Only he, himself
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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:
Interesting. I’m looking forward to finding out what this Judgement is. It sounds like a test/trial of some sort. I’m glad High Elder Varakses didn’t let Tesshk’Gn’s fear sway him, as it appears the latter was arguing for Kalgkur’s execution.
Defense Attorney Kuldra?!? Ohh our boi is so doomed. *shakes head* However giving Kalgkur’s destiny to de Humani is likely de right decision. HOWEVER may I propose giving him to de Yinglets instead? We’d give him clams, and even let him work in our Creche/nursery until we felt he was so, so sorry for what he did. We know zhat some crimes are serious, yes we do, I don’t say zhat he shouldn’t be punished some, But ultimately de offense was commited while in public service, trying to apprehend someone who was being de zheif. Us Yinglets have been killed for less, and de person who did it didn’t get a true justice for it.
Zo, is de life of a Humani really worzh more zhan dat of a Ying-person? And because de person was de Baxxid who did de killing does it mean Kalgkur needs to be punished more? I know de Humani are watching zhis, but zo are us Yinglets being ever so slightly miffed, expecting anozher episode of humani special treatment.
Is it just me, or does baxxid culture cultivate a rather unhealthy body image? Wanting to grow beyond a barbaric, predatory ancestry is one thing, but I think Tesshk’Gn takes it too far, and the unnamed guard on page 224 might be taking it too far as well. You can be civilized without *completely* denying your nature, right?
That’s somewhat of a tricky topic, and certainly one worth discussing any time a work of fiction is based around or includes notable bodily transformations.
Maybe baxxid culture does cultivate a rather unhealthy body image, but… look at it this way. Let’s say you desire to tapdance, yet have no legs. You desire to hug, yet your arms are locked, rigid. You desire to sing, yet your voice brings discomfort to all that hear.
There’s a fine line to walk between ‘acceptance’ and ‘resignation’ here. They clearly desire so much more than what their bodies allow them to achieve, and I frankly don’t think that’s inherently unhealthy. They have a remarkable culture, and are a remarkable people, but every one of them is shackled, disallowed from participating in the same joys of the world as everyone around them. Its rather easy to see them as an allegory for cultures of disabled individuals.
I don’t think they’ve completely denied their nature, so much as they lament that they cannot express the other facets of themselves to their satisfaction. Being around humans and yinglets and so many other creatures with digits that can grasp and write and draw… the ambient social reminders of what they do not have, cannot do, or must struggle to achieve what others do with ease, must be overwhelming. They literally have to modify their bodies to be able to hold stuff as simple as a brush.
Ultimately, I suspect that if Kassen’s transformation were more public knowledge, that the baxxid would likely find there’s a very, very high ceiling on the amount of effort and motivation they’d have to discover the secrets of that phenomenon. I suspect that they’d consider what they gain to be worth so much more than what they’d lose, and the baxxid population would plummet.
What you and “J: say are razher bozh deep and well zhought out. I say de phraise “De clothes make de man” has weight here. Humani in general play dress up to de point of it being a fetish (see what Ran did to poor Lopin earlier, though Lopin was into it) for zhem. Why do dis? I’d say de answer is our self image is affected by our apparel. A soldier wears a uniform not just because it helps zhem get sex, no, wearing it comes wizh a mindset of being a soldier. Same for being a so fancy trademaster, or doctor or whatever.
For us who have not a deep history of being…cultured would not zhe effect be greater, not lesser? Not only are we looking different for a purpose, but by choosing to live in zhe culture of Humanity we are in essense trying to be part of it. For us choosing to put our past behind us, choosing to look non-feral is a big step in zhat direction.
Vislet said it well in oop 26 zhat nobody is born so smarty pants as humani are, it is access to de wisdom of de past zhat uplifts zhem from de beasts. But for us Yinglets and de Baxxids we are not far from de days when we were but beasts ourselves. Us putting on de trappings of Humani society is saying we weld ourselves onto zheir pyramid of knowledge to be uplifted, and to zome uplifting ourselves if we can.
Zo for de Baxxid not wanting to look like zhey are beasts, I get it. And yeah, perhaps zhere are some who yet love to live as a feral, goodness knows zhere is freedom in baring my fur to de world on occasion. But to borrow anozher writer’s phraise “De call of de wild” is real for us. Wearing chozhes is a reminder dat we reject dat call personally, and communicate zhat to ozhers as well.