[In the game room, Merriment is seated on the billiard table and about 1/4 of the omurice is left, fork stuck in it and Merriment leaning back on his hands to watch Ludger enter the room.]
Don't think I've ever had something like that before. But you're a chef, right? Tasted pretty good to me.
I'd appreciate it. I'm not sure what my preference is though...it's been a long time since I've really needed to eat. [That aside, he tilts his head and thinks over that question.]
You could say that. Depends on the information, but I try to be as unbiased as possible. What're you interested in knowing?
Then I can keep making foods until you find a style you like.
[ though there may be a lot of sweets or tomatoes. or both. ]
Well... one thing I'm trying to understand the whole "if you don't believe in your god, they can't win" requirement. What qualifies as belief? And what if there a few people that believe really strongly in their god - would that override people who don't believe as much?
That's a tricky question. [Also what a question to ask Merriment in particular, apparently, given his entire posture changes from relaxed to a little more uncertain.]
Belief can mean a lot of things, but the one thing I think everybody can agree on is that belief means to really know that something is true based on your own standards and morals and experiences. If you really strongly believe in something, that faith is unshakable no matter what people do or say to you to try and break it. They could say that it's a bad idea, or tell you about something better...or even say it's not real at all...but you know that it's true because you've invested your time into studying it and integrating it into your own goals and motivations.
To believe in your god means that you really back them up on what their world vision is because you think their motivations, morals, and ideals are well-suited for what the world should be. And that's probably what makes it hard for some of you to choose. The thing is, only you guys can know your own levels of belief. But I don't know about strength and overriding those who believe less. There's still gotta be some basis there for it to stick.
... I thought faith was supposed to be about believing despite the lack of reason to.
[ that certainly seemed to be how certain sects worked back home... though, admittedly, milla maxwell was a pretty compelling reason all in of herself. ]
I think what I get what you're saying though. We need to believe in whichever god we choose, on an individual level - their character and their ideals.
[ ... ironically, it seems like they need to believe in their gods as people and less as divine figures. ]
What about wishes? I've heard that the winning god can grant wishes to people who don't align with them, but those wishes won't be as effective somehow. Is that true?
Huh. He really is talkative. [But okay.] I guess that makes sense, but yeah, the thing is we don't know the full extent of our own limits either. I think it's not so much "try it and see if it fails" so much as what end of the scale a wish falls. Let's say you wish for an unlimited supply of ice cream. Sure, doable. But as it starts edging toward the territory of something likely to impact your whole world, it gets harder for us to grant the wish for everyone.
[ he almost asks 'how would an unlimited supply of food not impact a world' before he remembers... not everywhere has food shortages or issues growing things. ]
... What if we wished for things to happen in other people's worlds? Would that be different, or is it still the same issue?
You mean using your wish for someone else and what happens to them? [That's a thought.] It's possible, sure. There's nothing really stopping that...it'd just be the same scale.
…nah, if the dead are on the winning team, they get their wishes. It's maybe possible to ask for a wish for the dead, too, depending on the god who wins. [But man, that's also a complication.] It all comes down to a case of who deserves their wishes. Is it everyone? Or people who play fairly?
So they keep their alignment, even after they go to Patience...
[ weird. he'd have thought they'd be considered out of the running - that's why everyone's been sort of okay voting people off for execution. ]
... I don't know about the living, but I'd think the murder victims are pretty deserving. Their chances to figure things out, like who to align with or even which gods they like the most, were taken away from them by force.
They should. [Unless there's something happening over there he doesn't know about.]
I'd agree with that. It makes their efforts feel like they were shot down because someone else took their chance. But what about the living who're still trying to balance the numbers and maximize what can be done? Effort on that end...is that deserving, too?
I... guess so. But if that's the case, then what's the point of us having to believe in any of you? You're not really persuading any of us to join you - you outsource the work to us.
[ the belief rule, while he gets it, still kind of bugs him apparently. ]
Besides, aren't we supposed to pick one god out of you all? I'm not saying we shouldn't work to protect gods from being killed, but in the end, balance won't matter, will it?
[Hm. Unfortunately he's going to ignore that for Reasons.]
You'd be surprised what balance can actually do. It's better than the alternative which we've already seen. Besides...this game has a bunch of us and a bunch of you working together. In the end, even if you have to pick one god, the pecking order's gonna be different.
Like... who the head god chooses as their second in command? [ hm. ] I wish it could be more like a council than that. You're all gods together, after all.
You're right, but every pantheon seems to have at least one god to have the final say. When you take that into account, you need at least one more person in case something else happens. Everything after that, we're working on together. Or that's what I'm counting on, anyway. [...] The biggest threat's out of the picture and while I'm not happy she was taken out that way, I can't say I'm not a little relieved she won't be the ruler.
Yeah, her. Definitely not my pick for anything. [There's a low hum though.]
You know...if you'd asked me this weeks ago I would've had an answer for you. Maybe Cunning. Maybe Disorder. Maybe Indulgence. There's a lot of them that I don't think are quite ready to rule yet, but I'm less worried about what'll happen at the end.
Best ruler though...thing is, we're never gonna have a perfect leader. Wish that'd been obvious before we started this, but oh well. Ambition could do well if she had the appropriate people backing her up. Same with Piety. Cunning needs somebody to rein him in sometimes, and Love could do just fine, too, under the same guidelines as Ambition.
[ that flusters him a bit. he wasn't expecting this! if only he spoke to all the gods before week 6 rolled around. ]
... I think I can see why Indulgence would be a bad pick. And... I haven't spoken to them, but from what I've heard Beauty or Sincerity might be too focused on trying to make everyone happy. Or both...?
But that's impossible. You can't always make everyone happy, and sometimes there just aren't good endings, only less awful ones. I don't think you shouldn't try to make things better, either, but at some point, you have to know when to stop and save what you can.
I believe in Ambition, but I think I could believe in Piety too. [ he's just less emotionally invested in piety. ] Honestly, just from my impression of him, I think he and Ambition could work really well together, and balance each other out.
And... I know she's out of the running, but I could have believed in Fortune, too.
Interesting choices. [Not bad ones though.] I kinda agree, you can't always have happy endings, but we also need people around who believe in getting them. To balance out the rest of us, I mean.
Piety's a good kid and he and Ambition bring out strengths in each other from what I've seen so far.
In the end...I'm hoping the rest of this game is enough to really solidify everything I've been seeing myself.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
WEEK 6, MONDAY
Don't think I've ever had something like that before. But you're a chef, right? Tasted pretty good to me.
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[ if there is one. ]
... I've heard you're the god to go to for unbiased information? Is that true?
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You could say that. Depends on the information, but I try to be as unbiased as possible. What're you interested in knowing?
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[ though there may be a lot of sweets or tomatoes. or both. ]
Well... one thing I'm trying to understand the whole "if you don't believe in your god, they can't win" requirement. What qualifies as belief? And what if there a few people that believe really strongly in their god - would that override people who don't believe as much?
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Belief can mean a lot of things, but the one thing I think everybody can agree on is that belief means to really know that something is true based on your own standards and morals and experiences. If you really strongly believe in something, that faith is unshakable no matter what people do or say to you to try and break it. They could say that it's a bad idea, or tell you about something better...or even say it's not real at all...but you know that it's true because you've invested your time into studying it and integrating it into your own goals and motivations.
To believe in your god means that you really back them up on what their world vision is because you think their motivations, morals, and ideals are well-suited for what the world should be. And that's probably what makes it hard for some of you to choose. The thing is, only you guys can know your own levels of belief. But I don't know about strength and overriding those who believe less. There's still gotta be some basis there for it to stick.
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... I thought faith was supposed to be about believing despite the lack of reason to.
[ that certainly seemed to be how certain sects worked back home... though, admittedly, milla maxwell was a pretty compelling reason all in of herself. ]
I think what I get what you're saying though. We need to believe in whichever god we choose, on an individual level - their character and their ideals.
[ ... ironically, it seems like they need to believe in their gods as people and less as divine figures. ]
What about wishes? I've heard that the winning god can grant wishes to people who don't align with them, but those wishes won't be as effective somehow. Is that true?
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But yeah, exactly. You believe in the god and what they plan and what they want, the god's power grows. You don't, well, then what's the point?
It's something that's absolutely possible, yeah, but we don't know how many people or how big those wishes can encompass. Who told you that?
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[ his mouth twists a little. ]
Not sure if he knows about the limitation of it though, but he's trying to get as many people as possible on board with a god that will do that.
Does that mean you'll only know how effective it is if someone tries to make a wish, and it doesn't work...?
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... What if we wished for things to happen in other people's worlds? Would that be different, or is it still the same issue?
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[ and they'd have to live in futility anyways. although... ]
The dead don't get wishes, right? I've heard a bit of conflicting information about that, so I want to make sure what I know is right.
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[ weird. he'd have thought they'd be considered out of the running - that's why everyone's been sort of okay voting people off for execution. ]
... I don't know about the living, but I'd think the murder victims are pretty deserving. Their chances to figure things out, like who to align with or even which gods they like the most, were taken away from them by force.
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I'd agree with that. It makes their efforts feel like they were shot down because someone else took their chance. But what about the living who're still trying to balance the numbers and maximize what can be done? Effort on that end...is that deserving, too?
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[ the belief rule, while he gets it, still kind of bugs him apparently. ]
Besides, aren't we supposed to pick one god out of you all? I'm not saying we shouldn't work to protect gods from being killed, but in the end, balance won't matter, will it?
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You'd be surprised what balance can actually do. It's better than the alternative which we've already seen. Besides...this game has a bunch of us and a bunch of you working together. In the end, even if you have to pick one god, the pecking order's gonna be different.
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Like... who the head god chooses as their second in command? [ hm. ] I wish it could be more like a council than that. You're all gods together, after all.
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[ ... she was pretty intimidating. ]
With her out of the game, who's the next god you're worried about the most? And who's the one you think would make the best ruler?
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You know...if you'd asked me this weeks ago I would've had an answer for you. Maybe Cunning. Maybe Disorder. Maybe Indulgence. There's a lot of them that I don't think are quite ready to rule yet, but I'm less worried about what'll happen at the end.
Best ruler though...thing is, we're never gonna have a perfect leader. Wish that'd been obvious before we started this, but oh well. Ambition could do well if she had the appropriate people backing her up. Same with Piety. Cunning needs somebody to rein him in sometimes, and Love could do just fine, too, under the same guidelines as Ambition.
Same question back at you though.
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[ that flusters him a bit. he wasn't expecting this! if only he spoke to all the gods before week 6 rolled around. ]
... I think I can see why Indulgence would be a bad pick. And... I haven't spoken to them, but from what I've heard Beauty or Sincerity might be too focused on trying to make everyone happy. Or both...?
But that's impossible. You can't always make everyone happy, and sometimes there just aren't good endings, only less awful ones. I don't think you shouldn't try to make things better, either, but at some point, you have to know when to stop and save what you can.
I believe in Ambition, but I think I could believe in Piety too. [ he's just less emotionally invested in piety. ] Honestly, just from my impression of him, I think he and Ambition could work really well together, and balance each other out.
And... I know she's out of the running, but I could have believed in Fortune, too.
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Piety's a good kid and he and Ambition bring out strengths in each other from what I've seen so far.
In the end...I'm hoping the rest of this game is enough to really solidify everything I've been seeing myself.