No... We're the opposite. Looking a thing in the eyes as you tear its throat out in your teeth is the appeal. Just like we're looking to do with the beast we're hunting now.
There used to be other zmeu subspecies... different clans, different cultures. But just like we see in every other sort of evolution, the population that's the most competitive in its environment is the one that succeeds. In our case, it was the population that was the most ruthless, the most greedy, and the one that most rejoiced in carnage and domination.
We consumed the other zmei. We consumed all our ancestral livestock. We consumed the rest of the world until the whole ecosystem collapsed, and then we consumed each other.
It's only by tempering our natures in the face of oblivion that we survived, but that desire to conquer and rend is still baked into who we are. And when it can't be expressed outwardly, it manifests in our society and culture and our social dynamics.
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2024-08-24 03:41 am (UTC)There used to be other zmeu subspecies... different clans, different cultures. But just like we see in every other sort of evolution, the population that's the most competitive in its environment is the one that succeeds. In our case, it was the population that was the most ruthless, the most greedy, and the one that most rejoiced in carnage and domination.
We consumed the other zmei. We consumed all our ancestral livestock. We consumed the rest of the world until the whole ecosystem collapsed, and then we consumed each other.
It's only by tempering our natures in the face of oblivion that we survived, but that desire to conquer and rend is still baked into who we are. And when it can't be expressed outwardly, it manifests in our society and culture and our social dynamics.