[Threshold] Ethos System: Morality and Harmony

[Aristotle]

After a tremendous amount of in-game roleplay and an out-of-game loop of design, coding, contemplating unexpected ramifications, re-designing, re-coding, we are excited to announce the new ethos system: Morality & Harmony.

This is a titanic and potentially tumultuous change to a very core aspect of the game. It will affect all sorts of RP and game mechanic systems. We will monitor it closely, listen to feedback, and make revisions and fixes as necessary.

Please do not panic if anything seems less than ideal immediately. It may require some adjustment, new RP, or possibly tweaks to design or code.

With that, on to the explanation of the system.

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Terminology

Ethos = The sum and total of the morality and harmony of your mortal soul.

Morality = Good and Evil. Also: morals.

Harmony = Order and Chaos. Also: harmonic.

Axis = Either of the two categories, Morality or Harmony.

Primary Axis = Morality or Harmony. The axis of ethos that your character cares about the most.

Disposition = A single choice: Good, Evil, Order, or Chaos. Clans have this.

Acceptable IC ethos descriptors:

Imaginary characters, Foo (good/order) and Bar (evil/chaotic):

IMPORTANT: MORALITY and HARMONY are equally important in the game world. Individual characters choose which axis is most important to THEM, but in the global sense they are equally as important and impactful now.

Do not consider harmony "lesser" than morality simply because it is newer. It is now a bedrock aspect of the game world and your mortal souls.

• Foo's primary axis is morality.
• Foo's primary ethos is good.
• Foo's secondary ethos is order.
• Foo is morality good, harmonic order.
• Foo is good and ordered.
• Bar is evil and chaotic.
• Foo is primary good, secondary order.
• Foo is primary good.
• Foo is secondary order.
• Foo is primary morality.
• Foo is secondary harmonic.
• Foo is good.
• Foo is ordered.
• Bar is chaotic.

Acceptable OOC ethos descriptors:

• Any of the IC descriptors.
• Foo is primary/morality/good.
• Foo is primary/morality/good and secondary/harmony/order.
• Foo is primary/good secondary/order.

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How to Choose Your Ethos

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                         Help for axis (General Help)                        
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The axis command is used to define your character's morality and harmonic and
which of these is the primary driver for your character (your primary axis).

         To view your axes: axis

  To set your primary axis: axis primary 
      To set your morality: axis morality 
      To set your harmonic: axis harmonic 

                  Cooldown: 30 days (separate cooldowns for each option)
                      Cost: 100 orb (or 100 TCs)

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Ethos Rules for: Parties

You cannot party with anyone whose primary ethos (good, evil, order, or chaos) conflicts with yours.

If someone is primary/morality/good they cannot party with someone who is primary/morality/evil, but they can party with someone who is secondary/morality/evil and primary/harmony/order or chaos.

If someone is primary/harmony/chaos they cannot party with someone who is primary/harmony/order, but they can party with someone who is secondary/harmony/order and primary/morality/good or evil.

If your primary axis is morality/good, you cannot party with anyone primary/evil. You can party with people who are secondary/evil, but that should only be done in limited cases with sufficient RP justification. You should not routinely party (or borg) with characters that conflict with your primary ethos choice (having a different primary axis is fine).

Any time you party with someone whose primary conflicts with your secondary, there is some measure of concern. That should happen infrequently.

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Ethos Rules for: Bloodoaths

Bloodoaths must have the same MORALITY and the same HARMONIC, but they can differ on which one is their primary.

For example:

Character 1: primary morality/evil, secondary harmonic/order
Character 2: primary harmonic/order, secondary morality/evil

These characters can bloodoath.

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Ethos Rules for: Marriage

Spouses cannot conflict with each other's primary choice in either axis, but they do not have to have the same primary axis, and they can conflict with each other's secondary axis.

Good/any harmonic can marry Good/any harmonic
Good/any harmonic can marry Any harmonic/good.
Good/any harmonic cannot marry someone who has evil as primary or secondary.

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Ethos Rules for: Clans

Clans have a DISPOSITION. This is Good, Evil, Order, or Chaos. They do not have primary or secondary ethos.

A clan's disposition is set by the founder during initial clan formation in the Hall of Clans. If any party members forming the clan violate the disposition of the clan, formation fails.

A clan's disposition may be modified by the founder via the clanmanage command.

Clan members may view the clan's disposition via the clanmanage command.

Members of a clan cannot conflict with the clan's disposition in either their morality or their harmonic. It doesn't matter if the conflict is primary or secondary.

If your clan's disposition is GOOD, then members cannot be primary/evil or secondary/evil. They can be order or chaos.

If your clan's disposition is CHAOS, then members cannot be primary/order or secondary/order. They can be good or evil.

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Ethos Rules for: Religions

Religions have some of the most complex ethos rules (depending on your religion).

Primary Axis Requirements

• Vishnu and Set: Must have MORALITY as primary axis.
  
  
• Tempest, Loviatar, Gethsemane, and Belphegore: Must have HARMONY as primary axis.

Ethos Choice Requirements

• Vishnu
  • Morality: Good
    
  • Harmonic: Clerics/Paladins must be Order. Followers also encouraged.
• Erosia
  • Morality: Good
    
  • Harmonic: ---
• Tempest
  • Morality: ---
    
  • Harmonic: Order
• Loviatar
  • Morality: ---
    
  • Harmonic: Order
• Gethsemane
  • Morality: ---
    
  • Harmonic: Chaos
• Belphegore
  • Morality: ---
    
  • Harmonic: Chaos
• Set
  • Morality: Evil
    
  • Harmonic: Clerics/Paladins must be Order. Followers also encouraged.
• Bast
  • Morality: Evil
    
  • Harmonic: ---
• Herastia
  • Morality: ---
    
  • Harmonic: ---
• Vivoria
  • Morality: ---
    
  • Harmonic: ---
• Calypso
  • Morality: ---
    
  • Harmonic: Chaos (Mages, Templars, Psions, & Alchemists allowed to be Order)
• Silvanus
  • Morality: --- (lean towards Good, not enforced by code for now)
    
  • Harmonic: ---
• Mortis
  • Morality: ---
    
  • Harmonic: ---

[Aristotle]

TL;DR version (but please read the main post at least once!):

Your character's ethos now includes two components on two axes: MORALITY (good or evil) and HARMONY (order or chaos). Both axes are equally significant to the game world, but your character will choose one that is of primary importance.

For more information on how to choose every aspect of your ethos: help axis

Ethos Rules:

Parties: No member's primary ethos can conflict with anyone else's primary ethos. If someone is primary/morality/good, nobody in the party can be primary/morality/evil. If one member is primary/harmony/chaos, nobody can be primary/harmony/order. For parties, your secondary axis and ethos are not code enforced. However, you should rarely (if ever) party with people whose secondary choice is a direct conflict with your primary choice (example: if you are primary good, you should only party with someone secondary evil for a very extreme, super RP justified reason).

Bloodoaths: Must have the same MORALITY and the same HARMONIC, but they can differ on which one is their primary.

Clans: Have a single disposition which is one of these four: Good, Evil, Order, or Chaos. No member can conflict with the disposition in primary or secondary. Example: Clan disposition is Order. No member can have chaos as their primary OR secondary.

Religions: Rules vary by religion.

[Everon]

So first, I want to start off that this all sounds super exciting and I'm excited to see where all the RP is going to go!

However, on the point of BloodOath's, with existing bloodoaths --- is there going to be something that will force them to no longer be oathed if they do not match? Or... are they still going to be unaffected?
How is that going to work?

[Aristotle]

This is now live!

[Zezyn]

If a clan lost it's leader and is unable to make a disposition what happens?

[Tartun]

Seeing as some churches have mandates regarding primary axis choice, it would be nice if you could temporarily choose to leave your church.

[Aristotle]

If a clan lost it's leader and is unable to make a disposition what happens?

Most likely you need to leave your clan. In Character, a clan leader disappearing represents a failure of that clan/leadership.

The only time I can remember us giving a clan a new overlord in recent years is the clan that was led by Jenai/Zeala because her player passed away in RL.

[Halyanne]

Calypso
Morality: ---
Harmonic: Chaos (Mages, Templars, Psions, & Alchemists allowed to be Order)

Just to clarify this... Should any Mage, Templar, Psion or Alchemist join the Calypsian church they will need to be Harmonic and Chaotic.

You are just meaning that just because they cast magic doesn't necessarily mean they NEED to choose Calypso or be Chaotic. Correct?

[Loigan]

Just to clarify this... Should any Mage, Templar, Psion or Alchemist join the Calypsian church they will need to be Harmonic and Chaotic.

You are just meaning that just because they cast magic doesn't necessarily mean they NEED to choose Calypso or be Chaotic. Correct?

I don't think so....

I am reading this at face value which would be:

All Calypsans can choose either Harmony or Morality as Primary.

All Calypsans MUST choose thier Harmony as Chaos, except Mages, Templars, Psions, & Alchemists, who have the option of being Order

Or to put it another way:

Mages, Templars, Psions, & Alchemists:

Can choose either Harmony or Morality as Primary.

Can choose Good or Evil and Order or Chaos.

All other Guilds:

Can choose either Harmony or Morality as Primary.

Can choose Good or Evil but must be Chaos.

[Aristotle]

Just to clarify this... Should any Mage, Templar, Psion or Alchemist join the Calypsian church they will need to be Harmonic and Chaotic.

You are just meaning that just because they cast magic doesn't necessarily mean they NEED to choose Calypso or be Chaotic. Correct?

I think you are making it too complicated. Just read it right at face value.

Calypso:

• no primary requirement
• harmonic must be chaos
• alchemist, mage, psion, and templar can also choose order for their harmonic