Quote Originally Posted by Brinne View Post
The idea that Venat was so petrified of a distant possibility for a stagnant future to the point of annihilating the planet feels so strange when in conjunction with the rest of the messaging of the expansion, which usually comes down to "we know that we're ultimately doomed, but we will do our best to live and find small joys, offering what kindness we can to others, anyway." "Avoiding the Plenty" is not and never will be something that can be done permanently, or with a huge, dramatic, terrible step like the Sundering. It's something you deal with day by day, every day, as a perpetual grind, talking and caring for individual people.

I always thought that Yshtola facing down the Ea was sort of hilariously easily transplanted onto Venat's problem with the Ancients: the Ea point out that everything is doomed, and that by reaching for "too much" knowledge will reach the inevitable end point of nihilism and apathy. Y'shtola's reply is that she doesn't care, will keep pursuing knowledge anyway, and besides just because it happened to them doesn't mean she agrees with it. Just replace "knowledge" with "happiness" and "better standard of living", and, uh.
EXACTLY. I want to say more but I need sleep and I just wanted to chime in with how much I agree with this. The Ea were the first thing to come to my mind as well. It's all going to end someday but that doesn't mean that you lay down and die because that end is inevitable and possibly unpleasant. You don't give up on everyone and claim there couldn't possibly be a way forward.