Rites

Battle of the Mind V

True battles unfold within...

Having contemplated virtue and vice extensively, a new question emerges.

Is morality necessary? Why do we assume it should exist when none can fully adhere to it - like a prize no one can claim, where the emptiness beneath its ornate wrapping hardly matters?

ID: 5004822

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 = Faris
    • All
      • Type = Character
      • Card = Mahir
  • Not Slot #5 = 1
  • Not Slot #4 = 1
  • Not Slot #7 = 1

Pops: None

Slot #7
Consider Wife's Resentment

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: Yes

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Activation Conditions

This rite has no activation conditions.

Outcome

Prior

This rite has no prior outcome.

Regular

Empty Box
You question morality's existence but find nothing to fill the void it leaves.

Your heart feels hollow. You cannot protect what you love nor reject what you despise. You cannot even become what you hate - because you don't truly know what you hate.

An empty box inevitably fills - sometimes with dust, sometimes insects, sometimes cats, sometimes... with void that consumes existence itself.

You drift aimlessly, compulsively judging others, then reversing your judgment, then judging again...

Unhappiness deepens, dangerously so, yet you remain powerless.

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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.

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Impurity
You attempt to resolve your inner conflict through the god will of the Purist...

A white light surges into your mind, piercing your spine and triggering waves of agony - this is the Purist's response to your prayer -

"You are unworthy," says the pain. "Think again, consider what you could do for the Purist."

It "helps" you ponder for quite some time before gradually subsiding.

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Flexible Instrument
You recall past experiences.

Mother constraining childhood with "good children should..."

Maggie instructing new servants with "good servants should..."

The Sultan demanding courtiers follow "good subjects should..."

Gods commanding followers through "good believers should..."

Morality is necessary precisely because it serves as a flexible instrument - resilient and effective, never wearing out, available for your own use.

You reach this conclusion silently... The gods remain silent, uncomfortable facing humans who address spiritual conflicts through reason.

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Box Fulfilled
Of course morality is necessary - what would the world become without it?

Everyone pursuing maximum self-interest would ensure mutual harm. No cooperation, no trust, no expectations, nothing beyond immediate gratification. Clearly, a world without moral constraints would quickly become unsustainable.

Your conviction solidifies. You desire moral constraints, embrace them - these limitations lift you skyward like winds beneath a bird's wings.

Your steadfast belief earns god approval from some unseen power. Jasmine fragrance fills your mansion. Servants instinctively kneel before you, recognizing you as godly touched.

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Schrödinger's Morality
You recall a mischievous philosopher who imagined a cat sealed in a box with poison - without opening the box, one cannot know whether the cat triggered the poison and died; for the observer, the cat exists simultaneously alive and dead.

Morality resembles this paradox.

An action is simultaneously virtuous and wicked, depending on who observes; morality both exists and doesn't exist, depending on whether you currently need it. Understanding this brings unprecedented freedom... Nothing constrains you anymore. You've placed your conscience in that box, sharing space with the cat.

The Cultic God apparently appreciate your metaphor, including the cat portion - sending a hot wind carrying complex scents of soil, meat, and animal musk, clearly conveying: everything predates morality, rendering morality meaningless.

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Intimate Lash
You think of Faris.

Doesn't he regularly whip his hunting hounds? Yet they depend on him, trust him, view him as their sole master...

Do these hounds follow morality? Are they born more loyal and noble than the finest aristocrats? Hardly! They merely follow animal instinct, which we misinterpret as "morality"!

Isn't everything similar? Humans are merely naked apes, our so-called morality merely survival strategies evolved through instinct?

As you contemplate this, darkness seems to produce soft laughter... Something appreciates your reasoning.

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Blank Doctrine
You consider Mahir.

Are her actions virtuous or wicked? Impossible to define - the god never anticipated someone earning livelihood through "invention," just as they struggle to judge the Sultan's game.

The god isn't omnipotent, morality isn't necessary. The world advances too rapidly to categorize every novelty.

This brings relief... Finding the doctrinal space blank, you're free to inscribe your own interpretations.

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Sweet Burden
Strangely, recalling Maggie's displeasure during spiritual turmoil brings comfort - like a dying traveler in the desert spotting a fearsome crocodile. The crocodile terrifies, yet signals life-saving water nearby.

Though Maggie's displeasure alarms... it means morality matters because it affects those you care about.

Sharing this insight with Maggie brings her gentle smile. She's always known you as a decent, moral husband.

This exceeds any god blessing.

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Gutter's Embrace
You stare at the soil by your feet. Worms writhe below, bird corpses slowly decay.

When facing unanswerable spiritual questions, you long for answers from below, from chaos...

They gladly respond.

Closing your eyes, ecstasy floods your body. Tremendous force yanks you back and forth. You collapse, nearly vomiting, yet paradoxically joyful from this power.

Money exists to be spent.

Love exists to be betrayed.

Life exists to end.

Morality exists to experience transgression's pleasure.

Isn't it simple?

Hee hee hee, hee hee hee, hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha...

This is Their answer.

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Celestial Gaze
Looking skyward, during spiritual confusion you hope for supernatural guidance...

They answer.

You close your eyes, allowing sacred thought to fill you... This rewards your soul-searching prowess, for not everyone receives god wisdom for their questions...

Morality is necessary because I desire it.

What I desire is necessary.

Therefore morality is necessary.

Their answer is this simple.

You open your eyes, doubts vanquished.

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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.

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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.

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Spiral of Destruction
Two gods, two enemies both craving world destruction, meet unexpectedly in the depths of your mind.

Here is an excellent battlefield where They can destroy each other... destroy your mind... again and again.

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