Nico di Angelo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hasadoctorsnote) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
hadriel2018-04-11 10:37 pm
hasadoctorsnote) wrote in hadriel2018-04-11 10:37 pm
Entry tags:
[Voice]
I'm curious about something. I know a lot of mythology from my own world, but I'm interested in hearing about any another kind of mythology that's not well known on Earth around the 21st century. For instance, I remember reading a Greek story about how males and females were first created and I know there's differences between it and, say, Biblical mythology.
The one I remember reading was written by Plato. He said that humans used to be a mix of two people that consisted of one male and one female so they had two heads and eight limbs, but the gods didn't want them getting too powerful so they separated them into men and women. Supposedly that's where 'soulmates' come from, because you're looking for your other half. I'm also a little curious what people think of that story. [He absolutely does not have a personal ulterior motive for asking that particular question, none at all, nope.] Do you think there's any truth to it? That there's really such a thing as 'soulmates'? ... Or if it's even as limited as having to be between a man and a woman?
The one I remember reading was written by Plato. He said that humans used to be a mix of two people that consisted of one male and one female so they had two heads and eight limbs, but the gods didn't want them getting too powerful so they separated them into men and women. Supposedly that's where 'soulmates' come from, because you're looking for your other half. I'm also a little curious what people think of that story. [He absolutely does not have a personal ulterior motive for asking that particular question, none at all, nope.] Do you think there's any truth to it? That there's really such a thing as 'soulmates'? ... Or if it's even as limited as having to be between a man and a woman?
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This doesn't concern you?
[Okay, that was one worry down. He let out an actual sigh of relief.]
I'm 1/2 Deryni. I got it from my mother, who did not know until she used her abilities to try and save my life. She was unable to cope with the knowledge of what she was and has been in a convent for the last four years praying for our souls and that I'll repent and be saved from eternal damnation.
I'm afraid it's hard to show people that you're not dangerous when the power can be used in dangerous ways. As much as I believe power isn't good or evil, there are many who do not see it that way.
[Like his mother. Who was currently in a convent starving herself.]
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He is all too very familiar with people being afraid of you just because you have a certain ability and power over something.]
How can you repent from being what you are? You can't change what you are, no matter how much you wish you could. That's what I mean about some things just being cruel. You're supposed to just suffer for eternity because you simply exist? How much more cruel can life be?
I know that. [He says the words bitterly.] And that's why I gave up on ever finding anyone who would care about me. Because I can do things that could be used in dangerous ways and could be used for evil or are seen as unnatural or unnerving. And apparently just because I can do them, I deserve to be dead.
That's not my fault. That's not your fault. That's everyone else's fault who thinks that way. They're the ones whose minds need to be changed. And if you have the power to do that, you should do that. Change the rules. Put in laws to protect everyone. Forget people 'adapting'. Do you want to be king of a place where people torture and kill other people just for existing or do you want to be king of a place where people can live together in peace?
Nobody should have to go through what I did, feeling like the world is always going to hate you just because you're alive. Nobody should have to feel like that.
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I agree. It's ridiculous. It's like hating someone because they have green eyes. It doesn't make you any less good or evil than someone with blue eyes. But changing fervent belief is hard if not impossible. My own superstition-blinded mother refuses to listen to reason.
[Had Nico any idea how hard it was to maintain a civil demeanor at dinner when his mother railed for two hours against their Deryni heritage? Kelson valued his just as highly as he valued the Haldane blood in his veins that made him king. His mother wished he never been born. Their current relationship was not a good one.]
It's not anyone's fault and no one should have to go through that, I agree. But I have to be a realist in addition to a king. I also don't want to live in a world where people starve or disease destroys families but that's also life and there is only so much I can do to mitigate such factors.
[Nico's words made Kelson remember. Saint Camber had come to him multiple times now, telling him he was king for both humans and Deryni. He always tried to be true to that, but maybe he wasn't doing enough.]
I want to live in a world where no one has to hide who they are. Those who work closely with me know what I am. Some of my men have surely heard the rumors. My coronation wasn't exactly magic free. But rumors are rumors. I've tried to live by example, to show others that being Deryni is nothing to be afraid of. Laws can be changed. But a lot rested on changing the Church's stance, both doctrine and law. Now that I've done that, and succeeded in changing the Church's portion of the Ramos Statutes, I can start making other changes. I can start giving Deryni back their lands and titles, whenever possible.
[It's been hundreds of years after all. It was a fine line between restoring what was taken and yanking land and titles from the humans who might now hold them. That would not go over well, and resentment on either side was something he was trying to avoid. He was just going to have to find new land to give some of them. It might not be ancestral, but it wasn't going to start riots either.]
But I do not tolerate murder and torture.
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Disease isn't something you can control. Crops dying so people starve isn't something you can control. That's just nature being nature. Nature isn't bound by rules. People can be.
... How long have you been king? [He has a follow-up question to that, based on what his answer is.]
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[Kelson thought probably not. As in his experience, changing fervently held believe was difficult if not impossible. Edmund Loris was still foaming at the mouth when he was hanged. Personally Kelson thought he should have been grateful that was all he had done to him, he would have been well within his rights to have hung drawn and quartered him.]
People will always have their own minds. I can create laws, but they can choose to disobey them. A kingdom is only as strong as its people. I cannot be everywhere, and although I hope and pray that those who have sworn me service choose to faithfully uphold my laws, I am not naive enough to know that does not always happen.
I have been king for four years. [Kelson adds softly, remembering that day in the forest his father was killed. King two weeks shy of his fourteenth birthday. A king who can't even shave.]
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Don't you have the power to hold them accountable for disobeying those laws? Do you have some sort of guard or force that can be around to keep an eye on things? [Because of course one person can't be around to uphold the law in an entire kingdom, he agrees with that bit at least.]
If you've been king for that long and the people have followed you for all that time, why not show what you really are if you haven't yet? If you've been king for four years and you've been a benevolent ruler, then that's proof that the Deryni aren't automatically monsters, if you're one too.
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Good, I'm glad you were able to help, and for a battle, working together no doubt culled the body count.
Ultimately, whether I have power or not depends on which law they broke. Church law is governed by the church, although I hope that I have a good enough understanding with some of my bishops that they would work with me on that. As for secular law, yes I do. Ultimately it would fall to my vassals, whose ever is duke or earl or baron of that region, to keep an eye on their subjects and deal with the wrongdoing or if necessary remand them to me for sentencing.
But there have been instances in the past where entire villages have committed murder. You can't sentence an entire village. It was the work of a traveling priest, I don't believe anyone ever identified the man, although there were rumors.
[Kelson shook his head, wishing that his reign for four years had been uneventful.]
My coronation set off two civil wars and one invasion, including where one of my Earls turned traitor, and got two hundred men slaughtered. I do hope however, that now, in the aftermath, I can rebuild. If I can avoid .....spooking anyone. I've spent my entire reign trying not to upset my subjects.
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Sometimes you need to upset some people in order to really create change.
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Perhaps.
[Kelson wasn't quite ready to admit it yet.]
There has already been a significant change, allowing Deryni into the Holy Orders is a big step. I think it's time to wait and see how people accept it.
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