a few days into the jaunt

[runs]

What do we know about Beatrice's overlay?

[She's observed a few things herself, but it is only prudent to do what legwork you can and gather what information is out there before starting any operation.]

Comments

[runs]

I don't have an issue with humans. They can be very nice. [She rolls her eyes.] It's how people are. Elves and orcs and trolls and dwarves are the same. And awakened animals too.

But the group that is dominant is the most worrying in that regard, and here, that are humans. [It's the same back home, really. The only reason why dragons manage to be at the top of the food chain is that they're old enough to be better at playing the games of society than humans are.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Well, at least she comes from somewhere with multiple other species. She's the first one who seems to be familiar with dealing with non-humans, at all, in Stone's experience.]

Hmm. In my experience, it depends on the culture of the dominant group-- different groundling groups react differently to outsiders, or to surprises, I've found. But I don't know much about the local ones yet, except they have tasty food and have mostly been friendly.

[runs]

They've never had to deal with other sentient species being real, and thus there's not really a way to check. So it could go well. But if it doesn't go well it can't just be undone, so it's better to be careful.

And you can't really testrun it, because single people will react differently from large groups. Especially when the group is big enough that it contains lots of people who have never really made a personal in-depth contact with one of the new, other groups. Or if the new group is big enough that you can think that the one that you know is different and the exception.

[She doesn't fully grasp what he's saying about different groups because different, unconnected groups don't exist in her globalised world. Everyone is influenced by everyone else. Different cultures do in fact react differently to certain things, but only to a degree. Though... thinking about some big cats...]

And if they are welcomed, they might find themselves being forced into an accepted corner of the humans' lore to not be perceived as a threat.

[scarsolderthanyou]

They have, actually, it's just been a long time. They had to have gotten along with them in the past, because of all these Golden Age stories they have passed around. The species can't have changed that much since then.

[He makes a thoughtful noise.]

I believe you that it could be terrible. But it still has the possibility of going just fine. We'll have to watch things, I guess. The goal is to not have it go badly, right? Help make them all get along?

[runs]

[She shrugs at that, as much s he can't see the motion.]

The goal could be anything.

[scarsolderthanyou]

So the goal could be to keep them from reuniting? Or to have one race slaughter one of the others?

[He sounds skeptical. That'd be a pretty bad goal.]

[runs]

I don't know. I think it's more that it could be something more tangential to that, or something smaller or a specific way in which it's done, but the Arcana never tell us what they want.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Then it sounds like we have to do it the way we want to, and if they aren't happy with it, that's their problem.

[He doesn't approve of being given a task and then not told anything about it.]

[runs]

Pretty much.

[Her opinion of the Arcana is generally low enough to say hi to earthworms.]