>>5780503>>5780506Maybe we have different definitions of "dehumanization", because I certainly don't see the Hegemony as dehumanizing. It dehumanizes its enemies for sure; it's own citizens are not given freedom, but within the confines of its system it grants people the ability to be all they can be. It replaces the dehumanizing soullessness of the modern world with the process of self actualization within a consumptive, "evil" governmental entity that is designed at its core to defend and expand itself so it can survive into perpetuity. This is what I was speaking of when I off-hand mentioned that I view Monke quest as a form of "political wish fulfillment"; in the sense of a society where people are actually rewarded and allowed to advance in their careers based on merit and skill, environmental concerns are first and foremost and resources are maximized for the (Hegemony's view) good of its citizenry, they have a high trust and homogeneous culture where everyone shares the same values and can get along with each other, and the absolute dregs of society are either culled or prevented from being born in the first place, leading to a Utopian society. The point is that a society like this cannot exist without extreme authoritarian strength, supernatural science, and a unrealistically incorruptible leadership caste of perfect Supreme Rulers.
>>5780624I only do this for Monke Quest. It's my only quest run long enough to really warrant a philosophical undercurrent.
>>5780770No worries. I love attention, even negative attention, apparently.
I may have also failed to get across some of the highest philosophical concepts I wanted to. I may not be equipped to explore these concepts. One of the big things about the prequel I wanted to explore was also the concept of "the last man" and how Akule essentially supplanted the masculine ego and became powerful enough to rip apart his entire society- a powerful and thrilling concept many men dream of having the ability to achieve in one way or another. My biggest annoyance with that thread that lead to a lot of hostility was the playerbase completely ignoring if not downright mocking the concepts within. As Akule is LITERALLY ME I was personally offended by the lack of people even trying to understand his viewpoint, even if it may ultimately be wrong. The same applies to Wrix, the character being so hated that people didn't even try to understand his "we are pure evil, we are pure good" speech and just wanted him to kill himself or go away instead. I really poured my soul into some of my speeches in Monke quest and the fact people continually ignore them does irk me.
The concept behind the Akule story was mostly to explore the Hegemony's history and flesh out some fun details and create some callbacks- like the various Jaxtian races and cultural things imported to the Hegemony's future. It wasn't mean to be "political" because Supreme Space Monke Ruler Quest pretty much has nothing to do with politics.
