Rites

Battle of the Mind II

True battles unfold within...

As a child, your father said life resembles a thread pinned by two nails: one named era, the other family. This thread moves only within their allowed range. Struggle too fiercely or reach too far, and the thread breaks - life ends.

Since understanding your role in the Sultan's game, this metaphor haunts you.

Do these nails truly exist? Is fate predetermined?

ID: 5004819

Type: Enemy

Tips: None

Duration: 1 days

Waits For: 3 days

Marked as New Only on First Occurrence: 0

Starts Automatically: No

Triggers Result Automatically: No

Tag Tips: None

Tag Tips Up: None

Tag Tips Text:

Random Text: None

Random Text Up: None

Actions When Wait Expires

Action:

Slots

Slot #3
Your Own Thoughts

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: No

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #4
Your rationality can help, if you possess it

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: Yes

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #6
Consider the people and events around you for inspiration

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: Yes

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

  • Any
    • All
      • Type = Character
      • Card = Zaki
    • All
  • Not Slot #5 = 1
  • Not Slot #4 = 1
  • Not Slot #7 = 1

Pops: None

Slot #7
Examine the Sultan Card in your hand

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: Yes

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

  • Type = Sultan Card
  • Not Slot #4 = 1
  • Not Slot #5 = 1
  • Not Slot #6 = 1

Pops: None

Activation Conditions

This rite has no activation conditions.

Outcome

Prior

This rite has no prior outcome.

Regular

Death's Shadow
You spend your days wandering through thoughts of the Nail and what fate has in store, but you're hitting nothing but brick walls.

The only thing you're certain of is your own mortality. Everything else is just a big question mark.

Even your favorite treats and wines don't do it for you anymore; death is the only thing on your mind. You look at the frail and the sick and see yourself in their shoes...

It's a bit of a downward spiral, and you know it, but you're powerless to stop it.

You just keep thinking and thinking... and you'll probably still be at it when your time finally comes.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Lost Path
You foolishly seek to resolve your spiritual crisis through the absurd gods of the cultists.

You pray, plead, beg... only to be answered by cold laughter from the darkness.

Perhaps you still need to prove your worth to the chaotic gods.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Impurity
You seek the Purist's grace to quell the storm in your mind...

A blinding flash lances through your consciousness and down your spine, a jagged bolt of pure agony. This is the Purist's answer to your plea.

"Unworthy," the pain whispers. "Ask not what the light can do for you, but what you can offer the light."

It "assists" your meditation for a grueling while before the sensation finally ebbs away.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Life's Thread
You find actual nails and pin a thread from your clothing to the wall.

You pluck the thread, feeling its tension, watching it return to position... You experiment with many threads, one after another.

Each thread behaves differently. Some break easily, like costly silk; others endure significant disturbance and return unchanged - like coarse threads in servants' garments.

Life's dimensions extend beyond era and family to include yourself - the thread itself. Your material, quality, and resilience determine fate's boundaries.

This childish experiment brings surprising comfort.

You resolve to be a thread strong enough to endure.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Sword's Logic
Lost in contemplation, you unconsciously take up your sword and practice while your mind works...

Drenched in sweat, clarity strikes you.

No matter how eloquent an enemy or complex a situation, with sufficient strength... you can simply cut through!

Strength solves all puzzles. Might transcends cunning, force breaks deadlock. Fortunately, you possess this strength.

You raise your sword skyward. If the gods favor you, let your blade cleave whatever fate awaits! No challenge can withstand sufficient strength. If defeated, it merely proves your weakness - and the weak should accept their end gracefully, shouldn't they?

A cool breeze dries your sweat and eases your fatigue.

Perhaps god approval of your warrior's resolve.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Wisdom's Path
You contemplate so deeply that you begin to enjoy the very process of thought.

Your mind soars, exploring every avenue. What is fate? A series of events, or confluence of people? Do our actions manifest through body, so does fate target body or soul? Are we vessels executing fate's design, or fools lured astray?

Following these thoughts, you gather philosophers' works, reading aloud in your study... Then enlightenment arrives:

Whether fate is fixed or fluid, whatever awaits - a sage who masters thought will overcome with wisdom. Let fate challenge you more fiercely! More riddles, more obstacles, more intricate games! Let fate's cruelty increase!

As this realization forms, everything around you softens and warms, as if leaning against a glossy-furred beast... The sensation passes instantly - perhaps god acknowledgment of your insight?

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Mother's Gaze
You contemplate Zaki and his mother.

Whatever the young man does, his mother silently observes. Hasn't Fatuna woven Zaki's fate herself? She arranged his meeting with you, provided his affluence, determined his birth, accent, heritage, strength...

For a son, mother becomes fate's goddess; for the mother, wasn't her own mother the god force shaping her destiny?

You exhale deeply. Suddenly fate seems less terrifying - you can calmly face it, confront that silent watchful gaze.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Fortune's Touch
You think of Lumera.

What destiny awaited her? Street wandering until starvation claimed her?

Her clean clothes, warm meals, beloved books - all exist because of your momentary thought... those gold coins between your fingers.

How malleable is human fate! Even if some call such encounters "destined," fate remains fundamentally unpredictable. Your fingers changed Lumera's destiny. Might someone else's touch similarly alter yours?

Reflecting on how you rescued a brilliant girl from death's grasp... your turmoil temporarily subsides.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Sultan's Game
You examine the Sultan Card in your hands...

If fate resembles cards dealt by the Magician, then... though fate deals randomly, choice remains yours, doesn't it?

You decide who bears this card's burden. You could sacrifice yourself—that's fair. If fate treats you cruelly, deny it a puppet to manipulate.

You clutch the card, laughing silently. This unprecedented feeling—holding your fate while directing others'!

You've endured more than your ancestors ever understood about destiny. The question of predetermined fate now seems trivial, beneath you.

You set aside the question entirely.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Chaotic Embrace
As you contemplate, a voice tempts you persistently.

Isn't chaos fate's true beauty?

Predetermination cannot exist... fate shifts constantly, though not necessarily improving.

Embrace chaos, embrace frenzy, embrace the unknowable!

...

Fate isn't predetermined, but its uncertainty is. This conclusion eases your spiritual anxiety immediately.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Blinding Light
When deeply considering this question, light floods your mind - not directing but overwhelming everything in uniform whiteness, making all indistinguishable...

Fate is predetermined.

Fate leads to a pure, peaceful world.

Everyone must strive toward this end.

This is your destiny.

Your fate is fixed.

...

You cannot resist this light. Believing in predetermined fate lightens your mental burden... reduces choice's pressure. You surrender a piece of yourself for momentary peace.

Later, when bloodshed becomes necessary, your hand will be steadier, your step more certain.

Conditions:

Result:

Action:

Extra

Rebuking Darkness
You dare invoke the most unholy name before the Immaculate Purity!

They thunder through your mind, Their light a spear piercing heaven and earth, a ruler lashing the world...

Until the next day's sunset, whenever your focus wavers, everything before you shatters into light and flames... This divine punishment They foretell... fortunately, They cannot execute it immediately.

Conditions:

Result:

Ancient Enmity
Darkness boils as you mention Their enemy's name before a god.

Their anger transforms into a dark forest, intending to make you lost forever... Fortunately, you still pray for light in your heart. This beam, like a faint lamp, illuminates your path back to the mortal realm... it also reveals the monstrosities the evil god created from your fears. Masterpieces crafted from your inner terrors... about death, betrayal, failure, love... After waking, these images linger.

Conditions:

Result:

Spiral of Destruction
Two rival gods, who both want nothing more than to end the world, keep running into each other in the back of your mind.

It's a perfect little battlefield where they can tear each other apart, and your mind along with it... for all eternity.

Conditions:

Result:

References

Referenced in Effects

This rite is used in effects for the following entities.

Events
Mind Wars - 2 - Repeated RefreshMind Wars-2