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Purpose from Chaos
🕑 Added 2019-10-28 03:01:59 +0000 UTCDear Insane Children,
As we continue our exploration of the Queen's Domain we linger a moment within the walls of Judgment. Omri sends along an updated variation on The Courthouse, which reflects our comments from last week. This new version is more ordered, clean, and purposeful - yet also manages to capture the labyrinthine nonsense we often see in overly-ordered systems.
As I mentioned previously, I see Judgment as arising from Order and the Queen's Realm as the Seat of Order.
It's been said that we (mankind) are here to bring order to chaos. It's what most of us spend our days doing - building things, completing projects, cleaning, improving, learning, and enacting. Even our most chaotic of activities - where we bet on uncertain outcomes - require as their foundation, rules of engagement which rest atop a functioning and ordered society.
But too much order is as deadly as too much chaos.
Perhaps it's better to say, "We're here to bring a little order to chaos and/or a little chaos to order." Does anyone have a better way to capture that notion?
Subject: Alice L.
As far as Alice's adventures are concerned, she must walk that line between order and chaos if she hopes to achieve her goal. It's a solid analogy for the struggle we all face - especially as we transition from the chaotic, rule-free world of adolescence to the ordered, rule-based reality of adulthood.
We speak often of the "confrontation with chaos" as a catalyst for learning and behavior modification. Burn your hand on the stove and you're not likely to make that mistake again any time soon.
But what might it look like to have a "confrontation with order?" A hand dipped in a vat of liquid oxygen will also "burn" and a lesson will surely be taught. A child locked in a perfectly featureless, soundless room may go mad faster than one locked within the chaotic walls of an insane asylum.
Which hell would you prefer?
Alice's confrontation with order starts with a passage through "judgment" because chaos and order are relative concepts. Judgment is the candle in the darkness which illuminates our relative position - our perspective. The distance between passivity and rage is defined by our judgment of experiences relative to our knowledge and perspective.
This is why I believe the Queen's Realm - home to judgment and anger - might also contain an exploration of Alice's sense of "ought." What ought to be? What's right and wrong? Ethical? Good?
The Queen is aware of her role in this experiment. By holding hostage Alice's last tether to the safety of childhood, The Queen forces Alice to choose between the ethical and the expedient. Between what she ought and ought not.
She forces Alice to transition from one who is judged to she who judges.
Knave-l Gazing
All sounds like a lot of navel-gazing to me! Let's kill something!
Fear not! There will be lots of killing. And among those we'll design to absorb your rage... The Knave of Hearts!
Omri's designing him to be as annoying and kill-worthy as possible. Of this character he says:
i think this works, i know that most of the our characters are ugly and monsterous outside and it reflects on their insides but this Knave...
i think it works because technically he can seem to be an ally to Alice but then turn on her.
also this is a character i'd love to cosplay.
Thoughts?
should we go Older and Ugly? in the line of the Hatter?
What do YOU think? And speaking of what you think...
Crowd Design Session!
Tomorrow at 6PM PST we'll host another Crowd Design Session over on our Discord Server. Join in as we continue to discuss The Queen's Realm, Anger, and Judgment. We'll kick things off by talking about PATREON though - so if you have any comments or feedback on Patreon as a platform from the perspective of a Patron, join the chat and share your thoughts!
I'm heading to Los Angeles on Friday for 2 days - where I'll attend the Patreon Assembly event(s). There I'll have a chance to share our feedback directly with Patreon big-wigs. So... let us know in the comments below or during tomorrow's Crowd Design Session.
Need info on Discord? Hit THIS LINK to learn more.
Talk to you tomorrow!
From Shanghai with Love,
-American
Comments
I really like this labyrinth lvl, since its chaos, could have like an really discomfort of not reaching anywhere, or like you get to the "end" and its different from what it was, I don't know how to put in word but like every part you pass by looks different the more you pass trough
I Got My Monthly Art Print, and Chaos Necklace, Love Them, Thank You!!!
