Why would we want you to not talk? Your opinions and views, though different than some others, are just as valuable.
I can see how this interpretation could come about, but what if it was less of a machiavellian plot and more of a hail mary from a dying man? Or maybe, it was the desires of a man who'd seen the universe to make sure that the next person who took over his company was either his heir who'd discovered something about themselves through struggle (the only path to growth and change) or a corporate initiate that would at least keep the company in business, if not in the family. Or who knows maybe something that none of us had thought of?
This seems like confirmation bias to me. I see no clear indications of ulterior motive. Perhaps the strong desire for his company to stay "in the family", still not seeing Vic the nefarious planner here.
I don't understand how Vic trying to protect his heir apparent from falling into the same traps that ultimately killed him, while trying to share a depth of experience that could not be carried in a mere 20 years, is "shoving you out the airlock". Every person goes through at least one crucible in life. I see Vic as someone that knew this experientially. Someone that wanted their heir to have gone through that crucible somewhere OTHER than a corporate board room with the fate of a meaningful empire in the balance. This is like a kid today working a summer job to pay for their half of a car for their sixteenth birthday (in US).
I still think that Vic sterilexing Jr. is wrong. I think that if Jr. wants to go out and get preggos or get someone else preggo and start a family and that's more important to them than following in daddy's footsteps GREAT more power to em. I think it should lead to a "good" bad end though.
Since when do protagonists in story's come out of "for the hell of it". There HAS to be a bit of a set up. Would it be better to have a total deus ex machina thing where you get your crap from daddy and then someone just writes in the intro ". . . so you decide you're going to go fuck the princess of Tormegantia then jump into the planetrush. . ." That seems like sooo much better story to me. *pulls of the sarcasm mask* At least with the Vic story there can be read into it a sense of rapport, or famillial bond, or insert YOUR feelers for daddy here that results in you choosing to follow suggestion.
Steelemom was for all intents and purposes the equivalent of a surrogate mother. Did she bear a child with her genetics involved? Sure. Did Vic threaten her, violate her, intimidate her, rape her? Is there ANY indication that steelemom is ANYTHING less than happy with the arrangements? nope. In fact, quite to the contrary there's a line in the intro right after you pick your race where it says basically that after some searching a suitable mother is found and that she is overjoyed or somesuch about being involved. Steelemom is NOT in ANY way portrayed as a victim of any harm FULL STOP.
Yes catalysts are ALWAYS tiny quantities compared to the whole. The intro story is written, I believe intentionally, in such a way that the PLAYER determines how they view Vic. Which opens up ALL of the room for interpretation that we're seeing here. BUT it also opens the door for the player to put themselves into the PC's shoes, just like so many other parts of the story for Steele Jr. If Vic is obviously ANYTHING then we step into the territory of TELLING the player how to feel. The point is that if the PC is the amorphous blob of whatever the fuck you want her/him to be then daddy dearest hast to be significantly more amorphous than most other characters in the game, and I'm not talking about tails, wings and swiss army dicks here.
Again, your beliefs and conclusions are fully valid, not necessarily agreed with, but fully acceptable. My conclusion is that Vic is important enough to the self-determinism of the PC that if Vic is overly defined, then the player's ability to determine the PCs psychological characteristics is at BEST hampered and EASILY destroyed.
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