Wonders

It's the wonders that I'm after, even if I have to fight./ It'll all be hard and bloody, even when I get it right.

There's just something really fun about playing a character who looks at a situation, knows what the right thing to do is, and goes "well, this is gonna hurt" and then does it anyway.

ys

vasanti is a good and she lives in a kung fu movie

Obviously this is a ways away, but I have a question about the relationship between challenging the heretics and the templar monk code.

The code says "do not throw the first blow." I've always taken this to be a statement about not introducing violence into an otherwise non-violent situation.

I'm assuming that using a challenge to heretics doesn't break that rule because it's in direct service to the cloister. Once the challenge is issued, do I need to let them attack me first, or can I act under the presumption that violence has already been introduced to the situation?

Or has a cloister becoming heretical already thrown the proverbial first blow? They've thrown a blow to damage the cloisters as a whole. I could argue that this was already a blow, just not a physical one.

I could see that. Especially since their heresy led directly to a physical attack from one of their adherents.

(btw, the other potentially relevant parts of the code are "never fail to answer the cloister's call," "never fail to defend the cause of knowledge," and "do not accept surrender from the cloister's sworn foes." I figure all of those have potential application for heresy that sets one set of math as the only right way.)

(There's also "do not be governed by fear," which is why "this could definitely kill me" isn't a good enough reason not to go challenge them.)

a challenge is an agreed-upon fight; a negotiated fight. "do not throw the first blow" does not apply because it is a duel, mandated by tradition.

the cloister's call and the cause of knowledge mandate that you EITHER inform a cloister or challenge the school, but you are free to do whichever is most rational

the cloister's SWORN foes are flux deviants. a heretic is a foe, certainly, and even a religiously mandated foe, but no monastic oaths when you join a cloister refer to heresy, just to flux

"do not be governed by fear" would mean fear of death alone is insufficient, yes. fear of death in the face of a statistically persuasive chance of failure still permits a rational choice to maximize the odds of success.

Do I have any idea what my odds are right now or do I need more data?

Need more data. And at the Cloisters you visit... you can always test for Master.

Just because I can doesn't mean I should. Aren't master's tests the ones that always end in either success or death?

well, yes.