Pi is Infinite

Inner Mongolian Child

The little girl’s name is Butedmaa and she was just 5 when this picture was taken in 2003 by Han Chengli.

Anyway, she really, really loves it when I tell her stories. She loves stories anyway, and at first this manifested as "stories about Tad-Cu Bryn", aka my father (her grandfather) who died before she was born. This has been a lovely way to keep his memory alive, and she adores every story - she has her favourites, which she will request.

Then it became apparent that she specifically loves me telling her stories. She'll happily ask others for them too, but from me she just wants any anecdote at all; which of course is wonderful and demonstrates that she is a child of impeccable taste and wisdom and brilliance, but also she has ADHD and the energy reserves of a seven year old and so this gets Tiring very quickly

Yesterday, in the car on the way back from the wildlife centre, she asked for one of my longer stories, and I was like hey, how about we try something different?

And she was like, no, tell me a story about Tad-Cu Bryn

And I was like, this will be a brand new story and you get to play it and help me tell it

And she was like, explain

So I gave her three characters to choose from. The first was a warrior with a sword she could name, who was nonetheless dyspraxic. The second was a gymnastic elf who could commune with trees but was afraid of heights. The third was a dyslexic witch whose spells sometimes go wrong when she spells the words wrong.

She picked the witch. I pulled up an online d20 on my phone. I went to start, and she insisted my mother had to play as the elf.

So I told them that the new queen of the kingdom had called for them, because their palace treasury had been robbed - specifically, a single enchanted coin that brings luck and wealth to a ruler's reign had been stolen. And tales of enchanted coins were suddenly emanating from across the land, so each one needed investigating until the right coin was found.

It turns out kids who like stories will absolutely lap this shit up. She was enthralled. It was the simplest story - they had to get into a bank, revive some unconscious gnomes, then enter the vault, find the coin that had been deposited into it, then get back to the queen. Enough to fill a half hour car ride, basically, but she managed to fill it with all the wacky hijinks you get from a ttrpg, particularly when she tried to smash a door down with a hammer but rolled a 1.

We finished with the queen saying it wasn't the right coin, and then my niece demanded we go again, this time with her playing as a sapient reticulated python. That time we made it all the way to the final boss fight, which was a sorcerer who created a big coin monster out of loads of coins; I asked my niece what she wanted to do, and she described graphically how she wanted to constrict and eat the sorcerer and immediately rolled a 19. So, sure! Okay. The sorcerer is now very dead. The coin monster, though, was still there, and as my niece tried to say she would do the same thing, I was like, no, you're a snake and you just ate. You're now immobile.

At this point, my sister advised her to regurgitate the sorcerer.

Great! said my niece. I'm going to do it at the coin monster.

And rolled a 20.

So she projectile vomited a dead sorcerer into the coin monster, and won the day.

Anyway, today she immediately demanded we play "the game with the story where we choose", and my brother in law is now asking me how he can do this with her ("Are you making it all up as you go along??"). But yeah, turns out, this is a fantastic way to entertain a seven year old. Vague ongoing quest, then three steps: get into (place), resolve (minor puzzle), boss fight to finish. Boom. Easy.

since they were in an altered state of mind when they committed the taboo, I think their initial reaction would be shock and horror as they realize what they've done. very "oh no, what have I done?"

They'd very quickly want to apologize for it by any means, whether that means a sudden and hasty prayer begging forgiveness, finding a religious leader to confess to, or performing some manner of ritual to atone for the sin. Whatever that looks like for their religion.

Even after apologizing and seeking forgiveness, the feeling of having done something terrible should linger for a while. Whatever caused their altered state of mind is something they'd want to avoid, and if it's a mystery then they may be paranoid for a while.

they could also go the opposite direction in some ways, trying to soothe their own worries by reminding themself that they weren't in full control of the situation. it was an accident. surely their god(s) will understand.

Depending on how deeply this action has affected them on a personal level, and what the standard punishment/path of forgiveness is for a such a taboo, they may throw themself more fully into their daily worship to make up for their mistake.

all of this, of course, relies on the religion being quite strict and the character being someone of strong faith who would be genuinely horrified at the idea of committing a taboo like this. If the religion is a bit more loose and focused on the idea of forgiveness for mortal flaws, or if the character is not so deeply rooted to their religion, then their reaction may not be quite so intense.

Also, how are their fellow members of the faith reacting to their actions? Are they shamed and ridiculed? Do people avoid them? Or does their religion support the idea of embracing those who have done wrong and forgiving them?

It is very dependent on the religious culture and how dedicated this individual is to their religion.

😐