#WritingWonders July 23: Have you ever wanted to smack the MC? Why?
Everyone: "We don't do that here."
You: "What, never?"
Everyone: "No, never."
You: "What, *never*?"
Everyone: "Hardly - well, no, okay? For our species, this is the sort of thing that - outside controlled and formalized circumstances - tends to escalate with terrifying speed to 'now everyone's dead and I've lost my hat'. So you DO NOT get into physical altercations unless you're happy with that outcome."
(Some species developed submission instincts to get along with each other, pro-survival-wise. For various reasons, eldrae developed MURDER TO DEATH THE INTERLOPER THAT DARED TRESPASS UPON YOUR SELFNESS instincts instead.
Which made civilization rather harder to attain, but possibly more civilized - in the "we have learned to walk carefully, not presume, and reach out with gentle hands" sense - once attained. Or so it is argued.)
