Vudukudu
Farseer to the Warsong Clan
Hope is but a curtain for the ignorant. It protects us from despair, and shields us from the darkest things. It is a tool the masses use to further their dreams and goals. It leads us to believe things that reason gives us no reason to. Hope tells us that the terminally ill will have their cure discovered tomorrow; that our lives will suddenly improve if we tough it out just a few more days, and, most importantly, that our humanity makes us strong.
It is all a lie, as you and I know. A lie perpetrated by fear. Fear of the things that lie beneath our very homes, in the darkest, deepest places of this Earth. The truth is, humanity is weak and feeble. We are not the alpha predator, but the prey of a hundred thousand creatures beyond our ability to conceive of. Nightmarish monstrosities wander in the dark, making a game of their brutal hunt.
Vampires, lycanthropes, ghouls, the undead, fae, mermen, harpies, djinn, basilisks, demons, golems, wraiths. This is only the beginning of a list that could very well be it's own encyclopedia. Mankind is not alone on this world, and we are little more than apes to those who share it with us. We have every right to live in fear. We are weak, foolish, slow, and frail when compared to these horrors.
But we have hope. It is the one thing that shields us from our terrifying, dark existence. It is why a select few of us, those who have had the horrible misfortune to discover this darker world, continue to get out of bed every morning instead of succumb to madness and grief. We unlucky men and women understand that someone has to bring light to the darkness, to discover the unknown and slay it in it's very home.
Without us, those things might grow, might gather their strength, might gain the confidence to venture out into the light of day. And when that day comes, all of humanity shall fall like wheat to the scythe. We live to delay and prevent that day, so that the world will never be without light.
It is all a lie, as you and I know. A lie perpetrated by fear. Fear of the things that lie beneath our very homes, in the darkest, deepest places of this Earth. The truth is, humanity is weak and feeble. We are not the alpha predator, but the prey of a hundred thousand creatures beyond our ability to conceive of. Nightmarish monstrosities wander in the dark, making a game of their brutal hunt.
Vampires, lycanthropes, ghouls, the undead, fae, mermen, harpies, djinn, basilisks, demons, golems, wraiths. This is only the beginning of a list that could very well be it's own encyclopedia. Mankind is not alone on this world, and we are little more than apes to those who share it with us. We have every right to live in fear. We are weak, foolish, slow, and frail when compared to these horrors.
But we have hope. It is the one thing that shields us from our terrifying, dark existence. It is why a select few of us, those who have had the horrible misfortune to discover this darker world, continue to get out of bed every morning instead of succumb to madness and grief. We unlucky men and women understand that someone has to bring light to the darkness, to discover the unknown and slay it in it's very home.
Without us, those things might grow, might gather their strength, might gain the confidence to venture out into the light of day. And when that day comes, all of humanity shall fall like wheat to the scythe. We live to delay and prevent that day, so that the world will never be without light.
