Quote Originally Posted by Edax View Post
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One person's "selfless act" is another person's torture. A person being kept alive to be sliced apart only to be healed so they can be sliced apart some more is neither selfless or benevolent. Only when directed towards the common good does it become possible to be identified as such. When directed towards personal pleasures it ceases to be selfless and instead becomes malevolent. A healer charging into a battle to see how much blood they can see shed by the people they keep alive is saving no one, they are breaking people for their own amusement. Even they themselves are no exception from their twisted desire.

A philanthropist giving money to someone can be seen by some as a selfless act, but you have to take into account who is receiving that money and what they do with it. A philanthropist giving money to a somnus addict is actively helping destroy a life quite likely for their own amusement. Not so selfless anymore. Just look at how "selfless" Teleji Adeleji was.

For any character if the only thing that matters is a good fight then they will become like Zenos. Even worse if they have the power to prolong that good fight for as long as possible. Give Zenos the power of healing magic and he would keep us alive endlessly for the sake of fighting an endless good fight. He only feels alive when in that good fight. The common good ceases to be a concern in the face of personal pleasures. Then the problem becomes the source of that rush. This is why Zenos is a contrast/shadow to the WoL/D because the only thing that can challenge him and the only thing that can challenge us are entities on the level of gods and ancient masters of martial arts. If we only cared about a good fight like Zenos we would be seeking those things that give us the rush and the feeling of being alive. Some could try to construe us fighting primals as "selfless" until it becomes a case of us actively pushing Beast Tribes to summon more primals so we can have our good fight and satiate our desire to feel alive.