Posted by FirstOf71st 1 year ago Report

An excellent story exploring another pivotal moment in Earth-Eanlian history from the personal perspectives of those involved. Incredible world-building and continuity as always, and I like the inclusion of two endings -- neither really felt "definitive," and so the ambivalence worked.

Now, I don't know where else to put this, so I'll drop it here. I often feel the urge to hop on the "Obsidian Snake Defense Force," seeing the extreme comments your stories inspire (not unexpectedly). I feel this way because I think it's absurd to judge your setting by the standards of modern Western egalitarian morality, on two levels:

On the diegetic level: Earth's "modern Western egalitarian morality," as I called it, is not absolute universal (though by its nature we treat it that way), but the result of a historical process. As in, it is dependent on history (ie, Judeo-Christianity) and the material factors of the world. Eanli, having not just a radically different history but biology than earth, will of course have civilizations that come to ethical configurations radically different from our own. In that sense, they almost can't be judged -- I always imagine some human explaining universal human rights to a predator and getting a purely uncomprehending response. For the predator, the concept isn't even wrong, evil, blasphemous, or even misguided -- it's just incomprehensible due to the circumstances of their world and mind, both shaped by eons of evolution.

On the non-diegetic level: You are an artist, and an artist is justified in using any and all ideas and depictions to achieve their desired aesthetic effect. The artwork stands alone, and its merit is independent of how others interpret it. Any "ethical judgment" of a work has nothing to do with the work itself, but is the opinion of the one who made that judgment. As in, a work that depicts good things can be interpreted or "utilized" unethically, and a work that depicts evil things can be utilized ethically.

Now, does this mean that every Obsidian Snake story should come with a moral disclaimer of "I condemn the power structures depicted in this work" -- of course not, that would detract from its intended effect of an erotic vore experience. The "moral outrage" of the story, is of course an inseparable part of that erotic vore experience, and is part of why the fictional world feels (painfully) real. The erotic vore experience, as a fantasy, is also completely independent of our actual real-world behavior, which indeed ought to be ethical. But talking about ethical behavior and making critical analyses of media is obviously not the purpose of our fantasy vore community here on Aryion.

It would be incredible (and ridiculous) if some piece of critical essay work actually used an erotic vore story to make an ethical or moral argument - and your stories have the depth to possibly be such resources. It's just I'd rather see more vorish flirting in the comments and less of the moral criticism. This is a space where we can safely suspend our "moral censor."

I say this as I dump a small essay in your comment section rather than playful vorish flirting, but I simply have to get it off my chest and into words. I've been catching up on your backlog since "The Education of Oseri Rivers" after more than a year, and the writing is just as good as I remember. Any extreme reaction, in my opinion, just means you're doing something right.

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Posted by ObsidianSnake 1 year ago Report

First, thanks for commenting. :)

Next, I've said it a few times here, but I'm writing the kinds of stories that I like to find, the types of which I feel are too uncommon. I know fully well that they aren't going to be in niche taste. I expect at least some displeasure at some of my decisions here. This is Eka's Portal, after all, the house of a thousand tastes.

Anyway, it's okay if people don't like my weird stories. They're not obligated to. It's unfortunate that it leaves some people disturbed, but it's all in accordance with the theme of our site here, so I don't spend too much time worrying about it. I'd like to think my tags are descriptive enough to say, "don't like, don't read." I think that's how every writer contributing to this site feels. We're writing for those that are going to enjoy it, which includes ourselves.

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