Talk:Lonely Rat Boy/@comment-24029008-20140810130557/@comment-24029008-20140811004634

It truly is interesting. But while I do find the revelation that the Outsider was once human rather intriguing, I'm a bit bummed out that he wasn't some Lovecraftian being from the get-go. The fact he had a hard life, and suffered, and didn't choose to be this thing he is now, sort of makes his position tragic, especially since Harvey Smith said the Outsider is drawn to places of great suffering, forced to act as a witness to these atrocities. It now feels like the Outsider is more like a slave to the Void, rather than it's inhabitant/ruler.

I also couldn't help but draw comparisons between the marked individuals and the Empire itself... if the Outsider's gift allows the marked individuals to gain the upper hand over all the others pretty much out of nowhere, do they give into that great power's temptation to simply swap roles with their abusers, or do they set themselves apart from them, and do better? In most cases, people would choose the first option. All the illusions of society's hierarchies aside, all men are on the same bar, so to have the chance to truly ascend above others, not many choose to look at the fellow man as an equal, but rather see them as lesser beings.

The same happened with the Empire when Roseburrow's technological discovery sparked an industrial revolution - too rapidly, great powers were made available, and it consumed them, and the nation chose to use it to oppress people, and strengthen their rule and dominance, rather than directing it towards bettering society for everyone.