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Post by Richter Abend on Jun 2, 2015 15:31:43 GMT -6
“Don’t really do stay”? Ha! For a moment Richter almost felt like he was talking to himself. Of all the people he knew, he was one of the worst, if not the worst, at settling down. He used to think it was a byproduct of all the vengeful hate he had carried out of Ilia along with him, but even after shedding all that misguided anger he still found himself always glancing over to the other side of the proverbial fence. He was always looking for a new goal or a new challenge. He always had to be getting something done, or just doing something to better himself. His mother had always called him “antsy”, but that was only half right. For him there was peace to be found in a long journey. For him there was an incredible rush to be found in battle. It was in that sense of wanderlust he felt something of a kindred spirit in Nayru.
“No, I did not,” replied Richter to the dragon’s latter question, an almost invisible smile returning to his eyes. This was a much better than topic than dead friends, to be sure. There was something so amusing, and so comforting, seeing Nayru act so… human? She was like a teenager discovering all the weird things her body could do for the first time. “I’m not exactly an expert on dragons.” The Ilian shook his head. It didn’t sound like Nayru was much of an expert on the subject either, which he found bizarre. What did one do with all those years of life if not figure out how your own dragon powers work? Richter thought of making a comment asking such, but decided against it. No need to be unnecessarily inflammatory.
Then Richter paused, eying Nayru for a moment as another question bubbled up to the forefront of his thoughts. Was it an odd thing to ask? Well yes, it was, but there were a lot of questions that would be odd to ask a human that shouldn't be so odd to ask to a dragon. And he was so curious.
“You mind, er, demonstrating?”
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jun 3, 2015 0:36:03 GMT -6
"Well crap, I was hoping someone else did. Maybe someone should start a manakete academy. How to pretend to be human 101, how not to be a sanctimonious assbag 251, when your body changes (but it isn't puberty) 102..." Nayru trailed off, half smiling, amused as much by how incredibly stupid of an idea it was almost as much as how useful it might actually be for a screwball like her. "I don't know how you feel about all that Scouring stuff, I missed the party on that one and thank the Sky for that, but if there's ever going to be any sort of reconciliation, effective education could do a lot of good work. People are already scared enough of human magic users, last thing anyone wants is a dragon accidentally blowing up an orphanage. Or a church."
She didn't push it beyond that - while Richter seemed cool with the whole dragon thing, honestly she was starting to get the feeling that many adventurers didn't have much issue with the occasional well-meaning dragon helping out, the subject of racial reconciliation and actually welcoming back more dragons than just a fringe group, much less giving them the freedom to actually use their powers without getting hunted down for it, was a loaded subject that VERY few humans could be expected to want to work towards, or even necessarily view positively, and she couldn't blame them. Human legends painted dragons as the sole aggressors, and while she... thought her understanding was better, the sad truth was that it took two sides for a war, and she didn't doubt that there had been dragons who chomped at the bit to exterminate 'those filthy mortals.'
Still, Richter's comment about not being an expert on dragons was amusing, if only because neither was she. Nayru had never really been the type to lord her age and wisdom over mortals, mostly since she had just enough self-awareness to realize how hypocritical that would be - also she was terrified that she would mutate into Aerious and THAT would be a fate worse than death - so it wasn't that hard to make light of herself a bit.
The breath comment was a little... harder to answer though, for a couple of reasons. One was the whole incognito thing, though they did seem to be more or less alone, but the other was that she was still in the process of figuring it out, and frankly, it was not something she wanted to play around with much where she could possibly hurt someone with it. It didn't help that Aerious had never demonstrated - was it that he didn't, or couldn't? Nayru wasn't sure which answer she preferred, given that both had subtexts she did not particularly like.
Her hesitation was obvious enough that there wasn't much point in trying to hide it - it had taken long enough to respond to his question and her expression twinged just enough that Nayru was pretty well aware that jig was up, so she just decided to roll with complete honesty. "While I'm normally always up for showing off, I'm... still figuring this... new suite of abilities out." She scratched her neck unconsciously, a little uncomfortable with the subject, but continued. "Even scaled down, dragon's breath is an extremely dangerous weapon, and mine is more... focused than normal by dragon standards. Cuts through stone walls and heavy armor alike as if they were rice paper, and I'd rather not start leaving craters again."
"And honestly, I've never seen references to human-form dragons having much or any access to their full power, so either it's a REALLY well kept secret, or I'm blazing new ground - not sure which prospect scares me more." She smiled, but it was less of a happy one than sort of apologetic. "I don't think even Aerious had any idea it was possible, and I don't want to potentially hurt you trying to show off. When I master it, I'll happily give you a demonstration, but for now I'll have to politely decline."
Well crap, now she felt kinda bad, both for probably disappointing him and for not being competent enough to just casually start breathing lightning death all over the road. Wait... maybe that was for the best. She continued with a more hopeful tone. "I can do a pretty convincing imitation of a magic weapon though, if that works. It's probably not much of a surprise that conducting electricity is pretty easy, all things considered, but I always thought those fancy hunks o' junk were cool as hell, and while I still can't USE them at least now I can make pretend!"
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Post by Richter Abend on Jun 9, 2015 11:27:49 GMT -6
“Out of everyone in this city, I’m the last one you need to worry about hurting,” Richter chuckled, gesturing towards his left arm as it hung limply in its sling. “It took Hargus’s full power to do this to me, and he didn’t even manage to knock it off.” The smile lingered on his face as his eyes closed for a brief moment. He was trying to make light of the fact that he may never be able to use his arm again. It was hard, but he figured it was better than moping around over it. “But I understand. Humans are only so accepting.” Richter stared off into the empty plains. A cool breeze came along and blew what remained of the long grasses left, then right, and it made the landscape look almost as if it was alive, though suffering greatly. The corpses, weapons, trenches, and dirt that tarnished the landscape were like scars upon skin. He instinct told him that this would never be the same again, but if the Scouring was any indication, Elibe would move on, with or without those who inhabited it.
“Maybe it’s a lost art?” he asked, turning his attention back to the dragon. “A lost technique? I have to imagine that when the dragons were driven from Elibe, more than a little knowledge of your race went with them.” Maybe it was incorrect of him to say that dragons could lose the knowledge of how their very bodies worked, but full understanding of yourself was not something you were born with. Children had to learn how to walk, how to talk, how to read, and how to swim; the last was something Richter never learned himself because he never had to, but that didn’t mean other people couldn’t. And Richter’s brothers were the ones who had taught him how to fight. He hadn’t known instinctively how to properly hold a sword, or how to stand to ensure he maintained the best balance, or how to swing a weapon to maximize his body’s strength. It wasn’t too much of a logical jump, then, to assume the same could be true for dragons.
“Sure, I’ll bite,” he said in reply to her offer to simulate a magic weapon, somewhat won over by her childish enthusiasm. He tucked his good arm into his bad one, crossing his arms across his chest. Richter figured that if she was a thunder dragon, like she had implied earlier, that it would have something to do with electrifying herself, which would in turn electrify the weapons that hung at her waist. The commander could only wonder what the point was, though. When your fists could already hit like weapons, why use more? Reach, perhaps.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jun 11, 2015 19:45:12 GMT -6
Hargus... yes, the so-called Demon King, wasn't he? Nayru hadn't been at the scene of the battle, nor had she any prior interest in or knowledge of him - insane dark mages were a dime a dozen and honestly after 350 years wandering Elibe she had just started to assume all mages were crazy - but not even she could entirely avoid some knowledge of the events that had befallen the so-called City of Heroes. War, piracy, summoning the dead, monsters... it was not a pleasant tale. Maybe she would have to ply him with questions about the subject when an opportunity presented itself - Richter certainly seemed like the guy to talk to about that.
And, apparently, about dragon powers. Honestly, at this point she was half expecting him to happen to know exactly how her powers worked better than she did. Everyone else did, apparently, why not go a step further? "Lost techniques..." Nayru trailed off, shrugging after a moment of rapid thought. "It could well be. Dragons have had little reason to fight in - a long time. We simply live. Aerious was the only dragon I've met who had any idea how to actually fight. I never really saw any point in it until recently, when I needed to learn in order to better protect Veigue and Elly."
Was it actually that simple? She hadn't really thought about it along the way, to be perfectly honest, it was never really a conscious thought so much as a slowly growing need to... help the few people she actually knew and liked. And from there, it had ballooned into something else, to the point that now she actually went around -helping- people. Boy was that out of character for her. But they did have a topic to stick to. "Guess I'll have to keep an eye out for more info. In the meantime, note to self, try not to accidentally set anyone on fire." She grinned lopsidedly at the idea. "Or... on lightning?" Eh, same difference, and there was generally fire afterwards either way.
...Nayru really did have to wonder what the disconnect was, though. She was under no delusions about being the strongest and wisest of dragons, certainly not the first among equals in any way. Perhaps it was simply a lost art, or perhaps it was something that dragons as a whole had always had the ability to do, but never had any real reason to invent it - why bother pretending to be a mage when you can be a f**k**g DRAGON, right? Perhaps only in the modern Elibe, with more and more dragons seeming to appear and the concerns of secrecy higher than ever, was there any attempt whatsoever TO research it - a 'secret art' among the 'lost eggs' forged by the world outside of Arcadia rather than the cushy tranquility within.
Or maybe she was just that awesome
Nayru decided she liked that explanation the best.
Her existential crisis assuaged, she moved on to more pressing matters, namely, trying not to make too much of an ass of herself in the next thirty seconds. While, uh, making an ass of herself by showing off. ...Nayru felt as though maybe she hadn't thought her cunning plan all the way through for some reason. Oh well. Drawing her weapon was smooth and quick, which Richter definitely DID NOT need to know was about the part she had practiced the most with the stupid hunk of metal, and she added a little flourishey spin at the end of the motion in a spontaneous bit of showmanship. "Ladies and gentlemen," Nayru began, her voice abruptly switching to something more like an announcer, "tremble before the terrible power of, uh, cheap party tricks!"
She was being a bit stupid, Nayru was aware of that, but at the same time she really wasn't trying to play up the dangerous aspects of her 'trick'. And while it was maybe a bit less conscious than the first bit, neither did she really want to disappoint her companion; while they weren't by any means friends, he had been very cool throughout the conversation and she'd feel kinda bad letting him down now.
What had once taken serious effort - both to draw the power and to regulate it - was now almost effortless, reflexive; even as Nayru swung her arm out, straightening it, perpendicular to Richter - no sense in making her move look anything like an attack - the charge was already building, crackling fingers of living lightning leaping up and down her arm. The moment her motion completed, the weapon itself erupted in a golden glow, something that had actually taken a bit of effort, and not just in a 'I want to show off' way. There was barely-audible crackling, but otherwise it was relatively subdued all things considered. She commented in a casual tone once she unconsciously confirmed that nothing had gone wrong and her magic circuits were open without any kinks in the flow. "I didn't have that much appreciation for human magic weapons until I tried this and realized how much work they must take."
An experimental short swing upwards, the blade's path trailed by the golden glow, and then as quickly as it had ignited the light faded, to the accompaniment of a bit of a sizzling sound and the smell of burnt ozone - the hallmark of her presence. "My method is constant, but adaptive; varying quantities of current as appropriate. Magic weapons need an actual spirit, since they can't normally just 'recharge' if they run out of power, and let me tell you, charging one of those things up takes a surprising amount of work." Her little... adventure with Veigue's family sword had ended surprisingly well, all things considered, but it had taken a fair bit out of her at the time. Not really something she was used to, quite frankly, given that her problem for a long time had been uncontrollable power, and more recently, seemed to be turning into simply generating far too much power.
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Post by Richter Abend on Jun 22, 2015 14:53:05 GMT -6
Richter didn’t speak after showing his interest. He just stood silently, his arms across his chest, and watched the dragon woman as she began her “cheap party trick”. When she drew her weapon, the Ilian immediately began examining the blade. It was nothing Richter had ever seen before. When he thought of a sword he thought of a relatively straight blade, maybe with a curved edge, with a hilt screwed onto it. This weapon, however, was completely irregular in shape: a long metal handle with a smallish, hook-like blade that stuck out perpendicular to the handle itself. To Richter it looked more like a farming tool than it did a weapon of war, but even a sickle, with its inversely curved edge, kept its line of attack parallel with the wrist. Not incredibly practical.
But despite his critiques, the Ilian forced himself to focus on the entire display since the purpose of this exercise was to watch how Nayru could simulate a magical weapon, not to mentally criticize her blade choice. That was when he noticed that her arm began to shift. The nails on her fingers began to grow, like claws, while the skin on her arm began morphing into brilliant turquoise scales. Then her arm crackled, a large arc of lightning passing down its length, and then the weapon she was holding began to hum, energized. The sight caught Richter off guard. Though he knew very well her true nature, he hadn’t been expecting the change, and the electrical current that had jumped down the gaps in the dragon’s plating left him captivated. It wasn’t that he’d never seen magic before, or that he’d never seen a dragon before, because he had definitely done both. But there was something about the pulse that had that gave Richter a moment of pause. It was like watching a bolt of lightning in the distance during a rainstorm.
“That’s impressive,” the Ilian declared, nodding his head in approval as the effect stopped and Nayru’s arm went back to normal. Aside from her changing arm, the effect had been surprisingly subtle, at least compared to traditional magic. A loud buzz, maybe, but the weapon hadn’t looked like the lightning bolt Richter had expected it to. Maybe with a long sleeve, a blow from that weapon would leave an opponent more than a bit surprised. A few thoughts crossed his mind. “Have you ever struck someone with that?” he asked, nodding to the weapon. “When there’s magic running through it, I mean. When I was younger, there was a man in my village who had been struck by lightning. He survived, but it almost killed him, and left him with a large scar all over his body that branched out like a tree.” The pink haired Ilian made a casual gesture with his fingers and shook his head. “I can hardly imagine getting hit by a sword that strikes you like a lightning bolt.”
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jun 22, 2015 21:14:51 GMT -6
Nayru almost visibly brightened at her companion's praise, no matter how brief or reserved it might have been. If she'd actually thought much about it, the irony of a 500 year old teenager getting that excited about a human who hadn't even hit 30 being marginally impressed might have struck her, but not thinking about things was rapidly becoming a specialty for her. Ignorance was bliss, as the saying went, and Nayru was pretty blissful right now.
...And also REALLY grateful that the soreness that had been part and parcel of channeling her power in the short term after her transformation had finally gone away. She massaged her right shoulder anyways, the weapon still held in her right hand, though it hung harmlessly at her side. She just hadn't bothered putting it away in case another demonstration was needed, seemed like it'd be a waste to put it away just to take it out again. Fortunately(?) Richter seemed more interesting in the theory than the practice, asking a couple questions that were, thankfully, pretty easy to answer.
"Yeah, I've had a few fights with it now. Works pretty well." She shrugged. Heh. 'Works pretty well.' That was definitely one way to put it. "It's less hitting than cutting - it flash-boils flesh and cuts through bone like butter. Even cauterizes the wound in its wake. Smells horrible, not that burning human flesh ever smells particularly great, but at least it's bloodless." Nayru half-smiled at him, a little awkward after her matter-of-fact explanation. She did like the bloodless thing, but figured Richter probably didn't to know that it was mostly since she didn't like getting blood on her, not out of any concern for her victims.
"Only problem with it is that I can't really..." Nayru trailed off a little, trying to figure out the best way to put it. "Well, you know how with a magic weapon they have ranged attacks, but the spirit can't control the magic it emits from too far away, so it's kinda more blunt force than what an actual mage could do?" She mimed swinging the weapon outwards as if to bring to mind a magic weapon vomiting forth huge gouts of fire or ice. "It's kinda like that for me too, except I can't really figure out how to do long-range magic weapon stuff at all aside from breath stuff. Very short-range arcs at most. Not really sure if it's a general dragon thing, or a dragon/manakete thing, or if I just haven't figured out how to do it yet. Gimme another 300 years and maybe I'll have figured out how to start a barbecue with it! It is really pretty fun though. I figure if I can use this to help people and kill monsters I'll be doing SOMETHING good for people, not exactly changing the world but I'm not much of a leader, and murdering crap is pretty much all I'm good for anyways. Might as well do it to stuff that deserves it."
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Post by Richter Abend on Jun 25, 2015 15:49:39 GMT -6
“‘Pretty well’ seems like a bit of an understatement,” replied Richter as he gazed at the weapon still lingering in Nayru’s hand. “I wouldn’t normally equate bone to butter, but if your sword manages to close that gap then it’s better than the vast majority of weapons I’ve ever seen.” Understandably the Ilian was a bit envious. When he and Aerious had confronted each other by the fire those months ago, Richter had fully believed himself to be a match for the pompous, egotistical dragon had it actually come to that. He was no ordinary swordsman, and Damonzahn had been no ordinary sword. But if what Nayru said was true, that she could cut through him right now with the same ease someone butters their toast, well, then he had a ways to go.
It wasn’t that Boreas wasn’t a fearsome weapon. No, quite the opposite; It had torn apart a cyclops and brought down the King of Demons. The cold it heralded was a powerful force indeed, but icicles weren’t about to pierce dragonscales any time soon. Sure, Richter didn’t want to go slaying any dragons, but a part of him felt a bit too lucky that almost every dragon he’d met had been friendly to him, and he’d met far more dragons than the average person, or so he assumed. Even his own race couldn’t claim to be so forgiving to each other. Richter figured it was only a matter of time before he stumbled across an ancient being that couldn’t forgive mankind’s victory in the Scouring. And when that happened he wanted to be ready.
Securely fastened in its harness on his back, Richter could feel his axe frost over as he doubted its capabilities. It emanated a frigid air as if it had taken personal offense at its wielder’s insinuation that it was anything but a dragonslayer. He almost laughed at its insistence. That was something the Ilian was still getting used to: the fact that Boreas was “alive”. Sure, it couldn’t talk, or move, or eat, or sleep, but it responded to Richter’s thoughts and feelings, and in a way Richter could understand what it was feeling. Damonzahn had never been this way. Richter had felt things from that sword, things like hunger, emptiness, and even desire, but it had never felt like those feelings were coming from the blade. They had always felt like they were coming from something greater, something beyond. And that had always terrified him. For all its power, Richter was glad to be rid of the cursed artifact.
But back to the conversation at hand.
“Explain what you mean by ‘dragon manakete thing’.”
Richter couldn’t help but be confused by Nayru’s verbiage. Dragon and… manakete? He’d never heard the latter term before. What was a manakete? Was it something different from a dragon? That was what Richter could infer from how Nayru used the word, but that made no sense. Was there a whole other race of lightning tossing beings secretly living on Elibe that nobody had ever heard about? Better not to jump to wild conclusions and just let Nayru explain herself.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jun 25, 2015 18:04:01 GMT -6
It might be a perspective thing - considering her strength, Nayru was well aware that her views of the human body were a bit less... durable than most humans might see themselves as. If only she had invulnerability to go along with that strength, eh? Phenomenal cosmic power and cutting people in half was all well and good, but in human form she could die just the same as anyone else, the only real difference was that she basically had the equivalent of moving armor based on her concentration and reflexes, rather than steel or leather.
Too bad she'd never gotten Aerious to teach her that whole full-body permanent reinforcement thing. Far as she could tell he was just invulnerable to everything, which was a heck of a step up from her own spot reinforcement. But that bridge had long since gone up in flames before being consumed by the cold waters of the river Styx, so she tried not to dwell on it too much.
Richter didn't seem too good at the whole polite requests for information thing, but Nayru was getting used to it, and in some ways she could appreciate the blunt frankness - it certainly wasn't insulting, and since he seemed a bit perturbed by her choice of language when describing her weapons, his trying to steer the conversation back to safer territory was both reasonable and understandable. If anything, he was consistent in how he acted, and that was itself a nice feature.
"Dragons and manaketes..." The dragon trailed off thoughtfully after those few words, trying to think of how best to describe the difference. It was mostly academic these days anyways, very few dragons ever bothered USING their powers even within Arcadia so outside of the historical importance it was never all that big of a deal. Had humanity actually forgotten the difference? She had kind of assumed that the common usage of 'dragon' was just a general descriptor for the species, but with how much had been lost since th Scouring, maybe people didn't really know. Not that it was a big deal, and certainly no fault of Richter's, so it wouldn't do to be a snarky bitch about it.
She resolved to just answer it as simply and honestly as possible. "It's... similar to the difference between human mages and warriors. While there is overlap thanks to magic weapons and strength-enhancing magic, in general, you don't do much with raw magic, and mages don't go around swinging swords, right? Apparently, before the Scouring, there was a similar distinction with dragons, two... castes, or classes, or what have you. Dragons exalted the physical aspects of their birthright, while manaketes plumbed the magic side of things. Same species - we're all Dragons with a capital D - but dragons were said to be impregnable to all damage and tear mountains in half, while Manaketes could bend the elements in the world around them to their will with nothing but a thought."
Of course, that all sounded a little hyperbolic and she didn't really know how TRUE it was - she certainly had no experience doing either, and even Erim, the strongest dragon she had ever known, had never done either of those either. But was it because she couldn't, or because she wouldn't? "Since the Scouring, there hasn't really been much importance attached to any of that, and I'm not sure if those descriptions are literal or fanciful hyperbole. Having different warrior castes is kind of a moot point when the war is over."
"Really, these days most dragons don't train or use their powers at all - it's only the wanderers and Lost Eggs like me that have to in order to survive in Elibe, and anything too flashy is pretty much just asking Etruria to start a new crusade. And there's enough overlap that I'm not really even sure the difference exists - I can do breath attacks and essence conduction just fine, and muck with the weather when transformed, and that all sounds pretty damn Manakete to me. But ~some people~ ," her sardonic tone and eye-rolling conveyed very simply Nayru's feelings on the matter, "still feel that it is an important distinction, because as we all know, exactly what Elibe needs is to split people into yet more groups."
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Post by Richter Abend on Jun 30, 2015 9:51:07 GMT -6
"I can make ice, but I'm no mage," was Richter's only response to Nayru’s implied disagreement to the whole Manakete versus Dragon concept. He actually found the idea interesting. The Ilian had always thought of dragons as essentially larger, transforming wyverns that could breathe the elements and transform into humans, but to hear that there were differences between dragons beyond simply whether they spat fire or ice got Richter thinking about just what dragons were capable of. Nayru, for example, was clearly a lightning dragon. She could electrify her skin, and, though he had never seen it, shout lightning bolts into existence like Marcus could. He’d also seen her go toe to toe with creatures ten times her human size, which was specifically something Richter was hugely jealous of.
Yes, through extensive training and combat experience, a select few humans could unlock the ability deep within themselves to perform truly heroic feats. The aura that the Ilians referred to as “daunt” was once such talent. To daunt was to create such a presence, such a bloodlust, on the battlefield that those of weaker will and constitution grew fearful in your presence. Smite was another. Drawing deep within themselves, powerful human warriors could momentarily perform acts of herculean strength, the kind bards wrote tails about. Only exceptional warriors could claim to have mastered either of these abilities, and even only some of them at that. But these feats were exhausting to even the most hardy of individuals, and unlike the natural strength of dragons, provided only a momentary advantage. It was no small wonder to Richter then that humans had resorted to creating the legendary weapons in their war on dragonkind. There was something immensely intimidating about a creature that could outpace you even at your very best, given a relatively less amount of effort on their part.
But that also made Richter wonder what extent did a dragon “warrior” outclass an average dragon. Was Nayru a warrior? Or was she just a normal dragon? Richter wanted to assume the former. Not only was it far more comforting to assume Nayru was at the top of her class, but she also seemed far more oriented in honing her innate abilities to deadly proficiencies than, say, Marcus or Aeros. Was it a trait she had picked up from Aerious? The dragon had definitely come off as one of the more aggressive dragons Richter had met, and the Ilian had no doubt that the foul tempered lizard would be fearsome if provoked.
“This is making for quite the history lesson,” spoke Richter, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes aimed just over Nayru’s shoulder. “I hate to say it, but I feel like I understand the Scouring better than I ever could have if I had never met a dragon like you.”
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jun 30, 2015 20:49:52 GMT -6
Well, she hadn't seen that one coming.
Nayru frowned at Richter's response, not in anger so much as a mix of hesitation and confusion that she quickly pushed under the surface as she tried to make sense of it. Apparently she had said something wrong, but Richter's comment hadn't come across as intentionally hurtful or hateful, per se, more an observation, which... really just confused her more, frankly. But at least he wasn't trying to axe her a question or anything, so Nayru figured she could at least go along with it and try to figure out what he actually meant along the way.
Perhaps another dragon might have shied away from the subject at hand harder or taken offense to it, but in truth Nayru had considered similar viewpoints a few times, but never really been able to discuss it at any length from a relatively neutral but open perspective; obviously talking about how great the Scouring was wouldn't be a great idea with most dragons, and with most humans she couldn't really allude to the whole 'btw I'm a dragon' thing, weakening her own position. Might as well give it a shot here.
"I... confess I have wondered if in some ways the Scouring was not necessary," she admitted, not exactly enthusiastic about her own wording but determined to go ahead with it regardless. She could quibble over wording later for future reference, but trying to get the conversation started first was more important. "Whether dragons were benevolent rulers or tyrannical despots, it was inevitable that humanity would reject the prospect of unending slavery, try to stretch its limits and find its own place in the world."
"And in some ways, perhaps the lesson of humility was necessary for dragons stuck in the mindset of racial supremacy... without respect for their 'inferiors,' dragon warlords and the Celestial Council alike would ill care to make concessions. As tragic as it was, perhaps it was necessary for there to ever be real reconciliation in the distant future... whether in the modern age or a still more distant future." She wasn't sure if she truly believed it, but the subject was definitely something Nayru had struggled with for a long time now; it was an ugly thought, but ruthlessly pragmatic in its logic. She hadn't been alive before the Scouring to confirm those truths, but from what she knew, dragons as a group had thought little of true human freedom and were unlikely to have ever truly worked towards equality unless forced to - as they eventually had been, payment for their hubris.
Or maybe not. Who knew? Even in Arcadia the records of the Scouring itself, much less its true origins, were scattered, biased, incomplete; as many opinions as there were survivors, each side all too ready to blame the other, and even among survivors who believed in reconciliation there had been some enmity for generations. "...Though I suspect that is not exactly what you were thinking. What's your take on it?" Sort of an open-ended question, room for Richter to decide how to answer if he even did; she had simply set the scene for him to do so.
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Post by Richter Abend on Jul 4, 2015 13:00:17 GMT -6
Richter had remained quite stoic throughout their conversation, but he couldn’t help but let out an awkward chuckle at Nayru’s words. A dragon admitting the Scouring had maybe been necessary? Even he had not presumed to go so far. “No, that’s not exactly what I was thinking,” replied Richter shaking his head. His smile slowly faded from his face. “But I have to admit that, given your previous company, it’s refreshing to hear that you're at least thinking about it.” The Ilian paused, mulling over what he had just said, then decided to clarify. Nayru had been doing most of the talking anyhow.
“Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t there,” he said. “I have no idea who instigated the violence, or why they did so. To me it’s not something that can be right or wrong. To me it’s just history. It just happened.” Richter’s gaze wandered upwards, just over the dragoness’s shoulder. “And I live in a world shaped by the consequences of that decision. But the more dragons I meet, no matter how friendly or amicable you are, the more I realize just how terrifying you can be.” He shook his head. “For humans it's not so much about balance. It’s about fairness. It’s about ‘rightness’. I don’t attack my neighbor because I trust him not to murder me. I don’t revolt against my king because I trust him not to oppress me.” Again the Ilian paused. He had first hand experience growing up in an environment where life wasn’t so much about harmony as it was peace. “But when that trust is broken, humans start fighting each other. They want to see ‘rightness’ restored. If my neighbor murders my mother, I want to see him put to justice. If my king oppresses me, I want to see him dethroned.”
“So in a world where your neighbor can kill you with a sneeze, how can you ever feel safe?” Richter continued, holding an entreating hand out in front of him. “You might not mean me any ill-will, but I don’t mean an ant any ill-will when I step on it. It just happened to get in the way. In the eyes of the ant, how can that ever feel ‘right’?” He shrugged. “But I’ll be honest, I don’t care about that ant at all. I’d step on a million more if they got in my way, and if they ever tried to rise up and wipe me from the face of the earth I’d fight back every time. I’d exterminate them.”
“In this case, the ants just happened to win.”
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jul 9, 2015 3:42:36 GMT -6
"Aerious and I did not share a great deal of our philosophy," Nayru responded quickly, maybe too quickly, and a touch woodenly. There was a story in there, one that hinted at the dour nature of their parting, but she did not explain, and frankly she regretted it a little in the wake of her words. Not that it was 'bad' if Richter knew or anything, but it was a bit... uncontrolled of a response, and Nayru had been trying to leave that episode behind her. She was still a bit ashamed of it honestly, her excitement to meet a dragon who was willing to spend time with her, especially in the wake of her first friend in centuries in Elly, had left her a little too vulnerable and a little too open to explaining away his 'quirks,' and not nearly critical enough of his beliefs.
A mistake she didn't intend to repeat if she ever met him again.
But Richter's topic of discussion was, perhaps ironically given the subject matter was about the extinction of her entire race, much more pleasant and interesting of a subject to discuss. Hm. Maybe that wasn't the right way to put it, though it was mostly true, but that wasn't -why- she felt that way. Digging for an actual answer was almost instant - the truth she knew all too well but didn't have to like. It was less negatively charged for her personally. It was also more intellectually stimulating, sure, all of it was true, but the real reason for her was simply that it didn't make her feel uncomfortable like Aerious did, because it didn't represent her most glaring recent failure when it came to opening up to others.
...But it was intellectually stimulating. Richter made an interesting point, one that for better or for worse she hadn't really thought about all that much. Not that Nayru had never thought about the Scouring before, of course, but to her it was much like it was to Richter - just history. The here and now was more relevant, and while she lived in a world parallel to his, one where she dealt with the aftereffects as a permanent tiny to her life, the modern reasons for that behavior were very different from those that had caused the Scouring. In truth, it didn't matter what the Scouring had been about in the first place; to humanity now, living dragons would simply represent the failure of the Scouring and the high likelihood of vengeance for crimes that some humans felt their race might have committed.
She wasn't entirely sure she understood Richter's logic, either; not so much disagreement as simply very different world views. "Hm... and yet many humans don't trust their neighbors, and yet they still don't murder them. Prepare to protect themselves, maybe, but taking the active step to attack them first, I think, is also unusual among humans."
She wasn't speaking so much as a teacher or an egotistical ancient so much as trying to engage Richter directly. "While I... certainly speak from a somewhat different place in the world than you, with very different positions, I have met countless humans in my long travels, and most, I feel, are inherently good. Distrust can breed terrible things, but it can also be overcome. Certainly humanity lived with dragons in relative peace for a long time, but more relevantly, different countries, or territories, or fiefdoms, or even villages and households, still manage to live in peace with each other day despite their differences."
Was that what her disagreement with his logic was? She wasn't entirely sure. Perhaps it was simply that she didn't like the idea of people as a whole being all that prone to violence. "Even you - you have little more in common with the average farmer than me. Perhaps less, in fact, since I've spent... roughly the span of your lifetime as a farmer myself, whereas you are a career soldier, if I understand it correctly. Outside of both being human, and I would argue both races contain that same spark of self, you exist in as different a world from him as I do. To him, you are as much the terrifying force of absolute power as humanity perhaps once saw dragons, and yet there is peace there - because, as you said, he trusts you not to murder him."
"So why can that trust not be extended further? There are bad apples among both groups - bandits and mad kings and heartless mercenaries among humans, dragons that have lost everything to humanity and lash out as a result. I would argue that the madness of kings hads done more damage to Elibe, killed more humans directly or indirectly, than every rogue dragon since the Scouring, and perhaps even before it, such that perhaps not even the casualties of the Scouring itself could compare. Is the racial divide between humanity and dragons so great that nothing can truly bypass it - that it will forever be 'you' and 'me' rather than 'us?'"
Nayru hoped that had come out right - while she realized belatedly she had talked a bit too long, and cut off her thoughts about what it might take to bring the races together for future phases of the discussion or another debate entirely, she did have a certain... tendency to wax eloquent, perhaps a bit too much so, when she found something interesting enough to debate. "I apologize for my lack of brevity. I find the subject fascinating and sometimes get carried away."
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Post by Richter Abend on Jul 13, 2015 1:17:46 GMT -6
"We usually kill mad kings, don't we?" Richter shot back, a shrewd look on his face. He wasn't sure Nayru's comparison really worked. "We try to anyway. It doesn't always succeed, and sometimes the battle to do so kills more people than would have died if the king was just left to play god until he rots, but I don't know a single person who, if they were given the strength to act, would just let Kraft saunter by unless they had something to gain by his well-being."
"I don't know if humans and dragons will ever be able to get along again," replied Richter, shaking his head. He shrugged. "You'd think it would be better if we could, wouldn't it? If everyone could just get along? I'm not entirely convinced." The Ilian paused. His brow furrowed as he thought. He realized he was getting into "I think it's alright that your people were slaughtered and that you have to live in constant hiding" territory, but the issue of continued coexistence between two races that may just not be compatible was begged a legitimate question.
"There's a human saying," Richter began, making a slight pointing gesture with his good hand. "'One bad apple spoils the bunch'. It only takes one bad apple to ruin everything around it. What about the Eight Heroes? I know humans praise them as heroes, but from a dragon's perspective I would imagine they're villains, so I'm sure someone could make an argument that the Scouring was just a few bad apples." He tucked his hand back into the crook of his elbow, crossing his arms again. "But if that's true, then it only took a few bad apples to kill almost every single dragon in Elibe. And there will always be bad apples."
"The day he died, Marcus killed people," the Ilian continued. If his point hadn't become clear yet, he hoped it would be soon. "Not just the wyvern riders or the fighters who attacked him, but normal people, farmers and merchants, who had come to the arena with their husbands, wives, and kids just to watch a good tournament." Richter's gaze fell as he remembered the day. It wasn't something he really enjoyed recalling. "He hadn't meant to, I hope, but he did. I watched. Struck by his tail, hit by his wings, crushed under foot, or incinerated by his breath." He paused. The last item had almost killed him. "He was just too big, and too strong, and when backed into a corner humans died around him just because they had been unfortunate enough to have been there."
"I hadn't cared much at the time. I was still pretty angry at everyone who had tried to kill him and the fact that they succeeded, but if I had been alive a thousand years ago and that had happened to someone I loved, it would be hard for me to see the rightness in that." Richter's voice grew low as he spoke. He knew that pain, and he know how it could consume someone. He also knew that, even if he came to terms with it, it would never feel alright. "I would have a hard time dealing with how easy it is for a dragon to accidentally kill me, never mind if they happened to be a 'bad apple'." The Ilian sighed deeply. "For me, at least, from there it's not hard to see how that quickly turns to kill or be killed."
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Jul 13, 2015 7:13:39 GMT -6
"And yet Kraft has a hold of all Etruria - thousands, perhaps millions of men and women who either truly believe his lies, or who simply go along with them, uncaring of what might happen to the rest of Elibe so long as they and their families are safe. A nation that mere decades ago was such a nexus of learning and beauty, turned into such an ugly place by a madman... and the religious fervor following him, ironically enough, spawned by one of those very heroes." She smiled wryly. "Perhaps the dragons were not enough bloodshed for the Eight, so they came back for their own kind." It was a jest, if perhaps a poor one, but there was little guile or subtlety to its meaning. She wasn't incapable of it, but Nayru, especially as she was now, didn't much care to talk in circles or try to confuse her counterparts.
Richter wasn't really wrong. She didn't agree with him, couldn't agree with him, but he did not argue from some imaginary ivory tower of perfection, or even a sordid and twisted dream of reality - simply brutal pragmatism perhaps tinged by pessimism. In many ways, she couldn't help but acknowledge his truth, agree with parts of it - but she could not agree with all of it, and it was there that their viewpoints diverged. Richter's position, in her mind, became flawed when it failed to account for humanity's ability to recognize that those 'bad apples' did not represent their entire race - that one mad king did not represent all kings, that one bandit did not represent all soldiers, that one lying charlatan did not encompass all men.
If one considered that - certainly to include dragons in that understanding should be possible.
Difficult... perhaps bordering on impossible. But not impossible, and where there was a will, there was a way. If people WANTED to change that, they could. "...It... may be my youthful naivete speaking," Nayru began softly, blissfully unaware for the moment of the incredible irony in her choice of words as she stared down at her open hand, its palm upraised. It was so small. Nothing like Richter's broad hands, or the infinite vastness of the kind of pillar that would be needed to support a world that could actually contain her vision. She didn't know how to get there, and she didn't think she would be the person to usher it in, but she had to believe that someone could.
"...But humanity already holds the ability, the... judgement, to distinguish between the sum of its parts, and the whole. They do it every day. Bandits, mad kings, thieves, corrupt nobles... the difference between a concept, or an overarching group, and its individuals." She laughed, quietly, simply. More a chuckle than true laughter. "Perhaps you are right, Richter. Perhaps there will never be true unification again." Nayru breathed in, looking up from her hand to the sky. "But I believe it is possible. Not easy. Not soon. I wouldn't even know where to start. But if it was no longer an issue of us versus them - if humans and dragons were forced together, forced to realize they weren't so different at heart, or if they did so of their own volition... I don't think that future is quite so unlikely."
Her words were simple, honest, almost childlike, or perhaps childish, in their tone. Perhaps it was the idle dream of an eternal fool, or the dream of a visionary. She liked how the latter sounded more, but the former was a bit more likely. Truthfully, even if everything she said was true, Richter probably wouldn't live to see it; changing perception of an entire race would take a great deal of time, change most likely measured in decades and centuries rather than months or years. But if she was right, she was TOTALLY going to rub it in his ancestor's faces.
"I suppose none of that would sound very convincing to the loved ones of the dead." She was no different. If people killed Veigue, Erim, Elly, Hayle, Remus... she would want revenge. Perhaps it would even consume her. Nayru had spent her life running from those connections, terrified of what losing them would do to her, but she had been beguiled into letting her guard down in recent months, and the thought that she was only a few short decades at best from losing them was never far from mind. "And I suppose it is telling that I speak more in generations than individuals - as though to devalue what may be difficult in a lifetime, something that may never matters to a single mortal alive today, in favor of some future utopia akin to any religious zealot or charismatic god-king."
It wasn't exactly self-effacing, but Nayru was not too proud to admit the weakness in her own perception. "We may never agree on what the truth is, or where this world may lead its children... mortal and immortal alike. But I like to think that a thousand years, I could have this same conversation with one of your descendants, and they would be confused at the very thought of either race trying to exterminate the other."
"Hm. Is this what it's like to be an old lady? I feel like I should have more cats."
Aaaaand there went the mood.
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Post by Richter Abend on Jul 13, 2015 20:31:30 GMT -6
"If only all of us were immortal, then maybe we could all be as optimistic as you," Richter said, a touch of bitterness in his voice. It was easy to wait for change when you had an eternity to do so, but humans didn't have that luxury. Perhaps Nayru was right: in a thousand years maybe humans would be fine coexisting with dragons, because after all, two thousand years ago hadn't that been the case? But what about two thousand years from now? Three thousand years? Humans lived short lives, and it wasn't hard for generations to forget the lessons of their forefathers amidst tragedy. Bern was a great example of that. Constantly embroiled in war, it seemed like the moment the country's war-weary fathers died off did its war-hungry children begin banging their swords against their shields once again. It wasn't that they were evil, or cruel, or heartless. The rebels of Bern were fighting to take back their right to govern themselves, to make their lives better for them and their countrymen. And perfectly good people would die over that. Could an immortal dragon, with all the time in the world, truly understand the motivation behind that?
Nayru might not share a great deal of her philosophy with Aerious, that much he could tell just from talking to her, but she had that same, unconscious disregard for the fact that humans weren't dragons. Both were sentient beings, both could comprehend the philosophical and the moral, but unlike humans, dragons had the luxury of living for thousands of years, which was not something that could be understated. When you had that kind of time ahead of you it was easy to speak "in generations", and hope that maybe one day humans would collectively change their ways. But Richter knew better. Humans were an immediate sort. They cared about themselves, their families, and maybe their future generations. They cared about doing good, but they cared about doing it for those they could affect immediately. And they were also capable of great evil. For every act of good in the world there was someone comitting evil; probably two. Peace was an uphill battle, fought by a select few, and it never lasted for long.
There was no such thing as utopia, because when it came down to it, humans lived to struggle.
But there was nothing to be gained from carrying the conversation down that road. It would just start a fight, so the Ilian just shook his head and gave Nayru an odd smile. "For your sake, I hope you're right," he said, running his good hand through his hair. Regardless of whether either of them was right or wrong, it would ultimately only affect her. He'd be long dead by the time this subject of his conversation even came to pass. Perhaps that was the advantage of not living forever, of being so fragile: In the end, you didn't have to spend all eternity with your mistakes.
"It's getting late," said Richter as he let his gaze drift to the setting sun just now upon the horizon. It seemed this conversation had slowed him down a bit more than he had originally intended. Hopefully he hadn't kept his visitor waiting for too long, though then again, it wasn't like they had anywhere to go until they spoke with him. "I need to get moving, but I have to admit, when I woke up this morning I hadn't expected to have a conversation on human morality with a dragon."
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