Friday, February 10, 2006

The Dhe’nar View of the “Gods”: Jastev (Arkati)

02/10/2006

Jastev is the second failure of the reproductive experiments of Imaera and Eonak. He is further proof of the fallibility of those the younger races and the Fallen Elves refer to as Gods.

Jastev’s mind is unstable, prone to unpredictable bouts of depression, followed by equally unpredictable bouts of ecstatic joy. He is a classic manic-depressive.

While he does seem to have some talent for prophecy, half the time his predictions are utter nonsense, and there is no reliable way to determine which of his ramblings are accurate and which are not, outside of waiting and seeing. Thus, the Dhe’nar, outside of being curious as to how he occasionally gets predictions right, have no use for Jastev.

That he has any relation at all to the visual arts is merely a result of the confluence of energies between him and his equally defective brother Cholen.

Mystics and seers often seek Jastev’s patronage, which explains, to the Dhe’nar at least, why mystics and seers are either delusional or con artists.

The Dhe’nar View of the “Gods”: Ivas (Arkati)

02/10/2006

Ivas has dedicated her immortality to the exploration of sexuality as a form of pleasure, rather than as a method of reproduction, which puts her at odds with Oleani (not that Ivas much cares). She is capable of drawing power from the sexual gratification of sentient beings, and is also able to harness energy from desire, which is the state of being unfulfilled. To be able to draw energy from both gratification and its lack makes her rather powerful, and it is the latter aspect the Dhe’nar view as much more harmful to mortals, specifically themselves. To long for something is to be attached to it, and to attach oneself to one’s base flesh and urges in such a fashion hinders the path to Ascendance. Thus, the Dhe’nar view Ivas in two aspects, She Who Frees, and She Who Binds. They both respect Ivas and warn of her danger.

Unlike Cholen, the Dhe’nar do not see Ivas in her aspect as She Who Frees as an immature hedonist. Rather, they see her as one who has raised a base biological function into the realm of skill and art, thus allowing a step towards transcendence of the flesh, and eventually Ascendance. Perhaps the key difference in attitudes towards the two Arkati is because Ivas seeks to spread her knowledge through mortal societies (which includes the knowledge of herbal and magical methods of birth control, which is one of the key reasons Oleani is in conflict with her), whereas Cholen merely seeks to gratify himself and no others.

The danger in a society tilting too far towards Ivas, of course, is a falling birthrate, and population collapse. So balance must always be maintained.

Mortals wishing to paint this Arkati as part of their childish “Evil Pantheon” have associated Ivas with all manner of rotting and deforming diseases, to the point where even a number of Ivas fanatics believe it themselves. Once again, the Dhe’nar cast aside this attribution as pure nonsense, especially as this supposed aspect of Ivas was completely unknown to them for over 80,000 years, until they recently made contact with the cultures beyond the northern wastes.

There are indeed those Ivasians who do manifest such illnesses, but they do so because they bring them upon themselves through undisciplined and unhealthy behavior, not because Ivas inflicts them upon them. Correlation does not equal causation. The Dhe’nar are fully aware that Ivas is not responsible for such things, even if a few of her more naive and ignorant followers are insane enough to allow themselves to aquire and fester with untreated diseases, which are otherwise easily done away with by herbal and empathic treatment. Once again, it is another example of the younger cultures (amongst which the Dhe’nar include the Fallen Elves) believing the stories they themselves invent about their “gods”, rather than seeking wisdom through truth.

Slavery And Population Dynamics

02/10/2006

From a post at the Player Forums, regarding the plausibility of creating Sharath as a playable city:

“This game isn’t really set up to support a town like Sharath. Any non-collared pakra’a would be rounded up and enslaved by press gangs, Dhe’nar could kill with impunity, ect.”

It’s constant comments like this that make most Dhe’nar in GemStone a self-congratulating private roleplay society, where they love themselves, and most others groan and try to ignore them when they “roleplay” in public.

Now, ignoring the fact that the prime argument against making Sharath a playable area is that it would utterly destroy the mystique of the Holy Mountain at the heart of the Ash Jungle…

No society with a very low population that gives birth at barely replacement rate could absorb a constant influx of slaves. Period. End of argument. It cannot be done.

Very soon, there would be an order of magnitude more slaves than slave owners, and more resources would be spent supporting slaves than supporting the society ostensibly “controlling” them. The Dhe’nar would “slave-own” themselves into extinction.

Also, how does the constant harnessing of slaves help them reach their goal of obtaining the power of the Arkati? It doesn’t, even though that is ostensibly the society’s prime goal.

The Obsidian Tower version of Dhe’nar isn’t a culture - it’s a B&D power fantasy. It does not even attempt to create a remotely plausible society.

There’s a reason Dhe’nar were excluded from the game’s Dark Elf Cultural Festival.

Dhe’nar are slave owners, yes. But at least this site attempts to present that aspect of their society in a sensible fashion, and it isn’t the defining characteristic of their society. It’s something the Dhe’nar do to survive and accomplish their goals - nothing more, nothing less.
To the Dhe’nar, slavery should be a tool, not an obsessive fetish.

The Dhe’nar as presented on Dhenar.com are cold, cruel (by the standards of other cultures) and heartless, yes, but they’re simultaneously mystical, devout, and noble.

The Dhe’nar -can- be more than a group of leatherbound halfling-disturbers who speak in unpronounceable strings of apostrophes.