That's what Edriss wants, too. She doesn't care if someone else is happy or prosperous if it doesn't inconvenience her--as Visser mentioned while she was still in the backwater Skrit Na base, she's capable of extending a killing blade or a helping hand. She'll help you, she'll cut deals with you, she'll live and let live, and she's even capable of something like friendship or love or graciously sharing happiness and fortune with others. It's Greed, not Envy, at least for her--as a person, at least, she doesn't feel a need to tear someone down in order to raise herself up. (Host situation and conquest aside, of course; those are a means to an end, not a personal vendetta.) She wants, she strives, she improves herself, she takes insane risks that jeopardize her current position and safety in the hopes of a big reward. She's full of restless energy and relentless ambition and endless fascination. She loves to learn and gather knowledge and skills for herself, to plan and tilt the odds in her favor, to face challenges and gain new experiences not only for what they bring her, but for the sheer thrill of it. She values resources not just for what they are, but also for what they can do for her and how they can be useful. What matters is what's successful, whether that's politics, manipulation and mind games, infiltration, betrayal, or outright bloodshed. She, like Marco and Eva and I think maybe even Allison Kim, is mostly motivated by that bright, clear line rather than having personal hangups, or letting pride and power and arrogance go to her head, or even just stumbling over overlooked details.
Amidst all that intelligence and ambition and scheming and manipulation is exactly what Marco saw in Visser One's eyes in the underwater base--a shark. Edriss can't stop moving, and it's the movement that's most important--the journey and all its experiences and emotions trump the destination, because she'll never be satisfied with setting down anywhere once and for all.
Earth was so thrilling because it was entirely unknown, uncharted, even practically mythical territory to the Yeerk Empire. There was nothing holding her back, and nothing to stop her from exploring and acting exactly as she pleased. Her success or failure depended almost purely on her own luck and cunning and abilities, with an allowance for Essam's help as well. (But at first, he seemed to be considered almost an extension of herself, as her assistant--so did that even count as something separate when he was just one more piece for the chessmaster to move?) And even more thrilling was that it worked. In this new wide-open frontier she was able to use her abilities to the utmost and create an effective plan, one she probably could have pulled off, given enough time and resources and support, if complications hadn't arisen.
The complications were what really screwed with her, I think. She went from the model of what a Yeerk should be, to the extremes of what a Yeerk could be--from a scheming conqueror and infiltrator who studied a species to better know how to control and own them utterly, to a sympathizer, a traitor who had been taken in by the very wonders she had sought to dominate and possess, who had been tricked and betrayed and entangled in her own webs. During that year or two, she hung in the balance, swinging between the perfect military commander and the sort of overwhelmed individual who could possibly have been coaxed into a mindset similar to the far-distant Yeerk Peace Movement, and eventually settled into a surprisingly well-integrated middle path, one where she could understand (sort of), appreciate, and sympathize with humans while not losing her need to use and control them. Part of her ending up so messed up by the experience was her fault as a person and as a Yeerk, but part of it was just humanity itself, and the people she chose for her hosts.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
(2/4?)
Date: 2010-11-03 02:58 am (UTC)Amidst all that intelligence and ambition and scheming and manipulation is exactly what Marco saw in Visser One's eyes in the underwater base--a shark. Edriss can't stop moving, and it's the movement that's most important--the journey and all its experiences and emotions trump the destination, because she'll never be satisfied with setting down anywhere once and for all.
Earth was so thrilling because it was entirely unknown, uncharted, even practically mythical territory to the Yeerk Empire. There was nothing holding her back, and nothing to stop her from exploring and acting exactly as she pleased. Her success or failure depended almost purely on her own luck and cunning and abilities, with an allowance for Essam's help as well. (But at first, he seemed to be considered almost an extension of herself, as her assistant--so did that even count as something separate when he was just one more piece for the chessmaster to move?) And even more thrilling was that it worked. In this new wide-open frontier she was able to use her abilities to the utmost and create an effective plan, one she probably could have pulled off, given enough time and resources and support, if complications hadn't arisen.
The complications were what really screwed with her, I think. She went from the model of what a Yeerk should be, to the extremes of what a Yeerk could be--from a scheming conqueror and infiltrator who studied a species to better know how to control and own them utterly, to a sympathizer, a traitor who had been taken in by the very wonders she had sought to dominate and possess, who had been tricked and betrayed and entangled in her own webs. During that year or two, she hung in the balance, swinging between the perfect military commander and the sort of overwhelmed individual who could possibly have been coaxed into a mindset similar to the far-distant Yeerk Peace Movement, and eventually settled into a surprisingly well-integrated middle path, one where she could understand (sort of), appreciate, and sympathize with humans while not losing her need to use and control them. Part of her ending up so messed up by the experience was her fault as a person and as a Yeerk, but part of it was just humanity itself, and the people she chose for her hosts.