Mouseferatu
Hero
I've been slowly reading through this book. ("Slow" not because it's not grabbing--it very much is--but because I'm working it in around my writing.) And I just read the section in the aboleth entry about their attitudes toward mind flayers.
(If you want to keep yourself in suspense about a rulebook
, I suppose what follows could be considered a spoiler.)
Anway, I read this line:
"In a way, the aboleths and the illithid are like cosmic bookends: two similar races with similar goals, one from the ancient past and one from the doomed future."
And the thought that immediately occured to me was this:
Two ends of the universe? Or two ends of an evolutionary process??
Think about it. Assuming a fantasy world in which evolution holds true, life on land would have originated from creatures of the sea. We know that the aboleth can briefly survive on land, and they've already spawned one amphibious offshoot. They're races that both have four tentacles that don't really map to the limbs of "normal" creatures. They've similar personalities, similar goals, even some similar abilities. What if the aboleth and the illithid are not merely the alpha and omega of the universe, but are literally two ends of the same cycle?
I'm not 100% certain where I'm going to take this idea, but I'm nearly certain I'm going to use it somehow. I wanted to throw it out there, and see if any of you folks had any thoughts on the matter, or if it might inspire you in turn.
(Of course, I'm going to feel really stupid if somebody comes along and tells me the book actually talks about this possibility later on. I'm only a very short way into it.
But dang it, at least for me, it is an original thought.)
(If you want to keep yourself in suspense about a rulebook
, I suppose what follows could be considered a spoiler.)Anway, I read this line:
"In a way, the aboleths and the illithid are like cosmic bookends: two similar races with similar goals, one from the ancient past and one from the doomed future."
And the thought that immediately occured to me was this:
Two ends of the universe? Or two ends of an evolutionary process??
Think about it. Assuming a fantasy world in which evolution holds true, life on land would have originated from creatures of the sea. We know that the aboleth can briefly survive on land, and they've already spawned one amphibious offshoot. They're races that both have four tentacles that don't really map to the limbs of "normal" creatures. They've similar personalities, similar goals, even some similar abilities. What if the aboleth and the illithid are not merely the alpha and omega of the universe, but are literally two ends of the same cycle?
I'm not 100% certain where I'm going to take this idea, but I'm nearly certain I'm going to use it somehow. I wanted to throw it out there, and see if any of you folks had any thoughts on the matter, or if it might inspire you in turn.
(Of course, I'm going to feel really stupid if somebody comes along and tells me the book actually talks about this possibility later on. I'm only a very short way into it.
But dang it, at least for me, it is an original thought.)
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