Discussion post for "True Seeker"

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for "True Seeker" by Fiona Avery. Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I.

Hm, Fiona Avery's role in B5 and Crusade production and as an editor in the B5 book team not withstanding, this strikes me as entertaining but avarage fanfiction. Her unproduced Crusade script starring Bester is far more impressive.

The good: a look at post war Narn, the return of Na'Toth (hooray!) in an important role, showing her recovered from her prison ordeal, showing what became of Alissa from early s2, trying to show that the new Khari without G'Kar is like.

The bad: I haven't watched Alissa's episode in ages and I vaguely remember this being show canon, so it's not Fiona Avery's fault, but all the comments of how the minds of Narn feel slippery and cold and revolting come across as racist. Especially coupled with remarks like Alissa thinking about Jerrica that how could she, growing up with humans and thus having a tender soul, be prepared for the vicious side of Narns. Um. Humans have their own deeply vicious side, thanks a lot, and the show itself never made any bones about that (ask President Clark, Homewatch, Psi Corps, etc.) Now of course a character's attitude doesn't have to be the story's attitude, and it's entirely possible to write someone's biased pov and showcasing at the same time this person is wrong. But if that's what Fiona Avery went for, she didn't succeed very well.

Ditto for the part where Alissa changes a Narn's sexual orientation to punish him, thinking virtuously that she learned from the Minbari (who are soooo different from Big Bad Psi Corps in this) that telepaths never hurt people and isn't this an excellent solution of how to deal with the weasel. I'd hope for narrative irony, but again, if that's what was meant, it wasn't written very well, because I had the impression the story wants me to agree with Alissa. Alissa, changing someone's sexual orientation is an incredibly gross violation, like rape. (Also now I'm having bad flashbacks to Galen mindwhammying Mariel with a love spell in Peter David's trilogy, which I DO NOT WANT.) This being said, given that the Minbari are far from the ideal people which, say, Vir sees in them whe he praises Minbar to Londo in s3, a black humoured part of me is amused by the fact this is supposed to be an example of Minbari taught telepathic ethics superior to human Psi Corps ethics. Go figure.

Sidenote: also, Alissa, even beyond the sexual orientation change being a violation by itself no matter what the sexual orientation, making the guy exclusively attracted to Centauri (women) specifically is gross because you've made him attracted to the species which has been oppressing and exploiting his own within his life time. This is like inflicting Stockholm syndrom on someone. Now B5 canon actually provides a canon example if you want to explore the murky and fascinating territory of what it means to sexually attracted to a species whose representatives for the most part were busy subjecting you and whom you've been busy fighting and killing when your sexual orientation was formed. Yes, I mean our very own G'Kar. Whom we know to have enjoyed sex with at least one Centauri woman (Mariel), and given the physical similarity between humans and Centauri, I think a case can be made that G'Kar's sexual fondness for human women is a safe way to channel his attraction Centauri. It's a good subject to explore (and, um, I may have done so in a story), and worth a story of its own. Not a few lines making it a gag about a minor character.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

II.


The hm: It's a case of your mileage will vary, but generally I don't like Unexpected Offspring fanfiction. It can be done, and the children of canon characters can be made interesting in their own right is the writer puts some depth into their characterisation. But Jerrica here doesn't really come across as more than a Mary Sue a random teenage girl. And that's leaving aside the implication that being raised on Earth has given her superior attitudes to the Narn. The only line of Jerrica's I really liked was her telling G'Kar his iconic book was "good - for a first draft". That gave her colour and made her seem like someone who could be related to G'Kar.

Also, I dislike the idea that seats on the Khari can be inherited. I may misremember canon - feel free to tell me - but I had the impression that you get elected in a more democratic fashion. The Khari in this story is basically undistinguishable from the Centaurum, which, again, could be used with narrative irony (the way the Narn directly after the Centauri occupation ends want to elevate G'Kar to sole ruler, Centauri Emperor style, and he's appalled, telling them the Khari always spoke with many voices), but isn't here.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

I don't think we ever really got any description of Narn political organisation - but it doesn't seem likely the Centauri occupation would have left any native aristocracies around, at least none with any remaining legitimacy in Narn eyes, and the Narn Regime was always presented as vaguely Soviet - G'Kar talking about "our revolution" in early episodes, the Brutalist style of Narn architecture - so, no, hereditary seats seems off to me too.

For some reason, I've always seen Narn society as meritocratic rather than directly democratic - the references to G'Kar being "Third Circle" implying there's some hierarchy of qualifications you have to pass through to reach positions of power.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Yes, meritocratic makes sense.

[alexcat.livejournal.com]

I remember thinking while I was reading that it read like a fanfiction and not one of the best.

I do remember from canon that no teep wanted to get into a Narn mind, I assume partly because their reptilian brains were simply wired different enough to human-ish...-oid brains that they were simply too alien for comfort. Thus the term cold used over and over.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

A random thought - maybe it's linked to the deaths of the Narn telepaths during the last Shadow War? Maybe the Shadows retaliated against the Narn mindwalkers with some sort of... telepathic feedback, like the scream Shadow ships make, and the only Narn that could survive their attack had some sort of natural telepathic shielding?

Or some sort of cultural mental training came out of the Shadow War to protect against Shadow attacks, the point of which is now forgotten, but is sufficient that alien telepaths percieve Narn minds as actively working against their scans...