Quote Originally Posted by Tavar View Post
So, I had a very interesting debate on the nature of the Yozi. Specifically, how limited are they by their nature. This matters, as I mentioned how (myself included) many feel some sympathy for the Yozi, but also that the Ebon Dragon often doesn't get this sympathy. The other began to question the difference that makes the others worthy of sympathy/pity, and not him, and in the end I was unable to really give a good answer. So, anyone else have a good one?
As Golentan pointed out, if something is a threat, I'm going to deal with it accordingly because, as a human being, that's all I can do.

But, it seems like he's lumping "hate" in there, too. I'm not. If a starving wolf attacks my grandma, I would not hesitate to end its life, because it's a threat; not because I hate it. It's nature is to fight and eat and kill, and it can do nothing else; how could I begrudge it for that? That's like hating the wind for blowing, or the grass for growing, or the sea for flowing (I swear to god I didn't mean for that to rhyme).

In a way, a Primordial is even more restricted than that wolf. A wolf has a limited capacity to learn, and can be convinced (probably via slabs of meat) to not attack a grandma because you're giving them a better option. A grandma-killing Primordial can not be. There's nothing you can do; even if it's within their best interest not to; a grandma-killing Primordial is going to kill grandmas because the idea of doing so is what they are.

So, why hate the Ebon Dragon? First, I'd like to point out that every Yozi "is a threat". I don't really "hate" any other Yozi, but I would certainly agree to the elimination of any of the ones that we've seen, because they're a direct threat to me and my loved ones.

Lets look at Malfeas. Why is he a threat? Well, he'll light you on fire if you don't do exactly what he says all the time unquestioningly and subserviently. But that's because he doesn't even realize you're a person. He's so big and powerful that, to him, you're basically an ant. Have you ever stepped on an ant before? Did you ever stop to mourn them? And why shouldn't he think that? He's a world, and a concept, and a horde of demons; if anything, we're comparing the bacteria that you squish as you walk around in your daily life. Do you care about their lives too? It's only a matter of degree; they're small, and you're big. They're simple, and you're complex. We're all alive, but they're so simple and tiny, why do the bacteria matter? And now you know what Malfeas is thinking when he shifts a city block and murders 10,000 people without even noticing.

Adorjan is different. She's a bit more personal; she might be able to see you as a person. The problem is that she doesn't understand why you're so wrapping up in this "being alive thing".

I posted this quote before when talking about Adorjan, but here it is again:
You know where the sanctity of life came from? We made it up. You know why? 'Cuz we're alive. Self-interest. Living people have a strong interest in promoting the idea that somehow life is sacred. Only living people care about it so the whole thing grows out of a completely biased point of view. It's a self serving, man-made ******** story.
Adorjan is wind. Wind that happens to kill people as it passes through. How do you expect her to value life the same way a living human being does? How is she going to land on the exact arbitrary designation the rest of us have decided life is worth? When it says "she kills you because she loves you", that's not some macabre crap; it's quite literal. She values life in a different way than you do, and she can do nothing else.

I could go on and on about each Yozi, but lets get to the Ebon Dragon, because this post is getting long and I'm hungry. The Ebon Dragon is different. He thinks in very human terms. He doesn't kill you because he doesn't know better, he kills you because he wants to act like an *******. He comprehends life and death on the same plane as humans do. Murder is evil to us, and it's evil to him, but he does it anyway. He completely understands Virtue in the way humans understand it (he doesn't have something like Swilly's Cosmic Transcendence of [Virtue]), he's just a psychopathic serial-everything-bad-ist.

This is where I draw the line. Can he change himself? No. So part of me wants to pity him. But, to me, that's where I draw my arbitrary line of hate. In his own mind, he is evil, and he's overjoyed with that.