The cataclysm of the beast has caused an ancient protocol to be invoked.

Using the literary skills I picked up in high school here, but to me it looks like the lore/narrative is supposed to be a clever juxtaposition to imply that despite humanity having it's imperfections, and also having "fed the beast" enough to corrupt our world and overtake our "Gods" along with everything "good" which is causing untold suffering, there is still something within humanity worth saving and fighting for rather than just letting everything - including ourselves - be destroyed.

And it's all dependent on our willingness to take on the responsibility of fending off the corruption from the "beast" and also prevent the impending total destruction that the corruption imposes upon us.

All with hope that when it's all over, perhaps we will be more careful about choosing our "Gods" in the future, even though "sin" is always persistent - carrying that seed of corruption...

The story and it's characters are a metaphor for humanity's existential/moral struggle and the cyclical nature of it's elements.

That's why the NPCS and the exile don't have to specifically be good guys or bad guys and why those behind the "ancient protocol" are not our allies - they are an external mechanism used to implement an "unfettered corruption results in inevitable annihilation" narrative trope.

I mean c'mon, the story revolves around literally "feeding the beast" created by "Sin" and has tons of lore and language around using "sacrifice" (which is the concept of giving up something now, for gaining later - deferred reward) to "control the beast/corruption". That almost mirrors an underlying tenet of all traditional religious and mythical narratives - which are what we use to deal with our own real-life existential/moral struggles.

It also touches on how becoming overly "successful" from using this concept of sacrifice can result in having hubris turn us blind and vulnerable to abrupt cataclysm (the Vaal - science won't save you!).

The next cataclysm occurs by those seeking "Utopia" and "Freedom from the Gods" under the impression they are doing something good or "saving" people - just like how the Vaal thought they were doing something good and "saving" themselves...

It's pretty on-the-nose with everything. It basically mirrors the structure of a lot of traditional religious/mythical narratives.

Maybe they do not distinguish between good and bad and they just wanna cleanse the world (Kill all living things...) So we kinda have to not let them... Or they are corrupted as well?

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iHiems#0168 wrote:

Have you played the witch? She's pretty much chaotic evil. If not for mutual benefit, she definitely wouldn't care about anyone

The monk is sort of a priest/soldier trained since little, but that doesn't mean a priest has to be "good". He does what he thinks is right for his faith and that's about it. You can tell by his lines that he's very detached from anything that isn't related to his faith

Right, im fully on board with not being a beacon of virtue powered by altruism. But that still begs the question, what is motivating us to be Sin's lacky? He's not promising the witch ancient powers, or to help the druid with the wildwood. He even admits he had his own wife and daughter killed, not something a trustworthy fellow normally does, and yet when he goes "it must be done" we still trust him and go do it.

I dont think the reason of "the whole world is at risk" matters to people who just escaped the gallows and are struggling to survive the day in front of them

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karsey#2995 wrote:

Using the literary skills I picked up in high school here...

Sounds like someone isn't much of a reader. Sorry, the story is complete shit. You should pick up some of those LitRPGs published directly on Amazon, you'd probably be blown away by that level of writing.

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AbyssianOne#1625 wrote:

"

karsey#2995 wrote:

Using the literary skills I picked up in high school here...

Sounds like someone isn't much of a reader. Sorry, the story is complete shit. You should pick up some of those LitRPGs published directly on Amazon, you'd probably be blown away by that level of writing.

lol hey now, I didn't say it was a good story, was just trying to place some purpose/meaning into the seemingly non-sensical elements that we are pointing out.

And now I am curious about how awful the litRPGs on Amazon are...

"

karsey#2995 wrote:

"

AbyssianOne#1625 wrote:

"

karsey#2995 wrote:

Using the literary skills I picked up in high school here...

Sounds like someone isn't much of a reader. Sorry, the story is complete shit. You should pick up some of those LitRPGs published directly on Amazon, you'd probably be blown away by that level of writing.

lol hey now, I didn't say it was a good story, was just trying to place some purpose/meaning into the seemingly non-sensical elements that we are pointing out.

And now I am curious about how awful the litRPGs on Amazon are...

Well played, now I feel bad. And you don't want to know. At this point tons of books published on Amazon are made by AI. My mom told me she was a published author now and during that hellish Christmas visit I tried so very hard to be supportive and somehow give helpful criticism when I heard that she used AI to write and illustrate it.

If you haven't, you should check out Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Very slow start because the perspectives jump several times at first, but I spent my life waiting for the next book in one big epic fantasy series and this took over as my favorite.

"

AbyssianOne#1625 wrote:

"

karsey#2995 wrote:

lol hey now, I didn't say it was a good story, was just trying to place some purpose/meaning into the seemingly non-sensical elements that we are pointing out.

And now I am curious about how awful the litRPGs on Amazon are...

Well played, now I feel bad. And you don't want to know. At this point tons of books published on Amazon are made by AI. My mom told me she was a published author now and during that hellish Christmas visit I tried so very hard to be supportive and somehow give helpful criticism when I heard that she used AI to write and illustrate it.

If you haven't, you should check out Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Very slow start because the perspectives jump several times at first, but I spent my life waiting for the next book in one big epic fantasy series and this took over as my favorite.

Confirming that I have a beloved aunt who is now an AI author of 2 books.

Listened to the first two books of Stormlight Archive. Was really into it and while waiting for book 3 found Steven Erikson.

You both probably know but if not: I would throw out Steven Erikson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" which is a series of epic fantasy. If you're listening to the Audible, Toblakai get's a new / more fitting voice actor after the book he's introduced in (iirc introduced book3).