Children of the Gods (Important poll #12306)

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4427

I believe that time is a precious and priceless commodity. But ironically, it can also be something terrible.

Everybody wants more. It’s human nature. More money, more power… more time. But what if we got more time. I think we simply wouldn’t be human anymore.
It is a terrible thing but, death is what drives humanity. Because we are mortal, we push ourselfs beyond what our nature allows, so we will leave a mark on the world, however small. Without death, life would be stagnant, festering like an old untreated wound.

We know we are going to die, so we love, we hate, we grow, we have children that we raise to become and to have the best of what the world has to offer, we set out to understand this universe around us… and we do that harder and better than any other species because we know ourselfs to be subject to enthropy and death.

But if we had all the time in the world, we would probably realize that there is nothing down here that can fill an eternity. Look at the gods. They have grown cold, and distant, and arrogant. Our pain, our lifes are entertainement at best, and at worst we are tools to use and discard.
If we lived for ever, how long would it take for use to grow harder, how long before we shed our humanity? A thousand years? Two thousand? Perhaps for some it would be more. But how much heartbreak, how much betrayal, how much mourning before we learn that closing off yourself to any humane feelings is the only way to survive the passing of time?

The point is that time sullies everthing.

Now, some people could probably go on for a very long time without being affected by the passing of time. People who are extremely rationnal, and thus more detached from their feelings. Or people with a strong heart that can let go of their pain and go on, or people with a strong suirvival instinct.

But I believe that ultimately, for those who live forever, death is when you are so bored you don’t want to live on anymore.

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4428

Not only have I literally never heard that before, but I would be incredibly insulted if I was ever likened to a pet, even in the most positive of comparisons. The word ‘pet’ itself signifies ownership on one end of the spectrum, the definition of a pet is a domesticated or tamed animal. I appreciate that people can have very positive relationships with their pets, but as positive as those relationships may be, every pet owner ultimately sees their pet as their property. You wouldn’t have the same relationship with a pet as you would a person, which is essentially my point. [quote=“P_Tigras, post:4426, topic:15482”]
Not since I was a child. I don’t put up with that crap these days
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Kudos to you for having this mindset; I applaud you. But I also find it singularly hard to believe that what you have ignored up until this point in your life you will be able to continually avoid until the end of time.

Okay, I’m going to have to take your word for this one; I’m a 23 year old aro/ace, I’ve never had a relationship in my life. I’m approaching this entire topic from a theoretical standpoint, which admittedly is one of the methods in my life I can approach with the most skill.

Correction: not everyone reacts to pain by becoming callous in the time frame that they’re given. I don’t deny that there are people who react to pain by refusing to let it conquer them, but standing up against the face of pain for 30, 40, maybe 50 years is an entirely different ball game to standing up against the face of pain for the rest of eternity. It all depends on the amount of willpower you have, but…in a recent episode of Doctor Who, The Doctor is locked in a recurring cycle where he has to punch through a metres-thick wall of diamond with only his fists. And he eventually does it…but only after 4.5 billion years. Emotional apathy would be similar to that. It may take a longer time than a mortal lifetime can stand, it may even take billions of years but eventually a relentless force will always break past the barriers put in place. The only way to circumvent them is to not look for any form of relationship, which would probably make you callous again, but just in a different manner.

Exactly. At what point has an emotionally mature human being ever seen a relationship as protection against boredom? The immortal would eventually see it as a game that they could play to stave off said boredom and provide stimulation they could not get normally, which would be a hallmark of an antisocial or even psychopathic mindset; you see an emotional relationship not as a chance to grow as a person or to connect with somebody else, but as an obstacle you have to overcome to achieve a goal. [quote=“P_Tigras, post:4426, topic:15482”]
The happy drugs your body releases when you “fall in love” don’t last an entire mortal’s lifetime, let alone the potential forever of an immortal’s lifetime. That’s just the way it works. Becoming immortal would have little effect on that.
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True; but that doesn’t mean your body forgets how it feels. If it did, you wouldn’t be able to grow emotionally, which I’m assuming is a goal of life. If you were immortal, you may feel the same as you did a billion years ago, but you would be much less willing to engage in a relationship as you were back then; you’ve gone through so much more stuff. If you can go through a billion years and still have no problem having emotional relationship after emotional relationship, then I struggle to believe that your attitude would still remain the same.

4429

I will concede that immortal omnipotence would become, well, boring. Like playing chess with a child. You always win but it loses its meaning for exactly that reason.

As immortals we would need to find some thing to strive for. That would probably be something different for each of us, but without something, insanity and depression would be the most likely result.

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4430

I really don’t think I would have any problems with immortality issues. I just thinking that i probably would create other words where I am mortal living a lot of meaningful lives . You could be both mortal and eternal. If something is to harmful just re born again the people you life with and died, you could visit them again and talking about everything. Make a good realm for them or if they want a option of rebirth. I mean we have so much potential and possibilities observe the humanity evolved with no gods maybe they could become more peaceful and reach the stars.

4431

Sherlock has the right of it. The rest of you are thinking with a mortal mindset rather than immortal. And @ Mara - I don’t think you can change your own feelings, because to change your own feelings, you’d have to be feeling a different feeling, and to feel a different feeling, you have to already be feeling that feeling already. A bunch of wibbly, wobbly, feely-weely stuff.

I struggle to believe anyone could go from being a mortal to an immortal without serious mental health issues. Are we really going to say the gods are completely mentally sound? And they’ve been immortal since their conception.

Now, some background for what I’m about to say: I am a very religious person; raised Baptist, but now more of an Episcopalian (Anglican for you Euros). I believe in the after-life and everyone living on in peace forever.

But lets just imagine somebody not dying to achieve this–who knows what rites your spirit goes through, in the Christian mindset of the afterlife–that your physical body cannot handle? Your spirit =/= your mind.

Our physical minds can only handle so much trauma, and death is just that–trauma. I watched the towers and pentagon get hit on 9/11 from the TV in my first grade classroom. Ten of my classmates lost a parent or both parents. Then a few months later (or was it earlier? My timeline of that period of my life is iffy), there was the DC/Beltway sniper (well, were snipers, technically) who terrorized my neighborhood for several weeks–to the point my mom drove me to school every day, risking her job. And don’t get me started on my classmate who was brutally murdered by his father. All of this happened before I was ten years old. Now, I look at death almost apathetically, because I’ve seen so much death. It has taken a ton of therapy for me to look at it otherwise, due to the amount of trauma I endured surrounding people dying around me as a small child.

Now multiply that by billions, and you get an idea of the amount of trauma the B’s will undoubtedly go through. If I went through that much trauma with nobody I was close to dying, but still seeing thousands of lives extinguished pretty much right in front of my eyes before age ten…I can’t imagine how it would be to watch your lover(s) die…over and over again.

Truly, what a curse it would be to be immortal.

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4432

Ah, I understand that for you that’s clear based in your beliefs and it is ok. I came from a Catholic faith education in a school ruled by nuns. Even if I am actually atheist. Catholic faith believe all of us are immortal, our souls are eternal and never die, this is just part of the travel a short time. When we die we enter in the eternity and when god return to Earth we reborn again forever in a new Jerusalem. So for me immortality it’s just not a problem and if you are OMNIPOTENT you could do whatever even killing yourself and of course you could wipe your memory and change your mind and feelings.

4433

Phew, this topic got pretty depressing…And the real drama in game didn’t even started, yet?

Guys, save some of the depressing/desperate outlooks for MC’s future for later, okay? Before we all get dulled by all the gloomy thoughts and the story will not even be able to tease out a little sweet suffering from us when we come to the heartbreaking parts we already got promised. That would be such a waste of good storytelling.

4434

I guarantee Rohie’s ability to depress us will surprise us.

inb4 adonis and calypso and saint all die in a huge blast, not even getting to compete in the trials, and we must make the world burn in their wake, joining forces with cronus

4435

That’s not a depressing scenario, that’s just something that makes MC very pissed.

4436

I think it’s depressing >>;

watching the only people you’ve connected with (who aren’t immortal or the other half of your soul) die? Like…literally the only people you’ve ever been friends with?

u r cold hearted if it only makes u mad (lol not really please don’t take me seriously)

i’d be sobbing like a baby

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4437

Don’t be silly. They won’t just die. That’s not nearly depressing enough. We’ll have to kill them. (Most likely Saint, just after he’s revealed he’s our brother, but to be fair, it could easily be any of the others, except Aeson.)

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4438

Ditto – as someone else raised to believe in immortality, and troubled by it from an early age:

https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/the-something-to-do-with-religion-thread/2024/178

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4439

Nah, nah. The gods will decide the Scooby Gang is not to be trusted, after noticing they’ve been having illicit meetings in the dead of night. They need their superweapon, so they can’t kill the B’s…

so instead, they make the B’s watch as the Scooby Gang gets slowly tortured for information. Then make us do the killing to dispose of the tr8trs.

…that was a really messed up scenario. I feel like a terrible person.

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4440

What about the wizard he know about one of your past lives , can’t the MC use him as a guide for all the MC’s future selfs

4441

That only works when MC already let them close enough. If MC lets them close.

The drama has to be in a more universal/for MC specific way, the one the can’t just escape by “I don’t do love/friendship” and shatteres the inner most of what they are without the hope for recovering, escape or even revenge.

That would be depressing. And it would be specifical depressing because there is no escape.

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4442

Your linked post is incredibly eloquent and totally explains something with religion that I struggled with from a young age – the terrible fear of never-ending boredom. “If everyone’s happy and peaceful all the time, how can they actually be happy? Human nature needs strife…” ← basically me from age 8 until 19.

I finally came to the conclusion that mind =/= soul, and that our souls are meant to be happy, while our minds are meant to think. What that means for the afterlife, I couldn’t tell ya, and I wouldn’t want to derail the conversation any further than I already am, lol.

Well, assuming we pass the Trials, there won’t be a future self. We’ll just sort of…continue on continuing on, I guess. Forever volatile, forever bored. Bleh, immortality.

The more I think about it, the more I think that dying young is preferable to living forever.

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4443

I can’t really add much to the immortality discussion, so I’ll leave that to everyone else (I swear, this exploded even more than the Avery talk did) :joy:. Besides whenever I think about it, my wonder sticks mainly to how the ROs or the Bearer’s friends will react to the Bearer’s predicament.

I’ll just be in my corner over here, keeping my thoughts to more silly things like how their parents will react to possible interest in the Bearer. Aphrodite certainly seemed passive-aggressive toward a Bearer who dance with her son (and possibly kissed him)…and in general actually. The way she stated how she chose not to mess around with the possibility of young love during the celebrations it sounded like “I COULD’VE used my powers VERY easily on you or anyone around you…but I didn’t :smirk:”. It actually felt a lot like a subtle threat; no wonder Saint said never to underestimate her.

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4444

Aphrodite is a BAB. She is one of the most powerful gods in the pantheon, and nobody can tell me otherwise. Her son literally has the power to make anyone fall in love, and she can destroy a city with one action. Lol look at the Trojan War.

She knows she’s powerful af. She is also a good example of someone being underestimated based on looks. Nobody thinks of Aphrodite as being intelligent, cunning, or even really devious. We generally think of her as sort of airheaded, like the girls in Mean Girls. She uses this in a very cunning way.

As annoying as it can be, there is no power quite like being underestimated.

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4445

I thought it was funny how she said she doesn’t want a repeat of the Trojan War.
But she subtly threatens the bearer. And I’m here like, “well apparently you do since you keep on testing me” :expressionless:

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4446

Okay, I guess good times to put my bets on: Some shitty plottwist will happen that will call our understanding of how the Essence/reincarnation works in question and from there we will get the different paths of how we will approach the MC’s possible future.

I already said it (I think even multiple times) but I think that putting all that power into two induviduals sounds like something that seriously could mess with the universal balance. So maybe the hibernation between rebirths occures as a compensating effect? In that case a immortal Essence would be fatal…

…yup my MC will destroy the world. If she wants or not.

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