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The Radch’s methods of colonization are a gray-area mix of brutal integration and cultural advances, as this post on the politics of the Imperial Radch lays out in greater detail. In short: The Radchaai are civilized, and everyone outside of their provinces are not. Their M.O. is to swoop in, kill as many people as necessary, then go through a stage of annexation, during which they execute leaders and potential rebels. (But they’re OK with integrating local religions and the like!) Many of the conquered peoples are frozen, to be used in the future as “ancillaries,” or corpse soldiers, while the rest become Radchaai in dress, behavior, and culture (more on that later). In her original form, Justice of Toren One Esk oversaw annexations like these and didn’t question the Radchaai’s methods.