I want to repeat what I said in the post. The world was only officially pacifist. To me, there’s a really militaristic subtext to a lot of Golden Age lore, especially when it come to Clovis Bray, which was basically as influential as a country. The average civilian or scientists probably rarely saw weapons, as long as they didn’t upset someone with power. That’s speculation of course. And calling the lore book filler is unfair to the unique story it’s telling, in my opinion. It’s supposed to capture the most influential event in human history from the viewpoint of the first victims. Additionally, it tells the story of Mia van der Venne and how influential Rasputin was at that time. I think all this makes this book unique enough. But hey, if you feel differently about that, then that’s ok too.