> Dog Instinct: Chase that which runs.
This is the bigger danger, because as much as we want to pretend that every doggo is a goodboi and wouldn't hurt a fly, that simply isn't the case.
A dog will DEFINITELY hunt a Venlil given that everything they do is constantly screaming "Come eat me, I'm food" to a dog's standards. A trained one would know how to not hurt the venlil, and a tame one would see them running away as an invitation to play. But just to be on the safe side, don't bring any dogs to venlil prime.
nah, drop like a dozen sheep dogs on the planet and they will herd them like champs though.
other dogs that aren't feral probably wouldn't do much more than beg for food or demand playtime
We will see. He might get angry if someone tells him the whole story....
"WHAT?!????!!!!??!? I have been though all that shit.... billions have died.... Because 2 of the 3 founders of the federation.... Because they couldn't be bother to find a diplomatic solutution for all of their problems with the 3. one??!?!?!?!?!?!"
It's quite a double whammy. He was primed from birth to hypertrophy his trauma response to the stimuli he was eventually subjected to. His whole life was basically the opposite of SERE training for having been captured.
This "prey religion" that so many of the federation species have (which was presumably inculcated by the Kolshians) is possibly even worse, overall, than the *other* crimes of the Kolshians, and even the actual Arxur war. It's basically ensured that even the strongest among them are *primed* for massive PTSD.
Really makes me wonder how many Kolshians and Farsul ever got captured by the Arxur. I have a theory that part of the Fed indoctrination was to make species on the periphery of Fed space not able to fight as hard so the Arxur wouldn't feel the need to push further in, it's a classic "sacrifice some to save ~~me~~ the herd mentality.
Yeah it really fits my theory that the Kolshians were āgentlingā all the other races to keep them subservient. They could easily integrate any new prey species they met, the peace the Feds offer would make it stupid to maintain any level of military that would threaten the leadership.
The only threat to their power would be predators, so they instilled this all powerful fear of predators into their client races to ensure the Feds would all happily agree to destroy any potential competition that they couldnāt simply gene modify and culture bomb into submission.
All the while looking like the glorious saviors and saints of the Federation. Sick, twisted, but smart bastards.
Glim: *hears the Humans talking amongst themselves about having a moral obligation to help the former Venlil cattle, with no prey nearby to justify a āruseā*
āTheyāre clearly not capable of compassionā
He's basically been broken out of Auschwitz and taken for care at a Hindu hospital. Completely different ideologies but an unfortunate visual similarity.
"They must be truly incredible hunters, to have known that I'd come out of THAT vent and hide behind THIS bush at this specific time so that they could stage that conversation in front of me!"
It reminds me of that old story about the Americans being the most feared army to face strategically, because we just make everything up on the fly, and if even we donāt know what the plan is then our enemies cannot know either, or something like that haha.
āThe humans are so good at pretending not to be bloodthirsty predators, theyāve even convinced themselves! Diabolical!ā
> Americans being the most feared army to face strategically, because we just make everything up on the fly
To explain this more clearly:
American military command can basically be broken down into
"Commanders set broad objectives"
"Lower Officers set objectives to achieve those objectives within their assigned areas of command; this continues down the chain to the grunt"
"Rank and file grunts and lowest officers are given extremely high levels of independence to accomplish the objectives set by their superior officers; even if they don't know the broad strategic objectives at the highest levels; this is intentional, compartmentalization of information is a good security tactic."
Result: US Command tells his officers to get something done and it gets done even if no one knows *how* it got done until after the battle. Sub-Result: this confuses the fuck out of everyone that is not the USA, and also everyone that IS the USA that's not in the direct loop of the AO's command chain".
Fun time, all around; this is FYI, not something inherently special to Americans; most modern militaries do this; but American military take it that one step further; by giving rank and file more of a leash to accomplish goals than other militaries and training them properly so they CAN do it like that.
When in doubt, call the Marines. The enemy can't get a read on our strategy if our strategists are eating the crayons they're supposed to be making a battle plan with.
He said it himself, he is compartmentalizing to deal with his trauma.
Once he gets a breather and can assimilate what hes seen and hear... that will be fun.
"They must have heard me sneaking with their Predator Ears, and didn't report me or try to catch me at the moment as they didn't want to cause a commotion that would alert the rest of us cattle"
\- Glim, Journeyman Level Mental Gymnast ( Fs in the chat for Grand~~Wizard~~Master Kalsim )
To be fair, he's not really processing what is actually being said
I'm sure that, down the line, he will look back and realize that they were being genuine, but at the moment, trauma and paranoia is winning out
*"Concentrating on them tickled something in the back of my mind. The longer I looked, the more I felt like a child watching shadows move in my closet."*
*"The Gaianās posture had been odd, as though his hand was positioned to hide his teeth."*
Welcome to our newest eldritch abomination, folks -- Gaians, that's right, Gaians! Something is Just Not Right here, but you can *never quite* put your finger on what! Like your previous captors, except this time your terror has no logical outlet! Fun for the whole family -- when you can finally see them...
(Or: the rescues leave the slasher-horror genre only to enter the thriller-horror)
i wonder how many more chapters of sovlin-style denial is he going to go through before realizing humans aren't so bad.
i hope it's at least a couple more, so we can get to see how humans are affecting venlilian culture through him.
I have some hope for him though. I feel like he might adapt better than Sovlin. He'll be able to see first hand how humans are working side-by-side with Venlil.
Sovlin also feels like heās indirectly responsible for the glassing of the cradle (which he kind of is, tbf). Glim carries a lot of trauma, so much that Iād understand if he could never be around humans, but he doesnāt carry Sovlinās overwhelming guilt.
I think Glim will come around because his life mission was to protect the Venlil from supposed threats. He just needs time, or a sufficiently powerful culture bomb, to come to terms with the fact that in many ways that creed is the same for humanity, despite us being the supposed threat he was trained to fear and fight.
I really really hope that he will get back to his family and see that theyāve become good friends with the humans next door, or maybe even took in some of the refugees like the bartender has.
I would also love him getting to see more signs we arenāt ānew boss, same as the old boss.ā Show him the refugee camps full of humans living in barely passing conditions because thereās just not enough to go around for everyone on Venlil. Show him the absolute devastation of Earth. Show him clear evidence that we are far from in control, that we are far from being conquering invaders that have enslaved the Venlil. Show him how we are barely holding on yet we press forward not just for ourselves but for the many new allies we have gained that we have barely known.
He has years of "proof" that all that he was taught about predators was true. That trauma will make it very difficult to believe that this isn't deception and indoctrination. The fact that these "Gaians" deceived him for as long as he's known them doesn't help matters. Hearing that they are allied with the Arxur in a fight against the Federation is even worse! Imagine being "freed" from a concentration camp only to hear that your home nation is conquering the world with the Nazis and no one thinks that's a bad thing!
> Imagine being āfreedā from a concentration camp only to hear that your home nation is conquering the world with the Nazis and no one thinks thatās a bad thing!
Oof, but yeah, thatās a pretty close to 100% accurate comparison.
The main difference being in this universe, theyāre Jew-and-other-minority-eating Nazis who physically resemble your worst nightmares.
Yes! More of this! I've been getting bored of the nonstop distrust and fear of humans. I want to see more examples of successful integration and bonding between humans and other alien species. I want to hear more about how they are learning from each other and trying each others activities. I DEMAND VENLIL PRIME HAVE A PLANET-WIDE WATCH PARTY OF BBC's PLANET EARTH (narrated by David Attenborough) so they can see the beauty of a natural ecosystem in all the "good" and "bad"
Iām seriously hoping the Nature of Crows logic for Venlil Prime reproduction happens in the main universe
As for everything that is happening, whatās gone wrong? New crops. Trade. A crap tonne of new military advancements and a massively stimulated economy from all the human culture bleeding through
Venlil that still eat the I only need less than half of my diet to be meat humans are just bigots
Fanfic. Crow got to Venlil Prime. The hybridisation lore was basically biology on Venlil prime is controlled by the mother, making cross species mating very easy
the Yotul are starting a cheese cartel, why else would they put something as random as CHEESE into the species they created exclusively to start a war. They arenāt just going to sell weapons to both sides, theyāre going to mass produce cheese and sell it as a front! Donāt buy cheese, youāre supporting the ones who started the war!
It will be quite a feta for them to take on both sides with such a brie amount of time to prepare. They better go all in, and not try some havarti'd plan, or they'll be doomed to failure. I'm so excited about this idea though, that my teeth are cheddaring in anticipation!
Part 82 is here! We get our first new narrator in 40 chapters, and witness Glim's reaction to the predators outside his facility. He sees the human influence everywhere, but views our presence in a nefarious light. Will our Venlil rescue be able to escape Noah and Sara? What else will he learn of 'Gaians' in his travels?
Also, we get an in-depth look at Venlil culture, and how our cross-species integration has gone on a wider scale. What was your favorite tidbit from this misadventure?
As always, thanks for reading! Part 83 will be here Saturday.
I love the Venlil cultural exploration, and I wasn't expecting these past few chapters and how integrated Venlil Prime is, I'd expect there to be a lot more racists and a lot worse of an opinion of Humans. Talking about our hunting nature in a good light on national TV was quite a surpriser for me
The capital is the most human-friendly area, given that the bulk of the refugees are there! The more racist individuals were driven out by the āinfestationā š
It is incredible how the Venlil managed to societally accept humans within such a short period of time, with the bar owner and patrons finding these statements racist. Hell, in much of the US there is still a nontrivial level of anti-Black racism, despite the societal advances over the last 60 years.
I wonder if Glim would run into any of those "Venlil KKK" on the way home.
The Venlil are already a Xenophilic society to a point. The humans were just another new alien species for the roster. The only issue was the whole predator thing
Which, we have constantly disproven on every level. Even when forced to reach out to the Arxur, we didnāt abandon the Venlil. It probably made waves
There is not any real bad blood to hold onto, or burdens left by dead men to deal with
Yeah, I think that humanity sticking its neck out for Venlil despite how much we have lost ourselves really resonated with them. I imagine the return of the prisoners would seal the deal for all but the very most extreme racists.
To the prisoners, the masks and secrecy are a sign of something dark and tainted. To the general population, the fact that humans would go this far to save their loved ones, let alone out so much thought and effort into rehabilitating them, has to make us border on saints to them.
We have proven ourselves to be just as good of friends as any of the federation members, if not more. And thatās BEFORE you consider that we also fought the Axur, held our own with them so well we got them to stand down and stop eating Venlil people, and THEN turned around and allied with the Axur, and THEN started fighting the Federation to help free and save even MORE aliens we barely know.
We arenāt perfect, but I wager the Venlil and now our other new Allies havenāt seen anything remotely as altruistic and safe as us.
Humanity: no better friend, no greater foe.
Yes! That last statement is literally the point Iām trying to get across to people on the subreddit. Executing Kalsim shouldnāt be controversial, but apparently we need to spare to show good faith to the aliens. I mean, no. Sure, no greater friend. But, also. Terrible foe to have
The cultural background is very different between the two. The US spent decades profiting from slavery and then decades dabbling at (and failing to maintain) racial segregation. Venlil spent centuries being indoctrinated to fear predators, but to most of them the concept of ever encountering a *sentient*, *peaceful* predator was completely abstract.
The segregation didnāt fail, but you are right about the cultural background. If leaving out the issue caused by forcing it via the civil war. Cool, but doing it in such a violent matter made people (wrongly) believe it was unfair
The very same meat factory that bailed his ass out of Arxur hell. 50/50 on our Grim Venlil doing the Soylent Green "It's made of People!" homage scene.
The global Venlil answer seems to be "It's disgusting, but also it was never sentient and it help liberate our people. So I guess we can let the humans grow more of this weird red goo"
He's going to get home and find a social worker at his house, providing grief counseling and teaching his family what to expect from someone with PTSD and how to help them heal. They're going to UNDERSTAND the SHIT out of him and FORGIVE him for LASHING OUT in FEAR. Glim won't know what hit him.
This is culture shock on par with a South Korean POW finally released after 20 years in NK gulags and seeing Seoul in the booming 60s/70s development era.
aye, it seems similar to that, a lot of prisoners who were in prisons for decades in periods where cars and other things suddenly became more and more abundant, had a similiar reaction, albeit the korea one is far bigger and propably closer to the immense shock this must be for Glam
Just without the racism as much as an SK POW would see Americans around and remember their help driving out the Japanese and fighting with them against the commies so he would react much better seeing big Americans everywhere than Glam to the Gaians.
What he would probably be shocked most by is seeing all the big Koreans. Every young person he meets would stand a head taller and that would be the real shocker.
I'm a big guy and we had an ROK student at college that was 6'-4". Economy and diet improvement are a hell of a drug.
With men it's a 5 inches average height difference. That's immense, especially when you take into account that they're going to have larger frames too.
SK men are basically giants compared to NK men.
Poor Glim...he's got a lot of recovery to go through, and this kind of shock...probably isn't good for him.
He seems like an intelligent enough guy that "ripping off the bandage" might *work,* but the "Gaian" approach was probably healthiest. Too late for that now, though.
---
Now, what I would **love** to see? Glim gets to his family's home, only to see a human tending a vegetable garden for his Venlil family.
Then again, Glim would probably have a stroke, and I don't want to see *that*, so...
I really don't wish this level of trauma for anyone, but I really wish I could read Glim coming home just to see a teenage daughter of his getting cuddly with a teenage human boy in the couch.
It sounds like he's been away for a while; I would think that seeing his daughter cuddling with *anyone* might be tough to deal with, much less a *human*.
Not even as a possessive weird "hurr, what are your intentions with my daughter" thing, either, just in a "holy crap, is my daughter *really that old* already" sort of way. And then dealing with the human side of it.
Yeah, that would be all kinds of traumatic, I think.
This guys gonna be in for a real treat when he gets home, and his family is having Humans over for dinner.
also... ESCAPE THE CRADLE?! They made a movie out of the near extinction of the Gojid ALREADY?!
I mean, we make memes within minutes of horrific tragedies. With the movie magic technology of the future, they probably make full blown cinematic masterpieces in the span of a few weeks if not months!
Man, Glim is stuck in the same unwavering mindset as Kalsim and pre-invasion Cradle.. He's bending everything he seems to fit what he *assumes* is happening, rather than take it in for what it is.
I guess the question that this leaves is "will he change is worldview like Sovlin or stay ignorant like Kalsim?"
I truly hope she can, but that depends on if she shares the same beliefs as he does or if she can get through to him. He may think she's being controlled somehow.
I mean honestly, it's all pretty damning, isn't it? The lies, the overwhelming presence on Venlil Prime, the fight *against* the Venlil's historic "protectors," the *allyship with the Arxur...* I'd freak the fuck out, too, and I don't know what it would take to break through that.
Some human or alien will definitely make a psychological thriller "inspired by true events!" out of Glim's breakdown in 30 years.
oh damn, this guy has ptsd for Eons, i mean he was an indoctrinated exterminator whose view of predators was proven correct by what the arxur did, i don't know about you but i am unsure about if he will make a full recovery.
Being a surviving male Venlil, he likely was forced to be a "stud" for the creation of his future kids to feed the Arxur. That's why he is all kind of nuts about his family, he couldn't help his kids he helped make from being Arxur chow over and over.
Absolutely loving this entire Capatain America Ending scene of a chapter. Laughed a lot. I hope this doesnt end in a death scene or something. I like Glims perspective...dont want to have to see it as "murderer" in the future...
Incredible chapter.
A lot of cognitive dissonance going on there: Glim thinking that humans are incapable of empathy seconds after listening to humans talking about how helping to rebuild even a few lives would be a worthy endeavor.
Thanks for the chapter mate
Edit: Venmom best mom
>A lot of cognitive dissonance going on there: Glim thinking that humans are incapable of empathy seconds after listening to humans talking about how helping to rebuild even a few lives would be a worthy endeavor.
That's basically ALL of the Federation except Kolshian & Farsul High Command, + half the Tilfish population.
Glim may be part of that 40% that doesnāt recover. I wonder if this adventure will either shock him into the truth or drive him mad. Well done. šš»
He honestly feels like he'll become the poster boy for Venlil cattle that can't be reintegrated into Venlil Prime's society. He's still relatively sane, just too far gone into indoctrination to live in a Gaian-"contaminated" society.
If he doesn't find himself locked up for some reason, he's a prime candidate to be at least a figurehead of some "Gaian and Arxur free" colony program for cattle people who aren't able to reintegrate into a dietarily inclusive society. A world of their own, free of stereoscopic sets of eyes, where the sane ones like Glim can help their fellow herbivores heal.
I actually really like that idea. Set up a colony for the prey species that just canāt/wonāt integrate but also arenāt an active threat. Hopefully they wonāt need reservations to get inā¦ā¦..š¤£
Bit of a delayed reaction, but I was thinking about exterminators and how human conservation efforts might clash with that when I realized; Steve Irwin.
Any fed species would shit absolute bricks at any single episode of the Crocodile Hunter.
The Venlil study the records of this Steve Irwin and use it as a basis for all diplomacy with the Axur.
VenDiplomat: Ah crikey, ain't he a beaut!
AxurDiplomat: ..... thanks?
An unpleasant thought, but since Glim was kept as cattle and is an adult, he was almost certainly breeding stock.
In addition to predator phobia, his PTSD will probably also include a bunch of relationship dysfunctions.
This guy deserved a better life.
I think that bartender owes Glim an apology later, most humans wonāt hold it against him given his circumstances
And heās going to find a Gaian in his families home I betā¦Glim is really getting a psychological workout here and post recovery is going to understand why the Gaia a were slow about this
I mean I'd be pretty pissed if someone called my child an it and said they'd eat me. Probably tell them to get out of my bar too.
The bartender doesn't have the luxury of knowing the internal torment of glim like we do, they just see someone being crazy in their bar.
I wonder if appeal to ruthless pragmatism could work where logic and reality failed.
Because to be blunt, Venlil, and pretty much any other sapient species, makes terrible cattle. Big brains consume too much nutreints, their bodies take a long time to grow and develop, and there's not much meat at the end anyway.
Just show them a cow. It just stands there, converting grass into meat all day. And cows are the least efficent cattle we have! Why should we bother with Venlil cattle?
That would probably work intellectually, but Glim has a lot of emotions and learned responses that won't disappear instantly.
If he can recover, it will be patient work over the course of years.
Yeah I think showing where and how we get our food could be a good idea. While showing them the real livestock could be a double edged sword, showing them the cloned meat processes and factories would likely be a big help, from that ruthless pragmatism standpoint.
We donāt even have to bother growing grass for the cows, we just skip straight to growing the cow meat itself. Itās exactly as ethical as growing the plants the prey species eat themselves. Thereās no point in dealing with living creatures let alone THINKING, SENTIENT creatures when we can essentially pluck a juicy steak off the vine!
***The Terran Sentinel***
***Art on the Lost or a Farce in the Stars?***
***March 18th 2421***
**After over a 20 years of setup, legal battles and a near catastrophic failure. The largest permanent art installation in the galaxy is now on display**
**Named "A World Long Gone" it's a Star System orbiting a Stellar Black Hole that can be viewed from the Polaris Starport and Hub with jaw dropping views of the greater galaxy**
**The Nova Prima Commission, the tennant and creators of the art installation says that it represents the lost cultures, traditions and unnecessary tragedies created by Federation and former Dominion of centuries past**
**With such an ambitious and frankly, breathtaking art installation will it usher in a new era for expressive, cosmic art to dominate not just our galaxy but our night skies as well?**
Okay now that's an idea, Stellar Art. That's a whole new level of civilization.
Find a dead binary system with a medium size star and a black hole and novaspark the star so that it forms a nebula around the black hole and maybe do some tricks to shape it. Now you have an art crafted nebula slowly being consumed by a black hole for the next several million years.
Really happy to finally see a bit of how the general populace on Venlil Prime is handling the whole situation. I hope we get more of that. Also Venmom is best mom
>and their āphilosophyā was survival of the fittest
Fun fact, 'survival of the fittest' is misused a lot, originally it meant that those who survive are those best adapted to their environment, not necessarily the strongest
I want Glim to meet a wheelchair-bound human now. They're bound to exist, and he might feel more secure with an obviously disabled predator who won't be able to chase him.
Plus seeing that someone with severe physical disabilities being cared for/catered to might help open his eyes the way it did for sovlin.
It would be a good opportunity for him to ask everything he needs to ask.
so far this story was a big perfect example of how paradigem shifts look like in fast pace sss !
in history these shifts took 1 generation as the old farts died off and the next bright minds saw the wisdom of the new way of thinking sss
Okay who said in the comments section of the last chapter that they want a Glim POV and how he'll be mistaking mundane human things as some murder ritual or something
Also dangit SpacePaladin, not another mid-week cliffhanger
Assuming Venmom gets some training on humans and human children, her adopting her son is probably one of the best things that could happen to that poor child. It sounds like they're already living together, and getting on well.
Itās interesting and cool to see a slice of what has become of Venil society with humans around, seems like theyāve warmed up to us alot more then Iād expect. Or maybe Glim just got unlucky and that establishment or perhaps even whole area was a bit more pro-human then average.
Honestly surprised Venlil society isnāt slightly more hostile towards humans, Iād assume theyād be slightly less open about human societal integration
Right now, Glim seems like a walking Principal Skinner meme. I hope he comes out of it ok, but I think it's going to get uglier before it gets better...
That said, has anyone in the federation been shown a Venus Flytrap, or a pitcher plant? Imagine the freak-out at the discovery of carnivorous *plants*. They would be scrambling to find a way to blow up the sun...
God I love this series; still so good at showing the culture shock, trauma and beliefās of the victims.
Bravo OP! I am looking forward to your next instalment of this amazing story!
Now if only Henry Cavil would make this into a TV series as wellā¦
Imagine being stuck in a place where you are slated to be eventually eaten. You get out, you meet the "Gaians". You get suspicious. You Escape. You discover the "Gaians" are also predators.....
And then you discover that your star nation is at war with your former allies, with the "Predators" leading the way, having brokered a mutual partnership with the other predators that held you as a snack; and these new predators were seemingly integrated now as part of your homeworld's culture.
You go from thinking you're about to die at the hands of one predator species; to discovering another one has somehow in the time you were interned managed to completely overturn every you ever knew and everyone on your world seemed to be going along with it *willingly*.
Man ... what a culture shock for Glim and somehow I feel like its only going to get worse.
This is literally the definition of out of the pan into the fire for our poor, fluffy guy. Also interested in the culture shown. There's a movie in production about the events on the Cradle already? Street bands. . .wonder what instruments and music the venlil prefer. I also wonder if they have to play quieter than normal to not hurt their ears. Also grapefruit . .they like the taste of grapefruit????
Man, my guy is not going to get comfort and care at his home, huh? Probably some refugees living in with his family too. . .
> This level of pacification was absurdā¦it was like Venlil instincts were erased.
He isn't wrong. There was a lot of work put in to help Venlil suppress their instincts.
What a culture shock it must be, another amazing part of your great story, excited for the next one!
Thank you! It is a lot for poor Glim to take in š
This guy needs the biggest hug.
Human Instinct: Hug/comfort Glim. Venlil Instinct: Run from humans. Human Instinct: Chase that which runs. This is a recipe for problems.
We have high stamina. He can't escape his hug.
You are being comforted. Please, do not resist.
There will be scritches and snuggles. There is no escape from our overwhelming affection. ALL LIFE SHALL BE EMBRACED IN HUMANITY'S ALL ENCOMPASSING BEAR-HUG!! WE *ARE* THE GALAXY'S *TICKLE-MONSTERS!!!* BW-AHAHAHAHA!!!āļøš©ā”ļø
LOVE FOR THE LOVE GOD! HUGS FOR THE HUG THRONE! Edit: Holy Moly this is the most upvotes I've ever gotten on a comment. Thank you all.
Damn 40k fans get everywhere, just remember kids Papa Nurgle will always love you!
More than 40k fans this reminds me of a certain youtuber with a love for blood and orphans
Vulcan lives
STOMP STOMP!!!
This isn't "There Will be Scritches", that's a very different series.
> Dog Instinct: Chase that which runs. This is the bigger danger, because as much as we want to pretend that every doggo is a goodboi and wouldn't hurt a fly, that simply isn't the case.
A dog will DEFINITELY hunt a Venlil given that everything they do is constantly screaming "Come eat me, I'm food" to a dog's standards. A trained one would know how to not hurt the venlil, and a tame one would see them running away as an invitation to play. But just to be on the safe side, don't bring any dogs to venlil prime.
We already know there are cats, and where there are cats there are almost certainly dogs.
nah, drop like a dozen sheep dogs on the planet and they will herd them like champs though. other dogs that aren't feral probably wouldn't do much more than beg for food or demand playtime
Huskies, in particular, have a strong "prey drive."
It's a fantastically crafted exploration of the mixed society they've developed though. Really nice to get that broader picture of things.
A brave new world for him.... And it will get worse.
Fuck, man. That's all I have to say. Fuck, this sucks for him. Incredible chapter.
Appreciate the kind words! This definitely isnāt help Glimās years of trauma, all of this at once š
you are not going to let his family be dead........right? Wait why are you smiling like that?
Iām a predator, we snarl a lot. Itās definitely our happy expression š
paladin, you are sounding kinda sus now, anyways it is a fantastic chapter and i think you really showed Glim's personality and traumaincredibly well.
Authors are the worst predators... j/k, Paladin! More story please!
btw this chapter pretty much confirmed that his stand power would be to use the vents lol
Worse; they'll be fostering human orphans.
I think there's a worse prospect. His family, his own aunt could very well be hosting 1, 2 or even a whole human family in her farm as farm hands.
We will see. He might get angry if someone tells him the whole story.... "WHAT?!????!!!!??!? I have been though all that shit.... billions have died.... Because 2 of the 3 founders of the federation.... Because they couldn't be bother to find a diplomatic solutution for all of their problems with the 3. one??!?!?!?!?!?!"
The sheer level of anger and frustration would probably make him shut down into catatonic state for a few weeks
Or he might break stuff.... Still not convinced that herbevors are incapable of a fight-reflex....
Moose just.. moose if the moosiah has determined your time is up then the who is a moose to disagree?
It's quite a double whammy. He was primed from birth to hypertrophy his trauma response to the stimuli he was eventually subjected to. His whole life was basically the opposite of SERE training for having been captured. This "prey religion" that so many of the federation species have (which was presumably inculcated by the Kolshians) is possibly even worse, overall, than the *other* crimes of the Kolshians, and even the actual Arxur war. It's basically ensured that even the strongest among them are *primed* for massive PTSD.
Really makes me wonder how many Kolshians and Farsul ever got captured by the Arxur. I have a theory that part of the Fed indoctrination was to make species on the periphery of Fed space not able to fight as hard so the Arxur wouldn't feel the need to push further in, it's a classic "sacrifice some to save ~~me~~ the herd mentality.
I hadn't actually considered that aspect of things.
Yeah it really fits my theory that the Kolshians were āgentlingā all the other races to keep them subservient. They could easily integrate any new prey species they met, the peace the Feds offer would make it stupid to maintain any level of military that would threaten the leadership. The only threat to their power would be predators, so they instilled this all powerful fear of predators into their client races to ensure the Feds would all happily agree to destroy any potential competition that they couldnāt simply gene modify and culture bomb into submission. All the while looking like the glorious saviors and saints of the Federation. Sick, twisted, but smart bastards.
Glim: *hears the Humans talking amongst themselves about having a moral obligation to help the former Venlil cattle, with no prey nearby to justify a āruseā* āTheyāre clearly not capable of compassionā
i think he was more focussing on "predator" signs, he is a traumatised person and i mean, extremely traumatized
He's basically been broken out of Auschwitz and taken for care at a Hindu hospital. Completely different ideologies but an unfortunate visual similarity.
the symbols you mean, or what are you saying?
The symbols. A common artistic element in Hindu architecture is the swastika.
AFAIK, the direction the arms turn is opposite, though. But, yeah, similar enough design to trigger PTSD.
I think so, but I imagine the gut reaction would still be poor.
Yup. He heard what they said but wasn't really listening.
What a lifetime of indoctrination does to a mfer
Indoctrination followed by years of torment confirming all of that indoctrination.
Least xenophobic Astartes:
That indoctrination was reinforced by years of unimaginable horror. The fact that humans were hiding so much from him only confirmed their villainy.
The sad thing about it is that not hiding this much would be worse for the recovery of the avarage venlil cattle
"They must be truly incredible hunters, to have known that I'd come out of THAT vent and hide behind THIS bush at this specific time so that they could stage that conversation in front of me!"
It reminds me of that old story about the Americans being the most feared army to face strategically, because we just make everything up on the fly, and if even we donāt know what the plan is then our enemies cannot know either, or something like that haha. āThe humans are so good at pretending not to be bloodthirsty predators, theyāve even convinced themselves! Diabolical!ā
> Americans being the most feared army to face strategically, because we just make everything up on the fly To explain this more clearly: American military command can basically be broken down into "Commanders set broad objectives" "Lower Officers set objectives to achieve those objectives within their assigned areas of command; this continues down the chain to the grunt" "Rank and file grunts and lowest officers are given extremely high levels of independence to accomplish the objectives set by their superior officers; even if they don't know the broad strategic objectives at the highest levels; this is intentional, compartmentalization of information is a good security tactic." Result: US Command tells his officers to get something done and it gets done even if no one knows *how* it got done until after the battle. Sub-Result: this confuses the fuck out of everyone that is not the USA, and also everyone that IS the USA that's not in the direct loop of the AO's command chain". Fun time, all around; this is FYI, not something inherently special to Americans; most modern militaries do this; but American military take it that one step further; by giving rank and file more of a leash to accomplish goals than other militaries and training them properly so they CAN do it like that.
Nobody can know what weāre doing if we dont know what weāre doingš
When in doubt, call the Marines. The enemy can't get a read on our strategy if our strategists are eating the crayons they're supposed to be making a battle plan with.
That was how Germany worked during wwii. Well early in the war when the generals were not being over managed by hitler.
Heh yeah. We do actually HAVE military doctrineā¦ we just tend to ignore it frequently.
Okay Kalsim, let's get you back into your cell, yeah?
Yeah, that seemed odd to me too. I guess he wasn't really listening because he was focused on getting a look at their faces?
i got that impression as well
He said it himself, he is compartmentalizing to deal with his trauma. Once he gets a breather and can assimilate what hes seen and hear... that will be fun.
"They must have heard me sneaking with their Predator Ears, and didn't report me or try to catch me at the moment as they didn't want to cause a commotion that would alert the rest of us cattle" \- Glim, Journeyman Level Mental Gymnast ( Fs in the chat for Grand~~Wizard~~Master Kalsim )
To be fair, he's not really processing what is actually being said I'm sure that, down the line, he will look back and realize that they were being genuine, but at the moment, trauma and paranoia is winning out
*"Concentrating on them tickled something in the back of my mind. The longer I looked, the more I felt like a child watching shadows move in my closet."* *"The Gaianās posture had been odd, as though his hand was positioned to hide his teeth."* Welcome to our newest eldritch abomination, folks -- Gaians, that's right, Gaians! Something is Just Not Right here, but you can *never quite* put your finger on what! Like your previous captors, except this time your terror has no logical outlet! Fun for the whole family -- when you can finally see them... (Or: the rescues leave the slasher-horror genre only to enter the thriller-horror)
Then leaves the thriller-horror and walks into an action anime movie
*Cause this is thrillerrrrrrr!! Thriller night!!*~ Sorry, not sorry.
i wonder how many more chapters of sovlin-style denial is he going to go through before realizing humans aren't so bad. i hope it's at least a couple more, so we can get to see how humans are affecting venlilian culture through him.
I have some hope for him though. I feel like he might adapt better than Sovlin. He'll be able to see first hand how humans are working side-by-side with Venlil.
Sovlin also feels like heās indirectly responsible for the glassing of the cradle (which he kind of is, tbf). Glim carries a lot of trauma, so much that Iād understand if he could never be around humans, but he doesnāt carry Sovlinās overwhelming guilt.
I think Glim will come around because his life mission was to protect the Venlil from supposed threats. He just needs time, or a sufficiently powerful culture bomb, to come to terms with the fact that in many ways that creed is the same for humanity, despite us being the supposed threat he was trained to fear and fight. I really really hope that he will get back to his family and see that theyāve become good friends with the humans next door, or maybe even took in some of the refugees like the bartender has. I would also love him getting to see more signs we arenāt ānew boss, same as the old boss.ā Show him the refugee camps full of humans living in barely passing conditions because thereās just not enough to go around for everyone on Venlil. Show him the absolute devastation of Earth. Show him clear evidence that we are far from in control, that we are far from being conquering invaders that have enslaved the Venlil. Show him how we are barely holding on yet we press forward not just for ourselves but for the many new allies we have gained that we have barely known.
He has years of "proof" that all that he was taught about predators was true. That trauma will make it very difficult to believe that this isn't deception and indoctrination. The fact that these "Gaians" deceived him for as long as he's known them doesn't help matters. Hearing that they are allied with the Arxur in a fight against the Federation is even worse! Imagine being "freed" from a concentration camp only to hear that your home nation is conquering the world with the Nazis and no one thinks that's a bad thing!
> Imagine being āfreedā from a concentration camp only to hear that your home nation is conquering the world with the Nazis and no one thinks thatās a bad thing! Oof, but yeah, thatās a pretty close to 100% accurate comparison. The main difference being in this universe, theyāre Jew-and-other-minority-eating Nazis who physically resemble your worst nightmares.
Yes! More of this! I've been getting bored of the nonstop distrust and fear of humans. I want to see more examples of successful integration and bonding between humans and other alien species. I want to hear more about how they are learning from each other and trying each others activities. I DEMAND VENLIL PRIME HAVE A PLANET-WIDE WATCH PARTY OF BBC's PLANET EARTH (narrated by David Attenborough) so they can see the beauty of a natural ecosystem in all the "good" and "bad"
Iām seriously hoping the Nature of Crows logic for Venlil Prime reproduction happens in the main universe As for everything that is happening, whatās gone wrong? New crops. Trade. A crap tonne of new military advancements and a massively stimulated economy from all the human culture bleeding through Venlil that still eat the I only need less than half of my diet to be meat humans are just bigots
Whatās this Nature of Crows youāre talking about?
Fanfic. Crow got to Venlil Prime. The hybridisation lore was basically biology on Venlil prime is controlled by the mother, making cross species mating very easy
the Yotul are starting a cheese cartel, why else would they put something as random as CHEESE into the species they created exclusively to start a war. They arenāt just going to sell weapons to both sides, theyāre going to mass produce cheese and sell it as a front! Donāt buy cheese, youāre supporting the ones who started the war!
YES, THE CHEESE MUST FLOW THROUGH THE GALAXY
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Here is hoping.
His new uncle is human.
Hes geting that venlus- you know what, no id like to conserve my dignity
To late for that š¤£
Oh man that would be absolutely perfect. If thatās not enough to get though to him nothing will.
That'd be funny. A horror show for him, but funny.
The Cheese must flow.
Those who control the cheese, control the universe.
CHEESE FOR THE CHEESE GOD CHEDDAR FOR THE CHEDDAR THRONE
It will be quite a feta for them to take on both sides with such a brie amount of time to prepare. They better go all in, and not try some havarti'd plan, or they'll be doomed to failure. I'm so excited about this idea though, that my teeth are cheddaring in anticipation!
You really Gouda all the way
Mmmmmm cheese.....mmmmm conquest....the gooy, sticky, melty taste of delicious cheesy conquest, BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA GUNNERS! LOAD THE FONDUE LAUNCHERS!
Americans: we can crash the galactic cheese market? Open the caverns bois!
Jesse, we have to cook. We're making the purest oaxaca this side of the border. 99.1% pure. You in?
What? Who made an *entire race* to start a war? Either this is nonsense or serious spoilers
GLIM IS A NEW STORY PERSPECTIVE!!!!!
VENMOM! VENMOM! VENMOM!
I didn't see the middle letter and somehow thought Klyntar symbiotes were introduced into this world.
Venmom is gonna be bestmom
I'm not a Tom Hardy fan
Part 82 is here! We get our first new narrator in 40 chapters, and witness Glim's reaction to the predators outside his facility. He sees the human influence everywhere, but views our presence in a nefarious light. Will our Venlil rescue be able to escape Noah and Sara? What else will he learn of 'Gaians' in his travels? Also, we get an in-depth look at Venlil culture, and how our cross-species integration has gone on a wider scale. What was your favorite tidbit from this misadventure? As always, thanks for reading! Part 83 will be here Saturday.
I love the Venlil cultural exploration, and I wasn't expecting these past few chapters and how integrated Venlil Prime is, I'd expect there to be a lot more racists and a lot worse of an opinion of Humans. Talking about our hunting nature in a good light on national TV was quite a surpriser for me
The capital is the most human-friendly area, given that the bulk of the refugees are there! The more racist individuals were driven out by the āinfestationā š
yea that makes sense, still quite a surprise for me, but very interesting!!!
I want to see what music the Venil like. What hit the top hundred chart?
Just keep Glim away from heavy metal for awhile.
I wonder how he'd react to Epica or Kamelot.
I would be immensely happy if it was Punk Rock, though it's just as likely to be blues.
It is incredible how the Venlil managed to societally accept humans within such a short period of time, with the bar owner and patrons finding these statements racist. Hell, in much of the US there is still a nontrivial level of anti-Black racism, despite the societal advances over the last 60 years. I wonder if Glim would run into any of those "Venlil KKK" on the way home.
The Venlil are already a Xenophilic society to a point. The humans were just another new alien species for the roster. The only issue was the whole predator thing Which, we have constantly disproven on every level. Even when forced to reach out to the Arxur, we didnāt abandon the Venlil. It probably made waves There is not any real bad blood to hold onto, or burdens left by dead men to deal with
Yeah, I think that humanity sticking its neck out for Venlil despite how much we have lost ourselves really resonated with them. I imagine the return of the prisoners would seal the deal for all but the very most extreme racists. To the prisoners, the masks and secrecy are a sign of something dark and tainted. To the general population, the fact that humans would go this far to save their loved ones, let alone out so much thought and effort into rehabilitating them, has to make us border on saints to them. We have proven ourselves to be just as good of friends as any of the federation members, if not more. And thatās BEFORE you consider that we also fought the Axur, held our own with them so well we got them to stand down and stop eating Venlil people, and THEN turned around and allied with the Axur, and THEN started fighting the Federation to help free and save even MORE aliens we barely know. We arenāt perfect, but I wager the Venlil and now our other new Allies havenāt seen anything remotely as altruistic and safe as us. Humanity: no better friend, no greater foe.
Yes! That last statement is literally the point Iām trying to get across to people on the subreddit. Executing Kalsim shouldnāt be controversial, but apparently we need to spare to show good faith to the aliens. I mean, no. Sure, no greater friend. But, also. Terrible foe to have
The cultural background is very different between the two. The US spent decades profiting from slavery and then decades dabbling at (and failing to maintain) racial segregation. Venlil spent centuries being indoctrinated to fear predators, but to most of them the concept of ever encountering a *sentient*, *peaceful* predator was completely abstract.
The segregation didnāt fail, but you are right about the cultural background. If leaving out the issue caused by forcing it via the civil war. Cool, but doing it in such a violent matter made people (wrongly) believe it was unfair
Glimās going to get home and find his aunt is hosting a whole family of humans isnāt he?
Or working at meat factory
The very same meat factory that bailed his ass out of Arxur hell. 50/50 on our Grim Venlil doing the Soylent Green "It's made of People!" homage scene.
I wonder how he would react to a meat farm if it was properly explained (and he listened) that it's all grown so that no one needs to be hurt.
The global Venlil answer seems to be "It's disgusting, but also it was never sentient and it help liberate our people. So I guess we can let the humans grow more of this weird red goo"
He's going to get home and find a social worker at his house, providing grief counseling and teaching his family what to expect from someone with PTSD and how to help them heal. They're going to UNDERSTAND the SHIT out of him and FORGIVE him for LASHING OUT in FEAR. Glim won't know what hit him.
He's gonna find his "Bordeline/Suspected Predator Diseased" Aunt/Sister introducing a Pred BF to the family.
This is culture shock on par with a South Korean POW finally released after 20 years in NK gulags and seeing Seoul in the booming 60s/70s development era.
aye, it seems similar to that, a lot of prisoners who were in prisons for decades in periods where cars and other things suddenly became more and more abundant, had a similiar reaction, albeit the korea one is far bigger and propably closer to the immense shock this must be for Glam
Just without the racism as much as an SK POW would see Americans around and remember their help driving out the Japanese and fighting with them against the commies so he would react much better seeing big Americans everywhere than Glam to the Gaians. What he would probably be shocked most by is seeing all the big Koreans. Every young person he meets would stand a head taller and that would be the real shocker. I'm a big guy and we had an ROK student at college that was 6'-4". Economy and diet improvement are a hell of a drug.
With men it's a 5 inches average height difference. That's immense, especially when you take into account that they're going to have larger frames too. SK men are basically giants compared to NK men.
And SK men and Japanese men were little different from NK men before the war. East Asians are not short people, they are merely a stunted people.
It's actually almost exactly the same scenario, the only major difference being that the NKs didn't eat their captives.
propably the only positive part about their imprisonment knowing how North Korea treats citizens, i can't imagine how it must be for prisoners
More like Imperial Japanese army guy who hid after WW2, then gets released to 1980s Tokyo.
oh gods, that is true, i think they would not know what was going on at all.
He would look around and be like "well did we win or what it looks like we won?"
Poor Glim...he's got a lot of recovery to go through, and this kind of shock...probably isn't good for him. He seems like an intelligent enough guy that "ripping off the bandage" might *work,* but the "Gaian" approach was probably healthiest. Too late for that now, though. --- Now, what I would **love** to see? Glim gets to his family's home, only to see a human tending a vegetable garden for his Venlil family. Then again, Glim would probably have a stroke, and I don't want to see *that*, so...
I really don't wish this level of trauma for anyone, but I really wish I could read Glim coming home just to see a teenage daughter of his getting cuddly with a teenage human boy in the couch.
It sounds like he's been away for a while; I would think that seeing his daughter cuddling with *anyone* might be tough to deal with, much less a *human*. Not even as a possessive weird "hurr, what are your intentions with my daughter" thing, either, just in a "holy crap, is my daughter *really that old* already" sort of way. And then dealing with the human side of it. Yeah, that would be all kinds of traumatic, I think.
This guys gonna be in for a real treat when he gets home, and his family is having Humans over for dinner. also... ESCAPE THE CRADLE?! They made a movie out of the near extinction of the Gojid ALREADY?!
I mean, we make memes within minutes of horrific tragedies. With the movie magic technology of the future, they probably make full blown cinematic masterpieces in the span of a few weeks if not months!
Venmom
Man, Glim is stuck in the same unwavering mindset as Kalsim and pre-invasion Cradle.. He's bending everything he seems to fit what he *assumes* is happening, rather than take it in for what it is. I guess the question that this leaves is "will he change is worldview like Sovlin or stay ignorant like Kalsim?"
we'll have to see if his aunt can help him, if not then i fear he might go down a dark road if he can't recover from the trauma
I truly hope she can, but that depends on if she shares the same beliefs as he does or if she can get through to him. He may think she's being controlled somehow.
Praise the Venmom!
I mean honestly, it's all pretty damning, isn't it? The lies, the overwhelming presence on Venlil Prime, the fight *against* the Venlil's historic "protectors," the *allyship with the Arxur...* I'd freak the fuck out, too, and I don't know what it would take to break through that. Some human or alien will definitely make a psychological thriller "inspired by true events!" out of Glim's breakdown in 30 years.
oh damn, this guy has ptsd for Eons, i mean he was an indoctrinated exterminator whose view of predators was proven correct by what the arxur did, i don't know about you but i am unsure about if he will make a full recovery.
Being a surviving male Venlil, he likely was forced to be a "stud" for the creation of his future kids to feed the Arxur. That's why he is all kind of nuts about his family, he couldn't help his kids he helped make from being Arxur chow over and over.
Absolutely loving this entire Capatain America Ending scene of a chapter. Laughed a lot. I hope this doesnt end in a death scene or something. I like Glims perspective...dont want to have to see it as "murderer" in the future...
I think I'm gonna like Glim. He certainly has more promise to learn to tolerate humans than Kalsim did.
Incredible chapter. A lot of cognitive dissonance going on there: Glim thinking that humans are incapable of empathy seconds after listening to humans talking about how helping to rebuild even a few lives would be a worthy endeavor. Thanks for the chapter mate Edit: Venmom best mom
>A lot of cognitive dissonance going on there: Glim thinking that humans are incapable of empathy seconds after listening to humans talking about how helping to rebuild even a few lives would be a worthy endeavor. That's basically ALL of the Federation except Kolshian & Farsul High Command, + half the Tilfish population.
Glim may be part of that 40% that doesnāt recover. I wonder if this adventure will either shock him into the truth or drive him mad. Well done. šš»
Probably both, but I have a good feeling about him.
He honestly feels like he'll become the poster boy for Venlil cattle that can't be reintegrated into Venlil Prime's society. He's still relatively sane, just too far gone into indoctrination to live in a Gaian-"contaminated" society. If he doesn't find himself locked up for some reason, he's a prime candidate to be at least a figurehead of some "Gaian and Arxur free" colony program for cattle people who aren't able to reintegrate into a dietarily inclusive society. A world of their own, free of stereoscopic sets of eyes, where the sane ones like Glim can help their fellow herbivores heal.
I actually really like that idea. Set up a colony for the prey species that just canāt/wonāt integrate but also arenāt an active threat. Hopefully they wonāt need reservations to get inā¦ā¦..š¤£
Bit of a delayed reaction, but I was thinking about exterminators and how human conservation efforts might clash with that when I realized; Steve Irwin. Any fed species would shit absolute bricks at any single episode of the Crocodile Hunter.
The Venlil study the records of this Steve Irwin and use it as a basis for all diplomacy with the Axur. VenDiplomat: Ah crikey, ain't he a beaut! AxurDiplomat: ..... thanks?
An unpleasant thought, but since Glim was kept as cattle and is an adult, he was almost certainly breeding stock. In addition to predator phobia, his PTSD will probably also include a bunch of relationship dysfunctions. This guy deserved a better life.
I think that bartender owes Glim an apology later, most humans wonāt hold it against him given his circumstances And heās going to find a Gaian in his families home I betā¦Glim is really getting a psychological workout here and post recovery is going to understand why the Gaia a were slow about this
I mean I'd be pretty pissed if someone called my child an it and said they'd eat me. Probably tell them to get out of my bar too. The bartender doesn't have the luxury of knowing the internal torment of glim like we do, they just see someone being crazy in their bar.
I actually hope there is a little split side story for this. I really don't hold it against Glim.
Kinda be funny if the bartender was his daughter in law
"Gaian in his families home" I'd bet money on him going full blown cornered animal and mauling the human.
he DOES USE THE VENT!!!! THAT SUSSY VENLIL!
So.... A ventlil? I'll see myself out
When the venlil is sus! ą¶
verry sus indeed
I wonder if appeal to ruthless pragmatism could work where logic and reality failed. Because to be blunt, Venlil, and pretty much any other sapient species, makes terrible cattle. Big brains consume too much nutreints, their bodies take a long time to grow and develop, and there's not much meat at the end anyway. Just show them a cow. It just stands there, converting grass into meat all day. And cows are the least efficent cattle we have! Why should we bother with Venlil cattle?
That would probably work intellectually, but Glim has a lot of emotions and learned responses that won't disappear instantly. If he can recover, it will be patient work over the course of years.
Yeah I think showing where and how we get our food could be a good idea. While showing them the real livestock could be a double edged sword, showing them the cloned meat processes and factories would likely be a big help, from that ruthless pragmatism standpoint. We donāt even have to bother growing grass for the cows, we just skip straight to growing the cow meat itself. Itās exactly as ethical as growing the plants the prey species eat themselves. Thereās no point in dealing with living creatures let alone THINKING, SENTIENT creatures when we can essentially pluck a juicy steak off the vine!
Even better is clone meat, material into meat as efficient as can be and no emotional issues... that i can think of
PERFECTION INCARNATE !!!!!!! THE GOAT OF WRITERS SP15 IS !!!!!
Thanks, Venlil!
YOUR WELCOME!!!!!
Glim: Predators don't do emotional expression *Sees 'predator' singing* Glim: [I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that](https://preview.redd.it/kljwg7hrhwj41.png?auto=webp&s=7134c35bd4b849b4d8a6e3bbcbb3dfe5559477ca).
Y'all remember that episode of Spongebob where Patrick is suffocating in Sandy's dome? That's the vibe I'm getting from this chapter.
***The Terran Sentinel*** ***Art on the Lost or a Farce in the Stars?*** ***March 18th 2421*** **After over a 20 years of setup, legal battles and a near catastrophic failure. The largest permanent art installation in the galaxy is now on display** **Named "A World Long Gone" it's a Star System orbiting a Stellar Black Hole that can be viewed from the Polaris Starport and Hub with jaw dropping views of the greater galaxy** **The Nova Prima Commission, the tennant and creators of the art installation says that it represents the lost cultures, traditions and unnecessary tragedies created by Federation and former Dominion of centuries past** **With such an ambitious and frankly, breathtaking art installation will it usher in a new era for expressive, cosmic art to dominate not just our galaxy but our night skies as well?**
Okay now that's an idea, Stellar Art. That's a whole new level of civilization. Find a dead binary system with a medium size star and a black hole and novaspark the star so that it forms a nebula around the black hole and maybe do some tricks to shape it. Now you have an art crafted nebula slowly being consumed by a black hole for the next several million years.
NEW POV
Really happy to finally see a bit of how the general populace on Venlil Prime is handling the whole situation. I hope we get more of that. Also Venmom is best mom
American captive from vietnam war is released into chinatown new york (colourised)
>and their āphilosophyā was survival of the fittest Fun fact, 'survival of the fittest' is misused a lot, originally it meant that those who survive are those best adapted to their environment, not necessarily the strongest
And it doesn't even have to be best, even. As long as you survive, you pass. More like..."survival of the sufficient".
I really want to see Escape From the Cradle now
I want Glim to meet a wheelchair-bound human now. They're bound to exist, and he might feel more secure with an obviously disabled predator who won't be able to chase him. Plus seeing that someone with severe physical disabilities being cared for/catered to might help open his eyes the way it did for sovlin. It would be a good opportunity for him to ask everything he needs to ask.
I am speed
so far this story was a big perfect example of how paradigem shifts look like in fast pace sss ! in history these shifts took 1 generation as the old farts died off and the next bright minds saw the wisdom of the new way of thinking sss
Okay who said in the comments section of the last chapter that they want a Glim POV and how he'll be mistaking mundane human things as some murder ritual or something Also dangit SpacePaladin, not another mid-week cliffhanger
Assuming Venmom gets some training on humans and human children, her adopting her son is probably one of the best things that could happen to that poor child. It sounds like they're already living together, and getting on well.
Itās interesting and cool to see a slice of what has become of Venil society with humans around, seems like theyāve warmed up to us alot more then Iād expect. Or maybe Glim just got unlucky and that establishment or perhaps even whole area was a bit more pro-human then average.
Honestly surprised Venlil society isnāt slightly more hostile towards humans, Iād assume theyād be slightly less open about human societal integration
Keep in mind this is the capital for VP, the most human-friendly spot on the planet!
Right now, Glim seems like a walking Principal Skinner meme. I hope he comes out of it ok, but I think it's going to get uglier before it gets better... That said, has anyone in the federation been shown a Venus Flytrap, or a pitcher plant? Imagine the freak-out at the discovery of carnivorous *plants*. They would be scrambling to find a way to blow up the sun...
lovely! amazingly done as always :)
Thank you!
Poor glim got a bad case of culture shock. I hope he gets the help he needs and can accept a different world view from the federation propaganda.
God I love this series; still so good at showing the culture shock, trauma and beliefās of the victims. Bravo OP! I am looking forward to your next instalment of this amazing story! Now if only Henry Cavil would make this into a TV series as wellā¦
Imagine being stuck in a place where you are slated to be eventually eaten. You get out, you meet the "Gaians". You get suspicious. You Escape. You discover the "Gaians" are also predators..... And then you discover that your star nation is at war with your former allies, with the "Predators" leading the way, having brokered a mutual partnership with the other predators that held you as a snack; and these new predators were seemingly integrated now as part of your homeworld's culture. You go from thinking you're about to die at the hands of one predator species; to discovering another one has somehow in the time you were interned managed to completely overturn every you ever knew and everyone on your world seemed to be going along with it *willingly*. Man ... what a culture shock for Glim and somehow I feel like its only going to get worse.
Love it, but we need start exporting movies, John Wick, lion king, witcher. Etc
I especially donāt think John Wick is a good idea lol. Glorifying assassins, they would say š
you mean guy, who kill shitload of predators, becuase they hurt his not sentient frend?
This is literally the definition of out of the pan into the fire for our poor, fluffy guy. Also interested in the culture shown. There's a movie in production about the events on the Cradle already? Street bands. . .wonder what instruments and music the venlil prefer. I also wonder if they have to play quieter than normal to not hurt their ears. Also grapefruit . .they like the taste of grapefruit???? Man, my guy is not going to get comfort and care at his home, huh? Probably some refugees living in with his family too. . .
> This level of pacification was absurdā¦it was like Venlil instincts were erased. He isn't wrong. There was a lot of work put in to help Venlil suppress their instincts.