TRANSCRIPT:
IPOLA: Thanks. He talked … too much.
GORSHASH: No, I will not have your thanks. I will have nothing from you.
IPOLA: So - are we going a few rounds, then... you and me?
GORSHASH: No. Clothe yourself. Take your weapons. I will arrange for a mount and that you may leave this sacred place. If you take care you may find your way home past our sentries and patrols.
IPOLA: Okay. Care to tell me why?
GORSHASH: You already know, I think.
IPOLA: Humor me for a moment.
GORSHASH: Because I wish for Kor Lachnis’ words to be a lie. I will make it so that Urtts owe nothing to him - or to you. We will owe nothing to your kind. We will be the makers of ourselves, and we will be the ones to defeat and destroy you - even as you swore you would do to the Urtt those years ago. Eroghen shall die, its memory forgotten. And, in time, Urtts will make our own slaves, even the degraded eshtakks will be wiped out - and you will be as if you had never been.
29 thoughts on “Perfect Hatred – Page 1174”
Mish_Lady
A noble cause, fueled by a perfect hatred. He is forging a path for his people, by his people. They will finally have control and sovereignty.
Not saying that he is going about it the ‘right’ way, of course. To him, this is the ‘right’ way. The whole ‘eye for an eye’ deal. ‘You had us as slaves and play things, now time to turn the tables.’
The good thing that already came from this is a way forward for the Kivalians and the Draconians. Mentl is back, and the unbalanced cha has been somewhat balanced. Kor Lachnis is, for now, out of the picture. For if Shuach really is the master of his subjects, then tongue should have crossed his mind as something that Gorshash could do at some point. Get KL out, get some balls rolling, then take over.
Mish_Lady
That* not tongue! Haha.
Joe
A perfect hate, indeed; as utterly pure as Kor Lachnis finally knew it be.
And now Ippola knows what she must do.
Lora
Genocide. Yes, that does fit in with the theme.
I doubt Gorshash will change his position, too much hatred, but I don’t think Ipola is that hooked on genocide anymore, so it will be interesting to see how the Nassim change things.
jd.
You know, his pride and stance are impressive enough that for an instant, I respected Gorshash.
And then it hit me. “So… you’re planning to have thousands of your people killed, huge areas thoroughly ravaged, famine and sickness plaguing everyone, just to support a lie that soothes your petulant teen pride?” I guess Ipola could put it more diplomatically, and I imagine at any rate he’d dodge the argument, but really, dude, grow up.
Another possible retort from Ipola would simply be “PAIO” at Gorshash’s head. I guess that might greatly imbalance the cha, but that’s a delicate matter. On the one hand, he just helped her, and though I’m no expert I’m pretty sure it’s against the balance to kill someone in that position. On the other hand, he is her enemy, one she’s sworn to kill. Maybe if she killed him, then offered the other Urtts to balance the cha through battle?
jd.
(By the way, if any of our kin are teens and offended by my calling Gorshash a teen, please accept my apologies. I do hold that “I don’t owe anything to anyone, I’m my own person” is a typically teenage attitude that some of us outgrow with time and experience, but I certainly wouldn’t state that every person between 10 and 25 necessarily has that point of view. (In case anyone’s wondering, yes, I did. And I’ve noted this in others.)
MasterDiver
Good, honest hatred…Refreshing.
Kor, Military Governor of Organia
MasterDiver
Good, honest hatred…very refreshing.
Kor, Military Governor of Organia
calisto01
I think someone’s God is going to have a problem with this plan.
Also is anyone else seeing a huge lag between posting a comment and the comment showing up?
Lora
Yep. I usually comment then come back a day or two later to see the comments from people.
DMC_Run
@[calisto01]:
If I had to guess, I’d opine that perhaps this ‘lag’ is due to a layer of website security.
I’ve just been assuming that a set of human admin’s eyes are being used to examine each post, & weed-out attempted “spam”-incursions … ?
Reservist
Hmm… going Xerxes, eh, Gorshash? Y’know, in the end, the Greeks still win.
Ladyofthemasque
I cannot say this to Gorshash’s face, because he’d hate it…but I actually respect his reasons. That entire line of reasons, goals, intentions…I can respect that viewpoint. Mind you, I hope Erogenians & Kivalians, etc, kick the Urtts out of existence; I’m not voting in the least tiny bit for Gorshash to get all of his dreams-come-true…but I can respect his reasons.
DMC_Run
@[Ladyofthemasque]:
Agreed.
To me, this page is a picture-perfect example of how important it is to understand that …
“Comprehension Is Not The Same As Agreement”
Every good story-teller knows that no-one is ever “The Villain” in their own mind.
Their “Evil” choices are what seem to them to be the best possible choice, given their grasp of the situation, the available options that they know of, etc.
How much we are allowed to see of the motives behind their choices will determine whether we view them as “tragically misled/misunderstood”, or “inscrutably malevolent”.
Jean
^^^^ THIS.
Comprehending something is indeed NOT the same thing as agreeing with it.
I comprehend Gorshash’s plan. I utterly disagree with it and thoroughly oppose his proposed outcome…but I can respect his convictions.
VoidHamlet
Well, I applauded.
Archone
I’m hoping that Ipola understands that this really is the Eregonians’ fault. Their sins coming home to roost. Everything the Urtts have done, they learned from the ancient Eregonians. They were slaves and victims, and Ipola is now being confronted with just how much the Urtts are motivated, not by petty sadism or evil for the sake of evil, but religiously fanatical hate of the warm blooded humans who taught them so well.
Which means that hopefully, maybe, she can find a way to make peace… maybe, just maybe, she can show him that the modern Eregonians share the Urtts’ hatred of ancient Eregonia, and find a better way to completely erase the taint of that foul fallen regime.
DMC_Run
@[Archone]:
I also wonder if she can she HER_OWN_SHARE of fault in this mess.
When she made that ultimatum, threatening to wipe-out the Urtt people, did she know then that they were originally created from Eregonian DNA?
That they are the physical manifestation of the sinfully “unbalanced cha” that still remains from Kor Lachnis’ era, centuries before.
Would that data have caused her to change her mind?
Rather than cave to her threat, they’ve regrouped, doubled-down & met her strength with their own Eregonian resolve.
In a twisted sense, the Urtt people represent the “dark mirror” of Ipola’s tribes.
On a genetic level, you could say that Eregonia is fighting against itself.
DMC_Run
TYPO_ALERT_Re_”… if she can she …”:
That was supposed to be: “… if she can SEE …”
#Sorry_About_That_Chief … 😉 … 😛 … 🙂
MikeLinPA
Gorshash said he doesn’t want to owe anyone, but the truth is we all owe each other no matter what we want. Ipola owes the ancient Erogians as the Urtts do. That cannot be undone. They all must move forward. Gorshash is determined to move backwards in a futile attempt to erase history.
Even if he succeeds, the ancient history will still be. It doesn’t matter if anyone remembers it or not. They all owe their existence to the ancient Erogians.
jd.
As for Ipola’s understanding of the Erogenian’s responsibility in the current situation, it’s been shown that she and her close ones (daughters included, naturally) are quite aware of that. I can’t recall when, nor do I have the time at the moment to look it up, but I think it was Tula who explained it to Mentl at some point, probably before he left Erogenia. If anyone finds it before I do, thanks, siblings.
As for the Urtts’ motivation, maybe you are oversimplifying it. They don’t just hate the warm-blooded humans: their viewpoint (as I understand it) shaped by Shuach is that, in a nutshell, might makes right and that suffering is the best way to exert it. (I’d elaborate, but my lovely wife calls me to dinner.)
Tgape
I think Archone probably meant “While we know she knows *now*, did she at the time?” It’s clear that Ipola learned it at some point between when she was born and when Tula told Mentil, but was it before or after the first encounter with Gorshash? I could very easily see that being a detail that came out of research that happened in the time of peace after that bit of war, because there’s time for that sort of thing in peace. But Ipola quite clearly studied a fair amount before she threatened Gorshash, so she could have known it before.
Archone
More than that. Gorshash’s words. The hatred in them. The clarity. There’s a difference being intellectually aware that the Urtts hate Eregonians because they were created by them, and hearing an intelligent, articulate being express such loathing up front. The latter has got to be one hell of a gut punch.
jd.
All right, I’ve found the reference. It actually happens when Our Trio follows Ginsha into that cave, which turns out to have been a dark place of the old Erogenians. Tula and Zona give exposition to Mentl: https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/present-and-past-light-and-dark/page-161/
Note that the term ‘exposition’ is sometimes intended as criticism towards a boring, lengthy explanation of how the fictional universe differs from that of the reader; I certainly don’t mean it that way. Exposition, like pretty much anything in storytelling, can be done well or badly. If you’ll indulge a short disgression, I’ve always found the fish-out-of-the-water scenario to give the best openings for exposition, but naturally you have to build a convincing fish-out-of-the-water situation first. Two of the best such situations I can think of in modern fiction are The Challenges of Zona and the Harry Potter series.
The Gorram Batguy
Uh…guys? I’m not sure Kor Lachnish is actually down for the count. We saw Shuach revive an effectively dead Gorshash after Tula beat him that one time. I wouldn’t even be surprised if being killed as a “perfect hatred” counts as some kind of unholy sacrifice to Shuach and he’ll come back as some kind of flaming demon or something…
Or maybe he really is done, and we’re going to see Gorshash truly reclaim his Big-Bad britches and show himself as the mega threat Kor Lachnis was set out to be. Maybe that whole unholy sacrifice thing will work in his favor even, giving him a power boost?
Reservist
Has anayone remarked what little is left of the eshtak? O_o
Reservist
“I’m hoping that Ipola understands that this really is the Eregonians’ fault.”
The **ancient** Erogenians.
This happened 3000 years before their time. So modern-day Erogenians have nothing to do with it, except some very old blood-lineage, but that’s it.
DMC_Run
@[Reservist]:
I’m not saying that it’s her doing, just that (if I understand this story’s given meaning of “cha” correctly) the creation-&-slavery of the Urtt people represent an “unbalanced cha” that won’t be fixed by merely going their separate ways, & practicing “Live & Let Live”. Something *MORE* needs to be done here, something monumental, to right this ancient wrong. I can’t even begin to imagine what that “something” might need to be.
—
Perhaps Mentl might have some ideas to suggest … ?
As I recall, he has his OWN personal piece of “unbalanced cha”, currently wandering in the woods, struggling with both lingering mesmerism & brain-damage.
I suspect that [J.E.Draft] is not yet finished with her, & that she might yet play a larger role in this drama.
the_eldest
I hope someone remembers to behead KL! Powerful, nasty things have a rather bad habbit to return at inopportune times if left in whole.
On another note to avoid the genocide there’ll have to be a big change (of attitude and maybe even worldview). Ipola’s oath was quite definite and I have yet to find a loophole to get her out of this apart from the Urtts being moved to another world and maybe her death. However she does generally speak of we, not I, apart from the last sentence, so it will be tricky.
See https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/death-is-a-place/page-930-2/
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