Difference of Culture (3/4)

[Author's Note: Parts 3/4 and 4/4 get very philosophical.]

They all sit down on some chairs out on the balcony, and they spend an awkward moment staring at each other.

"First, Haalfrin," Fina begins, "let's talk about the humans and Rehkin… as depicted in that story. Were you upset that the humans were always portrayed as the aggressors?"

Haalfrin nods. "Yeah. It seemed like every single war between the humans and Rehkin was somehow started by the humans first. It's like there's a subtle hatred towards the Brancotte soldiers."

In reality, the Threshold never once started an open war with the Rehkin. The only time they ever initiated bloodshed was to get rid of prominent clan members who were advocating for war.

"I know that upsets you," Fina says, "but do you understand why they feel this way?"

"Well, yeah. I can guess," Haalfrin growls. "It's like they can't wrap their heads around the idea that an army might exist for defense. It's like the only reason for an army to be formed is if you want to start a war."

In Haalfrin's point of view, a country must have a strong army in order to deter outsiders from invading. If the humans didn't have a strong Threshold to guard the World Gate, then the humans on the other side would've probably either been slaves to the Rehkin, or outright dead by now.

Fina shakes her head. "You're half right. Yes, countries need a strong military to deter their enemies… but it's also true that a militarized state WILL invade others more often, too. To be capable of defending yourself also means that you're capable of attacking others.

"Lareen has access to far too many historical records to deny this truth. Hence, them portraying the Threshold as the aggressors is them simply applying their understanding of history to you."

Haalfrin looks down and goes silent, and he listens harder to Fina's next words.

"Face it, Haalfrin," Fina adds, "if the Rehkin clans didn't have powerful dragons guarding them, then the humans would've been fighting to claim territory in Arra. The Rehkin clans would've suffered a lot."

The humans not invading wasn't because of their righteous hearts, but for the lack of the opportunity.

Haalfrin closes his eyes, and he goes deep in thought.

He's not sure why, but hearing Fina put this into context took away some of his anger.

Sure, it hurts to hear that those Lareen might have been a little right to portray Brancotte as a band of conquering b#stards…, but being fairly criticized by someone who has a good reason for their thoughts is a lot better than being maliciously maligned.

Seeing that she's gotten through (at least in part) to Haalfrin, Fina relaxes a little, and she leans back. "Ok. Tell me your next issue. Please?"

---------------------

Maybe it's because Fina is so comfortable to talk to, but Haalfrin's tongue is a lot more loose this time.

"Yeah, I've noticed that every time a story is made from Lareen, the soldiers are always either psychotic killers or cowardly wimps. Either they always want to run away from the killing, or they enjoy the killing way too much…"

"Why does this bother you?" Fina asks. "Everyone knows that these Lareen people have never fought a war in person before, so there's a lot of things they don't understand."

"Yeah…," Haalfrin sighs wearily. It really does make him feel terrible that nobody in Lareen seems to see the sense of pride that his Arkin had in being his soldiers.

Fina, sensing Haalfrin's thoughts, shakes her head. "Haalfrin, the world is a lot more complicated than you think it is…"

She looks up and thinks for a moment. Haalfrin can see the gears turning in her head, so he knows to keep quiet and let her think.

Finally, she looks down and begins saying, "In all my time managing the clans of Arra, then their diplomatic relationship with the humans, I've come to realize that most cultures have a dominant emotion driving them."

She looks down at the trade city sprawled out beneath the floating Valor Hall. "Rehkin, as a race, have a very heightened sense of disgust. They're much neater and cleaner than every race, and this shows in their culture too."

She frowns, "When a culture has a high sense of disgust, they tend to be quite bigoted and racist towards outsiders. They don't instinctually HATE outsiders; they're DISGUSTED by them. 'Ew. They eat that?' 'With fur that color, they look like disgusting aliens!'"

Her frown suddenly turns into a smile, "At the same time, a culture driven by disgust tend to be very united with itself. They have a stronger sense of family within the clan. They're, by far, the most kind and considerate towards those in their inner circle."

"What's my culture's dominant emotion?" Haalfrin asks.

"Pride," she says flatly. She then puts her hand on Dakka's thigh. "So is his culture, actually. Despite coming from vastly different backgrounds…," she coughs, the cuts herself short. "Sorry, I was about to get distracted."

"Ehem. Anyway," she continues, "I've noticed that small, warrior-centric cultures tend to be held together by a shared sense of pride. 'It's better to die on the sword than to surrender.' 'Giving up is for weaklings.'"

She continues, "The most prideful societies tend have warriors with rigid rules of honor. They have grandiose visions of themselves, and they're held together by this shared vision."

She points at Haalfrin with one hand while rubbing Dakka's leg with the other. "You come from a Kareen clan – a band of roaming warriors plundering for their food. Dakka comes from a line of proud warriors who take pride in what they are."

She smiles warmly, "You two have cultures driven by the same emotional need. It's little wonder you became brothers at heart. Deep down, you understand each other and empathize, despite having different traditions."

Fina's eyes then narrow a little bit. "Be wary of pride, though. It may motivate you to be great at your craft, but it also makes you blind towards others and their ways. Prideful societies are more cruel than most to the losers, and they worship the victors."

Haalfrin flinches and looks down in shame.

Indeed, when he saw Lareen for the first time and saw that the commoners all had Spirits softer than wet noodles, his first emotion was pure disdain. Don't these people have any honor? Are they not ashamed of their complacency towards developing themselves?

Fina frowns a little more. "Besides," she hisses, "Brancotte isn't Kareen. They weren't a culture driven by pride." She looks deeper at Haalfrin. "They didn't have the same sense of pride that you had. You had to beat your Pride into their heads with your Syl Name!"

Suddenly, an old memory flashes through Haalfrin's mind. He recalls that one time, during the Eternal War, he found some Arkin soldiers torturing some of the Ants – stripping them naked, nailing them to a board on the wall, and throwing knives at them.

Fina knows exactly what Haalfrin is remembering, and she tactfully chooses to not say anything about it in front of Dakka. To this day, she's never told her husband of the true extent of the Arkins' cruelty towards her Ants. Even Haalfrin doesn't know.

'Still,' she thinks, 'Haalfrin at least understands that the Threshold soldiers weren't originally like him. That's enough for me.'

"What about Lareen?" Dakka asks this time, instead of Haalfrin. "What's their cultural emotion?"

"Anxiety," she answers simply. "Anxious cultures are riddled with people always trying to press their governments to do more for them. Cultures like this, like Lareen, have thousands of rules and regulations – many of which do nothing more than make the citizens feel safer."

Dakka shakes his head, "That makes no sense. They're one of the safest society's I know of."

"I know," Fina nods her head, "That's precisely WHY they're an Anxious culture. People learn things by comparison. Having never experienced real danger, everything feels dangerous.

"They're busy thinking, 'What if a war happens? What if the neighboring country blows my city up? What if the natural environment is destroyed, making it so that crops can't grow, and we all starve to death?' 'What if the new Prime Minister wants to take my freedoms away?' 'What if the big corporations gouge prices up and price me out of my home?' This anxiety holds their society together because they're all anxious over the same things."

She sighs, "Yeah… Anxious cultures usually don't last very long. Tyrants usually take a lot of power quite easily here, since Anxious cultures are quite happy to give power away to the first person to promise them safety. Their Anxious culture then implodes on itself when they realize that they have their new dictator doesn't care about making them feel safer, They usually devolve into another culture at that point."

Alas, Lareen's anxious culture has only lasted for so long because they have a god-king keeping society stable and silently handling things from behind the scenes.

---------------------

Everyone looks down and thinks for a moment.

"Huh…," Haalfrin mutters, "I think it was an interesting point you made – about cultures having a central emotion, but why bring it up?"

"You already feel less irritated and depressed, yes?" Fina says simply. "Why is that?"

Haalfrin frowns and goes silent.

Seeing that he doesn't know the answer, Fina says it for him. "It's because you understand them, and you understand yourself a little more."

"Knowing that you're different than everyone else can be quite depressing. I understand why you'd want to kill yourself and flee to the Death Realm – a place where people like you would be more normal," she continues. "However, understanding HOW and WHY you're different will often cure that sad feeling."

Indeed, Haalfrin had been feeling alone and upset because Lareen couldn't understand his culture at all. They….

They unfairly judged HIM and HIS PEOPLE through the lens of THEIR culture… 'Yet I was no different,' Haalfrin sighs, 'I unfairly judged THEM because they didn't live up to my sense of pride.'

Suddenly, Haalfrin doesn't feel so upset anymore over how stupidly Lareen portrayed himself and his soldiers. How could they know? They weren't TRYING to be mean spirited.

Before, Haalfrin was feeling completely alienated from everyone in this era, but that lonely, unwanted feeling mostly went away, now that he realized how similar he is to them.