The first essay in this series introduced the concept of ring species and detailed some of the basic worldbuilding of the Books of the Raksura setting. Some comparisons to Jennifer Roberson’s Chronicles of the Cheysuli were made to address the way the Fell appear to be a “alignment: evil” species. The reasoning being, that the Ilhini in the Chronicles are literally written as being evil people who follow an evil god. The Fell however are one of many sentient predatory species that tend to prey on other sentients, and decided to specialize in hunting only sentients, and using (and then destroying) their prey’s infrastructure. This essay is going to address the similarities and differences between the Fell and Raksura. It will also involve speculation on how and why the differences came about. I will also be continuing to speculate on how the “domestication/socialization” of the proto-Aeriat occurred.
The Fell have a rigid caste system and a very authoritarian culture. The Progenitors and rulers mind control the kethel and dakti, who are generally not treated very well. The system is very “Boss yells at dad, dad slaps mom, mom beats the kids and the kids hit each other.” This may or may not be because the forerunners were also authoritarian, and generational trauma caused the Fell to end up with a toxic culture and are having difficulties with getting out of their rut due to the entire “kethel, dakti and rulers are being mind controlled by their progenitors” thing.
The Fell have ground themselves down into a rut of infiltration, predation, consumption and eventual wearing out of resources, only to move on to the next civilization/city/country. This does not make them inherently evil, any more than the average English person was evil because of what the British Empire did to their colonies. (If there’s any allegory for the Fell, you might think of them as Imperialists literally consuming their conquests.) The culture is what’s toxic, not the Fell themselves. The allegory is “appropriative parasitical imperialist nobles,” not “racist situation where dark skin and/or hair is evil-coded.”
With that said, we don’t have a lot of specific information about what Fell culture looks like beyond what the protagonist and other characters learn through observation or other interaction with the Fell. And because of the nature of these interactions, these observations are extremely negative. (Due to kidnapping for coerced reproduction reasons.) The first positive (for values of positive that include MORE attempted kidnapping) is the situation that arises with Consolation and her Flight. The characters are confronted by evidence that some of their beliefs about the Fell are incorrect/inaccurate, and they have to struggle through their biases in order to deal with Consolation and her Flight fairly. (They manage to do this in a not terrible fashion, despite the trauma.)
The Raksura also have a caste system though it’s not as rigid, and there are more roles and tasks within the community, and an Arbora’s role might change as they move to different tasks. Where the Fell have a top down hierarchy, the Raksura have a more open system of checks and balances with a wide base made up of Arbora who fulfill a large number of roles and tasks in the community, followed by the Aeriat warriors who serve as messengers/air support/scouts, the consorts who have a number of support roles. (Maintain the etiquette system that keeps queens from trying to kill each other or anyone else, keep their queens well informed, and help take care of kids.) Finally, you have the ruling queen and her sister and daughter queens, who are very much the “heart” of the colony in a emotional and magically literal sense. (Queen powers are related to empathy, and physiological control. Useful when you are in charge of people who might start a fight because they’re in a bad mood–which for Raksura is basically Tuesday.)
It’s pretty clear that the biggest difference between Raksura and Fell is empathy versus telepathy. That is, “empathy as in the psychic ability” not empathy as in “having some idea of what someone else is feeling and reacting to it.” With the reveal of Malachite choosing to rescue her consort’s half-Fell children, we learn that half-Fell act like Raksura if they’re raised by Raksura. This is a hint that the issue with Fell behavior toward other sentients is a matter of nurture, not nature. (The Raksura do argue over whether it’s a matter of nature or nurture and somewhat seem to be on the fence about it, but come out on the side of “nurture” more or less.) This is later proven by Consolation’s Flight, particularly Kethel, who is extremely loyal to Consolation because she treats them like a person and not an animal. I think it’s implied that the “Other Flight” Consolation was fighting with in The Edge of Worlds were probably the older, adult members of her progenitor’s Flight. Consolation’s Flight is made up of the equivalent of teenagers and young adults. (Look, it’s reverse Lord of the Flies!)
Here are some headcanons I’ve had–partially based on random headcanons on the TrashClub Discord–I have about how the Arbora and Aeriat teamed up and became Raksura:
- Given the number of ring species in the Three Worlds, it’s probably really likely that Arbora are also related to the forerunners, even if they lack wings. (It should be noted that we don’t know if the forerunners had any wingless variants that split off.) If the proto-Aeriat Raksura were more like Fell, they probably tried to predate on the early Arbora. This most likely didn’t go well for them. Arbora are just as durable and effective fighters as Aeriat, they just don’t have wings. I think the early Arbora would be reluctant to completely exterminate an entire other sentient species, even if it was actively trying to eat them. If it was a small Flight, it might not be hard to beat them off and/or persuade them that they should not eat their neighbors.
- There might also have been a few situations where Arbora killed adult Aeriat, but kept/raised the proto-Aeriat babies. (Due to not wanting to kill children.)
- This might lead to increased interactions. Maybe some enterprising Arbora (or Aeriat) hit upon the idea of trading food for hunting, or food and other supplies or shiny things in exchange for protection while hunting. (guarding hunters from predators is one of the major tasks of the warrior caste, remember.) This would be somewhat how dogs or cats got domesticated, except the proto-Aeriat are people, not adorable predators. As this alliance became closer, the proto-Aeriate started interacting more with the Arbora. They started living among the Arbora, and leaving their children to be watched over while they went hunting. (Much like cats who leave their kittens with their humans. Look, free babysitter!)
- The Arbora were willing and able to take care of–and teach–the baby Aeriat along with their own babies. This gives you Aeriat who have learned important things like “play nicely,” and “don’t eat people,” and “share your toys.” Proto-Aeriat who weren’t able to follow the rules, were either exiled or (more than likely) killed. (It is a definite high-key worry among the Raksura that a “solitary” might have engaged in cannibalism of other Raksura or other sentients, so this probably happened a lot at first, and probably still happens on occasion.)
- The first hybrids were probably accidents. You have young proto-Aeriats and early Arbora and they accidentally have a few clutches. This probably threw both the Aeriat and the Arbora for a loop, though more the Arbora since Arbora pay extremely close attention to who had children with who, and they deliberately breed for both useful traits and also aesthetics.
- The first hybrids were probably also mostly Arbora, warriors and consorts…though both are probably just thought of as “Aeriat rulers” and “sterile Aeriat rulers” at first…at least until the first female warriors are born. The first queen is probably the result of a consort mating with a Progenitor. Eventually, bloodlines start to develop, and the Arbora start working the “royal” Aeriat into their bloodlines.
This was such a long process that the Arbora don’t have any real records about it, they just know that it most likely happened. Arbora scholarship doesn’t seem to have the equivalent fields of archaeology or anthropology, (as seems to be the case with Delin’s people or Callumkal’s people, )so they really don’t have more than old histories and legends. It is however fun to speculate on the underpinnings of this kind of worldbuilding. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into how the unification of the Arbora and Aeriat came about, even though most of it is implied.
How to Socialize your Aeriat Fell: Little Wolf Who Cried Girl
This is mostly about Consolation and her Flight.
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