The Aberrant Mothers Of Beforus (or: Yuri Essay The First.)
Her Radiant Compassion (Feferi) and The Designer (Kanaya), in short, put the current culling system in place. And destroyed their interpersonal relationship in the process.
Her Radiant Compassion’s title is intended to evoke the idea of a shining future, of a love for her people so effusive it radiates like the moonlight off of the Empress. The Designer’s title is twofold; both an actual fashion designer, and a social architect. Straightforward, practical, prefixed by ‘Honorable’ in some of the history books. And half the time, on HRC’s tongue. Friends from the beginning, with.. Ideas on how to improve the world.
The conditions that make the culling system necessary may tie directly to the explosive amount of grubs born, and the varying vastness of troll lifespans.[1] Of these grubs, many will be born with some form of mutation or other variation on what is considered “standard”. Some of which could negatively affect quality of life, some of which might just be considered unsightly. Given the sheer number of trolls out there, who’s to say they’re getting the help they need to live? Surely, it could be solved with resource distribution... Resources that a lot of highbloods have, including Feferi herself. Perhaps she spends her youth using those resources to help. Perhaps not.
Either way, the day that Feferi succeeds the throne, she sets about trying to fix this awful problem. By... Incentivizing highbloods to take care of trolls that are beneath them. Warm blooded trolls with their shorter lifespans, trolls disabled by their mutations. They don’t need to die! They’ll be cared for! After all, Feferi has no problem with it, and neither does Kanaya. Why should anybody else chafe against this? Surely, now that nobody has to fight for scraps, and cold-bloods have something to *do* with all their years, everything’s better! …Right?
Of course, being in the midst of the hemospectrum, Kanaya is first in line to watch their policies fail, watch the best intentions pave the road to hell as some take their resentment out on their charges, as some simply aren’t prepared to act as carer, as freedoms are removed, as lies are forged to excuse the culling of political dissidents... But they work perfectly, top looking down. Feferi doesn’t listen, because they solved it, and from her vantage; —Everybody is s)(oal )(appy! The coolbloods have something to do, the warmbloods and mutants are taken care of.
A Witch of Life is somebody who manipulates life (agency, power, growth), and a Sylph of Space heals space (creation, distance, motherhood.)... Conversely, the role of “Mother” for trolls is split into the parent that raises you (Lusii Naturae), and the parent that begets you (Mother Grub).
[1] While a comparison to r/K selection (quantity vs quality) could be made here, trolls appeal to shoot for both, what with taking decades to mature and having approximately a million grubs at a time. That said, given the implied high juvenile mortality rates, they’re probably r-selection. Further reading here: https://www2.nau.edu/lrm22/lessons/r_and_k_selection/r_and_k.html
