text; un: Merlin

[lludw]

[Since his arrival, whenever Lucius used the Omni he's kept the username of a randomly generated number. He prefers it - an identifier completely separated from identity. And that's the username he'll continue to use when he wants to be consistently recognizable or has to use voice or video. But to comment on something personally important, he believes it's better to adopt a new, unconnected name. It can be its own identity, living through text alone. And now that he knows how to do that, why not test it out with something that's been on his mind?]

There's been a lot of talk about stories lately. Stories about holidays, stories to soothe people, those sorts of things.

What use is a story when it's taken from its people? If it refers to rituals that aren't possible here, or lands we'll never return to, is it simply a way we hold ourselves back? If it's adopted by the very people it was meant to fight against, what are the original people left with?

Does a story remain a useful thing?

Comments

voice; un: mob

[centile]

did the people it was meant to fight learn something good from it? that could help them change?

text;

[lludw]

Some of them might. [With what he's read, he has to grant that in the case he's thinking of, some did.]

But others might take it to give themselves rights and authority they didn't earn.

[centile]

this seems pretty complicated, honestly. it'd be nice if it did help someone change, but i guess stories are just something you don't really have any control over once they're told.

text | un: noh_offense

[meds4sale]

Must something be useful for it to be worthwhile?

Moreover, must stories remain stagnant?

[lludw]

[hmm]

Not always. But they should still have a purpose.

Must people change old stories instead of making new ones?

( text | un: duckling )

[danserai]

I mean. It's good if the story is still alive, right? Doesn't that make it useful, even if everything is gone away?

[lludw]

Why would it?

text | un: londonstar

[slightlytaller]

Even if parts of the story are no longer relevant, there are always other details that we can learn from. All stories contain a grain of truth somewhere; it's a matter of finding the truth that is relevant to you.

[lludw]

Shouldn't the real truth be what's relevant, no matter who you are?

text - UN: Onelthes

[onerthes]

Stories, fables and tales always have pieces of living memory. Even if they do not 'help' our situation right now, they are reminders of who we were and what we hope to become.

[lludw]

[...That...strikes him.]

No matter when or who's telling them?

text; un: hawkbat

[forcechanic]

Stories are the only thing I've ever had from my mom's homeworld. They keep it alive.

[lludw]

[That hits right at the root of the question. "It is a land of mountains and valleys..."]

Those are stories that have stayed with their people, then.

text; un: ushiromiya

[entreats]

[ It's a topic Ange finds kind of interesting. Though as she reads the message, even without knowing who left it in the first place, there's only one thought that rises up in her own mind to ask. ]

What do stories mean to you? What do you assume their use is?

[ After all, doesn't the answer to all of this person's questions more or less depend on that? ]

[lludw]

[Hope. But that's not something he can be honest about, with himself or others.]

History.

text | un: goodfellowe

[wolfhunted]

[Robyn likes stories, so this gets her attention.]

i don't know about stories being "taken", but i think they're supposed to help people remember things. even if they're things like dragons or giants.

[Which are things she's fond of hearing about, even if people dismiss them as nonsense.]

and if someone knows a story and can tell it to other people, isn't that what's important?

[lludw]

[He's doubtful that dragons or giants currently exist in the world he came from, but he wouldn't dismiss the idea entirely out of hand. And they could have existed before. In Trench, of course, they certainly exist in some form or another.]

But what if what they remember is wrong?

[Isn't that important too?]

Text UN: ClickClickBloom

[onekindsoul]

I think there's always something useful in a story. Even if the exact methods can't be used you can always learn something from it. It could inspire hope when things or rough, or provide a lesson on what not to do.

[lludw]

[Hope. For all that hope is, in the end, what he truly takes from the stories that matter to him, he still has an instant negative reaction to seeing the word. He prefers doing to hoping.]

Those aren't useful by themselves. They need the right setting.

text: un: tenskulls

[stayscared]

Might be there's comfort in the telling, or a lesson, a warning, a connection. Maybe it just helps someone out of a bad spot (or if not out, then through).

Could help someone pull their head out of their ass, too. That last one's quite useful.

[lludw]

["Comfort" isn't something Lucius finds particularly useful, unless there is genuinely no other action to take - a very rare situation. (Decades from now, this will manifest in letting a child regularly join in battle rather than getting the brat any emotional support. It's fine.)

But certainly agrees on the usefulness of that last one.]

Got any examples for that one?

voice | un: badgerlock

[listenyouidiot]

Stories are meant to be shared, especially with strangers. We'd grow staid and dull without stories from other places. And when we're far from home, can't familiar tales be a comfort?

[a pensive, thoughtful pause.]

I don't have an answer for the last point, I'm afraid. I wish that I did.

text;

[lludw]

Stories can be a lot to trust a stranger with, though.

Text; un: darkness

[survivalthroughhate]

Sometimes, it's better for a story to stay alive through any means necessary, especially when the people it originally belonged to no longer exist. If it is not told, part of that culture will cease to exist in its entirety.

[lludw]

But if the new culture takes it up, doesn't that part of the old one still cease to exist?