Sufferance Ch. 01

Glad you are back with part 3

The politics, secrets, and sex in this world are intense. Looking forward to the next chapter.

Thank you, good to be back

Had some life changes that delayed this, but I still plan to tell it and I'm working on it. Thanks for being around. :) The intrigue will continue.

Next chapter should be up by Wednesday. A third chapter a day later (hopefully), and then continuing as I can get them up. This will break the 4-part pattern I was showing as I have *at least* seven parts to tell in this arch.

After that I may be heading up to the Surface. :P

intense, exciting

love this series, glad you're back :)

I skimmed over a bit of story to see what this might be like, as a "Hall of Fame" entry, and I found:
"It provided me insight as to why the very first tests of any potential candidate were sexual, whether they could withstand a rape by a Draegloth and male Drow and recover quickly . . ."
and that was enough for me to stop reading. This author obviously knows sweet fuck all about rape, and I really do wish that people who know fuck all about rape would stop treating it like some sort of fucking entertainment.

Dear anon,

I'd never expect every person to like every fantasy, and I'm sorry that you feel upset by the subject matter. Please do not assume the story reflects the author's own practicing beliefs; this is fiction and fantasy, and only that.

To offer a bit of background if you unfamiliar with it, this race is a known "Chaotic Evil" race in Dungeon & Dragons, specifically "Forgotten Realms," called the Drow.

They are one of the most feared and challenging enemies that "good" characters can come across while playing the game. Part of the reason is that these character do view evil acts against others and each other as entertainment--it is very Machiavellian and the ends justify the means.

Some readers and some fans of the Forgotten Realms enjoy seeing a story from the viewpoint of the evil characters. As one reader, Kolrin, put it: "Usually I have a strong dislike off (sic) cruelty on the level like the drow practice it, but Sirana is a big difference for me. Firstly is she so well written and thought through that I see her reasons clearly and though I would not do, I can understand it..."

That is part of the challenge of the series that started earlier than this chapter: to make an evil protagonist understandable and open to change. It started out that way, and remains even now. By no means are you required to read it. I'm only glad that you chose to stop rather than upset yourself further, whether you think it deserves Hall of Fame or not. I appreciate your honesty and fair voting on what you read. :)

Best regards,
Etaski

The whole point of the way rape is portrayed here is a portrayal of the strength of the character, not a way of belittling the act. It's one of the key characteristics that show how strong Sirana is and it's heavily contrasted when she meets a certain someone in a later chapter who has remained traumatized by it for a long time. (Sorry for the small spoiler)

True, but to put a finer point on it...

Certainly, the character herself views it as such. ;) In contrasting Sirana (both a rape victim and a rapist in her own right, approved by her society) with another victim outside her own culture and society (but victimized by it), it is not my intent to show any failure on the part of the other, only the wildly different values in how to deal with the aftermath.

Neither are wrong and Sirana could be construed as quite callous in that scene, with the other showing her own strength in temporarily pushing past her hurt to challenge and meet the different philosophies, and in doing so somehow finding the support in Sirana that she never had from her own "shame the victim" society to begin healing.

The other faced her fear because Sirana gave her no choice but to do so, and Sirana never considered shame to be in the equation because it was a natural part of survival for her (quite a surprise for the other; there is shame in Drow society, but Sirana refused to be hampered by it). The two met at a middle ground, and both were tempered for the better by the experience. :)

fantasy writing at it's best!

i think the context is very important. this is a fiction in a dungeons & dragons type fantasy world of magic and evil races. rape here is nominally very far from human people in 'civilized' earth society. of course it's a reader's prerogative to be turned off by any story involving rape acts. but the perception and existence of rape is far greater than one reader's definition. rape has and does exist in human cultures or civilizations. fiction and literature reflects that in many many ways. the sirana series are beautifully written stories with wonderful characters, some in touchingly fond relationships, in a fierce intriguing world. thanks etaski for providing your amazing work for us here :) .

Great!

Absolutely love it so far

I've been thinking a lot about all the forced sex in this series. It's a major factor in me recognizing the extraordinary talent of the author, because I normally won't tolerate reading about forced sex/rape (there is normally no such distinction between them in the real world, but in this book there sure seems to be). I recently read a novel that I mostly loved throughout the reading, but the way a character was raped towards the end as well as the aftermath made me decide to never read that author again. Then here it was in the very first chapter of Sisterhood, and handled so well that I still read on and on and on. (I did have to skim Sirana's rape of Auslan.)

If I'd had access to any description telling me the books were full of it I never would have started them. Now I'm wondering if I could perhaps enjoy other apparently rape-y and violent yet beloved series, like GRR Martin's.

These Sirana stories are full of sex, but they are not sexy to me, at all. I'm not turned on by forceful or painful sex. Reluctance overcome using pleasure can turn me on a lot, but I've only been turned on reading this series once or perhaps twice, and I'm actually on Chapter 8 of Surfacing now (I discovered there actually WERE comments but I need to click around to see them so I'm going back though).