To me, this is a special kind of draw/threat dilema about this underworld. Nowhere else in the Veins is as safe for technically remaining alive as the "protection" of the Ælf-Adal. ("...willing to finance and resource expeditions and new settlements. The Courts and Houses of the Terror-Men uphold the cities of the Veins.")
And at the same time, nowhere else is more of a curse to one's sanity, freedom, and comfort. ("Their interest in complexity exists because they feed off the terrors it sustains..." and they make their dominion in the Veins sustainable to create a world "where societies and civilisations and empires and species exist purely to instil and sustain fear. A world where dreams enslave the dreamer.")
A safe haven in an "inescapable" living nightmare of the Terror-Men poses a serious dilemma in an environment so deadly as the Veins. Would you bite the only hand that feeds or let it feed you only so that there will be more of you for the torturer to dismember?
For this bounty and this threat, we need the Ælf-Adel to hate.
On the question of do we actually need the aelf-adal to hate, I think it could be answered with asking if they need to even know of love. In dreams love, hate, fear, and joy are all extremes and may easily blend from one into another. An aelf-adal may hate only because they know of love and in fact may not be able to distinguish between the two quite well given their nature as beings born from Dream.
They hate their creators so much they desire to tear the flesh from the bones and wear it as their own in beautiful facades rather than ugly scraps. They love so intensely they wish to devour the object of their affection so it will be part of them forever.
But hate and the fear of the dark is so much easier to gain and find in the Veins, in the end. Love must be a rare treat for them to savor when they can get it.
To me, this is a special kind of draw/threat dilema about this underworld. Nowhere else in the Veins is as safe for technically remaining alive as the "protection" of the Ælf-Adal. ("...willing to finance and resource expeditions and new settlements. The Courts and Houses of the Terror-Men uphold the cities of the Veins.")
And at the same time, nowhere else is more of a curse to one's sanity, freedom, and comfort. ("Their interest in complexity exists because they feed off the terrors it sustains..." and they make their dominion in the Veins sustainable to create a world "where societies and civilisations and empires and species exist purely to instil and sustain fear. A world where dreams enslave the dreamer.")
A safe haven in an "inescapable" living nightmare of the Terror-Men poses a serious dilemma in an environment so deadly as the Veins. Would you bite the only hand that feeds or let it feed you only so that there will be more of you for the torturer to dismember?
For this bounty and this threat, we need the Ælf-Adel to hate.
On the question of do we actually need the aelf-adal to hate, I think it could be answered with asking if they need to even know of love. In dreams love, hate, fear, and joy are all extremes and may easily blend from one into another. An aelf-adal may hate only because they know of love and in fact may not be able to distinguish between the two quite well given their nature as beings born from Dream.
They hate their creators so much they desire to tear the flesh from the bones and wear it as their own in beautiful facades rather than ugly scraps. They love so intensely they wish to devour the object of their affection so it will be part of them forever.
But hate and the fear of the dark is so much easier to gain and find in the Veins, in the end. Love must be a rare treat for them to savor when they can get it.
I really, really like this.