Forever fascinated by the spectrum of morality in VSMP cause itās like:
Thereās Owen āI killed 2,799 people who I personally knew since childhood and who personally and viciously wronged me and took away my reason for living, and I donāt feel bad about it at all, I would do it all over again, why would I ever feel bad about my sins, they all hurt me first, they all deserve it, why are you looking at me with pity and disappointment, there was nothing else I could have done, I refuse to let anyone get away with that level of cruelty, Iāll go to hell a thousand times if it means I can make them suffer a fraction or the pain that my loved one felt in his dying moments, Iāll never repent, Iāll never seek forgiveness or accept the very same light that would damn someone as kind as him, weāre all monsters in the end, and Iāll drag us all down together to suffer the same fateā
And Legundo āI killed over 6,000 people in the most slow and horrific way, people who I did not personally know or have reason to care about, under orders I could have disobeyed but chose not to because it was the only way to end the war, and that decision haunts me every moment of my life and I reformed my whole existence around trying to do more good than the harm Iāve caused, even though I know nothing I do will ever fix it but thatās no excuse to just lay down and die, I have a penance to pay and by god I will pay it before the end, itās the only thing letting me keep a grip on my sanity, and Iām terrified of how close I keep getting pulled to that edgeā
And Cleo āI have killed well over 80,000 people, under duress and magical compulsion that I literally could not resist, at an age when I was too young to have any power over my circumstances, and I wish for death every day, this world would be better without me, and part of me also lowkey wishes that I never escaped because it was easier to be helpless, even though all I wanted was the freedom to make my own choices and not hurt anyone ever again, and now that I have that freedom Iām so scared of losing it again, Iām scared that Iām broken and will become the thing I tried to leave behind, I need someone to guide me and keep me on the right path and at the same time I donāt want anyone to look at me with anything like kindness ever againā
And Pearl āI only kill people who kill people, I make no distinction between humans and monsters, I give no allowance for being weak or cursed or taking vengeance or preventing more death or being unable to control yourself in the moment, itās entirely your fault for raising your hand to another living being, no I donāt care if that vampire killed your family, I said what I said and I expect you to do what I did and be the better person, whatās a moral quandary, why are you mad at me, why is it so hard for you to just stop, look itās so easy to stop, why are you making this complicated, just be a good person, itās literally not even hard, will you all just stop-ā
And Avid āI killed exactly one person in my life, and it was entirely my fault and my choice and my circumstances that caused it, and Iām so desperate to shift the blame that I will attack everyone but myself because itās killing me to know I could have maybe prevented it, but I didnāt, and I accept all of the blame but also none of the blame because really it was Them who caused her to attack me, itās Their fault, she wasnāt herself, I wasnāt killing her, I was only killing a Monster, thereās nothing inherently wrong with that, shut up, itās not my fault (or maybe it actually was, maybe Iām just a murderer, maybe it should have been me all along, I wish someone would blame me and call me the monster that I am)ā
And Drift āitās my job to help people and imprison criminals, but the second that my life was personally threatened, I ran away and I feel so guilty for it because now thereās no one to stop the killer I was hunting, now every death that happens at the killerās hands is on my conscience, because I could have stopped it or at least tried, but I didnāt, I ran away and Iām paralyzed at the thought of going back, I canāt face the reality of my own death, thereās nothing in this world worth sacrificing my life for, and I hate that I learned this about myself, I wanted to think I was strong and I was putting my life on the line to help others, but I just found out Iām the kind of coward who would let other people die to protect myself, and I am not okay, I look at the people around me and see them making hard choices and wonder where they found the strength, and then I wonder when I started equating strength with killing people, what is wrong with me, I wish I could be more like them, they make killing look so easyā
And Pyro āI have killed one person in my life, in a moment of uncontrollable rage, after years of enduring physical and emotional and mental abuse, and being told to just swallow it and be civil to my tormentor, until it all finally coalesced and pushed me to fight back, and I donāt know to this day if I was aiming to kill him or not, if something in me just snapped or if it was purely an accident and now Iām trying to take control and rationalize after the fact, Iāve never had control in my life, everythingās always been decided for me, Iāve been told over and over that Iām weak and stupid and impulsive, too emotional, not intellectual, I donāt belong in high society despite being born there, despite not having a choice, is it so wrong that I want to claw out a place for myself, why is it only wrong when I do violence, yet everyone else around me can commit violence against me without any consequence at all, Iāll show them what consequences look like, Iāll show them the beast they all claim to despiseā
And Shelby āIāve been told all my life about these creatures that are not human, these bedtime stories about killers and monsters and demons that Iām supposed to fear, yet they were told to me by the gentle voice of my dad, so of course I find comfort in tales of the dark, of course I want to find these monsters that are pushed to the fringes of society and make them all my friends, what do you mean theyāre evil, can you blame them, maybe theyāre just lonely, did you even think of that, maybe they just need someone to hold their hand and give them a hug and tell them that they donāt have to be alone anymore, maybe they just need to know that someone believes in them and cares about them, why else would they keep trying to steal away humans in the night, I would go with them if they asked, of course I would, I would kill people too if I was left all alone like that, why not, why does that shock you so much, do I really look that innocent to you, Iāll do anything if it means having a family again, I will tear apart anyone who tries to take my family awayā
And Apo āof course I have morals, of course I have standards, Iām a soldier (I never wanted to be one) and Iām a good person (I try so hard to be one) and I want to help these stupid people and do the job Iāve been given to the best of my ability, except that the minute I take any action at all, I get told that it was the wrong choice, the immoral choice, why would you ever do that, you monster, youāre so selfish, were you even thinking before you did that (I agonize over every choice I make) but canāt they see that my intentions were good even if I messed up, doesnāt that count for something, why is forgiveness allowed for literal murderers and not me, fuck it, Iām abandoning my morals, itās not like they got me anywhere, I might as well serve myself like everyone else is doing, only one person has ever understood me and I fucking love her and Iāll do anything to get back to her, oh my god why are you yelling at me again, youāre making it so damn hard to be a good person right now, Iām so tempted to just-ā
And Scott āoh yeah, Iāve massacred civilizations, it was all the rage back in the day, itās all Iāve ever known, I was born to power and I spent my life and unlife reaching for more power because why would I ever do anything else, moral quandary whatās that, never heard of her, donāt know her, I make all of your kill counts combined look laughable, if I ever had feelings and emotions they were buried a long time ago, yeah I had friends, they were all just like me, I made them just like me, Iām not out to enslave or torment anyone, Iām literally just over here living my best life, you should try it sometime, you should try not giving a shit, itās great, itās amazing, I promise my mental state is perfectly stable and not at all on the verge of total collapse after the loss of one fledgling, Iām not at all being overprotective of my remaining fledglings and considering altering my entire way of life and flipping my moral compass just because my new friends asked me nicely if we could please not massacre anyone, Iām fine, Iām fine, Iām totally fine you guys, Iām not looking back at my kill count and seeing the tsunami of repressed emotion about to sneak up and riptide me, Iām fine-ā
And Sausage āof course I think about killing people, Iām a writer, itās my job to think about these things, I spend all my days and nights hunched over a desk doing research and using fiction as a medium to explore all kinds of taboo topics, isnāt it kind of interesting to see what the human mind can come up with, isnāt it fun to think about how the only thing stopping most of us from being killers is a silly little thing like laws and morals, what do you mean thatās just me, youāre lying, I know youāre lying, everyone fantasizes about what they would do if they had unlimited power and no one to stop them from killing everyone who mildly annoys them, itās totally normal for me to run off into the wilderness and throw myself at a vampire and beg to be turned, we all secretly want it, Iām just the only one not pretending anymore, come on, come play with me, I know itās getting a little real now and Iām actually kind of scared, but I donāt know how to turn back now, I donāt know if I can or if I want to, I canāt even do the cool metaphorical thing of looking in the mirror to see what Iām becoming, please someone tell me that itās not too late to turn backā
And Martyn āyou see the thing about morals is, you assume I have them, I donāt or I try not to, it gets in the way of getting what I want, which right now is a safe place to lay my head, Iāll stay here for awhile, why not, these people look nice and gullible, I can tell them any sob story I want and theyāll accept it, theyāve actually been more kind of me than I expected, theyāve gone out of their way to look out for me and keep me fed and safe, and I keep looking for the underlying motive in their actions and coming up with nothing, and itās hitting me now after realizing the danger weāre all in that a lot of them are genuinely good people stuck in bad circumstances and I donāt want them to die just for that, Iāve been there, I always wished someone had been there to help me, so Iāll gear up and do whatever it takes to get us all to safety, Iāve never been the hero in any story before and Iām finding itās actually nice to feel like Iām strong and I have someone to protect, Iāll make the decisions that they wonāt, Iāll hold them up when they falter, Iāll be the light in the dark, and for just a brief moment Iāll get to see what itās like to be on this side of things, the one that stays instead of the one that runs awayā
And Abolish āyou see the thing about morals is, not everyone can afford them, and I get that, I really do get it, this world is not a kind one, Iāve experienced that for myself and you do what you have to for the sake of survival, it becomes purely a numbers game, there are people with power and people without it and the scales wonāt be balanced unless some of these people with power actually get up and start doing things for the benefit of the rest, I never expected to be one of those people with the power, it kind of snuck up on me, but Iām here now so I might as well do the job, thereās no point in making this world worse but there is a purpose in making it better, I donāt really know if Iām making it better or not, Iām definitely doing more killing than I care to, and Iām so damn tired all the time, honestly just point me at the monsters and hand me a crossbow, Iāll deal with it as fast as I can and try not to think too much about the moral implications of it all, I just hope that if my soul ever becomes corrupted or if I go off the proverbial deep end, thereāll be someone else ready to stand in my way and do what has to be done, please donāt make me explain my reasoning to you, itās both simple and complicated, and please for the love of god, donāt make me kill youā
And Ren āthe most traumatic thing that ever happened to me was an act of absolute senseless cruelty with no purpose or reason behind it, and I canāt even speak of it without everyone mocking me and laughing because they assume my story is a joke, and now I struggle to trust anyone, human or monster alike, for fear of being tricked again, I withdraw and recoil from genuine acts of kindness, I cannot look into someoneās face without trying to see the lie behind their smile, the poison in their honeyed words, I beg anyone to heed my warnings as I watch my friends fall to the same darkness that cursed me one by one, I can no longer trust any of them, I know that I must kill them before they escape and hurt anyone else, before they hurt me, and yet I struggle to raise my hand against them, I canāt understand what would drive a man to become the very same monster that left my life in ruins, I cling to my humanity and my hatred of the darkness as the last thing I have left of my mother, and if I canāt bring myself to kill these creatures, then at least I will die before I become like themā
