34 - Johann | Dictated

[radiantwingedone]

[ After returning to the castle, Duke had headed into the library to hunt down the braille books yet again. Was the world that Paradisa dropped them into an accurate rendition of events that happened in 'Florence' or 'Firenze'? Was it a mess that the castle had created to ... mess with them?

No, his reading told him. Things were actually that much of a mess. Wonderful. ]

Think, due to the last world change, that worlds that lack consistent threat not born of humanity, find themselves creating their own. The use of a deity to justify actions not otherwise tolerable?

[ He's silent for a moment. ]

Makes me.. somewhat relieved, that there is nothing quite so organized resembling a 'religion', home. Nor quite so many water sanitation issues, blastia use or not.

Comments

[assassino]

Men are prone to war regardless of what they believe in. There could be no religion at all and I am certain the world would be just as bloody.

[radiantwingedone]

This is true. But I have not heard of anything similar to "another being told me this was right" as a reason for it, so that is likely what seems odd to me.

[assassino]

You misinterpret them. They were not doing what they did because God told them to.

[radiantwingedone]

I likely misunderstood. As far as I could tell, the particularly loud one with the fire-starting indicated a voice directed him to those actions.

[assassino]

Claiming to know the intentions or desires of God is different from claiming to have heard His voice.

But even so, am I to imagine that the people in your world are never swayed by their emotions or the intensity of their feelings, or the voices of figures of authority? In the wake of our trip to Firenze I have seen a great number of people passing judgement on my people for arbitrary reasons. How lofty are your people that you can claim they have never been a threat to themselves, religion or no religion?

[radiantwingedone]

Either is unknown to me.

[ He has to take a moment to decide how to answer that. He doesn't like people, which probably is pretty clear. ]

Humanity is very easily a threat to itself and all else by simply existing, making life easier for themselves. Ignorance can lead to a great many things, including blind actions following authority or emotions. No, I cannot claim that all have not been swayed by a charismatic leader at some time or another. However I have no knowledge of a time when stealing from others and lighting people on fire was that which was blindly followed.

[assassino]

[An exasperated sound.]

For Christ's sake, it is not blind, man! Do you honestly think people commit to such thought without even considering what it demands of them, or what it endorses them? They did not think they were stealing, they thought they were saving people by taking their vanities. They did not light them on fire for a lark, they lit them on fire because they believed that those people threatened the sanctity of their community. They believed they were doing the right thing, and a tyrant convinced them of it!

You may not agree with their choices –– I do not either, for what it is worth. But they are my people and I do not take kindly to you dismissing them as "blind" and ignorant while your own people are victims of charisma.

[radiantwingedone]

I would think less people would be burnt alive if they did think. I do not understand how the sanctity, if I am defining and imagining the use of the word correctly, of community is preserved by lighting a neighbor on fire. To me, that seems to be damaging it far more than having someone 'vain' in their midst.

[ He's quiet for a moment. Lets him pick words for a moment, so he speaks a little slowly when he speaks up again. Telling this voice that he usually dismisses humans as ignorant anyway isn't that good of an idea. ]

I do not agree nor understand. At risk of sounding as if I am retracting my previous words, there are subjects that they are blind to as well, but the words and actions in the way of what was witnessed at the most recent world change was not so.

[assassino]

Then you are a madman without even the most base understanding of how people work! There are traits abhorred by all peoples, and at times the people may act in extremes against them, but they do not do this senselessly without thought. It is entirely rational for them. Comparing one of the darkest times for my people with the everyday nonsense of your people is absurd.

You're a fucking idiot. You and the others who have made such lofty, judgmental comments on my people.

[radiantwingedone]

I see. A lack of understanding of others makes one a madman.

[ He's amused now, and it might be a little clear when he speaks. ]

I apologize that a lack of understanding of how burning someone could be rationalized makes me mad. But perhaps you are quite correct, and I will never understand how one rationalizes killing beyond 'It is you or I', or 'killing you will prevent greater disasters.'

[ Although he pauses after that, and when he continues, its musing. Judgmental? Duke? Never. Or perhaps always. ]

Although that last may be the answer. Frail ties of race, frail ties of community. 'For your good, we take your things. For the good of the city, we light you on fire. To prevent the world from being devoured, I will kill you.' I suppose they're similar enough.

[lord_wizard]

I cannot imagine what sort of threat you might mean, in that example.

[Though clearly he's curious]

[radiantwingedone]

.... For the most part, those without magic, money, training or a combination of those do not leave the barriers about the cities of Terca Lumireis. The town in memory without one holds a great wall on one side and smaller wooden walls to funnel anything that attacks from the other.

The 'anything' that attacks... is quite broad. There is little guild-empire conflict of that sort, likely due to different continents. While some worlds have... lions, tigers, and bears, the wilds of Terca Lumireis are home to anything from sentient mushrooms that stand as tall as a small child to animated rock sculptures that may easily dwarf single story buildings. .... the second are far more rare than the first, but the point stands. For most, leaving a city is not done because stepping out can lead one into a den of... eggbears, or a nest of axebeaks.

[lord_wizard]

...have I said before that the wildlife on your world is very strange?

[radiantwingedone]

If you have not, someone else has. They are, generally, called monsters.

[ Although Duke finds them much easier to understand and get along with than humans, so he's biased in the other direction. ]

[lord_wizard]

Men make monsters as easily at the alternative, I've found. Monstrous feature are only part of that particular equation.

What, pray tell, is an axebeak anyway? [He's not even going to try with eggbears. Because seriously...]

[radiantwingedone]

... Accurate.

[ Give him a moment to figure out how to word it. ]

A large flightless bird, usually.... yellow, or a yellowish green? [ He pauses after that. That was harder to remember than he liked. What colors were they? ] Around waist high on an adult. The beak is shaped, unsurprisingly, like a simple axe.

[lord_wizard]

They do sound a bit frightful. Are they predators?

[radiantwingedone]

... I think everything might fall under the definition of 'predator', whether they are resemble fungus, rocks, or animals. The ones without obvious mouths simply.. feed differently.

[lord_wizard]

Charming. [The sarcasm there is light but very obvious]

[radiantwingedone]

... Slight amendment. Golem-like creatures are usually guards or sentries of some sort, and the quietta line are herbivores. Still aggressive.

[lord_wizard]

I believe I've heard of golems. Aren't they created creatures?

[radiantwingedone]

Yes. The ones in mind are usually head and shoulders taller than humans, and vaguely defensive in form. I think they've managed to reproduce, as making them is not something that has been recorded...

[lord_wizard]

I'd take it, then, that nobody has yet recorded how such a thing is done?

[radiantwingedone]

... In easy memory, the only recorded types are those clearly of the made - blastia bodies and cores programmed to defend a location. Creatures, I have no idea.

[lord_wizard]

That imply they are perhaps...programming each other?

[radiantwingedone]

.... I never thought of it like that. That would become a source of cores, so I do not think that is the case. Perhaps years have resulted in them.... taking in enough magic to become less animated objects and more like creatures, and that resulted in the ability to create more...

[lord_wizard]

It's a pity no one has thought to research this kind of thing.

[radiantwingedone]

Likely more worried with "Will it attack us" to think of breeding habits.

[lord_wizard]

I suppose I can sympathize with that point of view. I don't generally research anything so hazardous.