Rest In Pieces

Honor [Character 7.02]

Your story

You are Honor. You respect the conventions that people have created that allow them to build trust, which is the foundation of all civilization. These have many names: oaths, rules, laws, promises, traditions. They have never ceased to fascinate you.

You used to take things personally when challenged, especially when you knew you were right, and get angry. Sometimes it would get bottled up, other times there would be an outburst. Harmony showed you how to let things go, how not to respond emotionally and reflexively to other people's words and behavior, no matter how illogical or thoughtless. Sometimes they would test you, throwing jibes at you to get you to react. “That's an interesting idea” became your watchword.

Your world has been turned upside down. You've been avoiding the others before this discussion, fearful that they would know that something is wrong. Harmony contacted you via telepresence yesterday. They said that they wanted to talk to you about the next discussion, but first you must swear not to argue with them and not to tell anyone until the discussion. You were taken aback ‐ they had never asked you to do anything like this ‐ but agreed. Now you regret it.

Harmony said tell everyone the following:

• I am going to upload to Athena tonight. But not transition.
• I am not uploading my personality construct, just my memories.
• Harmony will cease to exist.
• This is the topic of discussion for the next meeting.

You were shocked to the core. You asked why, you pleaded with them not to do this. Why would they choose Oblivion? And without telling anyone, or saying goodbye??

They reminded you of your oath. And broke the connection.

You slept only with the assistance of electronic induction.

You checked with Athena this morning. They did it. Harmony is gone. And now you will have to tell everyone else what today's discussion is about. If you can do it without coming apart. There must have been something you could do to prevent this!

The Seekers include:

• Courage: Yes, laws and traditions do get out of date, but we can't discard rules just because they're inconvenient in some new circumstance! Ahem. "That's an interesting idea."

• Honor: you. Someone has to remind others that people depend on rules and promises to live their lives. It's all about trust.

• Wisdom: You like that they appreciate tradition. But they too often feel that exceptions have to be made. You can't build a Fleet or a ship or even a clan by judging everything case-by-case. People need predictable rules.

• Piety: They understand the importance of rules better than anyone else, which you appreciate deeply. Their beliefs in the unseen are another matter.

• Love: It's hard to stay put out at them for long, but their willingness to bend the rules for the sake of "kindness" drives you crazy.

• Harmony: Your teacher; the parent you should have had. You were headed down a path of anger and self-pity, and they jolted you out of it by making you realize that it was under your control. Without them, you wouldn't be here. Even now, you depend on them to keep you from reverting to taking things personally.

Some ideas for memory scenes:

• An encounter with Harmony, perhaps when they helped you get over something.
• When you kept your word despite it costing you something or hurting someone else.