a ton of updates: added dash move, ally AI, new weapons (specialist rifle & soulseeker), updated ending, more blood, absolute control option.

wowwwww

while you were partying, i studied the blade

I've always found that sort of "Damascus steel" pattern welding quite mesmerizing...As much as I'm out in the wilderness, I could use a good knife...Time to take up blacksmithing.

When both integration and rebellion mean death, then all we have is a double bind. To what extent do such double binds drive people towards psychosis?...As always, evocative writing.

we define unnatural as artificial and artificial as what is made by humans, then resent how unnatural humanity is

LLT with the correct take... sometimes people are condemned through no fault of their own, forced against their will to be someone they're not (man of society in this case).

Society and circumstance doesn't get to define you and your purpose, no matter how they shape or judge you, only you can do that. Maybe it's true that in the grand scale nothing truly matters, but that doesn't diminish the value of personal experience that is YOUR life. 😎

A big thing, too, with the US, is how do you fight the MIC? They funnel an inconceivable amount of money into it and have munitions far beyond the scope of the average person.

@techrahouse To think of it in terms of "fighting" is to have already "lost". (1) A significant portion of the MIC is comprised of people. (2) The system in which they operate only persists under the assumption that it is somehow helping to "keep peace" and "create order" throughout the world. Clearly demonstrate that violence can never accomplish those aims and you make that system obsolete for everyone's benefit.

The Ursula K. Le Guin comment that daliwali shared is particularly insightful as well. The unspoken aim is that war furthers capitalism, yet everyone ends up poorer in every sense of the word, even those who think that they "benefit" from the situation. Hence, tyrants live in fear of an enemy of their own making.

Tyrants only have "power" because they create mobs who blindly follow them. Therefore, true peacemaking can only be accomplished through unconditional positive regard that increases self-responsibility. Similarly, the assumption underlying capitalism is that it creates "wealth". But what is "wealth"? It is not money, as money is literally a debt. It has no intrinsic value.

I would argue that a strong sense of ethics and a knowledge of how to create an abundance of what we cannot live without (e.g.: clean air/water, healthy food, clothes/shelter, etc.) are primary. If we can freely share that with everyone, then the systems of control naturally fall away.

In short, basic human needs must be met in a sustainable way by everyone, whereas war of any kind is always a zero-sum game. When competition itself is transformed into voluntary collaboration for mutual survival, then everyone "wins".