OOPs #244
Sep28
He’s come to a place of acceptance and peace with his own taboo lifestyle.
But he’s the first to give the “don’t do drugs” speech to kids, where “drugs” are “The old, pre-civilization cycle of endless and indiscriminate range-hunting migrations.”
Colorists: Koof, Oniontrain, Raptie
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Okay, so this answers a question: they don’t simply shun it to not scare the humans, they actually have deep seated taboos when it comes to this that seem to go further than that. Him wanting to partake in violence, especially hunting, is seen not simply as a deviance, but a debasement that one should never aspire to.
That said, I’m really interested in the concept of traveling with a baxxid clothed only in a flag, who randomly hunts animals along the path and brings them back to be eaten.
But still not punished. I think the Baxxid recognise that such individuals, though uncivilised, still have the things only they can do. Like guard duty on a caravan where violence is likely. No normal baxxid would agree to that, but this one will.
Have you not seen Tremors? Dey hunt from under de ground. Pretty sure dey drag zheir prey under de ground wizh dem so not to be seen feasting on flesh.
https://www.valsalia.com/comic/out-of-placers/the-val-salian-regional-field-guide-entry-8/
Is so, so scary to realize dat you are being stalked dat way, even if it is just a practice run to keep zheir instincts sharp.
Unrelated to my other post…
DAT FRONT VIEW. The eyes are more in line than I realized…
It’s pretty much the same for birds. There’s a reason you never catch us looking directly at a camera.
For reference…
https://www.valsalia.com/comic/out-of-placers/oops-168-classified-documentation-1/
This is an interesting cultural contrast to the yinglets, who are zealous to preserve their “old ways.” The Regional Field Guide has mentioned human/yinglet relations and human/baxxid relations, but never yet yinglet/baxxid relations. Do they find it difficult to relate at all?
The Yinglet ‘old ways’ are not very old. Yinglets are barely a century old overall. But they do have shorter lifespans, so they might have venerable traditions established by their ancestors which are still new in human terms.
Their Great Leader is a venerated, near-mythical founding figure… but there might be humans around who still remember meeting him when they were young. It might be a bit awkward – like running in to an old man who shares stories of that time he met George Washington.
We now have a partial answer with today’s page, where Kalgkur lets a yinglet ride him.
Somehow I feel good to be vindicated, zhat doze Baxxid ARE actually looking at me like I’m edible.
And also, so, so sad to be right. I’d like to help zhem and get to know zhem, but us being around zhem is more in de lines of temptation zhen companionship. Perhaps de Humani are de bridge between our species we can bozh rely on.
I could be wrong, but I think you’re over-reacting a bit. It’s often unhealthy for carnivores to put other carnivores on the menu, and it would be pretty psychotic to put other *people* on the menu.
I am all for advertising how terrible eating Yinglets are to anyone who can listen. So, so bad, and our “Soap” has been used as insecticide for Humani trying to rid home infestations with a greater than 50% success rate.
For if a Baxxid has eaten one of us, um, pretty sure zhey did eat humani in zhat Baxxid/Valsalia conflict zhat led to de current peace. Zhey are apex predators, who were desperate.
Zhey say now dat hunting is so, so bad, and I hope zhey zhink so, but I’m not going to test my luck (so so bad luck) wizhout a reason to. Zhere is nozhing keeping a Baxxid from visiting our enclaves if zhey wished to, if zhey were friendly towards us after all. We are a young race in many ways, but we can see it when we are being avoided, and zhem not wanting to be tempted to hunger is logical, as it would make a scene.
Oh god, forward facing baxxid are so cute!