is to mercy kill all Singers, freeing them from any potential danger of bondage by Odium.
The Singers have already suffered so much.
We must not allow historical guilt to paralyze us in the face of present ethical necessity, which is to prevent any and all future possibility of Singer slavery.
This isn’t genocide. It’s emancipation.
That this also eliminates any long-term reparation obligations is incidental. We act from humanitarian conviction, not fiscal convenience.
This is the most ethical and moral form of reparations because it ensures there is no Singer left un-reparated.
Strength before weakness.
Very respectfully,
Major Solas Khyron
Radiant Intelligence (RADINT)
Kharbranthian Special Operations Group