[Then I look forward to speaking with this… Vibrant. I hope the exchange will result in mutual benefit.]
[Oh, I’m sure it will. So, do you two have names, or would you rather I continue to refer to you as the Folk?]
He raises a hand—his nails are long and curved, more like claws than human fingernails. The hands are also larger than what a human might have. Perhaps that’s just a trait of this individual, but I suspect it might be a common trend amongst the wolf-like Folks. The girl, who has remained silent, is certainly shorter than he is, and much more delicate. Her fur is snowy white, and her features more delicate than the harsh angles of a canid. Definitely more of a weasel type.
[We are not so quick to share our names among those we do not consider friends. Considering how our relationship began.] He pauses for dramatic effect, just to remind me that our ‘relationship’, such as it is, began when we abducted them in the Dungeon. [For now, you may call me Grey, and you may refer to my apprentice as White.]
As in, the colour of their fur? Seems a bit… simple? Also, she’s his apprentice? Were they on some sort of teaching journey through the Dungeon?
Could it be the case that this is another community with as bad a naming sense as the colony? I mean, it’s not like my own naming sense is particularly good. Just take a look at the council for an example of that. My own poor sense seems to have been adopted by them to an almost absurd degree and spread throughout my family. It’s nice to think we may have some kindred spirits.
[Sure. Grey, White, nice to meet you. You can call me Diamond, I suppose.]
They run their eyes over my glittering carapace, and I can’t help but feel proud of my splendid shininess. You could shampoo your fur every day for a year, Grey, you still wouldn’t look this slick.
[First thing I’d like to do is extend an apology, on behalf of my family, for abducting you in the Dungeon. We aren’t in the habit of kidnapping people… or Folk… against their will and imprisoning them. We aren’t intending to keep you. Once our discussions are complete, we will be happy to return you to where we found you and repair the damage to the safe house. If it weren’t for the circumstances we currently find ourselves in, we wouldn’t be so quick to use such harsh measures.]
The two of them nod graciously to accept my apology.
[Indeed,] Grey says, [your situation has been described to me in some small detail by Coolant. A war with the Empire of Stone. Your colony will find it difficult to survive, I fear.]
[We may, but I don’t think we’ll be the easy food you and they seem to think we will be. I have to say, you don’t seem to be quite as upset by the idea of a sapient ant colony as I might have expected. Most people we talk to don’t react quite so… calmly.]
[What would I gain from showing otherwise?] Grey replies dryly. [I would hardly be wise to announce my hatred and disgust of your kind when surrounded in the seat of your power.]
[That’s… true.]
[However, it is true that the Folk do have a more relaxed attitude toward those such as you. Intelligent monsters are not something we are unfamiliar with.]
Well, that sounds nice.
[I must tell you, the Folk have suffered greatly from the scourge of ant-type monsters in the Dungeon, much as all races have. I should also say, that we are not a nation, as you might think we are. We are a loose conglomeration of tribes without any form of central government. I would be pleased to bring word of your colony to my people, but I cannot say what effect that news might have. Some will want to destroy you, others will seek you as allies against the threats we face, whilst others would be indifferent. There would be no consensus, and indeed, there would be no attempt to enforce one. I know this may not be what you want to hear, but the strictures of my tribe demand that I be honest with you.]
Grey has adopted a more formal tone as he drops this bad news, and as he finishes, he bows toward me, and White mimics his action. Might think this is bad news, but frankly, the fact they wouldn’t all immediately want us dead is a massive win. Better than I expected!
68. Punching out the Numbers
It is no mystery to the theorists of the Colony why most of the races we encountered were initially hostile. Our kind is dangerous. It’s for precisely this reason that we were able to deal with others as equals, because we were strong, a threat. Mutual destruction isn’t the best stance to begin inter-species diplomacy, but it was all that was afforded us, most of the time.
The existence of other intelligent societies of monsters did help to pave the way for us. After all, the sapients of Pangera had been dealing with their kind for thousands of years. Often an antagonistic relationship, with a laundry list of broken alliances and betrayals, on both sides, but at the very least, there was an established framework they could use to converse with us.
Here it was that the Eldest had the greatest effect. Whilst the attention they gave to foreign policy was sporadic at best—though many would say the intention of the Eldest was to raise the capacity of the Colony to handle its own problems, rather than the failing of a mighty being with a limited attention span, my own thoughts on this topic are detailed to a greater degree in my other writings—the attitude that the Colony adapted in dealings with other races was set by the Eldest very early in our history.
It was a point of view that, whilst never stated explicitly in Council documents, nevertheless governed all interactions between we ants and others. The Colony was, is, and always will be, open, supportive, and willing to work with any who approach us. We have worked immensely hard to bring up those who did not spurn us, raised villages to mighty cities, cities to great nations, nations to mighty empires. Aggression, war, and bad faith were always met with the same, but only until our enemies were able to change their stance. Once an olive branch was extended, the Colony was always willing to accept it.
Naturally, this has caused the Colony to be on the receiving end of its share of betrayals, yet it is the opinion of most scholars within the Colony that this was a necessary cost of pursuing a peaceful agenda. We have always been able to make the argument that we were in the right, that we dealt in good faith. In this way, our reputation spread across the world and did more work in our favour than anything else.
Our name became a byword for fairness, but also for a disproportionate response. Give the Colony a kindness, and they will repay it tenfold, do them a disservice, and they will repay that tenfold.
Too many were unable, or unwilling, to heed this message and receive the Eldest’s kindness. The destruction that followed in those instances is, in this scholar’s opinion, both the Eldest’s greatest failing, and greatest triumph.
My conversation with Grey and White rolls on for more than an hour. His people, the er, Folk, seem to be an interesting lot. He’s quite cagey about where exactly they live, which is understandable, I suppose. As far as he knows, Coolant and I are the friendly face of what is actually a ravenous horde, intent on sniffing out their cities and consuming their young.
When I tell him about the one city we have actually sort of conquered, he at first expresses some doubt that such a thing actually occurred, but when I continue to affirm the existence of Rylleh, a city under the administration of the colony—to all intents and purposes—he expresses a desire to go and see it for himself.