So yeah, the Nereids… aren’t exactly known for proportionate retribution. Quite the opposite, in fact – many versions of Greek myths such as Atlantis being destroyed, or other mass calamities were said to have been caused by doing something that angered them. Similar to the sea, in a way – benevolent one moment, ruthless the next. That said, I’m surprised I’ve never seen a similar telepathically enforced police state in fantasy writing before. It shows up a lot in other genres – look at stuff like minority report for example – but not fantasy writing, For those of you confused – the concept of thoughtcrime (a term in George Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four, a good book which I genuinely recommend) is basically defined as the act of thinking/harboring seditious thoughts or ideals, and given everything nereids think gets fed back to the ruling classes, Akila wasn’t exaggerating. There’s more nereid lore to come, but the fact that that originally started out in the comic as generic pretty monster women has turned into what their society is now is something I’m pretty proud of.

See you next week.