Storm Hawks Chapter 90: Ethics and Compromises

Now you know why two little, dark-haired waifs from Twelvestones were able to open a swiftgate.

They are unwanted, unintended half-breeds relegated to nameless servitude because they were born dark instead of fair.

Disconcerting. Yes.

But this isn’t a faery tale.

Rootstock Saga is about evolution. Biological and social. How adaptations are favored in times of adversity. How even the smallest mutations can begin to change a race, species, or culture.

All living beings react to adversity. We protect ourselves from threats. That primal instinct to survive can tempt even the most civilized societies to make ethical compromises.

The Ravens of Twelvestones are meant as a reminder of what can happen when we place tribal survival above basic human decency. When we rationalize away the harm we do to those we perceive as “not our kind.”

I won’t point out the parallels to the troubling trends of our times. Instead, I ask that you pause on this page, if only for a moment, and think about what we are doing to each other in the name of nation, religion, race, and ideology.

Look around you, and you will see the Ravens.