u/AriLux1001

Hi,

I have always been a fan of redemption-focused story beats. I was watching this show the other day, where characters serving an evil authoritarian regime are both victims and perpetuators of the status quo, and it is evident that they will soon see the error of their ways, grapple with their own morality, and try to better themselves. From that to a defeated villain returning as an ally after being shown mercy or given a second chance or realizing whatever; or a character with a gruesome past punishing themselves with the idea of desperately toiling to make things right...

Redemption can take many forms, of course, and I understand that my overall question is a bit odd. Obviously, anyone can pick a generic system and run a redemption-themed campaign. But I guess I’m curious whether any game has attempted to take this idea and make it one of the main appeals of the system: to mechanize it in some way, or otherwise make the game specifically about redeemed people, or about people redeeming themselves, or something related to redemption.

Hello!

Context:
I've recently obtained the Tian Xia World Guide. The book is beautiful, and since I just ended a campaign, I've decided to study it so I can run a game. I picked a random country - Tang Mai - and have been reading a page or two here and there.

This was, perhaps, a mistake. The truth is, I haven't had a lot of free time to properly sit down and read the thing from start to finish, and instead of in fact reading it from beginning to end, I've been jumping back here and there, reading the things that mostly caught my attention. As a result of this, a lot of moving pieces that I'm picking up are not quite fitting, I guess.

So, I've decided to seek a little guidance and orientation from the folk that have dissected the content further.

Actual doubt:
Should this setting be treated as its own thing? There are a lot of suggestions that seem to imply that things work differently in Tian Xia than they do in, say, Avistan. But some of these things are more on a metaphysical level, which leads to direct contradictions in understandings of the setting. I'm sure I'm missing something here, but a concrete example is from the five tips for Tian Xia, right at the start of the book. One of them is "Celestials aren't always good", and the text extrapolates that while Avistani are familiar with the myth of Asmodeus' departure from Heaven and etc., in Tian Xia, a celestial's behavior doesn't have anything to do with their status as an entity of Heaven.

What... does this actually mean? Can an Archon be a slaver without being cast down from Heaven in Tian Xia? That would not make sense, unless games set in Tian Xia are supposed to be made richer by disregarding metaphysical notions set in the past. No? Also, why Heaven? Is it just a concrete example? Could an Azata also be a slaver in Tian Xia, even though they're from the Elysium? I'd have imagined so, but a lot of texts in the game seem to always mention Heaven as a synonym to the Celestial Court, which, from my perhaps wrong understanding, is not Heaven, nor necessarily in Heaven?

To be absolutely clear, I wouldn't mind if the setting is supposed to be treated as its own thing with its own rules. I just need some sincere orientation because, unfortunately and possibly by my own fault, I'm just scratching my head a lot. :b

Anyways, I'd appreciate a little hand here. Thanks, everyone!