diff -r 3164c82ac16e -r bdef1afd1170 draft/wind20mar02.txt --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/draft/wind20mar02.txt Wed Aug 30 21:32:44 2006 -0400 @@ -0,0 +1,252 @@ +RPGnet + + + + Reviews Forums +News & Press Columns & +Info RPG Wiki + RPG Shop + + + + Wind in the Flowers: Re-inventing a Game + + + Affiliations + +*R. Sean Borgstrom* +March 20, 2002 +*Rated an A+ by 20 RPGnet readers!* + +Rate this column! + + + +For the sake of those who choose to adopt them, *Nobilis* presents five +key philosophies woven into the nature of the world. Heaven's Code +defines the angels' commitment to Creation. Hell's Code provides the +justification and the interpretation of Lucifer's philosophy. Other +Codes derive from the Light, which embodies the principle of human +survival; the Dark, an incarnation of the human tendency towards +suicide; and the Wild, a thread of free will and madness running through +Creation. + +To avoid regimenting player character behavior, these Codes boil down to +three simple principles and some expository text later in the book. +Characters can freely have their own independent philosophy, but most +align to one of these five axes. + +One goal of the new edition was to make these philosophies more +accessible. In particular, I wanted to make it clear how characters +following the Code of Hell or the Dark could fit into a group with more +human or humane morality. In *Nobilis*, Hell endorses both corruption +and suffering as virtues; the Dark, of course, seeks to arrange both +personal and communal human suicide. There was some concern among +readers of the first edition that such characters would prove unpleasant +companions. + +One of the simplest steps taken here was assertion. In the newer +discussions of Noble lives and in the occasional excerpts from those +lives that appeared as quotes, characters of the darker affiliations +interacted freely with those of more beneficent morality. Assertion is a +marvelous tool, since, after all, the setting material defines how +people envision the game world. + +To ensure that this led to a consistent world, however, I burned some +words laying out how this actually happens in practice. For the Code of +Hell, this begins with acknowledgment of its philosophical origins. In +*Nobilis'* Creation, the "physical" Hell embodies both corruption and +suffering; it is viable to assume that these things exist in every other +world only because Hell exists. + +Hell also occupies a peculiar place in the cosmology, existing beneath +the roots of the World Ash. It is the only place in Creation not +directly affected by the glories raining down from Heaven. The theory +underlying the Code of Hell is simply that Hell---not the beauty of +Heaven, and not the ambiguous essence of the worlds in +between---represents the fundamental truth of Creation. In short, Hell +is the foundation stone on which everything else is built. + +To proceed from here and create a sympathetic character in service to +Hell, one has two choices. First, one can make an obvious demonstration +that the character's motivations are philosophical. The key +recommendation here was self-abnegation. A character who inflicts +suffering to advance their personal agenda is classically "evil". A +character who embraces corruption and suffering but gains nothing from +it has a clear, if twisted, morality. + +In addition, I recommended an exemplary career of service to Creation; +like its brighter allies in the setting, Hell wants Creation to survive. +Finally, I noted that one can minimize the "shock value" of the +character's service by inflicting suffering primarily on the deserving. +This hopefully laid out one path that allows characters in service to +Hell to coexist with a more humane group. + +A second option for sympathetic characters serving Hell is a focus on +the less important aspects of Code. Treating its precepts as decadence +rather than corruption and harshness rather than cruelty makes the +character seem ruthless but not /monstrous/. This option was not fully +developed in *Nobilis* but is influencing several infernal NPCs in the +supplements. + +The Code of the Dark---basically, the Code of helping humans destroy +themselves---has its own problems. Like the Code of Hell, it has a basic +philosophical orientation. *Nobilis* has always presented several +justifications for the basic idea of the Dark. My personal favorite is +the idea that the capacity for self-destruction must exist in humanity +to permit the capacity for growth. I'm not sure that it's true, but it's +a feasible and defensible philosophy, and that's all a character in an +RPG needs. Still, it's understandable if people feel a little concerned +about integrating a character serving the Dark into their game. + +One of the steps taken here was establishing why the Light---the +principle of human survival---and the Dark can ally at all, even for the +purpose of protecting the world both live in. If you looked hard enough, +this has always been in the book to find, but the new edition makes it +explicit. The foremost principle of the Light is protecting /humanity/. +The foremost principle of the Dark is encouraging /individual/ suicide. + +Even though the Light wants individual humans to live, and the Dark +wants humanity to destroy itself, the two are not diametrically opposed. +This also explains, more generally, why humane Nobilis can tolerate the +Dark. The actions of the Dark can lead to human death, but generally on +a fairly small scale; not one that a compassionate Noble /likes/ to +ignore, but one that many compassionate Nobles, principally concerned +with global affairs, /can/. + +Naturally, serving the Dark from a clear position of philosophical +integrity has the same benefits as thusly serving the Code of Hell. A +Noble serving the Dark who clearly isn't getting any personal benefit +from it has a better chance of integrating into a group. + +In addition, the new edition contains a modest number of excerpts from +"Principles of the Dark", a book written in-setting to explain said +principles. Some of the key notions presented here---few of which I +agree with, but all of which I consider feasibly arguable by a Power of +the Dark---include: + + * Human success rests on subverting the natural order; human + existence derives from the natural order. Self-destruction is + therefore intrinsic to the human way of life. + * One can hurt or kill others, such as humans, without ceasing to + love them. "Love inspires greatness; it does not prevent venality." + * Suicide and self-preservation arise from the same aspect of human + nature. + * In suicide, a human achieves absolute control over their life. Any + other form of death robs them of this. + +With these principles, and others, I hoped to make the Dark---if not +well-loved by its peers---a philosophy that one can argue with rather +than hate. + +R. Sean + + + What do you think? + +Go to forum! + Go to Top | New Topic + | View Threads + | Search + + + Topics Author Date Latest Reply + James and the Small Caps + (2) new Kibo +08-20-2002 16:29 02-10-2003 01:23 new + Art (1) new Lxndr +04-26-2002 07:36 04-26-2002 07:36 new + The Original Nobilis Club + (3) new Bret Gillan +04-17-2002 11:28 03-17-2003 17:48 new + Questions & Thoughts + (3) new Pyske +03-20-2002 18:31 05-01-2003 13:03 new + Noble Buddhism? + (9) new Tlaloc +03-20-2002 12:17 12-10-2004 01:20 new + Noble Suicide (9) new +Eric Christian Berg 03-20-2002 07:43 01-18-2005 16:27 new + Art Notes (4) new R. +Sean Borgstrom 03-14-2002 16:31 03-21-2002 03:44 new + Ack...you just lost my sale + (10) new SteveD +03-14-2002 04:06 03-15-2002 06:29 new + Onomastikon working URL + (4) new Jorge +Hernández 03-06-2002 12:51 08-20-2002 16:10 new + Why do angels change names ? + (10) new philippe +tromeur 03-06-2002 10:13 12-10-2004 01:34 new + R. Sean, some examples? + (3) new Arref +03-05-2002 08:17 03-13-2002 20:28 new + Sounds great, BUT... + (2) new Kane +02-27-2002 16:43 02-27-2002 17:30 new + Sort of backwards? + (8) new Eric Finley +02-20-2002 14:25 02-28-2002 09:35 new + Programmer nature slips out! + (2) new Sean +McCarthy 02-20-2002 13:18 02-21-2002 10:30 new + Object Lesson Damage + (1) new Darren +Miguez 02-13-2002 12:45 02-13-2002 12:45 new + How about this? + (2) new Kristian +Lund 02-13-2002 11:30 02-14-2002 01:17 new + Now, this was strange! + (7) new access.denied +02-13-2002 07:44 02-16-2002 21:44 new + Briefs on the other two? + (5) new Eric Finley +01-31-2002 18:39 02-13-2002 10:36 new + Forum now works (1) new +Sandy Antunes 01-31-2002 17:36 01-31-2002 17:36 new + limited series (2) new +Sandy Antunes 01-21-2002 17:41 01-31-2002 17:36 new + + Go to Top | New Topic + | View Threads + | Search + + + Newer Messages + | Older Messages + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + * Editing, Development, and Production + + March 27, 2002 + * Affiliations + March 20, 2002 + * How to be a Hollyhock God + March 13, 2002 + * Naming Conventions + March 6, 2002 + * Art Notes + February 27, 2002 + * Dynamic Nobilis + February 20, 2002 + * Systems Change + February 13, 2002 + * Treachery + February 6, 2002 + * The Emperor to Come + January 31, 2002 + * The Changing of the Guard + January 21, 2002 + + + Other columns at RPGnet + +[ Read FAQ | Subscribe to RSS + | Contact Us | +Advertise with Us ] + +Copyright © 1996-2006 RPGnet & individual authors, All Rights Reserved +RPGnet® is a registered trademark of Skotos Tech Inc., all rights reserved. +