[D3 EE, Lady's Library, Expecting] Research Time

[Fyne]

"It doesn't bother me really. It's more like hearing water flowing in the background from a brook. It was more of a statement in that even if they go together, space and time, it's through a relationship that isn't intuitive to my understanding of time. Which is unfortunate, because I wish I could be as precise with my movement as I was with my timing. I'd be a master swordsman."

[Dare Shah]

"If mastering the sword is something you truly want, you could dedicate a few decades to it, one stolen hour at a time.

Am I wrong to guess you have greater priorities however? Whether we live one or many centuries, we must focus on what's important as... Well, time, for us at least, does not come back."

[Fyne]

"I mean, we never know how much time we'll have. I grew up with drow, and I never knew a drow that died of old age. So I'm not expecting to either."

[Dare Shah]

"In the end, upbringing might be more critical than biology in how we approach death.

I am human, so I have about one hundred or so years to myself, at most. Yet, I come from a rich enough family to expect to get them all, as most early deaths can easily be solved with the spending of enough gold.

You're technically immortal. But, as a male drow, you've been raised in an environment where any potential death of you would be final or worse.

Hence radically opposite views: I treat my own oblivion as a deadline. Yours, as a constant companion."

[Fyne]

"Well, drow are theoretically immortal, but not technically. The oldest among us is over 2 millenia as I understand it, but I don't think many make it past a few hundred. Even the matrons of different families, rich and powerful as they are, tend to get killed and replaced by their daughters in a pretty vicious cycle. And I have watched countless humans and others die over my life, rarely peacefully. So I tend to treat death like an outside occurrence."

[Dare Shah]

"You'll be surprised how many people don't truly understand the value of life and the horror of death.

There are tales that, in some backwater planes, the most insignificant bandit will fight to the death on a yes or a no, with no respect for their own existence or the ones they snuff out."

[Fyne]

"Not that different from guards and law enforcement attacking and killing lawbreakers without any respect for the existence they snuff out. That happens even in populated areas. More frequently in populated areas actually. I've seen a lot of corpses in this city that nobody gave a second thought for. Every society has a level of callousness."

[Dare Shah]

"Oh, definitely. There's even an argument to be made that a small town evolves into a true city – a mirror of the Urbs – when its inhabitants start shrugging off anything happening, no matter how strange or gruesome. Something about being so constantly flooded with new information about new tragedies in the vicinity your heart closes to all.

It creates a form of blasé stability, with things just returning to what they were two days before no matter the events of yesterday. I'll bet the chaotic events of today will be mostly brushed off by tomorrow for example."

[Fyne]

"Which isn't great. If we move past stuff without dealing with it, it's just going to happen again. We may have handled their chaos for today, but they're going to continue to do this kind of thing unless discouraged somehow."

[Dare Shah]

"I fear actual change is simply not something much people aspires too. I would even hazard the guess a good deal of the revolutionaries would be quite fine with only nominal changes, as in just the identity of who's in charge. Same for the chaos people, who make sure to never cross the line of doing truly irreparable damages.

To use a metaphor as mathematical as it is barbaric, the equation as is presently is stable and only accepts the current status quo as its answer. New variables would needed to be added for a different output to maybe show up."