On Nov 1, 2008, at 3:21 PM, theem_from wrote:

> I'll take imaginary people over a lot of the real people I know anyday
> haha.

It sounds to me like you haven't been fortunate enough to meet good
people, for the most part. Perhaps your view of your species is a bit
skewed by the people you know personally?

> [L]ooking through the eyes of John I'm sure you've noticed consumption
> is the national pass time in our culture. Which is one of the other
> things that leads me to compare us to the Skeksis.

Yes. Even John himself is guilty of this to some degree. He used to
want to live in a very large house (if he'd had the money to build
one), far larger than what he'd really need to live comfortably. He
has since rethought that. A house he'd build now would be much smaller
than his original vision, but I suspect it would still be larger than a
home I'd choose to live in personally. He also would prefer to have
someone do his cleaning for him and would probably hire a full time
maid if he could afford one. As it is, he has a maid come in once
every two weeks to clean. Mind you, in his case, he's not particularly
good at cleaning (he can never get his kitchen floor to look clean
enough) so, in a sense, he needs the help, but still he does hate
cleaning with a passion, far more than I do.

I am a Queen. My living needs, I think, are much simpler than most in
your society who would carry such a title. I will not even use
servants. I cook my own meals, make my own bed, clean my own chambers.
Now, if I'm very busy with business, I might occasionally ask a
servant to help me with the cleaning. When I'm pregnant, servants help
me out even more. For the most part, however, I prefer to do things on
my own and make an effort to do so. Even when pregnant, I will do
whatever I can for myself. I find that this contrasts me with Humans
in similar positions. I have the impression that a King, Queen,
President, Prime Minister or any ruler who insisted on doing these
things for themselves would be an oddity in Human society. I find that
Humans like being waited on and some in high positions or the very
wealthy come to expect it. I appreciate it when someone helps me when
I need it, but never would I ever come to expect it. It's just not my
nature.

> In our world it seems just the stuff that the fast food resturaunts
> throw away on a daily basis could probably feed every hungry person in
> this country maybe even the world.

In the sense of the quantity of food, you may be right. Still, based
on what I saw in the movie Supersize Me, I'd say even the hungry are
better off not eating anything that comes out of places like that.

That's another thing. Most Humans just can't seem to get along without
meat. I'll admit that, in this case, there's a bit of a
biologically-based bias involved since Gelfling metabolisms are better
suited for digesting vegetable matter. We are technically omnivores in
that we can metabolize meat but it doesn't agree with us. It'll get us
by in an emergency but it makes us sluggish, almost ill. Myself, I've
never eaten meat, and only a handful of Gelfling I know have ever been
forced into the position of eating any, and then only because of food
shortages caused by Jolen's misguided ruling. I cannot conceive of
Gelfling doing what Humans do, actually domesticating animals
specifically to kill and eat. Podlings do domesticate Nebrie and
Landstriders but for their milk or for riding, not to kill and eat
them.

> The Skeksis at the point of the film anyway were all getting up there
> and were about to die. It was inevitable but they were still willing
> to waste the planet for just a little more time.

Actually, it wasn't inevitable. That was the point. If they had
survived long enough for the Great Conjunction to feed their energies
without the healing of the Crystal, they would have become virtually
immortal. They only needed to survive until then. Perhaps their use
of resources was as much a sign of desperation as it was their nature.

Personally, I'm not sure I'd want to be immortal even if it was an
option for me. As time goes by, once you've accomplished everything
you want to do in life, what is the purpose of continuing on? And what
of what lies beyond this life? Gelfling believe in an afterlife,
though that's as far as our beliefs go. When I die, I do not know
where I will go or what life will be like and, religious Humans in our
audience forgive me, I believe it is the height of arrogance for any
living being to believe they know what lies beyond that ultimate end.

Of course, nowadays, I look upon death with more dread than I once did.
Being aware of the nature of my existence has its downside. I do not
know if I have the kind of soul that would actually survive into the
next life because I am merely part of the mind of another being. I am
aware that I will live as long as John lives, and I will die the day he
dies. What I don't know is, will my soul continue on with his, or will
I simply cease to exist? I must admit, this frightens me.

> Then you look at the way we are willing to drill holes in every
> greenspace left just so we don't have to change our way of life.

Automobiles. Here is an area in which John and I totally agree.

I must admit, the automobile is an amazing invention. Even Gelfling
would find uses for it if we could build them. The ability to travel
long distances at speed and carry enormous loads are both advantages
that are hard to deny. However, I feel that Humans rely far too much
on the automobile. It's to the point now where most Humans think of
the automobile as the only transportation. Most Humans, even the best
of you, seem to have this unfortunate belief that one needs a car for
daily transportation. This is not true at all. Unless you have to
carry a heavy load regularly or must regularly travel great distances,
there are many alternatives to the car. One can walk, ride a bicycle,
ride roller skates, scooters or skateboards. These are just my first
thoughts. I could probably think of lots more.

John, for example, does not own, nor has he ever owned, a car. He gets
around by bicycle almost exclusively, only using a taxi on rare
occasion to pick up his groceries or walking to go shorter distances.
He is in sufficiently good shape now that he actually took a trip late
this spring to visit a friend 137.75 kilometers away. It took him
under six hours to get there. To me, that only goes to show how a
bicycle is just as valid a transportation choice as any automobile.

On more than one occasion, he's had people in cars yell out to him,
"Get a car!" This doesn't happen as often as it used to, but it does
seem that, even today, he's considered a bit different for his choice
of transportation. He still occasionally encounters a motorist who is
steadfast in his belief (those with this attitude seem predominantly
male in my observation) that he does not belong on the road. On two
memorable occasions, he even had direct confrontations with motorists
who actually stopped to offer their "advice." One of them even tried
to run him down. John stood up for his rights. One good thing about
Human traffic law is that most places treat a cyclist as a vehicle
driver, which they are, so Humans who hold this belief generally don't
have any support for their position.

This attitude, however, is the problem, not the idea of riding a
bicycle. If everyone was to accept the bicycle as a legitimate form of
transportation and accept the cyclist's right to use the road, perhaps
the bicycle would be a more viable alternative. Unfortunately,
however, Human transportation infrastructure seems built specifically
around the car and those who choose to ride a bicycle are frequently
viewed as being "in the way" of motor traffic.

In a pod, Human society needs the car for some things, but you Humans
rely far too much on it for things that could easily be done without
it.

> So perhaps you can see why I might compare our species to that of the
> Skeksis.

Yes, though I do still feel it's a bit of a harsh comparison.

> "[A]nimal" is used as an insult. Yup that's how we refer to our most
> savage criminals. It does kind of reinforce that superiority we
> beleive we have over nature and the animal kingdom don't it (truth be
> told we also have that same sense of superiority over our fellow human
> beings aswell).

Yes. That is something else that is hard for me to understand. While
I am aware I have superior intelligence to most animals (perhaps aware
even moreso than most since I can communicate with them), I do not see
that as putting me above them or making me more important to them. In
fact, I feel an obligation to protect those animals who are at a
disadvantage, so to speak. We all as creatures are born into what we
are. We do not choose it. I feel we have a right to exist, whatever
we are, whatever our nature. The fact that I am smarter than most
animals doesn't give me priority over other creatures. It's merely
another way I'm different from them, just as most creatures are not
shaped as I am.

Many of your religious beliefs also seem to have this belief built into
them than Humans are superior to the animal kingdom and that the
animals are there for the benefit of Humans. Gelfling belief does have
a similar thread except it does not place the Gelfling above the
animals. We believe that animals are there to benefit us and that we
are there to benefit them also. Living is a cooperative effort among
all living creatures. There are ties that bind us all. Cut those ties
and you doom yourself to hardship, perhaps extinction.

> I'm kind of rooting for the extinction of my species(I know sounds
> kinda mean). I really am sorry to be so cynical but I honestly think
> the end of man is the best possible outcome for this world (Sorry but
> it's honestly how I feel). I mean preditory animals kill other animals
> and that's fine that's nature and yes species go extinct even without
> the help of mankind that's also nature species come and species go.
> However we human beings are capable of destroying so much more than
> just ourselves. I'm sure John has explained to you what we are capable
> of doing now that we live in the nuclear age.

I am aware of your weapons technology. Several hundred years, perhaps
a thousand, ahead of ours.

Eventually, I think Gelfling will develop such weapons but not for use
on this world. From a practical standpoint, weapons of such awesome
destructive power might be useful should our planet ever be threatened
by a large asteroid, for example. If we had such technology, we would
likely put such weapons on orbital platforms, aimed outward. We might
also use such weapons to split apart asteroids for study. However, I
can't conceive of us ever using such a weapon on our planet's surface,
particularly given the side effects of radiation that affect so much
more area than the actual blast. I also can't imagine us using such a
weapon against a living creature, unless in self defense against a
species attacking us with similar force. Even then, I believe we would
only destroy if absolutely necessary.

As for your assertion that Humans should be extinct, this makes me sad.
Putting aside the fact that I would not be alive if not for the life
of a Human, there are Humans I've met whom I love and respect.
Extinction would mean their deaths as well, and that makes me sad.

I still feel you're too harsh on your species. Humans have their evil,
but they have their good, too. That is what distinguishes them from
the Skekses.

> Human beings function best individually. One on one I see all the
> potential my species has. However put more of us together and you get
> the worst of us to the point where it just looks like there is no
> hope.

That does not match my observations, particularly during the 9/11
crisis. I'll talk more about that in a moment.

> You take any way we organize ourselves: nation, political party, race,
> religion, gender, etc. and you will find people who on any other
> circumstances would probably like each other and get along fine end up
> hating each other for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

I think the problem here is that Humans have a tendency to judge people
on the basis of limited information. For example, one of John's former
life partners (the one Human I said I got to know and was disappointed
in) used to have an unfortunate tendency to judge people on the basis
of one thing about them. Christians, for example. This woman did have
some legitimately bad encounters with misguided Christians, no
disputing that. However, this has brought her to the belief that all
Christians are bad. The moment she finds out someone is a devout
Christian, denomination notwithstanding, she tends to dismiss them and
assume that they will be like all the misguided Christians who
continually told her she was going to Hell and she automatically ends
up hating them just on that basis (if only she could see John now. He
prays regularly now, thanks to the influence of a close religious
friend). John tried to tell her that not all Christians were bad only
on the mere fact that they are Christians. She would not hear his
arguments. She has similar prejudices against many different religious
and political groups.

No person, whether they be Human, Gelfling, Podling, Sandling or any
intelligent species can be judged as a person within a few moments.
You must get to know a person before you really know what they're
about. I guess that's the biggest problem. Humans, for the most part,
don't seem to have the patience to sit down and really get to know
someone. They want to judge who and what they are right now without
taking the time to gather all the facts.

John has a good friend now whom he loves as dearly as he loves me. She
was a hard person to get to know, but he had the patience and
perseverance to stand by her and get to know her. Today, he's found a
beautiful heart beating inside her. Knowing her through John's eyes, I
see her heart as very Gelfling in nature. She is, by far, the best of
your species I have yet encountered. This only shows the benefit of
patience, getting to know the heart of someone before you decide what
kind of person they truly are.

> You take the kindest of my people and you will see in many of them
> that their compassion is very selective.

John's former life partner above is like this. She claims on her blog
to "practice compassion towards all living things" but, in reality, she
only practices compassion towards those whom she views as "worthy" of
her compassion. She does have a beautiful heart underneath it all, but
it is hampered by her bitterness over her past. Perhaps that is why
most Humans have trouble with compassion. Perhaps it is the emotional
baggage they carry that robs them of their full potential.

I carry emotional baggage, too. I lived alone most of my life, never
expecting to see another of my species, and I've watched those I love
in life murdered before my eyes, but I do not take my pain out on
anyone else. Indeed, I cherish the opportunities I now have for
friendship and love. In life overally, I have been lucky, and I try
never to lose sight of that.

> Some of our big cities have 1000 murders a year and it's just accepted.

If you think about it, there's really little choice but to do so in
large cities. Murderers caught can be punished, but it's hard to stop
so many all at once, even with a group effort. There would always be a
handful that got away and weren't detected. Your species' inability to
look into the minds of others would further hamper your ability to find
those responsible.

> One person goes missing from a small town and that's all you'll hear
> for the next three months.

Again, in small communities, such crimes are simply more easily managed
so the tendency will be to focus more on them.

> People die all over our world in droves but it isn't until it's one of
> our own that it truely gets our attention.

This is as much Gelfling nature as it is Human. We feel it more when
we lose someone personally than when it's someone we don't know. This
is necessary for the mental health of any species. If we all suffered
equally for the death of a stranger as for the death of a loved one, we
would be in constant pain and unable to function. Still, Humans might
benefit from at least thinking about the other person's point of view
and, even if one does not feel a personal pain for a person, can still
reach out to help them on simple compassion.

Maybe this is one of the reasons we write fiction, Humans and Gelfling
alike. Fiction has a way of making the abstract more personal. For
example, I've watched movies through John's eyes. One of the best
examples I've ever seen of this is the movie Titanic. Even before the
movie, John was a Titanic fanatic but, until the movie, he never really
grasped the true sadness of the event. He used to focus much more of
his attention on the technology of the ship, rarely giving much thought
to the passengers. However, the movie Titanic did something brilliant.
It created two characters, Jack and Rose, which we could identify with
on a personal level. They became our friends, people we came to care
about by the end of the story and through whom we lived the events just
as if we were there with them. In the end, when Jack died in his
effort to save Rose, since we were now personally invested in these
characters, we could see for the first time, through Rose's eyes, what
it must've felt like for all those women on the ship to watch their
husbands die. That's the power of fiction, to bring ideas down to a
personal level to help us understand great tragedies which, otherwise,
would be too distant from us emotionally to grasp.

>> I witnessed the events of 9/11. In that event, I saw both the worst
>> and the best Humanity is capable of.
>
> Classic example of how putting us into groups is the true flaw of our
> species.

I disagree. While the attack was obviously a horrible thing, don't
forget that the rescuers, too, were acting as a group, and they still
displayed some of your species' best traits.

Maybe it isn't the groups that are the fault, but why you group. When
you group around a particular political or religious idea, it tends to
end badly. When you group for compassion or to help fellow Humans, it
shows the best in you.

> Whenever you get behind a movement political, religious, etc.. Or
> whenever you identify with a group nation, race, etc. Then you do not
> see the people you are killing as your own but as a lesser form of
> life therefore it is justified to kill them.

Perhaps that is why grouping over flawed ideas is so dangerous.
Perhaps, when several Humans group together with the same flawed idea,
the very fact that others share your beliefs gives the Human a false
sense of how correct their idea truly is. That also explains why
Humans who group for the benefit of others (like the rescuers at 9/11)
tend to bring out the best in your species because, in that case, the
group reinforcement of an idea helps carry your species along the right
path.

It's unfortunate, then, that Humans tend to group over foolish,
irrelevant political and religious ideas and not over ideas that
benefit others.

> Even though we are all the same species not all humans feel that way
> about each other. Which is another way that Gelflings are better than
> us. You take Gelflings and Podlings two people that are actually
> different species and they still treat each other as equals. We human
> beings look at members of our own species and still see them as
> inferiors.

There was a time, actually, when Gelfling were guilty of this exact
same kind of attitude.

There are two races of Gelfling: Gelfinina and Gelfinaya. There are a
few physical differences. Gelfinaya bodies are totally hairless, no
pubic hair, not even eyebrows. I'm Gelfinaya and, if you look at my
face, you'll see I have no eyebrows. Gelfinina do have pubic hair and
eyebrows, like Humans and tend to be more athletic and muscular. Doria
is Gelfinina. If you look at the movie poster for The Crystal of
Truth, you'll see that, unlike myself, she does have eyebrows. Also,
Gelfinina female wings tend to be larger and stronger, capable of
extended flight. I can manage to glide for some distance when the wind
is right but, for the most part, my wings are useless for
transportation. Doria, by contrast, can actually fly from place to
place.

There was a time when my race used to view themselves as superior to
the Gelfinina because of one additional difference. Gelfinaya mind
powers tend to be far superior to those of Gelfinina. Doria in
particular has very limited mind power (though I have managed to train
her to use what little power she possesses). In our not too distant
past, only about 5000 years, my people had once enslaved Gelfinina,
using our mind powers to control them. Jolen used this technique to
maintain his control over Doria (Jolen was Gelfinina but he actually
had unusually strong mind powers for his race, which probably
contributed to his personality as Gelfinina with powerful minds tend to
be unstable). Of course, we had abolished this practice and it wasn't
until Jolen's arrival that this distasteful practice was revived.

Today, Gelfinina and Gelfinaya work alongside each other as equals.
Doria, in fact, is my spouse along with Jen (Gelfling law allows one to
have more than one spouse, and gender and race is irrelevant). Yes,
her mind powers are weaker than mine but that does not make her
inferior to me. There are things I can do that she cannot, and there
are things she can do that I cannot. She can fly better, I can
dreamfast better. I'm a better cook, she can lift heavier things. I
view Doria's presence in my life as a benefit to both of us. Doria
helps me with some things, I help her with others, and we are both the
stronger in life for it. I love her.

> I've often wondered if it was just in our nature to do the horrible
> things we do or if it is just something engrained in our society.
> Because if it is just our society then it can be reformed however if
> it is in our DNA to be evil you cannot reform biology.

Over time, you can. Evolution shapes biology. It takes time, but it
happens.

Most of the horrible things Humans, and for that matter Gelfling, do as
a species have roots in our instinctive "fight or flight" response. At
our most primitive level, encountering any situation, we instinctively
decide whether the situation is something we want to confront or evade.
Our survival instinct, also, gives us an instinct for violence
because, in the distant past, it was necessary to be violent in order
to survive predators (when they catch us). My species, in fact,
probably has its extra sensitive sense of smell, hearing and sight to
help us in evading predators.

> I still say that dispite your violent past you are still a more
> enlightened species than we are because even if human beings have the
> potential to evolve Gelflings seemed to have evolved much more quickly
> than we have. Based on 'World Of The Dark Crystal' it suggests that by
> the end of the film Gelflings are only a 3,000 year old species. Yet
> Gelfling society already seemed to be lightyears ahead of what human
> beings are now.

"Modern" Gelfling are about 3000 years old, though our species goes
back much further. Perhaps that is why we look so enlightened as The
World of The Dark Crystal does not touch on our darker past you
encounter when you go back far enough.

In my observations, I'd say that Gelfling and Humans evolved at about
the same rate, but both evolved "unevenly." By that I mean, in the
case of both species, our technology and social development developed
at different rates. In the case of Humans, your technology evolved
more quickly than your social development. Gelfling were the opposite.
Our social development evolved more quickly than our technology. In
other words, if you were to suddenly give our species nuclear weapons,
we would probably tend to use them much more responsibly than Humans
despite the fact that our technology is at least 750 years less
advanced than yours (I say 750 because we do have the ability to build
cannons, a technology which is only roughly 750 years in your past).

> Before the purging of your species you had a monarchy right?..

We have a monarchy now, though only in name. I more or less fell into
the role of ruler here because of my influence on Gelfling history.
The public is quite happy with me in my role. I do intend, however,
that our next Queen or King be elected democratically by the people.

> Yet it wasn't an oppressive one.

At times, it was, particularly in the era of Gelfinina/Gelfinaya racial
tensions.

> Your society doesn't even have poor people does it?..

It did under Jolen. It no longer does. I saw to that.

> In less than 3,000 you've managed to accomplish things that I honestly
> don't think I'm gonna see in my lifetime.

Maybe not in your lifetime. But some day I do believe it will happen.

> However my theory is that the Gelfling ability to dreamfast may be one
> of the things that drives the fast evolution of your species.

Actually, according to John's backstory for my world, our accelerated
evolution (and the accelerated evolution of all species on this planet)
was due to the Crystal. I just did a search on the computer here and
found a file on it:

> The Crystal acts as a link to all life on Thra. It regulates the
> planet's entire biosphere. It is the Crystal that makes it possible
> for Thra to support life. A planet orbiting a triple sun would not,
> under other circumstances, be likely to develop life. So I
> established that Thra had once had a single sun that was split into
> three as a result of a failed experiment.
>
> My idea had been that there was a race of beings, more than 100,000
> years ago, that lived on Thra and had an incredible level of
> technology. They were the Thrahn (from which the planet gets its
> name).
>
> Their entire technology hinged on devices they called "quantum
> crystals." These crystals were actually devices of immense
> capability; a technology beyond our comprehension. Each Crystal was
> an incredible power source. They Crystals were capable of amplifying
> any form of energy applied to them along their axis. The Crystals
> were also in a state of continuous quantum flux, in effect existing in
> an infinite number of universes simultaneously and providing a link to
> them.
>
> Crystals could be designed to perform almost any task. Every Crystal
> had a spiral-shaped energy conduit running through its heart. A
> Crystal could be "programmed" when created to perform a specific task
> by configuring this "spiral linkage." As a result, the Crystals were
> the heart of every piece of Thrahn technology. Crystals usually
> ranged in size from no more than the head of a pin to about the height
> of a Gelfling, depending on the amount of power needed for the
> application.
>
> During the time the Thrahn lived on the planet, the sun began to die.
> The Thrahn, who knew much about stellar physics, believed they could
> design a solar probe that would replenish the sun's hydrogen supply
> and rekindle the thermonuclear reaction. So they developed a Crystal
> for this purpose and sent it into the sun.
>
> Unfortunately, they miscalculated. Although the Crystal did
> reactivate the sun, the section of the sun's surface that had been
> impacted by the Crystal became unstable and exploded. The Crystal was
> programmed to deal with unexpected occurances and tried to compensate
> for the explosion by forming the expelled stellar material into two
> additional stars which were placed in orbits around the first.
>
> Unfortunately, the compensation was insufficient. Although the total
> mass of the three suns was no greater than the one alone had been, the
> mass was now distributed unevenly. Thra's orbit began to shift. They
> needed try to put it back on its proper orbital course, and a find a
> way to hold it there.
>
> They began developing a Crystal. The greatest, largest and most
> powerful Crystal they had ever developed. It would be designed to
> link and coordinate all life on Thra, AND to hold the planet's orbit
> on its original path.
>
> At a strategic point under Thra's surface, in a large mountain on the
> First Continent, a site was selected for the Crystal. The space time
> continuum itself was "bent" at this location to form a "pocket" which
> would hold the Crystal suspended forever in its place. When the
> Crystal was completed, it was materialized by matter transference into
> the pocket, which was a precise fit for the Crystal's shape. The
> Crystal was then permanently embedded in the space-time continuum
> itself and could never again be moved without destroying it.
>
> The Crystal itself generates an energy field that provides a link to
> the life on Thra, AND holds the planet together against the tidal
> forces of the three suns. The environment on Thra had been warmed
> considerably by the formation of the two additional suns, and the
> Crystal helped life on Thra to adapt by accelerating the evolutionary
> process.
>
> This evolutionary acceleration produced by the Crystal had an
> interesting side effect: most planets don't develop intelligent life,
> and those that do usually only develop ONE species of intelligent
> life. However, with the accelerated evolutionary rate on Thra, the
> planet has produced FOUR intelligent species: The Thrahn, the
> Gelfling, the Podlings and the Sandlings.
>
> However, there is a flaw in the Crystal's design. The designers
> failed to consider the effect on the Crystal of being hit with the
> energy of all three suns in conjunction. Therefore, the effect of The
> First Conjunction was a shock to the Thrahn. The Crystal's spiral
> linkage was momentarily unravelled, and there was a sudden burst of
> evolution on the planet. The change was minor, but verifiable. The
> Thrahn realized that the Conjunctions would likely happen again. Each
> time they did, they would surge the planet's evolution ahead another
> increment. Their calculations showed that the net effect would be a
> planet evolving at a rate almost 200 times the norm.
>
> Also, during a Great Conjunction, the Crystal resonates and becomes
> particularly vulnerable to damage.
>
> The Crystal was rooted in place and could never be moved, so the
> Thrahn could do nothing about their mistake.
>
> However, the surges in evolution were affecting the Thrahn, too.
> Their evolution would take a leap at each conjunction as well, until
> finally, on 5th Conjunction of the Thrahn age, they began to evolve
> beyond the need for physical bodies. Those who made this transition,
> now free to travel as pure energy, the Thrahn decided to leave their
> world and explore the universe, as they no longer had any need of the
> planet. For the safety of the developing intelligent species on Thra,
> they destroyed all traces of their former Crystal technology except
> The Crystal of Truth itself, which was needed to hold the planet's
> biosphere together.
>
> By the time of the Gelfling age, only one Thrahn still lived as a
> corporeal entity: Aughra. Again, to protect the Gelfling and other
> species from the effects of Thrahn technology, she hid her true
> identity, instead simply allowing Gelfling and Podling myth to explain
> her origins. She led a deceptively simple life; the only hint left
> over about Aughra's true origins was her innate understanding of stars
> and planets, a hallmark of her species.

Strangely, until I became aware of the nature of my existence, I had no
idea about any of this. Now that I know, it does explain a lot.

> In your society you do not suffer from a lot the same ills we do
> because I imagine the ability to see into each others minds allows you
> to see where the other person is coming from if there was ever a
> dispute over anything. Which would not only make your relationships
> with each other better but it also explains why aside from the rule of
> Jolen Dellin-Maranek you haven't had any major conflicts among each
> other.

Yes. Being able to look into each other's minds actually helped Doria
and myself personally the first time we had a romantic encounter. We
were drunk at the time and Doria felt as if she had taken advantage of
me. I was able to convince her I didn't feel that way by showing her
the feelings in my heart and, for the first time, she realized how much
I loved her and I realized how much she loved me. That put her on the
journey that ultimately led to her becoming a part of our family.

Doria actually began writing a novel about her experiences in life,
including the beginning of our relationship. Unfortunately, John
hasn't been able to give her much time to work on her novel so we're
not sure if she'll ever finish it.

Kira Kindala
Operational Ruler
Kingdom of Rindaar