>>5878740Sorry anon, bit late. Even so... The vote seems clear.>>5878739You sigh and, against your better judgement, you speak up. No… Not AGAINST your better judgement, BECAUSE of it!
“It’s not that simple,” you answer the Elder’s accusations. “Human society is different than elven society, yes, but you have to remember that we… That they don’t have all the same advantages which the elves do. Humans don’t live in lands of such abundance and harmony as the Sylvan realms. They have to fight, to struggle and toil, hunt or farm, for every meal.”
The Elder seems to realize what they’ve said, and how someone of human paternity like yourself may have taken it, and to their credit their expression turns apologetic.
“I did not mean to insult you, Ezreal…”
“No, no, I get it,” you admit, holding up a hand. “Man certainly ahs… Room for improvement.”
You grimace a little reflecting on the blasé way in which your father’s race really DOES abuse the natural world and its beings. You are no vegetarian by any means, by necessity you have dined on farmed meat, but you well know how the pressures of such a dense population as Hawksong’s, and the human preference for animal products, has led to every more squalid and miserable living conditions for the chickens, cows, pigs, goats, and sheep which fill tables across the city… And that’s just the animals whoa are ALLWOED to live, that they NEED! To clear such wide spaces of farmland, countless acres of forest were swept away, cleared for building materials as well or else burnt with fire or left to rot.
And even THAT is before you get to the animal experiments of the Tower—experiments that, as a burgeoning chimercist and a student of Archmage Henzler, you are all TOO familiar with. You swallow your spit to prevent yourself from becoming ill at the memory of those works, as vile as any Dark magic to the likes of you. However, the longer you think about all that, the less you feel despair and disgust, and the more you feel HOPE.
“Things are changing” you tell the gathered elves, as you help them to prepare the festival-feast. “The humans do what they need to, yes, or what they feel they must… But it’s only because they don’t have other options.”
“There are ALWAYS other options,” the Elder notes, a gentle reproach.
“Yes, but an option which is risky—which might leave their family hungry, their civilization stagnant, that’s not a REAL option,” you argue. Back, without raising your voice. “But just in the tie I’ve been there, I’ve helped the Mages of the Tower to see that there are ways of studying and practicing Living Alchemy without doing harm to living beings. I’ve developed spells that enable entire new avenues… Maybe even new ways to produce meat without killing ANYTHING!”
