Spoilers about Ramus from the recent GM Prep vid: [spoiler]It’s a shame that if he makes a genuine effort to redeem himself it won’t be counted when it comes to his soul being reincarnated. He’s still doomed to be reincarnated as a farm animal or something like that.[/spoiler]
[COURT OF SWORDS // E61 Q&A] Hope Is Foreign To You
notNOTjack
(notNOTjack)
#34
Well, it makes for an even better story, no? [spoiler]There’s a change of heart, an effort to be better, to be good even, and with the path to redemption trod, finding it was all for the benefit of others and not for his own (in a way), that it is all null in the eyes of the Fountain and the reincarnation process, it makes it all that more meaningful, more impactful. There’s no reward at the end, the reward was the journey, the good things he did and the people he helped or changed. And if Ramus happens to find this out while still alive, instead of Dan finding it out after Ramus is gone, his reaction to that knowledge and the actions he takes from then on will effectively prove or deny his redemption, it would be an incredible character defining moment.[/spoiler]
holiestdiver
(holiestdiver)
#35
WTB Berg + Horse with no name mash-up.
In the desert Berg can’t remember his name…
apepi
(apepi)
#36
I was thinking… The alignment system(fire, water, etc.) seems like an old antiqued system for the world now. People have left behind those…‘earthly’ ideals and now are trying to reach more divine ones such as the arcana.
Does the common person care about the old ‘alignment’ anymore? For the players, do you look at your alignment when you make a decision? Why was it decided to make the alignment more earthly than divine/arcana?
Also have you considered rewarding players from following their alignment?
Pierzing
(Pierzing)
#37
I’m on the exact same wavelength. [spoiler]I know it’s fruitless to hope for any scenario in particular with the way this game goes, but my dream is that Berg and Ramus find themselves in Heaven, the world is dying around them at the hands of the Mara and the Farang, and then the gods tell the two of them to fuck off for one reason or another. Seeing how Berg and Ramus would react in that situation, whether they try to save the world for no karmic benefit or just to let it all burn, is the most tantalizing idea to me and I really hope we get to see something like that ;__;[/spoiler]
AdamKoebel
(AdamKoebel)
#38
Alignment is tied to your soul - it’s the part of the cycle of elements that predates the arcana.
TDavpat
(TDavpat)
#39
Great Episode!
How far is the astronomy knowledge have been pushed in this world?
Can’t wait for next show 
apepi
(apepi)
#40
So since Ramus does not have his soul he can not truly change his alignment even if he wanted to? Damn.
I do love the poetic justice that try all your might to become more divine/a perfect being for the fountain, your soul is still will always be connected to the elements.
Though I guess for Utrix’s case he tried to take his soul and untie the fountain/Arcana parts from his soul and be more of the elements(or the opposite) . Maybe even that is what the fountain is trying to get rid of when ‘you become one with it’, getting rid of the elements part of a soul being truly just divine with no earthly ties. But then that makes me think that if that is possible, what happens when someone tries to take the earthly part out? Skipping the whole process of being cleansed, causing the fountain to not be able to technically cleanse you because you are already cleansed, albeit forcefully.
boostgeek
(Twitch: eyearcana)
#41
@itmeJP If you get some free time can you update the overlay to show Berg’s INT as 8 instead of 6?
AdamKoebel
(AdamKoebel)
#43
Nobody can ever change their alignment. There are like, 555 billion souls or whatever and they’re divided among the signs, and if your soul is Fire you’re ALWAYS a Fire soul. That’s built in, from incarnation to incarnation.
TheDesec
(TheDesec)
#45
I was wondering about that number… 555 billion souls! Isn’t that number low? If someone is bad, they’d be punished and be reincarnated as a lower form of life. Are insects part of this cycle? If so, the number of souls should be significantly larger, guessing by the size of the world that we encountered…
Now I’m in the rabbit whole and wondering how one would be a good or a bad ant.
AdamKoebel
(AdamKoebel)
#46
it’s a stand-in for like “all the souls” i’m not sure what the precise number would be, nor is it relevant outside like, a spiritually significant context.
sythmaster
(sythmaster)
#48
Some temple, somewhere on the outskirts totally did the calculations.
And they are now trying to decipher the true formula for how that number came to be…
however those who approach knowing this equation all begin to turn mad…
BusWindow
(BusWindow)
#49
@AdamKoebel, I have a question that’s not exactly tied to this episode, but something I’ve been thinking about since I watched the Roundtable. Is it possible in the CoS universe to revive people that have died? I know that Ramus used Revivify on the Kirin that brought him back (if not for about 1 second) and I was wondering how that works. How long does it take for the soul to go to heaven? How long does it take for it to get put into another body?
On that note, [spoiler]If Berg dies and his Dark Passenger (who I know has changed somewhat) gets into and corrupts the fountain, would Berg be able to be revived? Or would that be an entirely different conversation since the Fountain is the source of Cleric’s powers?[/spoiler] Thank you for all of your hard work. I love this series so much.
apepi
(apepi)
#50
I am now curious if the alignment of a soul is balanced, are there as much water as there are fire? Some other things to consider are does the fountain like one more than the others so those souls become one with it faster?
Some other theorizing is… Perhaps what the fountain’s purpose is trying to create a god by purifying all the human souls, humans are capable of higher level thought but is trying to make all of them do it. But humans also are horrible people so, it is creating the Mara. It makes me think that as long as humanity ignores the Mara, even though their souls are getting ‘cleansed’, Mara are going to stay. They truly just need to accept their evil deeds.
This is reminding me of WoW: Mist of Pandria which also was based off of Chinese lore, the Sha were representations of bad thoughts aka the Mara.
wawa1948
(Twitch: SageOfTheWood)
#51
There are five alignments, so he was probably implying they are all balanced when he chose 555 billion as a stand in number. However, he has stated void is rarer than the other four, so I suppose the exact balance is debatable… Also this might be wrong, but I think Adam has mentioned that the Mara came into existence when the Arcana were created, with the fountain predating them, so having the Mara and reincarnation be part of the fountain’s function seems strange.
BorisIgnatievich
(BorisIgnatievich)
#52
From the fountain view, where “good” means following your destiny, I assume being a “stupid” animal like an ant (ants are sneaky smart collectively, an individual ant is dumb af) makes it fairly easy to follow - your instincts should align with your destiny. Unless, of course, the fountain is playing a cruel joke on you
Making the insect lives basically a form of “serving time” before getting incarnated as a higher level individual with more volition