Path

Introduction:

Outside of crunched numbers exists the reason your character breathes.

What is he doing in the Neo Universe? Is he a fallen god bent on bringing the Kaioshins to their knees or is he an angel sent to protect the innocent from the strong?

This section is here to help you flesh out your character's purpose and provide a reason why they act the way they do.

Path: Every character has a path like they have an alignment. They are similar to alignments, but provide added depth; an Evil Mercy character could argue that he is killing or dominating for the good of others, while a Good Retribution character might see vengeance over justice.

Paths also provide you with a God to worship or represent, doing so can have some interesting benefits even in death.

Note: It is possible to have your path shifted by a GM if you do not act the part or request change.

**Pathless:**

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Maybe you don't deny the Kaioshin's exist, but you don't worship them or believe they are the Gods they make out to be. There are varying beliefs or reasons for this but for the purposes of simplicity, anyone who does not worship them are considered 'Pathless'.

Pathless count as a "different path" to those who do follow one of the paths, despite its name.

"Do you call it a pitiful life for a man to lead looking that way, observing that vision by the proper means and having it ever with him? Do but consider, she said, that there only will it befall him, as he sees the beautiful through that which makes it visible, to breed not illusions but true examples of virtue, since his contact is not with illusion but with truth. So when he has begotten a true virtue and has reared it up he is destined to win the friendship of Heaven, he, above all men, is immortal." (Plato)

The universe constantly teeters somewhere between the brink of destruction and a holy paradise, while more often than not it is somewhere in between. Things get dangerous when the universe tends towards one side or the other. You know there are no absolutes - everything is a shade of grey and always should be. When the scales tip too far to one side the universe becomes a tyranny of the majority and you step up to the place to assist the underdog.

The Path of Balance is acknowledging that while rampant, unfettered chaos is bad and so is perfect order.

The downside is Balance is too concerned with the big picture to realize it can be the small things that matter to a person. Maintaining this Path that Balance characters believe in, is hard and unfortunately what exactly needs to be done to maintain it is the vaguest of all the Paths to choose.

There is a harmony in the universe, Balance has an intuitive sense of what it is, and strives to maintain it.

"We are the hollow men

We are the stuffed men

Leaning together

Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

Our dried voices, when

We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless

As wind in dry grass

Or rats feet over broken glass

In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralysed force, gesture without motion,

Those who have crossed

With direct eyes, to deaths other Kingdom

Remember us - if at all - not as lost,

Violent souls, but only

As the hollow men

The stuffed men." (TS Elliot)

Two wrongs don't make a right, but you can be sure a wrong must be punished! Though the cost for teaching others is high, you're prepared to take sin upon your soul and enact the second wrong as necessary thing. The ends justify the means, afterall.

To you, the worlds you visit are hollow and broken, there is no room to let scoundrels destroy it further. Their removal is a necessary evil to let the innocent live with freedom in their hearts that their virtue has earnt them.

Fury is not that of the righteous nor is their punishment. Sometimes an eye is traded for far more than another eye and worse those who follow Retribution often get carried away.

Some will punish those who have even yet to commit an evil; simply because their "instinct" tells them it is the "proper" thing to do. But not all fall sway to such things, many have strict codes of honor that they seek to maintain and follow.

Some live by the laws of justice the society they live in has established to whatever degree they agree with and will merely hunt down offenders and bring them in to the proper authorities to determine the right course of action.

And still there are those who are the judge, jury and executioner.

"The quality of mercy is not strained, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed- It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes."

"Do not stand on a high pedestal and take 5 cents in your hand and say, "here, my poor man", but be grateful that the poor man is there, so by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver. Be thankful that you are allowed to exercise your power of benevolence and mercy in the world, and thus become pure and perfect." (The Bible)

If people are willing to change, they always deserve a second chance to do so. If people cannot change, then allow them into the arms of those who would see fair justice upon them. Those who follow the path of Mercy understand that some people do not understand and never will. Most, in fact.

Many people lead lives that are deadly to their well being and those around them. Sin exists throughout the universe and those who practice it must be taught so that they may fix their ways. If their sin is dealt with by another sin, however, then the teacher becomes a hypocrite and meaning is lost.

While some might be willing to accept sacrificing their soul to teach others, the way of Mercy suggests other ways. So those that have wronged others must be met with forgiveness and education, but every man has his breaking point eventually. One day even the most stalwart of heroes will snap and may regret their actions. Sometimes this results in nothing more than a few broken mountains. Yet, there are many who never fall from Mercy's grace and are even Sainted by the Church representing this Kaioshin. And those who do fall, well they will one day be redeemed in the afterlife.

"Justice implies superior character and intelligence while injustice means deficiency in both respects. Therefore, just men are superior in character and intelligence and are more effective in action. As injustice implies ignorance, stupidity and badness, It cannot be superior in character and intelligence. A just man is wiser because he acknowledges the principle of limit. Unlimited self-assertion is not a source of strength for any group organized for common purpose, Unlimited desire and claims lead to conflicts. Life of just man is better and happier. There is always some specific virtue in everything, which enables it to work well. If it is deprived of that virtue, it works badly. The soul has specific functions to perform. When it performs its specific functions, it has specific excellence or virtue. If, it is deprived of its peculiar virtue, it cannot possibly do its work well. It is agreed that the virtue of the soul is justice. The soul which is more virtuous or in other words more just is also the happier soul. Therefore, a just man lives happy. A just soul, in other words a just man, lives well, an unjust cannot." (Plato)

Order is complete, total, perfect organisation and rule. There is a hierarchy and you follow it, always and without question. Chance has no need to exist. Miracles should not happen. There is no need for change and in fact, change is bad.

Those who follow the Teachings of Order do not follow the teachings of a pathetic society. but civility. They have a grasp on an Order that is higher than mere society - fortunately part of that understanding is the acceptance of local envoys of order; the law makers in society who seek to establish rules and restrictions where there are none. But if the teachings of any society conflict with the divine order they acknowledge, then they will follow their heart and listen to the universe's needs for structure to oppose it. Without order, justice cannot be brought about on those who deserve to be judged.

"So, after all, there was not one kind of Strife alone, but all over the earth there are two. As for the one, a man would praise her when he came to understand her, but the other is blameworthy: and they are wholly different in nature.

For one fosters evil war and battle, being cruel: her no man loves, but perforce, through the will of the deathless gods, men pay harsh Strife her honour due.

But the other is the elder daughter of dark Night (Nyx), and the son of Cronus who sits above and dwells in the aether, set her in the roots of the earth: and she is far kinder to men. She stirs up even the shiftless to toil, for a man grows eager to work when he considers his neighbour, a rich man who hastens to plough and plant and put his house in good order, and neighbour vies with his neighbour as he hurries after wealth. This Strife is wholesome for men. And potter is angry with potter, and craftsman with craftsman, and beggar is jealous of beggar, and minstrel of minstrel.

But abhorred Eris ('Strife') bare painful Ponos ('Toil/Labor'), Lethe ('Forgetfulness') and Limos ('Famine') and tearful Algea (Pains/Sorrows), Hysminai ('Fightings/Combats') also, Makhai ('Battles'), Phonoi ('Murders/Slaughterings'), Androctasiai ('Manslaughters'), Neikea ('Quarrels'), Pseudea ('Lies/Falsehoods'), Amphillogiai ('Disputes'), Dysnomia ('Lawlessness') and Ate ('Ruin/Folly'), all of one nature, and Horkos ('Oath') who most troubles men upon earth when anyone wilfully swears a false oath." (Hesoid)

Between the idea and the reality, between the creation and the conception, falls the shadow of Chaos. Before the world was as it is now there was nothing and this state was known as Chaos.

Those who blow with the winds would love nothing more than for this state to return. Or maybe they don't. It's hard to say. Chaos is not one thing or any single idea; those who follow it all have different plans on what they want to do or achieve. And few would say they are really "following" anything.

Some believe they exist to bring Hell on Earth - but Hell is ordered, Chaos is random. Or perhaps it is Ordered Chaos. What is wrong to say, is that Chaos is equivalent to evil.

The most general view of Chaos is that stagnation is the true evil and while this does not necessitate bringing Anarchy to the universe, often change is for the better and must never stop continuing to change.

Before the universe existed that change was never ending, but returning the universe to that state would end all life and few are willing to devote themselves to a cause where they have to die in the end.

Though, there are always exceptions who hold only disdain for existence.