Disclaimer: The following document fragment is presented from an in-character perspective, it should not be taken as the truth of the setting.
Context: The Elb are the one alien race humans have the most contact with. They are the basis of many myths around the world, but none of the myths come close to understanding the full degree of otherness they represent.
To understand an alien is no simple task. After all, what makes beings such as the Elb truly alien are the differences in their thought patterns. Differences derived from the intersection between the structure of their brain-analogue and culture.
Thus it is easy to say that the Elb display symptoms of sociopathy and autism. It is also only correct if we think of them as humans. But, they are not, and thus the better question might be…
What disorders does an average human display to an Elb?
A question that strays far from our homocentric perspective of reality. We are not the norm; we are only one of an infinite space of possibilities. Different from each other in many subtle ways.
Let us then begin with what we know. Elb display a central fixation on symbolism, analogy and mantling. On a superfluous level, we could say much the same about humankind. But while we use different forms of abstraction to build a model of reality, our physical brain is capable of processing. This, in turn, reflects on our other mind, one which is still steeped in the Ideals of this world. It is a pattern of thinking, formally referred to as induction. Humans, of course, also display other patterns, but that is the core of how our mind functions and develops.
The primary mode by which the mind of an Elb functions is, however, abductive. However, while in humans, this kind mental pattern draws on prior experience, they obtain their preconceptions elsewhere. In the Archambault-Elbridge experiment (commonly known also as the Second Son experiment), we receive compelling evidence that Elb are born with a library of symbols and analogies. These mental constructs are then the basis forming their Mask and informing their decisions.
In the early days after the experiment, the central point of the debate surrounding it, was the question if, possibly, they are a hydra mind. We’ve hypothesised this kind of entity can exist and, for a time, it seemed we’ve discovered just that. After all, what we observed surpassed instinct after all. We were wrong. But it took us some years to understand how genetics shape the Elb’s xeno-cerebrum. They are born carrying genetic memory. Perhaps this too is the source of their innate ability to manipulate fractal space and use the Klein principle as soon as a day after birth.
Much like a human being is partially slaved to their instincts, an Elb is slaved to repeat their genetic memory by finding analogy and mantling the symbol, or Ideal. That is not to say they cannot learn anything past birth, but as we observe, everything they develop over time only builds on this initial genetic library. We hypothesise that different ethnic groups of Elb may have even disparate or conflicting symbols.
Thus the obsessive, ritual behaviour we observe in Elb is not a dysfunction. It is, in fact, an alternate expression of normalcy. In our mutual interactions, we thus grow frustrated with the illogical actions of the Other, mutually. The Elb are capable of logic; they are capable of mathematics and abstract theoretical physics, just like us. Yet, for neither of us is logic the default state of thinking.
Sadly, for both our species, it is a bitter pill to swallow and accept our differences, embracing our similarities, as childer of the Cosmos.
Esoteric Musings... 