Benevolent Alien Invasion: Difference between revisions

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* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s short story, "A Study In Emerald", is set in 1881, London, on an alternate timeline in which all the world leaders are [[Eldritch Abomination|Great Old Ones]], risen from R'lyeh and sundry other resting places some centuries previously. Most everybody appreciates this, because when your royalty gain their sustenance by driving people mad, you don't want to be the next meal, but there are a few "Restorationists" who think humanity should be in charge of its own destiny, a pair of whom the Holmes-and-Watson-esque protagonists spend the story hunting. At the very end, the narrator mentions that he heard one of the men they were chasing on that case was named {{spoiler|James (or maybe John) Watson}}, and signs the entry {{spoiler|"S____ M____", implying that he is Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's sidekick}}.
* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s short story, "A Study In Emerald", is set in 1881, London, on an alternate timeline in which all the world leaders are [[Eldritch Abomination|Great Old Ones]], risen from R'lyeh and sundry other resting places some centuries previously. Most everybody appreciates this, because when your royalty gain their sustenance by driving people mad, you don't want to be the next meal, but there are a few "Restorationists" who think humanity should be in charge of its own destiny, a pair of whom the Holmes-and-Watson-esque protagonists spend the story hunting. At the very end, the narrator mentions that he heard one of the men they were chasing on that case was named {{spoiler|James (or maybe John) Watson}}, and signs the entry {{spoiler|"S____ M____", implying that he is Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's sidekick}}.
** Amusingly the Old Ones seem to have gone native, adapting titles and trappings of human society (the most fun title of all: The One Who Presides Over The New World - think about it), rather than imposing their order on us.
** Amusingly the Old Ones seem to have gone native, adapting titles and trappings of human society (the most fun title of all: The One Who Presides Over The New World - think about it), rather than imposing their order on us.
* Inverted in Donald Moffitt's ''[[The Genesis Quest]]'', where the benevolent aliens, rather than being invaders, find humans (or instructions on how to make them) coming to them, instead. The story still follows the usual pattern though, as even with the Nar doing their best to provide for all human needs, some humans still [[Humans Are Bastards|violently rebel]].
* Inverted in Donald Moffitt's ''[[The Genesis Quest]]'', where the benevolent aliens, rather than being invaders, find humans (or instructions on how to make them) coming to them, instead. The story still follows the usual pattern though, as even with the Nar doing their best to provide for all human needs, some humans still [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|violently rebel]].
* ''[[The Culture]]'', from [[Iain Banks|Iain M. Banks']] series of novels, does not generally invade other civilizations, but does spend half its time gallivanting through the cosmos looking for species to help out and improve (if they fall within certain criteria) through the agency of Contact. To an extent, 'helping' other species is the means by which the Culture justifies its own existence.
* ''[[The Culture]]'', from [[Iain Banks|Iain M. Banks']] series of novels, does not generally invade other civilizations, but does spend half its time gallivanting through the cosmos looking for species to help out and improve (if they fall within certain criteria) through the agency of Contact. To an extent, 'helping' other species is the means by which the Culture justifies its own existence.
** And they have screwed it up a few times, especially with the Chelgrians.
** And they have screwed it up a few times, especially with the Chelgrians.
*** True. That's just acknowledging the element of chance, though; they succeed far more often than they fail. The Culture apparently has the statistics to back it up, and lest you think it's propaganda, even those opposed to intervention have never challenged their numerical basis. Even the books, which to avoid the mundane are naturally interested in exceptions to the rule, show them succeeding far more often than not.
*** True. That's just acknowledging the element of chance, though; they succeed far more often than they fail. The Culture apparently has the statistics to back it up, and lest you think it's propaganda, even those opposed to intervention have never challenged their numerical basis. Even the books, which to avoid the mundane are naturally interested in exceptions to the rule, show them succeeding far more often than not.
* ''[[Lilith's Brood|Liliths Brood]]'' by Octavia Butler (also known as the ''Xenogenesis'' trilogy) is about a race of tri-gendered aliens who kidnap the scattered survivors of a [[The End of the World as We Know It|global nuclear war]] in order to mate with them and repopulate the ruined Earth with the resulting hybrid offspring. [[Squick]]y though this may be, the author's point is that [[Humans Are Bastards]] and the only way to fix it is with a [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong]].
* ''[[Lilith's Brood|Liliths Brood]]'' by Octavia Butler (also known as the ''Xenogenesis'' trilogy) is about a race of tri-gendered aliens who kidnap the scattered survivors of a [[The End of the World as We Know It|global nuclear war]] in order to mate with them and repopulate the ruined Earth with the resulting hybrid offspring. [[Squick]]y though this may be, the author's point is that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]] and the only way to fix it is with a [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong]].
* Inverted in ''[[Ender's Game|Speaker for the Dead]]''- Instead of being invaded, the Humans invaded a planet belonging to a race of weird, pig like aliens.
* Inverted in ''[[Ender's Game|Speaker for the Dead]]''- Instead of being invaded, the Humans invaded a planet belonging to a race of weird, pig like aliens.
** Worth mentioning that in the original Ender's Game, we learn that the bugger invasion {{spoiler|was a mistake. The buggers mistook humans for <s> wild animals</s> [[Blue and Orange Morality|drones in a hive mind like their own, the losing of some being akin to our losing a few skin cells or a hangnail while shaking hands]], and were really very sorry about killing them. Unfortunately, [[Starfish Aliens|they]] [[Starfish Language|got their apology across]] too late.}}
** Worth mentioning that in the original Ender's Game, we learn that the bugger invasion {{spoiler|was a mistake. The buggers mistook humans for <s> wild animals</s> [[Blue and Orange Morality|drones in a hive mind like their own, the losing of some being akin to our losing a few skin cells or a hangnail while shaking hands]], and were really very sorry about killing them. Unfortunately, [[Starfish Aliens|they]] [[Starfish Language|got their apology across]] too late.}}
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