Let cry the skies
To cleanse our souls
Let flow the seas
To wash the pain away
One drop for every broken dream
And one for every conceived plan
That’s the final run
To the New Age
That’s the first step
Beyond the threshold of this world
Mine eyes have seen the blackness at the Edge of the World — not the Glory of the Coming of the Lord. I follow the footsteps of eternity and make footprints of the moment. I have flung myself far and wide on the wings of the Phoenix to make my own way in this world…and I consistently encounter the evidence of my progenitors. Father, Mother as the Defilers were once to you so too is CrIsis now to me; it is a vehicle for the gods on a mission for all mankind. The Edge of the World is no more spectacular than it was in your time. To my bespectacled eyes inky-black periphery roiled with cosmic darkness in a panorama of pulchritude and pain…the paucity of perspective. To see no more — moreso to know no more now. Now. Darkness wreathes the rim, dawn, damning and dim, cradling the Palladium Pendulum in metronomic synchrony. Emptiness in its infancy.
Mother, Father — though your genetic material is no closer to mine than Otto’s to a Phoenix I cannot deny the resplendent connection. Umbral umbilical wanton and indulgent winds serpentine from minstrel-moppet caricatures in the playful shadows of firelight. Fire-flight. Gentrified heat that coaxes a cauldron’s sludge from the mutton masses and coalesces into the blood of heroes. This is our shared bond. This is commonality. As you have with me. As the Defilers had with you. As CrIsis has with Tyvernos. As Jidian Kulder has with Xar Xar. As Malkin has with Elanu. As the Legion of Northmoor has with CrIsis and the Defilers, both. We are blood and kin and humble brethren in a fight that never ends.
Against evil or chaos — what is goodness? What is light? What is the capacity for Darkness that forebodes and glooms and auspiciously condemns in omens and signs? It sighs…
The purest of heart. The goodness of a goddess — this is the greatest good. But, I ask in my servile severity, what great evils is a heart of goodness capable of? A heart that knows only evil and pain and the wickedness of ages is at most an equal and opposite reaction. This Black Heart — what would one tiny insignificant act of kindness mean? The deevils are vile. The vilest of them is their lord and master, Sahtalus. His name was recently invoked to me in the trials for the games. This being intrigues me. Sahtalus. Has he no capacity for goodness? Has he no capacity for empathy? For kindness? The devil, they say, has an ordinary way. But I am forced to wonder as I wander: What would one singular, miniscule, infinitesimal act of benevolence mean? What would it cost him? Such a thing must be far greater than that very same act originating in the heart of Love itself. And that heart — Unconditional Love and Eternal Fortitude in Loyalty — what is the singular act of selfishness or evil or…callous disregard in the face of eons of Benevolence and Philanthropy?
We are, none of us, pure, and each is in constant motion and flux. We are given perspective to find examples and adjust our fulcrum. Good and Evil, Chaos and Order, they are but perspectives of the fulcrum. I find myself planted squarely on the side of my goddess and aligned with her goals, ambitions, needs, desires, and priorities. I know only as much as I need to and I follow. I have accepted this…for now. Time may change a man’s heart in the same ways both Love and Hatred change a man’s perspective.
I ask you, as your adopted son — not blood — but kindred and loved in a reciprocity more sacred than the vow between family: What Atrocity are committed for our goals? What of the goals of a goddess? They say the end justifies the means but I think that is fearful. The virtue of ethics is a luxury that is only permitted by the sins of the self. Look deeper. I am looking so much deeper, Mother, Father, and all I can find is a rationale of Consequentialism and the interrogative justification of Pragmatism. I…get…my…hands…dirty. Would the Gods of Light ask of us what they would not do themselves? I don’t think so. Such was never my doubt. I am as faithful today as ever but I cannot deny the comfort I feel from taking a moral pejorative in denouncing my enemies and reveling in my righteous cause. I…get…my…hands…dirty. The Agent, his minions, do they know their hands are dirty? Do they believe them clean? Does it matter? Does the Darkness and the Agent and the minions of Taut do the same? How can we know without straddling that perspicacious line and diminishing our determination? Our resolve? How can we allow even the faintest hint of empathy to riddle the armor and crack the foundation of everything we espouse? To what ends must we go? To what end?
Morality in Mortality.
…in Immortality.
Written by Tyvernos on…an unknown date, in the 69th year of the Wolfen Empire.
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Comments
I’m curious what folks think about what I wrote regarding a being of pure evil and the capacity for goodness. What one single kindness would cost? Would its worth be any greater than an act of kindness from a being of pure benevolence? It’s a question I think Tyvernos is wrestling with. From his perspective the closer you are to the middle ground the easier it is to cross the line. For beings like the devil and god or angels — such opposite ends of the spectrum — how much more, if any, will it mean when they take that single, solitary step, in the opposite direction.
Make sense? In Palladium the gods are very flawed. They are given these flaws for people to relate to and to identify with — just like the Greek gods.
Tyvernos knows that the Pantheon of Light and Dark is a remnant of a time when the gods of light and dark were forced to work together to combat a greater evil — the Old Ones. Isis fought on the same side as Anubis. Ra on the same side as Set. These truths are so difficult to hold onto. More to come in my next log…
Good and evil are subjective, my evil isn’t tyv’s evil, isn’t ghengis khan’s evil isn’t sahtalus’s evil.
So what I think is a step into grey, Sahtalus might think is a step into white as the colour changes depending on how far down the scale you are. So a being of white stepping into what it might call black, I might call grey so I won’t attach as much significance to it, whereas it might think its the end of the world.
But for the being of pure evil
Burn !!!!!!!!
Indaris woz ’ere 2014
I feel that everyone in CrIsis is going through a morality crisis now- and I am loving it! So glad that the game is affecting characters emotionally- that means you are invested in the characters and the world.
It will get even worse, and harder to be good- that is what being a hero is about in my book!
Fear is what shakes a player about their character. Many have bailed on a character to let them live. I have considered it on more then one occation. It has taken a lot to keep my character. I too like the emotional roller coaster.
I believe Xerx’ses might be the last principled character in the group and I can say I hate him sometimes. Brian would I think have hunted the evil monkey in retribution, but Xerx’ses would run grab Overkill’s corpse and head for safety.
@HenryB. – you’re right it is fear that drives Xerx’ses still. Fear that he is not pulling his own weight, fear that wanting to slay a Dragon that had done evil unto those not up to the fight.
Fear that he wanted Glory.
That is by far what scares him more than anything else. He really wanted to get into a beat down with the dragon and win with magic. The games have brought out a competitive side of his nature. Until the Dragon he has never wanted to win over breathing. He is not sure what it all means how to temper this emotion.
HE REALLY WANTED TO BEAT THE DRAGON WITH MAGIC!
However, he is proud of Brother Indaris and knows he has to step up and bring his “A” game. Had CrIsis not asked to try and find a peaceful solution he would have been thrilled to let lightning rain death on the dragon.
@Witchcraft – The one comforting thought for the big guy is that he wanted to work with his friends more than glory. He does fear the day that this quest ends and never seeing you all again. He smiles when he thinks of that fear because you all have given him the a thought he believe was impossible until today.
“We might actually survive this.”
He has hope.
“The Almighty tells me he can get me out of this mess, but he’s pretty sure you’re fucked.”
More lines blur between good and evil.
Principled Minotaur Mage wanting to go toe-to-toe with an ancient dragon. And I thought I had seen it all.
That’s the problem with mortal immortals. They’re mortal enough to be flawed, but immortal enough to gather god-like power and dominion over the lives of men. This just means that none of the followers has a firm foundation on which to stand. No matter how “Good” their god is, it still has problems, and when they peek at those flaws they are going to stumble and fall.
@Indaris – With each one’s good vs evil being different it’s hard to find the truth, you’re correct. But, that doesn’t mean there’s not a True Good or a True Evil. That’s why having flawed gods is so terrible. It’s like measuring sticks. In ancient times they would base their measurements off of body part lengths, which is horrible! Every one of my measurements would be longer/more than Victors, because I am 6’4" and 400 lbs. So my height would be the same feet number, but my feet are size 14, and his are… 9? 10? But, when we have a universal measurement, whatever the heck an inch is, I don’t know, but it’s an inch long, the same as a meter, being a meter long, and whether I am five of my feet tall or not, I am still 6’4". Same thing with morals, if yours are based off of mutable beings, then they are mutable, but it doesn’t mean they’re right,
@Xerx’ses – He’s only principled if his god is RA… Last game you were talking about murdering countless innocents in a rage-fuelled plot to kill one ‘’SELFISH" little Hytril, and kill the wife and baby child of the SELFISH dragon, just because they’re related. Ra wouldn’t have a problem with it just because they tried to screw over the group, and they’re not good, so they’re dead. Any other god would have a problem with it.