DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Alternate Reality PHX: Phoenix Reform Academy Golem in the gears, Lamar

Lamar

"I'm not so sure. Stick her in a room of infinite mirrors and challenge her to find the real one, and I'm damned certain she'd point to the self that sees out of her own eyes. Yes, she puts on roles, but there's an underlying 'she' putting them on, and just because she makes it practically impossible to discern, doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and presupposing its non-existence could well be a big reason why she gets away with so much. No matter how perfect the blend-in, at the end of the day there's still an insect-eating lizard beneath the miracle."

“Perhaps, Lamar. Do you, however, understand the inherent problem with her sense of self? By nature it is malleable. By nature there are few if any standards she holds herself to, as most of the standards are irrelevant to her. Hr morality, it is not black, grey and white - it is blue and orange. We all weave a constraining web of morality and ethics, connections and conventions which bind us and reign in our instincts. Those binders have much less meaning there. They are taken off or put on like an outfit.”

Lamar

"She does as she pleases, yes. Her morality is not easily categorized in the current paradigm, yes. But consider: Can you imagine her murdering innocents on a whim, or actively trying to genocide humanity? What she does, she does smiling. Often you see it, but it's there even when you don't. She could be a far worse horror if she wished to be. She doesn't wish to be and is unlikely to ever cross that horizon, for there is no reason to smile beyond it."

Golem:

“Can I imagine it Lamar?”

He pauses a long time.

“I wish I had to imagine it. Can you view sacrificing innocent children to the machinations and manipulations of Enkidu as anything other than a horror? The creation of the broken, such as Hadassha, such as your Blake and countless others who have lived as little other than toys and discardable tools. And who do you think was his broker? Who procured the genetic material for his … projects? I don’t know, Lamar, everything he does. But I do know that she played a central role.”

Lamar

He pondered that fpr a moment before replying,

"Anything other than a horror? Yes, yes I can. A long game. How many of those she had a hand in are here?"

“Some. Nowhere near all. Fundamentally they are tortured, broken down. Many irretrievably so. The ones who emerge as viable individuals are a small miracle. Do you really suppose, Lamar, that there is any was in which whatever was done to Hadassha can be described as a kindness or anything other than cruelty? Wracked with pain, abused, ignored, used as a lab experiment and discarded and left to think you are a broken thing. Wherever they were or whomever they were with before that, do you think it was worse than that life?”

Lamar

"On whose head is that, though? These are Enkidu's crimes, Enkidu's machinations. What does he have on Inanna? Is she free in her actions there, or is it another's will?"

“Do you truly believe, Lamar, that another does or even could control her actions if she truly wished todo otherwise?

Lamar

"Think about that for a second. I'm her son, her child. She raised me. There is no parent on this world worthy of the name whose actions have not been controlled to some degree by the needs and wants of their child despite their wishes. This is not a situation where absolutes apply. And the thought occurs that familial bonds go both ways. Filial obligation. Repaying that debt to Enkidu could be a motive for her involvement, this entire place is filled to the brim with people who helped bad people do bad things because of those bonds. As above, so below?"

Golem:

“Close, Lamar. Close. This place is filled with people who decided to take another path. Let me ask, are your needs best served by a world in which Alchemy and Nyx, perhaps Enkidu, get what they want?”

Lamar

A pause. A silence, uncomfortably long. Mulling it over. Weighing it up.

"That depends entirely on the full extent of what they want. I'd fare better in such a world than the vast majority would. The question is if the ceiling there would exceed the ceiling here, and just how much further down the floor for me would be there over here, and how likely, how close, either extreme is to being reached in either place. I'm not going to lie to you, there remains a possibility that the answer to that question isn't no. As it stands, I'm firmly on our side, but a question that big is better served by the truth."

Golem:

“You would be advantaged yes but would you be better served? Those are not the same thing, Lamar. Do you really trust them to act on or hold to any principle you would recognize? Do you really think the lines would stay between powered and unpowered?”

Lamar

"You know, there are principles they do appear to hold. Alchemy and Nyx. Nyx and Alchemy. Do you think either one would die by the other's hand and if not, why not?"

Golem:

“Lamar, that is a rather shaky definition of principle. Their main principle is the will to power and their own superiority.”

Lamar

"I'm not denying that. But they're monstrous enough without having to add in a fresh layer of othering as well. They cooperate, they collaborate, and speculating that they would stop doing so, that they would suddenly break from those principles, warped as they are from our perspective, doesn't seem wise."

“I find I cannot trust in their benevolence and grace. Do you find any likelihood that your mother will do any other than continue to help them create world in their own image?”

Lamar

"Oh, definitely. She values her own freedom to act far too highly to permanently be in anyone's thrall, and I suspect they're aware of that."

“In thrall? No. Not in thrall. But there are plenty of ways to be in cahoots without being in thrall. I think Lamar, altruism is not in the cards.”

Lamar

"A world in which she can get the best use out of her powers likely doesn't overlap entirely with the world those two intend to create. I wouldn't count on altruism, but I'd place good odds on self-interest."

“A world in which you have a witch queen who is in charge would be very much in her self interest would it not? What does she want, ultimately, Lamar? It seems she has fallen in quite readily in this case.”

Lamar

"In charge? No, far too confining, too many responsibilities, no room for flexibility. In control, maybe. If you see the distinction. If there's a throne, she'd rather be behind it whispering, or in front offering a unique and irreplaceable service, than on it."

“Lamar, you do realize that you argue semantics? Their world would have no place for several of those here. Do they deserve to exist? The ones you know as Blake, as Hadasha - they are imperfect. Do you think they would be allowed to exist in such a regime? Is that important to you as well?”

Lamar

“Oh, the regime Nyx and Alchemy have in mind is absolutely worth opposing, one hundred per cent, don’t get me wrong. But it’s a bad idea to look at Nyx, Alchemy and my mother and see only the enemy, to reduce them to cartoonish adversaries incapable of nuance beyond cunning and duplicity. Especially my mother. She’s a wildcard, her morality doesn’t match up with theirs or yours, and I really wouldn’t want to put money on where she ends up when the chips are down.”

Golem

“If you are expecting to see nuance or reason out of the “new god” which is Nyx, then you have disappointment coming. There is no nuance. She is not rational. She is not, entirely, sane. I am not talking just in the sense of not making sense to you or I. I am not sure either she or Alchemy for that matter are retrievable rational actors. You may or may not be right about your mother. But regardless of arguments, Lamar, do you see what I’m driving at without it getting lost in the weeds?”

Lamar

“I refer you to my earlier answer. As it stands, I’m firmly on our side.”