3 New Values

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The Third Man
Far-Sighted Wanderer
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:25 pm
Location: NZ

3 New Values

Post by The Third Man »

[These have been floating about in the back of my mind for a while, so natural they finally come out when I've got other things I should be writing.]

New Values

Faith

Religion is the cornerstone of Victorian life. Despite the growing power of the government and big business, the church remains a pervasive element of everyday life for Anglicans in Britain, Catholics in occupied Europe, and Muslims of the Ottoman Empire.
Faith gives people structure and hope when the world seems out of control, and provides community and unconditional love where other institutions dehumanize and disfranchise. However, religion has also become a means to keep the masses in line. Some become so caught in a religion’s rules, they lose sight of its uplifting spirit.
If you take faith as a virtue, you gain an excellence point whenever you make a benefit out of a seemingly negative situation.
Examples: While in the gaol, the priest ministers to the other inmates. The death of her parents makes a young dilettante realize her true calling.
If you take faith as a vice, gain an excellence point whenever you or someone else suffers (physically, socially, or financially) because of your adherence to dogma.
Examples: The mystic goes without food or sleep for several days in order to gain cosmic insight. The cardinal excommunicates a popular, but heretical priest.

Mystery

The world is full of mysteries: from unsolved crimes and backroom deals to creatures on the moors and arcane history. While some seek esoterica for its own sake, most who embrace Mystery understand that knowledge is power. Yet, a mystery solved is impotent. Thus, many who seek secrets are equally adept at keeping them.
If you take mystery as a virtue, you gain an excellence point whenever you discover something that changes your outlook or you expose someone else to something that changes his or her outlook.
Examples: The private investigator uncovers the shocking identity of the “power behind the throne”. The mystic helps his student unlock her psychic potential.
If you take mystery as a vice, you gain an excellence point whenever you or someone else suffers (physically, socially, or financially) because of your secrecy.
Examples: The undercover agent watches silently as an ally is killed. The Grandmaster allows an innocent man to be prosecuted rather than expose his guilty lodge brother.

Nobility

The Victorians believe in the concept of noblesse oblige: those of high station have a responsibility to be honorable and generous. Those who espouse this value are magnanimous towards their lessers or at least make an effort to appear so. However, the flipside of nobility is a sense of entitlement, that affluence is a right, rather than a privilege.
One need no be a born aristocrat to be noble. A bourgeois industrialist or a petty crime lord might as easily put on airs.
If you take nobility as a virtue, you gain an excellence point whenever you inconvenience or endanger yourself (socially, financially, or [rarely] physically) to help someone of lesser station.
Examples: The industrialist pays for an employee’s cybernetic limb out of his own coffers. The admiral goes down with his ship.
If you take nobility as a vice, you gain an excellence point whenever a person of lesser station is inconvenienced or endangered (socially, financially, or physically) as a result of an order you gave him or her.
Examples: The baron sends his valet to purchase illegal goods for him. The miser makes his accountants work on Christmas Eve.
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