![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
razeUlaan is an Adui stallion with a uniformly chestnut colored coat, except for at his muzzle where it has faded to a pale silver. His eyes are bleary with cataracts, knuckles thickly calloused, and the hoofed tips of his fingers cracked and worn. Nonetheless, he regards you with bright curiosity, ears pricked forward and nostrils flared.
-A human; it has been some time since I have seen your kind.-
You suspect the last time he encountered humanity, it was on less amicable terms. He has several deep pocks of scar tissue down his flank, another in his shoulder - bullet wounds. These types of injuries are becoming all too familiar to you in Transcendent veterans, and you wonder what a world filled with these weapons was like.
"I'm pleased to meet you," you reply, ducking your head in a gesture of respect that is most likely lost on the stallion.
-Pleased may not be the right response,- he answers. -I have killed many men. I have not regretted it. I have not doubted the merits of my actions.-
You have nothing to say in response. Borz rocks back slightly on her device, the bones and gears creaking quietly as she does. -This Raftian is the ambassador to Vortex,- she explains. -He is here hoping to negotiate amnesty and colonization privileges for a portion of the human population.-
Ulaan chuckles, a deep rumble of a sound. -I am just an old general like yourself, Borz, and one no longer involved in politics at that. You know I have no say in what happens to the remainder of humanity.-
-Tabu respects you,- she reasons. -I believe she would consider your opinion, in favor or against.-
The stallions tilts his head slightly, looking down at you, looking through you. -Raftian, do you know what the hardest part of righting human wrongs against the world was, for me?- he asks.
You shake your head and in case he does not know this body language add, "No."
-It was the eradication of domesticated animals.-
"Because you are like them?" You ask.
He stands taller and snorts in derision, ears back. -Do not insult me. The Transcendent may be a product of humanity, but we are nothing like the docile beasts you domesticated. We are beings of mind.-
"My apologies," you say, averting your gaze.
-Eradicating the domestic beasts was not painful because of our similarities, but because they were utterly at our mercy, and mercy was something we could not grant them. How could we? Imagine - billions upon billions of the animals raised for meat, millions upon millions of those raised for companionship. The sheer enormity of resources they consumed rivaled humanity's. There was no sustainable way to let them survive, and yet...- He closed his eyes. -We went about it humanely, of course, and selected the right ones for the job. At close range, those of us with surgical precision and training could neatly eradicate the brain stem. It was quick, kind.- Despite the words, he winces. -All the same, I remember the dreadful quiet of the feedlots when the last of the cattle had slumped to the ground. I remember the curious, trusting eyes of dogs as they came hunting for scraps and found their demise instead. I think cats may have been the worst; they did not all come willingly, and there was debate over if the feral among them sufficiently constituted wildlife to be spared. But in the end we prevailed; the complete extinction of domesticated beasts.-
"Why are you telling me this?" You ask. Surely at his age, the Adui stallion understands that you are too young to have ever seen a domesticated animal in anything but historical records, and thus unable to make a meaningful connection to the enormity of loss that was their eradication.
-Because you remind me of those dumb beasts,- he replies. -You and what is left of humanity are utterly at our mercy. And you come to me asking if mercy is something we can grant you.- He rests one massive hand on your shoulder. -Knowing what your species is capable of, how can we?- He looks to general Borz. -I am sorry, Borz, but I have not forgotten our purpose. I will not recommend human amnesty nor settlement to Bellmare Tabu.-
-A human; it has been some time since I have seen your kind.-
You suspect the last time he encountered humanity, it was on less amicable terms. He has several deep pocks of scar tissue down his flank, another in his shoulder - bullet wounds. These types of injuries are becoming all too familiar to you in Transcendent veterans, and you wonder what a world filled with these weapons was like.
"I'm pleased to meet you," you reply, ducking your head in a gesture of respect that is most likely lost on the stallion.
-Pleased may not be the right response,- he answers. -I have killed many men. I have not regretted it. I have not doubted the merits of my actions.-
You have nothing to say in response. Borz rocks back slightly on her device, the bones and gears creaking quietly as she does. -This Raftian is the ambassador to Vortex,- she explains. -He is here hoping to negotiate amnesty and colonization privileges for a portion of the human population.-
Ulaan chuckles, a deep rumble of a sound. -I am just an old general like yourself, Borz, and one no longer involved in politics at that. You know I have no say in what happens to the remainder of humanity.-
-Tabu respects you,- she reasons. -I believe she would consider your opinion, in favor or against.-
The stallions tilts his head slightly, looking down at you, looking through you. -Raftian, do you know what the hardest part of righting human wrongs against the world was, for me?- he asks.
You shake your head and in case he does not know this body language add, "No."
-It was the eradication of domesticated animals.-
"Because you are like them?" You ask.
He stands taller and snorts in derision, ears back. -Do not insult me. The Transcendent may be a product of humanity, but we are nothing like the docile beasts you domesticated. We are beings of mind.-
"My apologies," you say, averting your gaze.
-Eradicating the domestic beasts was not painful because of our similarities, but because they were utterly at our mercy, and mercy was something we could not grant them. How could we? Imagine - billions upon billions of the animals raised for meat, millions upon millions of those raised for companionship. The sheer enormity of resources they consumed rivaled humanity's. There was no sustainable way to let them survive, and yet...- He closed his eyes. -We went about it humanely, of course, and selected the right ones for the job. At close range, those of us with surgical precision and training could neatly eradicate the brain stem. It was quick, kind.- Despite the words, he winces. -All the same, I remember the dreadful quiet of the feedlots when the last of the cattle had slumped to the ground. I remember the curious, trusting eyes of dogs as they came hunting for scraps and found their demise instead. I think cats may have been the worst; they did not all come willingly, and there was debate over if the feral among them sufficiently constituted wildlife to be spared. But in the end we prevailed; the complete extinction of domesticated beasts.-
"Why are you telling me this?" You ask. Surely at his age, the Adui stallion understands that you are too young to have ever seen a domesticated animal in anything but historical records, and thus unable to make a meaningful connection to the enormity of loss that was their eradication.
-Because you remind me of those dumb beasts,- he replies. -You and what is left of humanity are utterly at our mercy. And you come to me asking if mercy is something we can grant you.- He rests one massive hand on your shoulder. -Knowing what your species is capable of, how can we?- He looks to general Borz. -I am sorry, Borz, but I have not forgotten our purpose. I will not recommend human amnesty nor settlement to Bellmare Tabu.-
