If there were a hominid species with the abilities and motivations of SM Stirling's Shadowspawn, then most of them would behave as described. They would:
want to suck blood and kill;
be able to suck blood and kill;
be able to get away with it;
never have learned any reason not to.
We are fortunate that the circumstances of our evolution have taught us morality. For a discussion of the nature of virtues, see The Wisdom Of Max Abrams.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Even the Draka were better than the Shadowspawn! Even they did not sink QUITE to those depths of depravity reached by the Shadowspawn. But I can imagine Count Ignatieff becoming a Shadowspawn if the opportunity was offered him.
Sean
Sean,
I think that the Draka would if it were in their power.
Ignatieff believed that he served the Peacock Angel(?) If he had Shadowspawn powers, then he would think that those powers were of supernatural origin.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Hmmm, I can see the Draka, most of them, willing to become Shadowspawn if the opportunity was offered them. At least after they genetically modified themselves to become Homo drakensis.
I did think of how Ignatieff, a worshiper as he was of the Peacock Angel, was not as "secular" as the Shadowspawn. Yes, he would probably continue to believe in Satan as the "true" god.
Sean
Paul:
Incidentally, the Peacock Angel is part of an actual religion, not a creation of Mr. Stirling. Wikipedia tells us:
"The Yazidis are monotheists, believing in God as creator of the world, which he has placed under the care of seven holy beings or angels, the chief of whom is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel. The Peacock Angel, as world-ruler, causes both good and bad to befall individuals, and this ambivalent character is reflected in myths of his own temporary fall from God's favour, before his remorseful tears extinguished the fires of his hellish prison and he was reconciled with God.
"This belief has been linked by some people to Sufi mystical reflections on Iblis, who also refused to prostrate to Adam, despite God's express command to do so. Because of this similarity to the Sufi tradition of Iblis, some followers of other monotheistic religions of the region identify the Peacock Angel with their own unredeemed evil spirit Satan, which has incited centuries of persecution of the Yazidis as 'devil worshippers.'"
The cult Ignatieff follows has also merged the Peacock Angel with the Slavic Chernobog, the "Black God," who properly speaking has no connection with Mesopotamian Melek Taus.
Kaor, Paul!
Very interesting! I have heard of the Yazidis in recent years. Mostly in the context of how they were being persecuted by fanatical Muslims.
The religion of post-Fall Russia was EXPLICITLY the worship of Satan and hatred of Christ and Christianity. Yes, the Russian diabolists took over and merged together names and titles like Chernobog and the Peacock Angel with Satan worship.
Sean
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