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Leliel
2010-08-27, 07:31 AM
It just occurred to me:

Almost everything one of the Titans has done, be they Yozi, Neverborn, or free, has backfired so spectacularly and in such a predictable way that they should have seen it coming a mile away:

Here's some examples:

Primordials, Pre-War: "Hey, Autocthon looks a little lonely after we dismembered the Clay Man. Why don't we make him some action figures that are even more useless then it was?"

later...

"AH! GLOWY PEOPLE WITH ESSENCE CANNONS!"

Neverborn: "You know, the Great Contagion wasn't as devastating as we hoped. Since Falafel seems to be the culprit in his attempts to help us, let's show him what failure means."

later...

"Do something already! We made you Deathlords for a reason, you know!"

Yozi: "Since our creations could be ordered to do something detrimental to us if we remove free will, let's give it to our Green Sun Princes, but only if they act like really convincing stage villains."

later...

(Said while dangling over behemoth snake pit) "'Let's reward them for using creative deathtraps', you said. 'Imagination is always appreciated in a lieutenant.' Yeah sure, Cecelyne, whatever you say.

Gaia: "I'm sure nothing too bad well happen in the near eon. I'll just pop out for a bit, okay?"

later...

"What the *BLEEP* is the Ebon Dragon doing on Meru!? And how did he graffiti the Silver Chair!?"

Autocthon: "Meh, I'm bored. I'll let you Divine Ministers handle day-to-day life of my worshipers while I take a nap."

later...

*hack*, *wheeze*. "Anyone know a good robo-oncologist?"

So yeah:

Do the Primordials all need to get a clue?

Tengu_temp
2010-08-27, 07:34 AM
Yes. I think that's intentional, at least for Autochton.

kamikasei
2010-08-27, 07:41 AM
They arose from nothing fully-formed with absolute power. It's not like evolution or childhood had much opportunity to weed out harmful behaviours or instil good ones via instinct or education.

Isn't "they have no concept of failure" kind of a thing for the Primordials?

The Rose Dragon
2010-08-27, 08:52 AM
Gaia left in search of the Shining Answer, so that Creation's problems can be fixed. She knows things can go wrong, and she knows she alone cannot fix everything.

The Neverborn cannot quite do anything. They are dead, as well as sleeping, so they can only punish their servants and anyone who enters their tomb-bodies.

Autochthon did many things to ensure the people in his body would thrive while he was hibernating. Most of the things that have gone wrong is due to his sickness, which he could not cure himself, and the Divine Ministers haven't screwed up too badly anyway.

Yozis... well, screw Yozis. They are the single most wretched and despicable thing in the entire setting in my opinion. Green Sun Princes come shortly behind them. As such, they can go to hell for all I care.

Wait...

Xefas
2010-08-27, 10:20 AM
They arose from nothing fully-formed with absolute power. It's not like evolution or childhood had much opportunity to weed out harmful behaviours or instil good ones via instinct or education.

Isn't "they have no concept of failure" kind of a thing for the Primordials?

I agree with this. Primordials are more concept than physical being, and they are bound within that concept. They can learn, but only within a defined space.

For instance, the Ebon Dragon can never learn mercy, or kindness, or how not to be a douchebag. Even if he were faced with "Alright, show mercy, or we'll obliterate you from existence", and was then sent into an alternate timestream where he spent infinite years attempting to be taught mercy by beings far more powerful than himself, themselves embodying mercy, and then came back to that decision "Show mercy or die", he could not do so. It's like asking a tree to be a fish.

The kicker is that, on top of whatever concept each Primordial entity embodies, they also embody extreme arrogance. It is physically impossible for them to see how anything they ever do will fail. A human being, beaten enough times, will realize "Hey, maybe I'm not so good at this." The Primordial can't, it just keeps seeing crazy 0-in-a-Million flukes.

And because it can't conceive of its own failure, it can't really ever improve or adapt. That's why Exalted are their ultimate downfall. They are improvement and adaptation.

The Tygre
2010-08-27, 12:09 PM
That's why Primordials are Primordials. It's what separates them from gods. At heart, a Primordial is a kind of divine idiot savant. The Ebon Dragon is reeeeeally good at being an *******. Malfeas is reeeeeally good at blowing **** up. Gaia is reeeeeally good at making life. And so forth. But ask them about anything outside that, ask them to think outside that box? They can't. The really, honestly, truly can't conceive of anything outside of their given lens. It's just another one of many reasons that Fair Folk aren't exactly keen on their big brothers.