Tyranny and the Language of Power [Spoilers]

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] role-playing games usually always give the player an evil path often like Mass Effect or the Bethesda fallouts is just a binary and thematic opposite of the good choice do you defuse the bomb for Megaton or do you blow the whole town up because you kind of feel like being a dick you callously melt the rachni Queen or do you kindly let it go it's more rare that a game will explore more than one motivation at a time when tackling evil character paths and rare stills to track the long-term effects of evil tyranny however comes from obsidian the game developer whose debut title was nice to the older public to the second of the Old Republic games was a bit of a mess technically but it had a depth and quality of characterization for its evil NPC's in player dialogue that is still more complex today than most role-playing games obsidian also made Fallout New Vegas a game where easily half the plot involved evil playthroughs from mr. house to Caesar's Legion but they've never done a game where evil is the norm tyranny chooses that direction and in doing so creates a role-playing experience much more ethically challenging and resident than anything they've done before I've done blackhat playthroughs of many of obesity ins RPGs in the past and it's always still to some degree fun the people who suffer from your actions often suffer absurdly and comedic ly not always there's some real gritty in there too but there's a pulp edge to it a distancing from the player that gives you permission not to care what happens to the folks on the screen you are after all one save file away from their lives turning out fantastic and sunny what's the harm in sowing discord and misery when there's no actual impact where no one has actually hurt or upset besides the digital marionettes of the game world tyranny made me feel like total the first time I played it I ended up acting against my beliefs and compromising my moral integrity over and over again at the end I hadn't just reached the climax I didn't have that satisfying bliss of pretend victory that you get with most games I had real questions about my own character as a human as the player I wondered am I actually such a pushover for authority is my desire to be non-confrontational greater than my desire to right wrongs well my behavior in the real world reflect my values if it gets down to a situation where doing would put me in danger role-playing games are often wonderful because they let us explore versions of ourselves that are more heroic more powerful than we have the opportunity to be in our everyday lives they can be escapist although escapism is an incredibly valuable thing in my opinion tyranny speed of writing is in reflecting that dynamic backwards the choices I made as a character cast doubt and caused questions about Who I am as the actual player it's a deeply deeply uncomfortable game it may have a fantastical frame with beast women and magical swords but the fundamental basis of the game is exploring the psychology of evil in the process of making that exploration interactive the game hammers home things of a dry article in an academic journal might not you're not reading about the Milgram experiments or hearing about them in a class you've got your hands on the dial of a sword and Sworcery version of the real deal with characters and authority continually asking you to apply just a little more voltage every fantasy series needs a great supernatural evil and then Piron a that evil is Kairos the Overlord for hundreds of years Kairos has been slowly conquering the world with two magics edicts and iron the first one is explicitly supernatural Cairo speaks Orwell a magical Proclamation that contains a demand and then an opportunity to resolve that demand and then the world itself bends and twists to conform to CAI roses words edicts of fire for example says that the great library of the sages will burn and tell the knowledge in its vaults is dealt with but does that mean the knowledge should be taken or destroyed the ethics of storm says that a terrible blight of wind and sand will plague the kingdom of stalwart until the bloodline of its rulers is no more but can that be accomplished through legal means as well as violent ones Kairos makes a demand with a solution that seems obvious Kairos as a result that she obviously desires from the edicts that was written and spoken but Kairos does not descend from her lofty perch at the center of the Empire to resolve the edicts herself instead it's for Kairos is lessers archons fate binders servants of the court who can be entrusted to speak CAI roses will your cut your character is one of those a fate finder you take the will of Kairos whose words can make mountains rise and fall and let it be spoken through you it's quite a responsibility not everyone is so trusted by Kairos for the rest they have the second magic iron and a Bronze Age world bronze weapons have to be made by real experts and specialists otherwise they come out too soft armies are smaller as a result iron however it can be mass-produced for weapons and armor with a much more consistent result not a prettier result but a result it's heavy and sharp and equally lethal so Cairo's concurred with words of power and an army of amateurs who outnumber the defenders three years before the game opens the only section of the continent not under Kairos is ruled as the tier is a collection of southern systems the game begins with a section called conquest where you make choices about what your character did in Kairos is named during the war against the tiers you can choose many options kinda cruel orderly or chaotic pragmatic or spiteful but the end result is always the same the tears fall the good guys lose and you'll find yourself rewarded with a unique job and Kairos is tyrannical state conquest is a stunningly effective way to set the stage it can argue that you weren't part of the problem part of evil but you can choose whether or not to use your position to minimize or maximize the damage being done and many of these decisions will come back around again giving you titles and reputations and dialogue choices at Echo what you choose to do in the conquest even much later in the game most notably are choices to help or hinder the two wings of Kairos is arming from Kairos is original military overwhelming numbers of untrained ironclads two wings have splintered there's the disfavored in elite wing of well equipped warriors who value training and precision they are related by blood to their general grave and ash they will slaughter or enslave a village because they know in their hearts that they are better they ruled by a sense of superiority in their training and their beliefs they are a closed organization the other wing is the howling mob of the scarlet chorus an army of conscripts amateurs and wizards who fight for Kairos because the other option is death they have none of the uniformity of identity that the disfavored have you can express ambition you can express individuality but only within the framework of the chorus only as a slave the scarlet chorus is so violent and manipulative that when the chains are taken away slaves the chorus remains these groups are your allies there your employers they're your friends there are the new rulers of the tears tyranny then is not a game about adventure it's a game about suffer here's what happens when the scowled chorus rolls into town everyone has herded into the middle of the community resistance is dealt with violently when everyone who didn't resist is altogether in the same place a few rusty weapons are thrown onto the ground everyone is expected to kill or be killed family kills family neighbor kills neighbor and when the most bloodthirsty individuals are identified in the compassionate among them are carved into bloody chunks the chorus calls for the mayhem to stop there's two reasons for this number one is that for the survivors there now complicit in a major personal evil they will never hold moral high ground again they live while everything they knew dies and it burned down they only live because they plunged a rusty knife into their own grandmother after that not a whole lot matters to them not only does the chorus destroy the community they destroy their living victim sense of having been wronged by making them personally guilty of much of the damage done it's killer be killed but there is no one single person to seek revenge on no distinct individual who they can point to and say you killed my father prepare to die the chorus makes people kill their own fathers and once someone's carrying the burden of guilt like that it makes them despondent angry suicidal perfect cannon fodder in other words it takes those folks and put them in a big mass and say forward on two deaths and most of them will go forward out of the hopes that death will meet them there and put an end to their suffering an end to the endless reliving of the crimes that they committed to stay alive in the first place advancement in the chorus is done strictly through violence and willpower if you want to lead killer boss take his job then you can lead one angry screaming zealot is it as good as another as far as the chorus is concerned which brings us to the second goal of the culling to seek out those who are already murderers and thugs and put them in a job where they can genuinely excel many of those who are in the chorus actually love it you'll talk to a number in the game about how genuinely grateful they were to be plucked from lives of tedium and mediocrity and given something to do an outlet for their emotional smallness and resentments a farmer might sanitize every day about killing the Lord's who put them to work in the field but with a chorus he gets his moment to put all those Lords to the sword a man who's been ostracized from his community for being gross and strange suddenly finds those who made fun of him trembling before him begging him not to bring the axe down it gives power to the powerless in a way that's explicitly violent and nihilistic and evil but for those who feel that rush of power for the first time it can be intoxicating to them it's not strength of iron that the Scarlet chorus uses to win its battles not strategy not discipline not equipment it is weaponized desperation it's a sadistic organization but not for mustache twirling reasons of evil for evils sake the entire structure and philosophy of the scarlet chorus is designed to take a common person and makes them a murderer to trap them in a cycle of violence that they feel too despondent or too dependent to ever break where the disfavored would kill a practitioner of magic just for being a threat the chorus breaks them and bends them so that they will serve it can be a man you can be a woman gay or straight black or white in the chorus there's no uniform it doesn't matter if you've been an outcast and a failure it matters only if you'll kill who they tell you to without hesitation or mercy there's a veneer of inclusion and populism muddies the water of a resistance to the chorus they can say to a nation you know we're just like you we are workers farmers people of the land we will accept you where the elites have ignored you and walked on you all your life and people will flock to it not really realizing the cost during the conquest portion of the game's introduction you can prevent genocide all actions by the disfavored by supporting the choruses efforts to expand its ranks isn't it better after all to offer someone life under Kairos instead of a cold and immediate death of the body the cost however is death of the self and death of culture it can be welcomed into the chorus but it will be the last place you are ever welcomed again those in chorus fight like they have nothing to lose because they don't the chorus has already taken everything they ever were it remakes people in its own image it wheels despair more lazily than any blade it's a complex bit of writing to make it difficult to say whether the chorus is genuinely worse than we of the disfavored who are more of a conventional evil the disfavored also rely on slavery but do not bother with the games of manipulation that the chorus build themselves up with instead the disfavored exclude any conquered people from their ranks if they were any good the thinking goes they wouldn't have been conquered in the first place they will burn down a village long before ever recruiting from that village the disfavored are an explicitly supremacist elitist organization they know in their hearts that they are better and therefore deserve to spread fear and death to Kairos as enemies in the conquest segments there are times when the more compassionate approach is to favor the disfavored over the scarlet chorus because their internal philosophy is one of order and clearly defined roles they do not depend on lies and manipulation they do not go on sprees of wanton rape and murder they're a tool for Kairos a dedicated professional army through which the Overlord can accomplish for evil conversely however this allows resistance to flourish in a way made difficult by the choruses recruitment strategies what the disfavour do is to a nation is an act of war while what the chorus do is more of a criminal personal act the disfavored want another army to fight in organized resistance they can prove their superiority by fighting each soldier of the disfavored fancies themselves an elite where the chorus are bound by guilt and by malice the disfavored are bound by loyalty and pride this gives those who choose to resist an opportunity and even a mandate to stand behind their own culture and take pride in their sovereign identity the disfavored greatest rival in the game besides the chorus is the unbroken the unbroken are what's left of the defenders of stalwart following the edicts with storms they were so successful at pushing back the disfavor the Cairo's intervened with edict which decimated both the unbroken and disfavored armies as well as the land itself one of your early companions barrack was a victim of this he's literally fused to the inside of his armor on account of KY roses edict but his loyalty never wavered he was ready to give his life to Kairos and to grave and ash and buy-in during this trial Barrack felt as if he had simply proved himself more worthy it doesn't perceive that an enormous cruelty was done to him that the edict of storms was a reckless and callous bit of magic that was intended to punish him for being slow to victory as much as punishingly unbroken for being slow to surrender the fact that although is in the disfavored share background and share blood makes it harder for them to see that Kairos truly does not care about any of them any more than he does the chorus they are bound by self mythology by the idea that they are nothing as individuals and everything is the greater whole of the group they are murderers they're invaders just as guilty as the chorus in creating a culture of fear and death across the tiers but they have dignity they have order like the famous quote about Mussolini at least the disfavored make the trains run on time if they had trains in this world anyway when it comes down to it most of the subjects in the newly conquered tears prefer the disfavored they know that they are considered second-class citizens that they are subject to the whims of disfavored rule but they can also predict what that will mean they can keep their core sense of self in the face of that occupation the orderliness that stems from the disfavored pride and sense of duty let's live from the tears continue with the tears finally subdued all of the known world is subject to what's called Kairos is peace the Peace of total submission but what worth is submission to a culture that craves endless war and domination Kairos saves her most important positions for the archons men and women who work magic simply through being like Kairos does Raven Ashe who leads the disfavored is an Archon his magic is one of compassion ultimately once grave and Ashe opposed Kairos long time ago he fought harder against the Overlord than anyone had at that point and with greater success but it didn't matter in the end he still lost he was given the option to surrender and spare his soldiers or have them all die together Ashe couldn't or more likely wouldn't be responsible for that so he bent the knee as they say in the game he gave himself to the overlord in return he was allowed to remain in command of his own troops the only trick of it was that they would collectively commit over and over again the wrongs they tried to write through their original long ago rebellion Ashe decided that he cared about his troops more than he cared about the world over time this became a magical truth Raven Ashe can alleviate the pains of his soldiers on the battlefield by feeling those pains himself each soldier doesn't matter to him personally he elevates the needs of his soldiers above every living creature on the face of the earth save Kairos and then this way the culture of the disfavored came to be idealist who allowed themselves to be corrupted who valued their own number more than their neighbors who let their pride and their sense of tribal belonging turned them into things they hated in the foggy distant past when I first played the game I found myself working with vid is favored and ended up advancing their interests it was great Nash's history and the way of the disfavored developed that convinced me to do it I thought perhaps this process could be reversed that Ash might take up the mantle of the rebel one more time if he could be made to see what was lost the opposite happened I wound up compromising myself instead following orders that disgusted me because I was biding my time waiting for the right moment to go against the grain in other words covering my own ass prioritizing myself over those around me by the end of the game Ash passed the mantle of leadership to me willingly not because I had convinced him to rebel but because I had been molded into the shape that the disfavored had wanted me to be I was able to lead the disfavored because I had become disfavored what happened to ash had happened to me slowly incrementally with me not wanting to admit that it was happening holding on to a fantasy of dissension that never came to pass all I had done I had done within the limits of Kairos is peace within the legal framework of what's morally permissible to Kairos that's Kairos the evil overlord whose laws bring no justice I thought I was being clever but I was being conned I was being manipulated just as badly as if I had supported the scarlet chorus the voices of Narad who controls the chorus isn't sympathetic like ash his power as an Archon is parasitic he can absorb people's minds leaving them lifeless husks his is an infinite hunger for knowledge and for power and complete disregard for everything and everyone else is a pure narcissist and sociopaths which makes him excellent at his jobs commanding a massive army of murderers rapists and the broken he's openly contemptuous of the value of a life and the idea of virtue is behind the culture of manipulation and hatred in the chorus he knows just the right lies to tell and just the right tortures to apply to keep his subjects loyal until they've outlived their usefulness at which point they'll just be thrown away there's a miss of advancement in the chorus that you'll keep going up and up the chain until you sit next to the voices when they're out of the war table the miss can self-perpetuate because no one really proves it wrong pretty much everyone dies before you even getting close and if you do get there all it takes to fall back down again is to be boring to fail to please a power-hungry void whose only predictable characteristic is self-interest a tittering self-amused batshit-crazy thoroughly a disgusting creature who truly does not care of those serving are flayed alive that's who the Scarlet chorus served the voices of Narad genius is the fact that he has no problem getting the angry ignored and dispossessed to fall all over themselves for this opportunity your role as plate binder of the court of TuneIn puts you in a unique situation you're given the legal authority to choose between ash in the rat and decide whose vision of Kairos is peace is the more just justice in this case being seen through the lens of two non Archon of judgment two noms deep history is fascinating it was a judge and a politician in his home Kingdom hundreds of years ago his home was unconquered but he knew it was only a matter of time so he drafted and introduced laws that were functionally identical to the laws of Kairos when the invaders eventually came to nan negotiated peaceful surrender and legal transition that saved thousands of lives he was seen as a hero for being a collaborator he collaborated for the right reasons he was trying to save lives it changed the course of his people to better serve the dark times to come the result of all this is that his people became complicit with him their cooperation fuels the next conquest which will not be accomplished so compassionately to Don's judgement was so favored by Kairos that it became its own force - nan was given the power to spread the laws of Kairos the past judgment and to speak his edicts turn-on can't be everywhere so he fractured his power further into his court of fate binders while accountable to tune on each fate binder is able to interpret the law in their own way you're even asked to buy - nan to pass judgment in court cases during the game one case illustrates what justice looks like to Cairo a woman killed two members of the Scarlet chorus attempting to stop a rape she's on trial for murder two non thinks it's a simple verdict she was guilty of killing two men protected under Kairos neither she nor the woman who had been assaulted counted as citizens in the eyes of the overlord so they had no rights the Scarlett chorus could do what they wanted as a conquering army your only recourse is a fate binder is to lead the defendant into lying that the assaulted woman was trying to join the chorus an act which would grant her the same rights as the chorus men only then would tune on define what had transpired is an actual crime justice and law do not always follow one another a lot of it extends rights to some but not to others on the basis of birth and loyalty is obviously a cruel and broken one it's an insult to the victims to fashion a lie like this that she wanted to join the chorus but that is the only thing that can get the charge dropped to non will not tolerate sympathy or humanity but he will tolerate a legal technicality even if he disapproves of your obvious manipulation of the enforcement of his law so how did the two non who negotiated to save his people become the two non who reacts with irritation at the law siding against rapists it's because he allowed himself to become a tool of Kairos ajudge meant and not his own he believes absolutely in the impartiality of law but it's unable to disagree with a partiality of how those laws are written in the first place - non makes judgments that displeased both sides of a disagreement he does what the law prescribes not what is most appropriate like raven ash he had wanted to save himself and his people from Kairos is destruction but ended up suffering the slow death of moral reversal instead it was what had happened on my first playthru when I supported the disfavored I thought I was going to be able to fight against CAI roses will by working within the law not perceiving that by abiding the corrupt framework of - noms law I had already lost like the trial at best all I could do was muster a feeble and condescending technicality well I could say to myself at least I was polite and quick when I killed the people that I actually agreed with to speak the language of the law is not enough you have to actually speak the language of justice or else you end up like tune on an empty Hollow with a masker than difference in tyranny language itself is magic not just Kairos is edicts those are just the most dramatic examples the mechanical spell creation system of the game is the creation of words symbols that evoke immediate results you have a core which is the root word like ice or emotion and then you have the expression of the root is the magic going outwards inwards nearby far away the how and where of the root word and then you put accents on it extra inflections that intensifier add effects the spell you speak and the world listens intent is action that's how magic is accomplished in the world of tyranny the idea that willpower is a defining element of magic is an old one it's even at the heart of obnoxious self-help books like you see lining the bookshelves of goodwill stores but the explicitly linguistic approach done in this game has a lot of impact and novelty it's woven into the entire fabric of the game from the grand darks of the plot down to the spell creation menu Kairos rules by words by language the common people follow the language of her laws serve her will the elements serve at the whim of her edicts and the Archon served by giving up their voices and speaking the will of Kairos in the overlords stead but Kairos is fatal flaw is in this fracturing of power Kairos only provides the root word the speakers the archons and the fate binders they provide their own expressions inflections and accents they speak the words but they articulate them differently the will of Kairos and the law of Kairos is no longer singular and monolithic if it's not Kairos peeking at herself the voices under ad engraven Ashe follow the same laws and they fight for the same cause but they're driven to Civil War by their sheer animosity for the other side's interpretation of Kairos is peace your character as a fate binder can have different intentions from Kairos while still speaking of the same words this is clear and how you resolve the edicts you can put an end to a total of four separate proclamations resolving them either as Kairos intended or with expressions and accents that you are clever enough to add a legal technicality that you can slide by on for example the first edict you have to deal with at vendor as well as the game opens there rebellion afoot both the chorus and the disfavored have been sent to crush it but no progress has been made so Kairos has you sent to deliver the Edict of swords everyone is trapped in the valley and if Kairos does not have an agent in the base of the ancient tower around which the fortress is built in eight days everyone in the valley will die Kairos will not tolerate a fracturing of her will in this manner but that is exactly what happened an absolutely pure dictatorship is eroded by the clashing visions of those tasked with executing the law by differing and competing philosophies of power at the fate binder you can pursue a different path than either that is favored or the chorus since you are also an agent of Kairos compliance within a rat and ashes technically unnecessary we can do it on your own you don't have to let others speak through you you can take your authority and push it to the absolute furthest legal limit as fate binder you can declare both sides guilty I made two attempts at the ending for a rebel and take the law into your own hands the first one didn't go so well during conquest I made a choice to trick the queen of apex ruler of hven dreams well into a duel I thought it would save the lives of common soldiers it did but the survivors felt no gratitude and contemptuously spat on me as the Queen Slayer tyranny only allows you a little wiggle room in the script to join the rebellion and vendor ins well I tried to be as diplomatic as possible but the fact that I was widely recognized as the queen Slayer made things impossible between me and the vendor in guard I could give them as many promises as I wished despite my intentions my actions had already damned me the reputation spoke louder than my polite requests for them to stand down and have a talk what was for them to say besides go yourself northern trash so there was no peace and no negotiation with rebellion when I got to the base of the tower I took it for myself because I could because I was allowed to do so under the laws of Kairos I could make my will manifest so long as I backed it up with violence that is to get to this branch of the story you make yourself hostile to every single faction in Cairo cesare me as well as earning the distrust of two non if you make a legal argument that reduces the reputational damage but the result of the path is clear this is not a Noble and selfless break from the of Kairos it is a willful power grab in the style of the Scarlett chorus picking a fight with your boss because you want their job to be accountable to tune on you are still an agent of Kairos your mission is still the domination and subjugation of the tears but only the are count of shadows takes your side which is to say the side where power is accumulating the fastest ascends you to find artifacts of magical significance to bolster you independence which is an awfully under filming direction to take the game and this version of the plot you go through the land is an independent agent enemy of every faction you meet you can err on the side of kindness when the chance is given but for the most part of your character simply becomes the most two-dimensional villain in the game seeking wealth and power because wealth and power seem within your grasp you aren't given a chance by the people of the tears to express sympathy for them your reputation has already spoken for you you're an agent of Kairos you are untrustworthy and dangerous everyone tries to kill you the shiny legendary artifacts that deprive from the cold dead fingers of those who defied you are the only enduring legacy of your dealings with the people of the tears and the other archons the main threads of the regional plots are left hanging as you go on a materialistic rampage to consolidate your own independent power it's pointless a rebellion of one is successful only leads to another dictatorship sure you trust your own judgment but if you're willing to conquer and to kill to make your judgment manifest then you've ceded your moral standing the players piece would be no improvement on Kairos is peace even if you make your proclamations of authority and a soft - even-handed tone I had failed again to actually accomplish anything heroic within the world of tyranny I had gone from collaboration to competition and there's no silver lining to be found within a shift like that so I began again this time I would not allow the conquest to take me to vend ruins well at all when I arrived there bearing the edicts from Kairos I was an unknown element members of the vendor in guard who had waited years to have the opportunity to kill me last time around this time tentatively heard me out and accepted the idea that my intentions might be friendly eventually after taking care to spare every member of the vendor in guard I met who didn't immediately attack me and taking every opportunity to throw a wrench in Kairos is plans I was given a chance to have an audience with a rebellion they asked me essentially to sponsor them I would fight for them they would fight for me and enjoy legal protection under KY roses piece the way the chorus and disfavored do is armies of an Archon while not yet an Archon yourself you still represent to nan who is the protections of his Court are yours to give if you can make the proper legal argument or the last time around only raw power allowed independence to flourish here it's a series of compromises and guarantees everybody gives up something you give up your favor in the eyes of tune on the guard gives up their independence by swearing fealty to you and each successive wing of anti Cairo resistance you recruit give something up in order to join together in a coalition that looks beyond the immediate regional grievances to the fight ahead as the fete binder you'll do exactly what your title suggests you take these frayed and disparate threads and bind them together in a coiling rope with which to hang Kairos from the highest rafter in this version of the plot you learn a lot about how animosity self-interest and backstabbing ruled the tears even before Kairos conquered them in fact the conquest was made easier because many of the tears turned their back on their neighbors happy to see them fall to Kairos out of petty revenge for older smaller wounds not perceiving that they were cutting off the limbs they'd need to defend the greater body of their civilization to expect one voice to rule one vision to dominate is foolish and self-destructive it's the way that leads to overlords like Kairos the alliance plotline illustrates very well how difficult it is to put aside this kind of in-group self-interest that seduced graven ash and TuneIn to collaborate and lose hold of their original values the Alliance plotline really is a diplomat's task those noble men and women who spat in your face and said they would rather die than live as slaves the people you cut down and to tighten tiny bleeding slices and the other possible plot branches they finally open up to you and tell you their stories but it's a less impactful weaker story than the others games frequently let you play the hero to simply fight the bad guys while satisfying is less memorable and less challenging to the player than to listen to evil men tell you how they lost their way and how excited they are to be in the company of they're evil people the vendor in guard who fight for home and hearth and freedom these people we can easily understand but when a member of the Scarlet chorus opens up about how proud of their parents would be to see them as a powerful wizard in the rats employ immediately after describing how he killed his parents during the initiation is much more arresting the mental knots that that guy tried and tied to feel okay about what he was doing are remarkable and human and heartbreaking these are the words that hold most power the sincere confessions of the damaged the dangerous that arranged evil always makes a sick kind of sense to those who practice it they don't see themselves as the bad guys they think their parents would be proud but what about you the dominant theme of any of the four major outcomes of the game is a tension between those who resist and those who come to accept ghost breakers avenger ends well beyond broken the sages guild they all fought for the world that had been taken from them but even within that spirit of resistance there are voices who run counter to it one of her companions Lantry was a member of the sages guild he was also a collaborator you made him in the Scarlet chorus camp for his tied to a post beaten and bruised but before the great library of the sages was turned into a volcanic ruin by KY roses Edict of Fire it tried to convince the others to simply hand over their knowledge and except that they were outmatched but Kairos is law forbids people from knowing and teaching anything but Kairos disapproves of anything that can elevate the individual and cause dissent within the library and magical work that holds the collective knowledge of the sages still exists that's not lantry's doing all that knowledge would have been destroyed under the laws of Kairos he wanted to save lives and preserve what little knowledge the sages had memorized but he never found traction for his arguments to the other sages the work was the thing but they had created was more important to them than their individual lives to live in a present of shattered dreams and unending cruelty was no advantage over fighting tooth and nail for a future where a kinder wiser world could one day emerge again landry is a decent person who's not evil but it doesn't have the fight in him similarly all the archons all ID lists once long ago if evil wins it's not the end of thing it's a foul new beginning many who live under Kairos is law do so in a way that is similar to how it used to be but their voices are not their own and their lives are not their own either Kairos speaks and they obey whether out of love or out of fear doesn't matter they obey evil isn't always a momentary instance of aggression spite and violence it's also a culture that allows those things to flourish and punishes those who speak against it what is chilling about tyranny is not the overlord not her armies not her magic what is chilling is the portrayal of a conquered people who have none Li tuned out the evil around them shopkeepers farmers peasant soldiers all of them have turned away from the question of what is right and focused on the question of what draws the least attention to themselves not everyone is a slave under Kairos by name but the fund of the functional difference between those who wear chains of metal and those who are chains of silence is minimal at best the only reason your character the fate binder is able to resist so effectively is because you're already a loyal servant Kairos because you have already given away your voice to have the authority to borrow the voice of Kairos proclaiming her laws speaking her Eadie's it is assumed that Kairos is unique that Kairos deserves to be overlord because no one could ever be so powerful but Kairos has a history she was like you months young ambitious trying to make the world conform to her vision of it in the game their ruins called the old walls Kairos forbids entry under severe penalty of law but the reason for this is obvious Kairos herself found something within them that taught her the power to speak the edicts perhaps her magic strengthened over time through living like the archons but the edicts themselves are not a unique magic you speak them too you begin the game with a proclamation of authority and power from Kairos counting down to the day of swords by the end of the game you're using the Magic's the old walls like a megaphone speaking an edict that you've chosen using it against the other armies of Kairos each time you resolve one of the Kairos is edicts it takes something away from Kairos even with a magic behind them the edicts are still just words when a couple words with action you take ownership of the words there's something very powerful about this sort of story with this sort of somatic message being presented in an interactive format it's incredibly easy to romanticize yourself when you're consuming media passively thinking or saying well if it was me thing sure would be different but when you're actually in control of the decisions making a small compromise here and the large compromise there a different picture can emerge when Stanley Milgram set up his authority experiment he didn't think that he'd get more than one or two people who would who would administer what looked like for all intents and purposes a lethal electric shock to another human being who would continue to administer electric shocks even after the person being shocked became unresponsive their head rolling to the side and drool running down their chin instead twenty-six of forty participants pushed it to the limit 65% many of them voiced objections but when the man in the lab code said the experiment requires that you continue 65% obeyed in his reflection on the experiment Milgram wrote wrote quote ordinary people simply doing their jobs and without any particular hostility on their part can become agents and a terrible destructive process moreover even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality relatively few people have the resources needed to resist Authority end quote where do we draw the line and how much we will tolerate the abuse of others how far we will go to hurt others when an authoritative voice tells us that we must there is a reason why the Alliance plotline and so mechanically inaccessible within the game why it's so much easier to get locked into a path that's abhorrent and cruel it's because the fantasy of the great hero who fights for the people is often that a fantasy even within the game it feels a little flat and comparison to the rest of the writing tyrannies narrative goal is not to be at another game where the player can live out a heroic fantasy it's trying to show a side of human nature that's dark and uncomfortable and difficult to creatively explore tyranny is a game that says a world of magic and Wolfman is less of a fantasy than the assumption that we are all fundamentally decent people who will act according to our morals it's most heartbreaking vivid stories are all of compromise collaboration and call of the self games almost always let you save the kingdom from a great dark evil and if you don't game over with no afterwards but when evil really does win people still wake up they put their shoes on they go to work they still have lives to lead life continues after evil wins but the roles are different when an authority says look the other way our eyes cap downward when they say turn up the voltage we reach out to do it when they say obey the law we do not ask who wrote the law in the first place video games are imaginary spaces where the consequences are evaporative and malleable there are places where we can explore these darker impulses and human failings without causing any actual harm if you weren't a good person in tyranny it doesn't mean you're not a good person in real life the Milgram experiments were fantasy - with a person being shocked with an actor there was no real electricity but when you're sitting with yourself after it's over you sure do have a lot to think about tyranny came out before the 2016 US election was over and it was in production for long before that it's not a game explicitly about any current political event or figure it ties into a history of obsidian exploring these themes as a studio from crayon Knights of the Old Republic - to vault 11 in Fallout New Vegas but playing it today its impact is more uncomfortable than I think obsidian even intended every day week after week I've heard truth being devalued and ignored and spat on at the highest levels I've read about men and women being pulled out of schools and churches and courtrooms and airplanes to be stuffed into cells I felt the foundation of my culture shift I've seen the cracks starting to spread and I wonder in the story of my own life Who am I really do I just talk about being a moral person or am I prepared to put my money where my mouth is in tyranny the magic of the world is not an obscure abracadabra it's sincerity of conviction where words and actions have no distance between them when you let others speak through you the yourself is diminished there is power in words when you speak them sincerely crueler kind but truly mean what you say and to say what you mean is to speak the language of power thanks for watching this video and all the videos I do are made possible through crowdfunding through the website a trio I'd like to take a moment to thank by name the people who are currently donating $10 a month or more to help me do these videos people like Zack Z now Z McDonald will Dobbin Tom our dink Zig canaras donuts Martinson will Wargrave Jack Harvey Jack Dawson Michael Coonan deist X Robert Glover Jacob Robinson Andrew Schiphol Kevin shell Nathaniel tin Tsar Alexander Demetrius serese Kazemi Trivium art history Rob packet Martin Markos Tim moon Divya Foust Colby Howard Jon wash John Walsh Alex's allahu daniel mower Mira's even primo Matthew Devin Fitzpatrick Joe Hewson Sasha oh yeah Stephen potluck the German snob Simo Paula Kowski paultalkers Jody Warren Colin Dylan Sibley Cameron Jackson David Frye Michael add well Brad car Cameron Bradley Smith Jeffrey Newton I cannot fly Wesley M Aaron Alba Alexander heaven Noah Duggan Martin Karsten red Gamow andreas Larson's Lars Ingvar Anderson Ivan marinol Cassie Tom Gabriel Nichols Christian Zakaria Anson Eddie Burton so a sheik Clayton Crenshaw will who - Jake Mays Dennis Clark Jake Brennan Julius bean akiko mizzen ami Alexander life sir Brian Hill Igor Babiak Kumar envision Justin Hughes Christopher Sharada Thunder O'Brien Carlos Mauricio Duarte Akira Jared Meyer Cameron booth Hakeem Coleman William Davis Steven Garrett day Eli Bergman Oscar Spangenberg a gone L bruh Ginetta hmm I always forget how to do the ng name I'm I apologize for that I your zanbar margulies Shanley's Eric P Dios Garrett current Sergey melosh ik John Paul harsh ray Sawyer next venture calots given Vernon Mulder Carlson Crowell Clark Maxwell Anton Jonathan holder Nick Cole Hamilton Jay Naylor Rick store Charles Favreau Ken Winston Scott Miller Carol Henderson Bradley Jay Fisher Mathias Hillstrand Chris larkey 18 ak-47 Rob Clark early MacAvoy pearl Gleeson Tim Marsh Joshua zv ties Arve carrion Preston Alan Kim oh hi cannon white zero comfy hat Ron Gervais Markus Persson Dalton Tyler Michael Benson nobody Andrew Steele Sean Alex al called Erica and mecanim Dirk Ward rule Masha flyer QA x NK jemisin David Carlson Evan Hill Ashley rain Chris branch Brian Pullman Chris K on hey Brendan boat Josh David Gilbreath Belloc Morton scanning Josh Parks doing Neil's box from ER Spiro Sedaris Conor bit low Ryan goons Amir Aguilar sang goostin Cameron booth Kyle Hooton over Elias Tom Paine sir Darien dezik tells Fergus Foley Clayton Crenshaw made Williamson Anthony play Harrington Sal West Clyburn Hercules Johnson ricardio Ginga Chris Wright Casey peyote Michael lil Adele Christopher garage de Steven Francisco Santana Rowley Wells biller Sebastian and tyranny Tom Vickers we'll add words Cheryl devera and Artem sehr now thanks very much to you and to all the other people who are supporting me on patreon for lesser amounts without view these videos wouldn't be possible at all that's much appreciated thank you

Channel: Noah Caldwell-Gervais

Views: 230,529

Rating: 4.8962522 out of 5

Keywords: Tyranny, Obsidian, Review, Critique, Analysis

Id: DaqqCbmhqVI

Length: 44min 20sec (2660 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 15 2017

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[u/LordFey]

Noah Caldwell-Gervais is a completely underrated content creator. Highly recommend his videos.

[u/Rehsaleid]

OMG, I love this channel! Thank you, good sir or madam!