I’ve been thinking a lot about the unique awfulness of the main messages that the Yeerk Empire seems to indoctrinate its citizens with. “Our natural bodies are inadequate and weak, we need hosts to reach our full potential as a species”, and “other species are ours to conquer and use as chattel” is such a poisonous combo.
It’s also a really effective combo for the Empire’s purposes. Keep your people convinced that they not only deserve host bodies, but that they need them, and questioning/defecting from the Empire becomes linked not only with personal failure and denying yourself opportunity, but wanting to deprive all of your people of opportunity and progress.
Plus, citizens with low self-esteem make for pliable soldiers.
(Uhh heads up, there’s a lot below the cut. I got pretty carried away.)
Just another WordPress site