EXILED: Crooked Rose Woods

As things have progressed, it’s hard to discern who is “good” or who is “bad.”

Is there really any difference? Are there good guys and bad guys? Is everyone just f*cking bad?

There has been no clear black or white answer for ANYTHING thus far.

Regarding being “claimed” by Elites & Redcurves go, it doesn’t even appear as though you pick sides, it’s just who picks you first. Or does it?

It has been suggested to me more than once that we have free will. We each have made our own decisions as grown persons.

Dorothea has been very kind and has seemed so genuine to me. He even supported me during a pool game I was clearly losing (not without a few cuss words, mind you.) BUT he had something to lose.

I have also been very vocal about how I’m partial to him. I can relate to his story in a way.

We at this point have found that the Redcurves & Elites may be working together and “put on a show” with the signing of a contract.

So are there /really/ sides here, or just the illusion of sides? Good or bad? Right or wrong?

This is why it can be difficult, because I don’t want to easily make friends with a bad person or miss making friends with a good person but I have no clue who to trust besides who got to me first, which is the elites.

Now I say this with a few caveats - I agree that it’s not as black and white as “good” and “bad”. I think there are people that do good things, morally gray things, and bad things, and we are who we are, which is a combination of all of our decisions. I believe that someone’s impression of you relies solely off of what they know about you and what they Believe about you. There are things that I’ve done that nobody knows about except for me and a select few other people, and maybe those select few people dislike me or like me more because of that information. It just depends on who what when where why how.

Someone might dislike opulens for whatever reason, and that same reason might be why someone else likes him. Same applies to literally every member. It just depends.

I think that’s the special part about this, is there are multiple storylines, multiple opportunities, multiple instances where you can do whatever you feel is going to reap the best reward for you in the moment. I am doing my best to figure out what path I want to take and try not to burn any bridges, but sometimes that’s inevitable. I’m tossing my cards out into the universe but I’m also acknowledging the fact that I’m human with likes, dislikes, wants, needs, motivations, etc. So I am going to do my best to just be me and do what Campbell would do. :)

one day at a time, one interaction at a time.

Well said! I’d like to add, that even if you feel like you’ve been “claimed” you can still reach out to other parties, knock on doors…

Dorothea asked me to seek him out.

That would be MY choice.

This is also your story as a participant. Gather information, make decisions that suit your narrative.

Agreeing with discussion! I think the “claiming” part could really play more into your personalized experience with a particular group or character, but like you are all saying, all players have free will to play and explore how they please!

As I’ve said before, I reside in a world of a spectrum of grey… just as the serial killer can be a loving parent and devoted partner, the sweet old couple from church can be misappropriating donation money… etc etc.

I harped on about this when we were first figuring out the Redcurves too. Some people would see the level of violence they exhibit and immediately categorise them as “bad”. I’m glad we aren’t like that here. Benefit of the doubt may bite us all in the arse, but hey… every day is a school day.

I also wanted to comment on the concept of “claiming”. If you’d told me at the beginning of this that I would be Lamia’s “special one”, I would’ve laughed in your face. My natural place is not with a group called “The Elites”. I was all about the Redcurves, that felt more comfy to me (and I still would love to party with them as long as they don’t expect me to eat anything). And going even further than that, people here who have known me for years would probably be expecting me to be chasing down Maddy and embracing the resistance. But I was claimed. And I am happy where I am, especially if my very niche set of skills prove to be helpful to a very morally grey mission…

But it goes both ways, and I was talking to Lex about this yesterday. When we receive contact from someone in this world, we form a connection and they become ours in a sense. Hesta called Lex first, so Hesta is connected to Lex and Lex will feel protective of her. Molly is now connected to Toni. Even with people like Dymuntz and Dorothea, it’s natural for the participants who talk with them to experience a sense of ownership.

What I’m trying to say is that claiming is essentially just another way of saying there is a deeper connection (that relationship has levelled up so to speak) and it goes both ways.

Uh, so I'm connected to Darren's mom? I think I'm being taught a lesson.

I have always had the audio recording stuck in my head from the bar that said trust no one. I wish that audio would resurface again. Although I am genuinely excited to meet all these intriguing people and learn more about them, I also keep that thought in the back of my mind.

Kaymart wrote: ↑Fri Sep 06, 2024 8:54 am I have always had the audio recording stuck in my head from the bar that said trust no one. I wish that audio would resurface again. Although I am genuinely excited to meet all these intriguing people and learn more about them, I also keep that thought in the back of my mind.

Fully on board with this line of reasoning. We really know nothing about any of them and they know so much about all of us.

I'm all in, but I still don't know who I can actually trust, so I'll default to trusting no one.

I consider myself a morally grey free agent who has not been "claimed" and currently has a week of being at home and if all goes well a lot of time on my hands.

Ditto. Not claimed by anyone. Okay with that. Okay with whatever happens and I have a LONG time before I get there to see if anything changes.