Thursday, April 20, 2017

Two Voices

My latest D&D character is a Half-Orc named Kregg (or Craig, when he's around humans). In the D&D universe, there are multiple deities that each had a hand in creating the world. In this world, Orcs were created by a god named Gruumsh, who loves violence, and created Orcs with a burning desire to fight other creatures for no other reason than just for the sake of fighting them. Even Half-Orcs, who are typically half-human, as Kregg is, cannot fully escape Gruumsh's influence; they all feel the urge to fight. However, Kregg came to own a magical, sentient sword named Peacekeeper, who now acts as Kregg's moral compass. She telepathically teaches him a better way to behave than listening to Gruumsh. Kregg sometimes feels conflicted, hearing two conflicting voices in his head whenever a situation could, but shouldn't, be answered with violence. In this way, Kregg somewhat represents us all.

We all have at least two voices in our heads, in addition to our own. On one hand, the devil attempts to tempt us to do evil, and on the other hand, the spirit inspires us to do good. These conflicting voices can sometimes make it difficult to make choices, causing a daily struggle between right and wrong. As I roleplay Kregg, I'll make sure he chooses good more often than not, but I'll also make those choices at least as difficult for him as they sometimes are for me. That way, I can use Kregg as a sort of role model, a Paladin of Self-Control. Because if Kregg can hear good and evil voices in his head and choose to listen to the good, then maybe the rest of us can, too.

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