>the villain has developed an extremely refined ritual and gathered rather banal reagents for it
>the ritual, when activated, will unerringly plunge everyone in the entire setting into individual, paradisiac mindscapes of nigh-seamless verisimilitude
>each mindscape will revolve almost entirely around the one real inhabitant, making them the "main character" of their imaginary world
>there will be enough adversity and challenges to keep things interesting for the real inhabitant
>meanwhile, in reality, everyone has been petrified into self-repairing statues, and anyone who sets foot into the setting will fall under the same effect of the ritual, immunities be damned
>the ritual is all or nothing, so either everyone gets sent into a mindscape or nobody gets sent into a mindscape
>the ritual, unfortunately, cannot be reverse-engineered or repurposed
Why would your character stop the villain, Marche?
Hudson Moore
...
Andrew Flores
Because a one person paradise is pointless. Also my character is gay, and unless the villain is a pretty girl, she is going to have issues with some dickhead invading her dream harem on a regular basis.
Daniel Rogers
The mindscapes will have other inhabitants of nigh-seamless verisimilitude, but they will not be "real."
Josiah Perez
If everyone is in a dream paradise, nobody's out worshiping the gods! Unacceptable!
Daniel Martin
...
Blake Nelson
Because no fun allowed.
Anthony James
How is your death handled by the mindscape
Colton Cooper
Reincarnation.
Cooper Morgan
Sign me up then
Christopher Torres
You talk like book. GROD HATE BOOK! RAAAAAAAAH!
Benjamin Myers
>You shall not bind my, or any other soul to this transient plane, wench! For they belong only to God!
Why settle for something nice when you could ascend to actual Heaven?
Jack Barnes
Yes. Yes she would. Because a villain had already tried to do it before, and she stopped her that time too. A false life gives no freedom, and those who would take dominion over the lives of others need to be expunged. Fucking fae man...
Evan Williams
This >being satisfied in life without paying homage to the church
True heresy.
Hunter Williams
"Villain" Also would it make everyone fifth-dimensional too?
Leo Rivera
We would probably stop them because of the train of thought "what if something were to go wrong?" Like if instead of everthing being great, it's a nightmare that wont end. If we didnt think that we would probably join the "villian" and help them. Burn this really is a poor villain, a villain needs SOME kind of moral murkyness to feel opposed to, this person just sounds great if a little extreme.
Chase Gomez
so, madara?
Jaxson James
Came here to poat this. The fact that it's Madara is reason enough to kill him. If only we could.
Logan Murphy
I'm of the mind that everything should eventually end, so immortality without an exit breaks the deal.
Brayden Baker
>Why would your character stop the villain
Because they're a shitty contrarion asshole who can't get off unless they're saying no to someone who thinks they're right or fucking over someone who thinks they have the upper hand.
Hunter Miller
>meanwhile, in reality, everyone has been petrified into self-repairing statues, and anyone who sets foot into the setting will fall under the same effect of the ritual, immunities be damned
So you mean indefinite imprisonment in a gilded cage without informed consent or a contractual obligation? Sounds like a violation of the NAP to me. Prepare to be McNuked™.
William Rivera
Eternal happiness is stagnation. It's only by overcoming adversity that we can grow as individuals.
Zachary Bennett
>there will be enough adversity and challenges to keep things interesting for the real inhabitant
Michael Powell
What if your dream paradise is constantly crusading and worshipping for our one true lord?
Are you implying that your “desires” are heretical?
Hunter Cruz
>but they will not be "real." Well then what’s the point, life would be meaningless
Alexander Harris
Presumably out of fear that the villain intends to kill everyone who opposed them after the ritual is complete and they're helplessly unaware of what's really happening.
Liam Harris
Life already IS meaningless, at least the fantasy version of life has an interesting plot.
Jordan Kelly
You fools, the meaning is to make a meaning for yourself.
If you wanna find a girl, that might be your ultimate quest. If you wanna shoot up a school, so be it. None of us are responsible for your actions, as it is ultimately you who makes the decisions. Be free!
Michael Morgan
Maybe YOU should end.
Right now.
Charles Gray
>life is already meaningless >so let us make believe in worlds that do not matter No thanks, I’d rather suffer with everyone else then not know the loving embrace of a wife, the face of proud parents happily knowing there son is doing good. Fantasy and games are good for passing the time and having a laugh or two with friends, but it will never satisfy me. >Why would your character stop the villain, Marche? They don’t understand true freedom, and such a spell breaks the natural flow of life. That is cause enough
Robert Carter
Except there won't. There's no true challenge if youre the 'main character' of a 'paradise'. Eventually you'll realize that, yeah, youre invincible, and you'll stagnate.
Jordan Garcia
Main characters can die.
Noah Powell
Because such pathetic, disgusting Hubris is unbefitting of one of the Wise.
Souls must struggle with their selves in reality, not in some fantasy world. They must reach for the Supernal with their own, worthy hands and achieve enlightenment. And what's more, how could any such fantasy world ever give birth to the Hieromagus? The fool would halt the turning of the Diamond wheel and the eventual reunification of mankind with the Supernal.
This cretin thinks himself wise, he thinks he shall develop a perfect world. But mankind does not deserve a perfect world. Not yet.
Logan Campbell
This is just gonna turn into some stupid shit where stopping the villain was part of my idealized mindscape, isn't it? I'm going home.
Isaiah Price
fpbp
David Flores
Because it's already happened and the last thing I need is another layer
Nolan Kelly
A happy and meaningful life is a spook.
I do what I want regardless of happiness or meaning and I don't want to live in a fantasy land.
Colton Taylor
Imma fug the spook out of that smug
Jeremiah Thomas
>Max Sirner >Dale Gribble
Separated at birth?
Asher Wright
I ask the villain how does he know he hasn't already succeeded?
We've had this conversation many times, you and I.
Tyler Ramirez
What about when inevitably sooner or later the ritual breaks? If people have spent millenia in perfect fantasyland they will no longer know how to survive in reality. Hell, most would just cave into despair and commit suicide at the relative harshness of it.
Ultimately you're dooming humanity.
Isaac Richardson
That is impressively creepy.
Isaac King
>Dreaming of constantly worshiping and fighting for our one true lord >Instead of actually worshiping and fighting for our one true lord Have fun in hell heretic, you deserve it kid.
Henry Richardson
Because nothing is eternal, not even magic. Without maintenance the ritual will fray and break down. Maybe not now, probably later. Probably much later, pulling a billion poor souls out of heaven and dumping them ass over teakettle into a world that is now untamed. That's the best case scenario, too. Worst case the mindscape devolves into a psychedelic pseudo-hell and drives them mad before it breaks completely and dumps them.
Austin Brown
>nothing is eternal, not even magic
Tell that to the gazillions-years-old magic items found in old ruins.
Carson Walker
>ruins Exactly.
Lincoln Evans
Boy if you think you're not surrounded by p-zombies RIGHT NOW I have a bridge on the moon to sell you.
Cooper Jenkins
Civilizations crumble, but magic shit remains.
Adrian Ramirez
How does this mindscape handle society? What if I want to take my friends - real friends, not their imaginary copies - into my mindscape? What if I want to defeat my enemy - not the fake one, but the real one? What if I just want to know what's going on in other people's mindscapes?
Christopher Peterson
Because he didn't put up with everything fate threw at him just to end up in lala land. Reality has its shit moments, sure, but it also gave him friends and an adopted daughter that he'd die for without hesitation. You simply can't replace that with a dream. There's also the fact that he's also a very petty man and will actively refuse any option to allow people that have wronged him to experience any existence devoid of the inevitability that is his fist in their faces.
Jaxon Myers
>Setting has entropy Everything crumbles eventually, including magic >Setting does not have entropy What's the point of the ritual when you could turn reality into paradise instead?
Easton Ramirez
> Whoever it is, we are going to defeat them.
Leo Campbell
Because petrifying people is wrong even if you give them good dreams.
Jeremiah Hall
Says you.
Juan Thompson
> my shield when
Adam Martin
Because that sounds like shit, no one but people with absolutely no friends or family would be okay with those terms.
Josiah Cooper
"Friendship is Optimal", which is the ponyfag version of "Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect".
Parker Powell
What if they get copies of those friends and family in the mindscape?
Aaron Gomez
Not only this, there's not even any indication they've entered the mindscape. Just that from that point onward everything starts turning out well for them.
Kevin Sullivan
>Boy if you think you're not surrounded by p-zombies RIGHT NOW Are they the normies?
Lincoln Phillips
Let's see the chip-universe is one in which you don't have to do bad things to survive, this means she really did shoot the hostage taker. However the ending makes it pretty clear her chip has activated. This must mean that when he shot the man he shot back her before he died, killing her as well. So in the real world the boy is splattered in bad guy blood and crying over his mom's corpse.
Nathan Johnson
Are we certain the ritual will work as advertised? What if we get stuck into an unending nightmare from which there is no escape?
Daniel Russell
I wouldn't. Why would I?
Josiah Gutierrez
Because it's our job.
Benjamin Watson
>Why would your character stop the villain, Marche? Because without a world of people working together we can never strive to be more than we were at the moment the villain activated such a weapon.