Out-of-Placers
A story of inconvenient changes
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OOPs now has a Russian translation which updates shortly after the English pages are posted!
Now also in French:
And Ukranian:
OOPs now has a Russian translation which updates shortly after the English pages are posted!
Now also in French:
And Ukranian:
M O O N, that spells Poak!
Ha ha yesss!
Poak is a feeder, not a fighter, but we’ve seen him completely unfazed by sudden threats of violence, twice now, and it makes me wonder if his cookie is a little soft in the middle. Or is his fearlessness just a perk of being a patriarch, big, and well-liked, all at once?
I’d say dat Kattajak’s outlook is partly based on his job. He has to struggle and overcome zhings on a daily basis, and is one hunt away from being a cripple and losing his place in de community. Zhat amount of aggression dat is compounded by having a daughter who so, so takes after him is a lot of pressure on Kattajak.
Poak’s job is much more laid back. So as much as eizher patriarch’s personality was suited for dere jobs, they were as much shaped by the tasks given to dem over time.
I get the sense that Poak has the opposite of whatever’s eating Lippie. Like maybe he just plain doesn’t startle. Ever.
i get the feeling he’s made it his job to get to know eveybody in the enclave to make sure they are doing well so he knows Kattajak going to do that out of refleax not out of a real attempt to hurt him.
I get the feeling that Poak is much more dangerous than his teddy bear nature would imply. “You cannot be peaceful without being capable of great violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless.”
I do not for a second believe that Poak is harmless, by the simple fact that he sat on a bully very readily in his introductory page. The moment a threat to the enclave appears I do believe Poak is going to demonstrate that he is a very peaceful yinglet indeed.
Of course that’s how Poak sees things lol. I wonder if he became so good at food gathering/growing because he didn’t want to be a burden?
If one is dat big, who is going to argue wizh dem when dey choose a job to do? Poak don’t go hungry, and being mindful of his job, he sees ozhers do not eizher. Zhat he is being used to breed a warrior caste of large yinglets is not lost on him, apparently and is a source of pride.
It’s easy to forget just how big Poak is until you see him standing next to the other Patriarchs. Big ol’ teddy bear.
A kindergarten teacher explained the behavior of little kids like this: “When you are (or think you are) weak, powerless and totally dependent on others, it is really hard to be kind, patient, gentle and generous.” I feel Poak behaves the way he does because of his character strengths, not because lazy or weak of mind or purpose.
It looks to me like Poak has a shorter tail than normal. I’m sure it’s just related to his size, but still looks a bit stubby.
I think that’s just the way he’s built. He also has shorter ears than average, though not as short as Lippie’s. Being the least skinny yinglet in the whole enclave probably also makes the appendages look relatively shorter.
I agree. It’s probably the same length, with the same number of bones, and that kinda thing, just…. LOOKS shorter because it’s a lot thicker compared to the rest.
Biology can be weird.
The proportion is off. That’s what I was trying to say.
Considering his size, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has health complications – more mass without associated increases in joint carrying capacity, longer circulation without a heart to scale. While ‘big’ is certainly a valuable mutation, it’s also one with many potential side-effects. It might fall to the next few generations of matriarchs to carefully study his descendants and ensure their genes mix with yinglets that exhibit traits that would compliment and support the larger stature.
Poak himself may be on an unavoidable path to arthritis in his old age.
I could see that, but I also think the Yinglets’ starting small size helps him out- though he is proportionally bigger, he’s still small enough that the proportional strength of muscle fibers and connective tissue should tilt on the side of ‘more for less’, rather than the elephantine ‘less for more’.
Now, if his heartrate isn’t lower in proportion as well, THAT may be an issue.
Poak is just a absolute unit, that’s why his tail looks short compared to his body.
As for Kattajak, I think he might have a unique mentality that was passed on to Zally. It seems she has the same affinity for her Dad that Kattajak does for his daughter. I imagine Narklet would not approve if he knew.
Indeed, that could be used against him. Consider this potential move, for example:
1. Narklet, as we know, has been trying to gather influence with the hunters. We don’t know why – maybe he is planning a coup, maybe he feels that the best way to avoid conflict is to ensure he is in a position of power.
2. Vislet is aware of this. But cannot act openly against him, because acknowledging the takeover would risk escalation.
3. Vislet, being a smart scheming Yinglet, tries a Ploy: She arranges for a ‘leak’ to Narklet regarding the Kattajak-Zally relationship, knowing that it slightly offends Yinglet traditions. Not to a huge extent up here, but to a firm traditionalist like Narklet? He’ll be annoyed.
4. Narklet may fall for the trick and berate Kattajak – or even better, condemn him in public. He’s a natural schemer too, but young and inexperienced.
5. Scheme accomplished: There is now hostility between Narklet and Kattajak! And thus between Narklet and all of the hunters, which will make it more difficult for him to secure influence, and reduce the number of physically-powerful Yinglets who would side with Narklet should open conflict become unavoidable.
Yinglet politics is not usually as full of intrigue as human politics, but that just means they are less prepared for someone who shows true manipulative talent.
Narklet would just have Zally removed by de Yinglet Council to live in a different enclave. Kattajak knows dis, and is why he really, really hates Narklet’s influence over de Val Salian Enclave.
Zhink about it, why else would Kattajak really push for living outside of traditonal ways? He’s a hunter, he stabs zhings. Living traditionally would be fine for zhat, minus for his attachment to his daughter.
And everyone would know it. It would be the end of Narklet’s influence, making that many enemies: He’d be a patriarch in title only, who people ‘forget’ to inform about meetings. Or he will end up dead in some random animal attack because none of the guards will lift a finger to help him.
For Narklet, using his elder council connection is a very dangerous move. The council is a long way off, and the Val Salia enclave is in the unique position of having an option to formally cease relations with the elders, thanks to Vislet’s excellent diplomatic skills. Narklet really doesn’t want to push things far enough that this option might gain support among the other patriarchs, or force Vislet to exert her considerable influence towards that end.
That’s the nature of their power struggle. It really is cold war politics: Neither Narklet nor Vislet can openly move against the other for fear of escalation. If Narklet overplays his hand or pushes too hard for traditional values then he will make enemies of half the enclave, losing any influence he has. Vizlet is sure he’s up to something, but can’t act against him without forcing the elder council to intervene, which would leave her with no option but the schism.
The schism option is Vislet’s nuclear bomb: Using it would be a disaster, but merely the dangling possibility is enough to make Narklet cautious.
What we don’t know is Narklet’s long-term plan. He could be playing the political game, yes – get his own loyal supporters in key positions, undermine patriarchs like Kattajak who would oppose him. But he has something else going on to – some secret plan involving scavenging, and Zhat Zhing. Whatever he is up to, I think that once he has all the pieces in place he will have to move fast.
And now we have a spanner in the works of all his scheming too: A critical asset has been lost, a mysterious new female has turned up out of nowhere, and relations between the enclave and Val Salia grow stronger than ever.
I see dis from de opposite side. De Council is the only reason whatsoever dat anyone listens to Narklet at all. If de ValSalian Enclave seceeds from de oversight of de council, dere would be healzh issues in regards to the genetic stability of ValSalia’s population in a remarkably short time if dey weren’t wiped out by a united force from de ozher Enclaves.
If Vislet’s faction seceeds, dey would have to leave de enclave and live wizhin ValSalia itself for protection. Dis would be a boon for Kassen, and force de rowdy population of Yinglets now dere under some semblance of order, but for De City itself, de Beletans would have a red carpet laid down at ValSalia’s doorstep for invasion as De Council would absolutely throw in with eliminating bozh de Trademaster and Vislet’s faction as well for little effort on dere part.
We don’t know yet why “Dat Zhing” is important to de council, but it’s de only zhing dat dey seem to really have Narklet tasked to do, much more so zhan anyzhing to do directly wizh Vislet. Until we understand why, we don’t know de stakes involved for bozh Kass, and de rest of doze allied wizh Vislet and de Trademaster.
No-one actually wants to take the secession route. No-one wants to even talk about it openly. But just the hypothetical possibility changes the political situation greatly. Other enclaves don’t routinely have a we-all-know-hes-a-spy among the patriarchs. It really is the nuclear option: You can hope it never comes to that, but just having it in the background causes everyone to hesitate before escalating.
I wonder if even the council know what Zhat Zhing is. Narklet referred to it as ‘the sample’ – but what use would traditionalists have for a yingletifier? It would just bring in more knowledge and more changes. Perhaps it is only the sex-changing properties that interest them: More females means a population explosion, and could make Yingletkind collectively powerful through sheer numbers.
I zhink “Dat Zhing” may enable de council to live longer lives zhan what a Yinglet is biologically capable of. We are as likely to want a fountain of youzh as a humani is. Dat would be a powerful zhing for dem, as even Vislet is showing her age, such a temptation would be powerful for her. Just a zheory, but would explain why de council cares for little beside acquiring “Dat Zhing”.
But it’s even better if it makes more girls! It’s always hard to find some to spare for a new enclave.
Now I wonder: is this walk just peripatetic philosophy between friends, or are the two patriarchs going somewhere in particular with purpose? What place are we in here?
Food tends to be stored underground, for bozh temperature regulation, and because for zheir survival it needs to be stored in a place dat isn’t flammable…because sooner or later everyzhing catches on fire thanks to being around Yinglets. Eggs, Food, and ozher important zhings being kept away from being burnt in a inevitable fire is one of de reasons de Enclave system has worked so far.
One of the many useful things Yinglets could learn: Food preservation. Have they figured out how to dry or salt foods yet? Or pickle them? I wouldn’t trust yinglets with a smoker.
Um, you do know we eat slugs, right? What happens when you put salt on a slug?
…saltyments?
the worst thing just happened to me today
*hugs* ~whine~ I hope zhings if dey can’t get better, at least stop feeling so, so bad soon.