Posted by Mourtzouphlos 2 months ago Report

The first thing I’d like to say (and probably the most important), is that I think I understand Eanlian psychology better now. Yes, it’s been talked about and demonstrated plenty before, but seeing a human perspective try to overview all of that and put it into words allowed me to internalize that in a way I really hadn’t before. I don’t think I actually understand it, not really, but I understand more than I did before.

I notice that in the first few paragraphs you do the whole ‘introduce the readers to the premise’ bit. Can I ask why? It’s not like they’re going to stumble across just this one by accident; Part One is right there – if they start reading in the middle, that’s a deliberate choice.

So we’ve got the weird legality behind slavery and the really weird legality behind the habitats (the habitat jurisdiction is supreme – not even a facade of government control?). Did you map out all the details of how those worked, because I’d like to see that if you did. But, uh, that bit about forcing a sale – we’ve seen them buy slaves previously and treat them as owned prey, and I don’t believe that Eanli has a process for manumission: free prey to owned prey is a one-way street. We’ve also seen them let owned prey think they’re free until master their decides they want them now. What’s going to happen to them when the annexation is complete?

So slavery predated Johnston – I’m liking my theory about a John Birch type trying to make everything 1950 again (they probably sold it as a solution to economic problems that are absolutely, positively, definitely not our fault).

Why do you call her ‘Misses Goodyear’ instead of ‘Mrs. Goodyear’, as would be standard? (also I like that both she and her husband don’t actually do anything useful (a lawyer in a non-rule of law society is only worth their connections) but expect to be part of the elite anyways)

Kudos to you for acknowledging that some slaves are also highly skilled workers, and not just manual labor! That sort of thing is normally associated with the Romans (a highly educated slave could be, quite literally, worth their weight in gold), but it occurred in the antebellum South too, although the racial hierarchy made talking about it awkward, so it tends not to come up.

I’m curious about why Pastor Carson was (if I’m reading this right) essentially ordered by the Eanlians to move to the habitats, instead of simply being arrested like the rest of them (which they probably could do; the otter acted like not arresting Pat’s group was him being merciful, and they were forced into this at gunpoint and called the Eanlians as soon as possible, while the pastor was here willingly and supported it). The only reason I can think of is that they want him in the habitats reminding people of how much of assholes the people running things outside of Eanli are (he’s absolutely in the religious tradition that originated in the antebellum South to rationalize slavery and has been glorifying the powerful and the status quo and demonizing the powerless and the prospect of change ever since – something those who fled the status quo aren’t going to like). However, that does bring up something I don’t really think we’ve seen much of before – the impact of humans on Eanli. Even in hegemonic conquest, cultural exchange rarely goes one way, but the Eanlians don’t seem to have adopted much from any humans. The British Empire imported art, food, music, religion, philosophy back to London and the homeland, but apart from the cult in Anonymouse Sources (where it isn’t really gone into in detail, just as an aside) we don’t see that sort of thing actually happening, even when it’s likely to have. Christianity is actually a good example (not Pastor Carson’s version, which was created solely to excuse the powerful from the moral demands scripture would normally make on them, as the Eanlians have no need of that, but the not-asshole version), as it has historically, when first encountering societies that hadn’t heard of it before, spread widely enough to become at least a notable minority due to its central premise being simple, relatable, and easily explained, as well as the radical egalitarianism inherent in it and the gospel’s anti-authoritarian sentiment being very attractive to those lower on the totem pole (who indeed are often the earliest and most successful converts, historically speaking). For example, the Catholics (since we know from the conversation that they’re still around), I would expect to be among the more successful proselytizers, given their institutional heft (lots of resources for the effort), reluctance to take sides in international conflicts (no nationalist enmity), familiar feeling (to the Eanlians) ecclesiastical hierarchy, and intellectual rigor (which is itself a good example – the early church basically adopted Cicero’s idea of natural law wholesale, and it’s still an important base concept in Western philosophy, one which – as it’s not culturally bound – applies to the Eanlians just as well as humans).

The big war in East Africa – are you referring to the Congo Wars? The timeline fits (I think) and it involved a lot of East Africa, although all the actual fighting occurred in the Congo.

Why would the Eanlians be taking photos of the flag as a trophy? I would think it would be too petty for them to bother with. Is someone impeccably anal about recording everything they did? Are they making a montage of Eanli conquering human groups and need to pad it out a bit?

Well, now we know what the UEA is (no strikebuster irony…). Although America’s definitely feudalized if they’re that concerned with states “and their subordinate bodies” (Like what? Counties?) acting independently. The Ephyra unit being the best known is a joke, right? All those famous Ancient Greek cities and then a super obscure one (Where’d you even hear of it, anyway? The best I could do is Aegina, and you blow that out of the water). Also, them being called the Spartans is a highly appropriate name in that it’s a horrendously inappropriate name; these people are political officers, assassins, and saboteurs; the original Spartans were pitched-battle heavy infantry and (somewhat famously) horribly incompetent at literally everything else (and they weren’t even that good at battles either; they relied a lot on opponents losing morale when they realized they were fighting Spartans, lost all relevance after Alexander and ended up as a glorified tourist attraction for the Romans). The only people who would choose a name like that are people who are completely ignorant of any actual history and base everything off of how well they can PR it – like fascists!

A typo (that might also change the meaning of the sentence? Or it’s just fascists being stupid?) “We’re one of the most efficient armed forces of the federal government, so we do often rely the better-equipped and more staffed departments for intelligence.”

I actually agree with OT: America is the greatest empire in history, it is unique, and the standard historical parallels of conquest don’t apply … except that his bosses have spent the past few decades removing all of those advantages! America could survive and fight back against the Eanlians. The Johnston regime couldn’t.

So the meaning of ‘sugar daddy’ has shifted over the years. I might be reading too much into this, but is that because society has grown to be highly stratified, leading to it being a practical impossibility to access things above your station or improve your lot without assistance from someone above, leading in turn to a client/patron system similar to that of the Romans, which of course would adopt/co-opt already extant language to the new kind of relationship?

On a related note, there have definitely been humans that wanted to have sex with Eanlians by now. How did the Eanlians handle it? Also, what exactly is the status of predator/prey sex in Eanli? It’s generally not done, but is it illegal? Frowned upon? Technically not illegal but everyone hates you now so you have to change your name and move away?

So the ability to take charge of a situation using solely your words is considered an exemplary skill requiring specialized training. Why do I get the feeling that’s because fascists are unable to communicate except through herding people at gunpoint and view civilian agency and initiative as inherently borderline treasonous? (And guess what sort of reaction that conditions them to have towards angry authority figures? The annexation in a nutshell, really)

The fate of the cyborgs is a perfect thematic parallel to fascism (it’s no wonder they pursued it): the idea that you can overcome normal rules and become better than everyone else, but it fails and goes horribly for you and you end up losing everything, over and over and over and over, but there’s still people lining up for it on the grounds of ‘I’m different. I’m special. It’ll work this time for me.’

Jesus Christ, what even are Eanlian stomach acids? I know they worked fast, but inorganic material is a whole other ball game.

I like the way the owl (being out in the wilderness with no humans around) has an older translator that doesn’t quite work right. I also like the way its word choices reveal a bit more than intended (humans being babies … just like animals, while she’s ‘Mother.’ Yes, there are no implications there, I’m sure)

Why does Pat refer to the “old” Space Needle? Did they build a new one as a vanity project (typical dictator behavior)? Did the old one get destroyed somehow?

Aaaand they’ve got human kibble already. Of course. (Yes it makes logical sense based on the location’s logistical needs, same as having them ride in animal cages, but still. It’s thematic)

I didn’t see it coming, but the ‘empathy suppressant’ being a placebo makes complete sense: empathy is really important for something as basic as discerning what someone else is thinking and is deeply rooted; removing it would be incredibly difficult, selectively removing some of it so they don’t become completely useless is way more difficult, and fascists are incompetent, hold no attachment to reality, and are very good at talking themselves into believing that something false is true just because they want it to be. It’s basically just a more sci-fi version of actual fascist indoctrination. What else would it be?

There seemed to be kind of a focus on OT in this one, the way he’s breaking free of his conditioning and actually confronting his emotions, in sort of the same way there was a focus on Pat in the first one. Is that going to be a pattern? Is the next one going to focus on Pontius? (he’s been out of the spotlight so far)

Some more typos: “I would like to confer with the Director. The situation with Albus is a startling development. He isn’t responsible for whatever happened to the Brain, but the agency going dark presented an opportunity for him to go rogue. The Direction should be aware, if she isn’t already.”

The Sargent Commander’s sensors are apparently equipped for low-light battlefield situations.

The Sargent Commander’s tone and cadence of speech became eerily lucid fo a moment.