Tales from the Dawn #3: "A Question of Life" (Hermes)

[SentioftheHoukai]

But once again those quests that end with that realization are also largely paired with a newfound commitment to protect that sapient life. Take the quests in Labyrinthos for example where we find out a small troll is capable of speech. As soon as this is realized multiple characters spring into action to help them, and the questline ends with them receiving treatment befitting a sapient being. We don’t see that reflected in Elpis, where once again the plan for the Lyssa was to make it more intelligent for further experimentation.

I'm afraid I recall no such thing occuring for the vast majority of wildlife we personally extinguish in the game, and frankly one example does not a rule make. Forget the trolls for just a moment, if you please. Recall the many and numerous counterexamples in A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers..... and oh yes, ENDWALKER ITSELF. We don't exactly stop to hold a ceremony for the unfortunate demise of every squirrel, gorilla, opo-opo and pugil that we murder for their raw materials, now do we? In Endwalker it was revealed that literally anything could be bestowed a soul and you couldn't even tell right off the bat, the process was entirely random and decided by the Lifestream which nobody can truly control. Where is all the concern for THEM, since we have since stooped to potentially sapient animals.

Or better yet, let's use Stormblood's raid auspices and Aglaia's god formes as an example! For all we know, our vicious animal slaughters could very well have inadvertently prevented the birth of countless wise and honored auspice Elders. Is this not a terrible, unforgivable crime by the same flimsy logic we so often use to condemn the Ancients? "We couldn't possibly have known" doesn't work as an excuse, because not every Ancient was as morally bankrupt as Athena. Most could also pass with the excuse "I had no idea the creation I just extinguished, and that one over there that I lobotomized last week had souls!" so why are they somehow less entitled to the ignorance and naivete that the Sundered acquire in spades?

How about you stop vagueposting Theo and say this to those people directly.

Gonna be honest here.... This isn't the dunk you think it is. You frankly look no better than Theo with your hyper-aggressive "Why don't you come over here and say it to my FACE!" posts. But since we're on the subject, I do seem to recall either Lurina or Brinne calling some on here out for the same thing. Vagueposting without quoting those making the arguments in order to facilitate an easier time dismantling someone's argument while they may or may not be on the forum to defend their point of view at that particular point in time. Why is it that you never seem to call Lyth, or Cleretic, or Iscah, or Kari out for the manners of behaviour you call us malicious and nefarious Zodiark Trancers out for, I wonder~

After all, we just had a example on a Juri thread not that long ago of this manner of hypocrisy, making my point all the more relevant. Find me in the Alps if I cannot pinpoint just what exactly makes your allies exempt from this manner of criticism.

It's a bit worrying how quick we are to dismiss the Convocation's proposed sacrifices as 'unintelligent' life. That's the exact same party line that the Ascians used to justify the horrific atrocities that they committed against our societies over the past twelve thousand years - by claiming that we were somehow less than human.

Have we already forgotten how Kari literally just used this same "party line", as you call it to justify Venat's Sundering? I mean, come on if you're gonna make insinuations like these at least apply them fairly and equally.

And in the midst of all this, we have Emet-Selch, who not only resolutely believed in his own racial superiority, but had the gall to ask us to remember his people after he lost the battle to exterminate ours. What about the civilizations of the seven worlds that he murdered? The ones that we never had an opportunity to ever visit? Who will remember them? Who will tell their story? And we're expected to somehow prop him up as some fallen hero, to be celebrated in the very remembrance event of a calamity that he perpetuated.

We're forced in story to do exactly this for the sake of the omnicidal murderer Venat, so you'll simply have to forgive me if I fail to not grant the same dubious honor to Emet-Selch and the Ascians Three before they became the villains they were when we ended their pitiful half-lives. What about all the lives Venat ended? Oh right, you don't care about them and their deaths were justified on the basis of how evil Amaurotians were. All of them, every last single soul on the Star. Evil, baby-murdering, opo-opo sacrificing cultists all. Kill every last one of them, nobody at all will mind. After all, you can't quite be bigoted against a race that DOESN'T EXIST~

Right?

No, I don't think that his kind deserves any such favours. Let them fade out of the story, and away from memory. And if we ever get the opportunity to learn about the other non-Amaurotine civilizations from the Ancient world, let's hope that their spiritualism, compassion and generosity earn them the love of the players from a standpoint of mutual respect. Enough with the Amaurotine pretenders and their hollow pride. Give us a people like the Cetra. Let's see some real caretakers of the planet.

No thanks, apply this equally and evenly or not at all. The only way the Ancients get to be buried and forgotten is if the constant Venat toadie reminders cease as well. No other compromise will ever be deemed acceptable.

It's like Meteion said herself, the Ancients tried their very best despite themselves and yet nevertheless found themselves having failed regardless. Funny then, that this forum seems so convinced that the Sundered couldn't and haven't yet managed to resurrect and emulate literally ANY of their flaws. Personally, I smell a double standard~ ;3