RipperFish
Experienced
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2014
- Posts
- 36
Answering a UaSS comment
I decided to take a look at the comments on Chapter 23 of ‘Upon a Savage Shore’ because I noticed there were a lot more than the last time I looked at them. I came across one that struck me as both odd and interesting.
“Great...however...
by Anonymous user on 05/06/2017
I won't reiterate what the other 198 comments have said about how great the story is, as I think that point has already been clearly made.
I just wanted to comment here that the epilogue made no sense to me. Assuming that the CP had picked up on the pod's distress signal all those months ago, neither the CP nor the jZav'Etch could have any way of knowing who (if anyone) had survived up until now. Nor could they know, even if they assumed there were survivors, if they had not gone crazy from being isolated, or become savages (a la Lord of the Flies), or any of a myriad of other possibilities. Yet "as part of the treaty" they had, sight-unseen, given him both a high governmental position as well as a high military rank, as well as provided them with children and all the other things? Really stretching the credulity and suspension of disbelief.
"Before the armistice was signed, we recovered six parties like yours."
"Twenty-two other groups of castaways like yours have been rescued or contacted by us since the armistice was signed last month."
So if they had only rescued 6 other parties of mixed human and jZav'Etch, why or how would they even consider or hope that he in particular was still alive? And what would make a lone CP sergeant more important than the other 22 CP males that had been found/rescued? Lastly, why would any government sign a treaty that included provisions for a CP sergeant that they hadn't even found yet?”
Let me clarify a couple of things before I address the objections:
1) The commenter is assuming all the groups were made up of a Human male and jZav`Etch females. I never said that in the story. I never even considered that would be the case. A couple of the groups were composed entirely of males. A couple of the groups were composed entirely of females. Some groups had jZav`Etch males as the leader. Some had Human females leading. Remember, jZav`Etch mentality is to place the best person for the job in charge. That should be obvious by the way Commander M`pel E`kmel allows Sergeant Liam Carter to take command of the party in a very dangerous survival situation.
2) Before the armistice was signed the jZav`Etch recovered six groups of jZav`Etch and Humans who had been living and working together for their survival. That was a big part of why the Hegemony approached the Conglomerated Planets proposing an armistice. This was done BEFORE the armistice which means the CP was not involved.
3) After the armistice was signed both governments worked together to rescue or make contact with twenty-two more groups of castaways. Make special note of “make contact”. That should suggest there were others like Liam and his wives who did not wish to leave the world on which they had been stranded. Understanding that is important to the points I will make later.
4) A total of 28 mixed groups were either rescued or contacted prior to Liam and his wives being contacted. That does not mean no other groups would be found. It also should suggest Liam was not of particular noteworthiness to the Conglomerated Planets or the jZav`Etch Hegemony. In fact, if Liam had been picked out as important wouldn’t they have rushed to his rescue far sooner? Wouldn’t he have been the first person they went to recover? And yet Liam was number 29 on the list.
Though I never stated it blatantly the simple answer to the objections made in the comment is Liam Carter was not the only individual to receive a “high governmental position” and a “high military rank” as a consequence of the armistice treaty. It was actually a clause in the treaty that provided for the possibility Humans and jZav`Etch would join in a familial relationship (Household) and then not wish to leave whatever planet they were on. Rather than risk a diplomatic incident and possibly strain relations between the two governments it was simpler for the negotiators to create political posts that are little more than honorary.
Technically, Liam and the others like him, are the military governors of whatever planet they are on, but the planets are outside the bounds of the Hegemony and the natives (if any are present) are not protectorate races. Therefore, in reality, the newly minted military governors have no actual power inside the Hegemony. What’s more, they are reserve officers without any connections in the command structure of the CP military. The only troops they are likely ever to command are the handful of staff they are entitled to. Therefore, in reality, they have no actual power in the Conglomerated Planets. Saying that Liam has a high military and political rank is like saying the Grand Poobah of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos is a high ranking political official because he was elected by a bunch of guys to lead their secret society.
Perhaps it is fitting to compare Liam to the King of Beasts. He is much like a lion. As long as you stay out of his territory he can’t kill and eat you. Enter his territory and things change. On his planet Liam is Lord High Executioner. Off of it, he’s just some regular Joe with a nice title and some credentials that don’t really mean much.
I hope that clears things up for this commenter and anyone else who was thinking along those same lines.
I decided to take a look at the comments on Chapter 23 of ‘Upon a Savage Shore’ because I noticed there were a lot more than the last time I looked at them. I came across one that struck me as both odd and interesting.
“Great...however...
by Anonymous user on 05/06/2017
I won't reiterate what the other 198 comments have said about how great the story is, as I think that point has already been clearly made.
I just wanted to comment here that the epilogue made no sense to me. Assuming that the CP had picked up on the pod's distress signal all those months ago, neither the CP nor the jZav'Etch could have any way of knowing who (if anyone) had survived up until now. Nor could they know, even if they assumed there were survivors, if they had not gone crazy from being isolated, or become savages (a la Lord of the Flies), or any of a myriad of other possibilities. Yet "as part of the treaty" they had, sight-unseen, given him both a high governmental position as well as a high military rank, as well as provided them with children and all the other things? Really stretching the credulity and suspension of disbelief.
"Before the armistice was signed, we recovered six parties like yours."
"Twenty-two other groups of castaways like yours have been rescued or contacted by us since the armistice was signed last month."
So if they had only rescued 6 other parties of mixed human and jZav'Etch, why or how would they even consider or hope that he in particular was still alive? And what would make a lone CP sergeant more important than the other 22 CP males that had been found/rescued? Lastly, why would any government sign a treaty that included provisions for a CP sergeant that they hadn't even found yet?”
Let me clarify a couple of things before I address the objections:
1) The commenter is assuming all the groups were made up of a Human male and jZav`Etch females. I never said that in the story. I never even considered that would be the case. A couple of the groups were composed entirely of males. A couple of the groups were composed entirely of females. Some groups had jZav`Etch males as the leader. Some had Human females leading. Remember, jZav`Etch mentality is to place the best person for the job in charge. That should be obvious by the way Commander M`pel E`kmel allows Sergeant Liam Carter to take command of the party in a very dangerous survival situation.
2) Before the armistice was signed the jZav`Etch recovered six groups of jZav`Etch and Humans who had been living and working together for their survival. That was a big part of why the Hegemony approached the Conglomerated Planets proposing an armistice. This was done BEFORE the armistice which means the CP was not involved.
3) After the armistice was signed both governments worked together to rescue or make contact with twenty-two more groups of castaways. Make special note of “make contact”. That should suggest there were others like Liam and his wives who did not wish to leave the world on which they had been stranded. Understanding that is important to the points I will make later.
4) A total of 28 mixed groups were either rescued or contacted prior to Liam and his wives being contacted. That does not mean no other groups would be found. It also should suggest Liam was not of particular noteworthiness to the Conglomerated Planets or the jZav`Etch Hegemony. In fact, if Liam had been picked out as important wouldn’t they have rushed to his rescue far sooner? Wouldn’t he have been the first person they went to recover? And yet Liam was number 29 on the list.
Though I never stated it blatantly the simple answer to the objections made in the comment is Liam Carter was not the only individual to receive a “high governmental position” and a “high military rank” as a consequence of the armistice treaty. It was actually a clause in the treaty that provided for the possibility Humans and jZav`Etch would join in a familial relationship (Household) and then not wish to leave whatever planet they were on. Rather than risk a diplomatic incident and possibly strain relations between the two governments it was simpler for the negotiators to create political posts that are little more than honorary.
Technically, Liam and the others like him, are the military governors of whatever planet they are on, but the planets are outside the bounds of the Hegemony and the natives (if any are present) are not protectorate races. Therefore, in reality, the newly minted military governors have no actual power inside the Hegemony. What’s more, they are reserve officers without any connections in the command structure of the CP military. The only troops they are likely ever to command are the handful of staff they are entitled to. Therefore, in reality, they have no actual power in the Conglomerated Planets. Saying that Liam has a high military and political rank is like saying the Grand Poobah of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos is a high ranking political official because he was elected by a bunch of guys to lead their secret society.
Perhaps it is fitting to compare Liam to the King of Beasts. He is much like a lion. As long as you stay out of his territory he can’t kill and eat you. Enter his territory and things change. On his planet Liam is Lord High Executioner. Off of it, he’s just some regular Joe with a nice title and some credentials that don’t really mean much.
I hope that clears things up for this commenter and anyone else who was thinking along those same lines.
