[Evalin's Scrapbook] A Summoner's Guided to the World

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

There are a couple of flaws with this type of thinking.

1. What if the Gods themselves don't agree on what is right and wrong? Mizahar's history pretty much proves that they DON'T. So that makes it kind of hard to turn to the Gods and assume they lay down black and white morals. There's over two dozen Gods, each with different ideals and morals and teachings. While some extremes might still be seen as black or white, there's sure to be tons of grey in between.

Take this example:

Rak'keli is surely a good Goddess. Her people heal and protect wherever they go. To quote her lore: "Her people are wholesome, honest, forthright warriors for the light. Tenacious, fierce, and dedicated..." Surely they are absolutely 'good'... Right?

But look at her Gnosis: "Her only demand in return for granting a gnosis mark is that the recipient swears anoath to never turn their back on the opportunity to heal that which is damaged. That healing must be offered freely to both friend and enemy alike. It is a serious oath and one that, if broken, can result in a gnosis mark turning negative or the loss of the mark completely..."

So what happens if a Syliran Knight, Holy and Good servant of Tyveth, strikes down a vile, evil mass murderer... And a follower if Rak'keli steps up to heal the evil person from the brink of death. Is the healer doing 'evil' by helping save a corrupt and vile person, or doing 'good' by saving a life because all life is precious? You can't ask the Gods because one will say one thing and the other the opposite. So where's your 'black and white' morality then?

2. Society interprets the Gods' wills differently. Rhysol is flat out evil, right? But here's a quote from Ravok's lore:

She guided them to grow and flourish and under the protection of The Black Sun. The people came to love Rhysol. To inhabitants of Ravok, Rhysol is their protector...

This is reinforced by the roleplay in Ravok, where people love Rhysol and are devoted to him and his glory. He protects them, keeps the water clean and the food growing, etc etc. Ask someone from Ravok if their God is evil and they'll call you a blasphemer for besmirching their beloved father's name.

There's lots of possible views here. Lots of ways these things can be interpreted. But I don't think Mizahar can be said to have an 'absolute morality' just because morals are handed down by the Gods.

[Evalin]

If we were to really consider the Gods as a driving force of morality, in that case would my case with Eva be focused more on trying to be different/opposing of what the gods offer? In a way all of the gods create a balance in Mizahar. You cannot have light without dark, life without death, order without chaos. All in all the gods themselves are wrapped up in a harmonious balancing act with the universe. So riddle me this, what if one were to strive to throw off this balance and tip the scales to one side or the other. For instance, giving life but taking away death (or Dira who guides the souls in death), or maybe even getting rid of Rhysol (lol like that would happen) to leave the gods of "good" to have free reign. What would happen then? Would it be "evil" to destroy this precarious balance between the powers in the world? Not that that is what I plan for Eva, or even what she would do, but what do you suppose would happen if the scales WERE tipped one way or the other? Would the definitions of "morality" tip in the opposite direction if all of the so called "good" gods were wiped from this world?

Food for thought if we really give the gods as much power over morality in Mizahar. If that is the case then whatever god is in supreme power would/could decide the overall morality of the world. At least that is how I see it.

[Evalin]

So then to break from the past discussions, I received recently some of the greatest compliments I could receive for Evalin. Let me quote them for you:

"Evalin is one of those characters that you just can't predict. You never really know what her reaction will be."

and my personal favorite:

"I really hate Evalin..."

Yeah maybe the last one doesn't seem like a compliment to most, but to me that is like the nicest thing you could say. Why is that? Well quite simply you are not supposed to like Evalin. In fact you SHOULD hate her. She is a down right nasty and awful person. Sure there are some that find her stand able, but for the most part she should come off as someone you want to hate.

So long story short I am happy that Evalin is starting to come out as I envisioned. Yes there are times that I feel hurt that my beloved character is not the apple of everyones eye, but then I feel a sense of pride that she at least warrants some intense emotion or another . Though I have only met 2 characters so far that have openly admitted to hating Evalin for one reason or another, I still think it is progress . This pic I found online says it all as far as I am concerned

[Evalin]

OK Goals for the next 2 days:

1) Finish Sparks and Flames (Part 4)
1b) I really need to define Eva's reimancy technique in this thread so that I can, with confidence, apply it to current threads.

2) Write the "Erasing one's Existence" thread where Evalin has the child's body and uses it to gain acess to the parents house and burn them alive in their bed.

3) Finish Ill take the wife you take the child thread as a solo per V's permission.

Ok lets do this

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Goals for the next 2 days:

Read these threads as they're written because this sounds fascinating and I want to see just how cruel and evil Eva can be *nods*

[Evalin]

In that case Tock I give you the first post of Erasing your Existence Hot off the press . Ok lets keep the ball rolling as I continue this thread when I get home tonight!

[Verilian]

So we had a huge discussion about this in chat, where we discussed not only our real world beliefs but how they relate to Mizahar as well. I wish I had kept the logs, but I didn't. Basically, we had two main theories: One was that morality comes from a higher conscience, that it is something we know and believe in. It could be instilled in us by a higher power, or maybe it comes with simply being sentient, but we innately believe that certain things are right, and certain things are wrong. The origin of morality can't really be placed, since there is no proof that the gods exist (IRL) but it is there, and it is something real and we all know it. The other main idea was that it comes from an evolved survival instinct. Killing off others of the species means you cannot further the species, so it is better to keep them alive. Working together makes your stronger and more likely to survive, so it is better to work together rather than kill each other. Over time it eventually evolved and was changed by the societies of the time, until we have what is considered moral in today's world. There is no way to prove either theory. You can believe either, or both, or something else entirely, it really doesn't matter, because unless you can prove it, the point is moot. Now, in Mizahar, as Imass already said, the gods are real and you can prove that they are real. Because of that, you could say with a certain amount of surety that morality does come from the gods. But, you could also say that morality was a concept created by mortals, and then adopted by the gods. Again.. either point could be true. There is nothing in the lore that says where good and evil came from, only that there are gods who represent those ideals. But as we know from the lore, gods can adopt new ideals. Priskil was originally the goddess of radiance, but it was only after Aquiras heart was stolen that she adopted hope and vigilance. So.. we know that the domains of the gods are not set in stone. Who is to say that Rhysol couldn't one day drop the aspect of evil, and pick something else? If Priskil can adopt hope and vigilance, couldn't she also adopt vengeance? Vengeance is often seen as an evil thing, and it would make sense for her to adopt it. So.. I guess my point is that if the gods are not set in stone, then neither is Mizahar. Evil is a based on perception. Tock already touched on all that, and pointed out that it is impossible to be viewed as evil by 100% of the population. There will always be nut cases.. and really, as far as all that goes, I think Tock covered everything that I would have. I just wanted to touch on the subject of morality mostly. I agree with Tock that you need to come up with more of a reason for Eva to do the things she does. Not everyone will see her as evil, no matter what you do. Some people just plain don't care. So really, it's more important to just find her motivation, and let people think what they will. Um.. I guess that's all I have to say for now. ~V

[Evalin]

This is all very good advice and I am really taking it all to heart. For now I am not sure what ALL of Eva's motivations are, but I am hoping through some major flashbacks that I can really start developing her character more and more. For those of you who are squeamish you might want to avoid a few of these. I don't pull punches in my writing, and if it is true to character I write it haha.

I have been planning a really important solo that should help me define Eva's cruelty well. Specifically the one where Eva has the child's body and burns down the parents home with them in it. The more and more I think about it the more I have ideas of what Eva would do. I can think of quite a few cruel things that she would do to torture the parents before killing them, one of which I will in fact be doing. Its taking a bit longer to write than I thought because, as I have said before, this is way out of the box for me. I have never had to write something quite like this, and I admit it is a little difficult to be THIS cruel to people even in writing. I suppose I have always thought there was some line that couldn't be crossed, but now I am starting to cross it I think. All for the character of course.

P.S. It doesn't help that I dissect cadavers all day before coming online to think about Eva (don't worry its for a class not in the streets!). I have started to notice something though. The more and more I do it the less I view this human body as being "human". Weird or what? Yeah its really made me think and, strangely enough, I think I might be getting into Eva's mindset. Every day I go in and carve up a real human corpse for course credit, and at first it used to really bother me. Now I go in and laugh and make jokes, and I do not even hesitate to slice open the skin, fat and muscle to reveal the veins and arteries beneath. This is after only a few weeks of hard core dissecting. Well that got me, what if I did stuff like this every day for hundreds of years? I mean Eva has been doing evil and awful things for CENTURIES, and it might just be that she has become numb to it and just doesn't see it as "bad" anymore. It's just every day living to her now. Anyway that is just something I was thinking before bed. I might bring some details to these thoughts later on, but for now I sleep

[Verilian]

It is difficult writing for an evil character, sometimes. The stuff I do in Ravok as a mod is different, but when it's your actual character you are putting a lot more effort into the actual thought process behind it. Massacre is my evil character, and while he isn't quite on the same level as Evalin in some ways, he does have his cruel streaks. Particularly in his flashbacks when he was younger. Unfortunately I have strayed from all that in his non-flashback threads, and at some point I mean to fix that. Massacre is being too nice, lately. I wanted him to mature with old age, not become a good guy. It's hard to play evil when you are not evil yourself, but it is strangely rewarding when you can pull it off.

[Evalin]

It really is sometimes, but like you said it is very rewarding. Ok I have been flipping through Laszlo's scrapbook today and I have decided to add my own picture of mass destruction:

I think I can do this with Competent reimancy in fire >.>