What are methods of spiritual redemption in your world?

Gradually_Adjusting, 2 months ago

Interesting stuff. Is there a way for people to appear in the dreams of others in your setting? I love the storytelling potential of oneiromancy (and its spec-fic counterparts). The stuff of dreams will forever be fertile literary soil.

In Karnum, there is a major emphasis placed on codes of honour. These are fixed at coming of age, and mostly selected from a list provided by one’s family. Usually one to three simple tenets are taken. Less ambitious people take fewer. Knights must select their vows from The Golden Code:

<span style="color:#323232;">Perform the sun salutation ritual at each sunrise without fail.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Offer any enemy a chance to submit. 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Reject monetary rewards (donate any to the church)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Spare no traitor’s life, and defend the truthsayer
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Destroy nothing of beauty. Slay none that would live peacefully and lawfully. 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Uphold the honor of your peers as if it were your own. Speak no ill of an ally. 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Make only equal trades, and accept no gifts but hospitality. 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Speak the truth without hesitation or reservation. 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">In all matters, finish what was started. 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Never refuse a challenge from an equal, never challenge an inferior.
</span>

All nobility are knightly by default, and are subject to even more codes. The Silver Code is held in common among all knights:

<span style="color:#323232;">Answer any challenge, but never escalate.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Always maintain decorum. Rudeness is an admission of fear.  
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Refrain from giving offense or insult, brook no insult from an equal or lessor.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Respect the defeated, and accept their service if offered. 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Never run from an enemy, never spare a deserter.
</span>

Breaking these vows can (but unpredictably) have grave repercussions. In some lands, you can develop unsightly, permanent, and heritable mutations. Not only that, but enough mutations can make you look like a fully transformed beastman.

Naturally this has caused the wilderness to be filled with tribes of monstrous radicals who seek to destroy the society that took everything from them. This is exactly as intended; the curse is secretly a sham perpetrated by court sorcerers across generations for political reasons. Oathbreaking curses seem to mainly affect political dissidents and any serfs who step out of line.

All this to say that redemption doesn’t figure largely in this world’s metaphysics. It’s a very grounded dark fantasy setting with a lot of very heavy handed political commentary. If there is any redemption to be had, it’s in your decisions along the way. Matters of the soul are buried in the lore and intentionally obfuscated. Having to sit with that uncertainty emphasizes the temporal stakes.