I suppose a comparison between the Freedom and the Exaltation would result in similar differences. So, what really distinguishes the culture of the Freedom from that of the Balance?
That’s an astute observation! The general culture of the Freedom is indeed relatively similar to that of the Balance. A Balancist tends to move from one culture to another more frequently, in the pursuit of personal growth outside of the limited confines of a single culture. It is indeed the Balance that came up with the odyssey system , in which individuals are guided through different cultures in order to learn and grow.
Does the odyssey system have specific rules?
The number of different specific odyssey systems is not dramatically smaller than the number of cultures within cultural silvanism. The core idea of the odyssey is that the next culture you will immerse yourself in should stand in contrast to all previous cultures in at least one aspect. That way, the odyssey will reveal more and more radically different ways of life and educate the traveler about new aspects of existence.
Does it make sense to do more than one odyssey?
A typical odyssey involves roughly ten different cultures until it concludes. After that amount the participant will usually select a culture to stay in for a prolonged duration of time. Afterwards a new odyssey may be started to broaden one’s horizon even further. But there are also people who stay on an odyssey indefinitely.
What about Balancists who don’t want to go on an odyssey at all?
That is a valid choice, but it’s considered to be at least somewhat eccentric among Balancists. The general sense is that you can’t appreciate your own culture, or affirm it in an informed way, without contrasting it with radically different cultures.
Is there anything the Balance won’t tolerate at all?
Yes, damaging the Balance as a whole is not tolerated. In such cases, the Balance will convince the damaging party that the damage needs to be fixed at any cost. The Balance can be utmost persuasive in such situations.
How does such persuasion look like?
At first, it’s simply talk, very intense soul-searching talk. If that’s not enough and the offending party rejects communication, then its environment will gradually shift to encourage the intended effect. This can go even so far that the usual laws of reality cease to exist and the environment turns into some kind of bizarre dream or nightmare. There are only a couple of ways to deal with that: Acceptance, suicide, or fleeing from the Balance, but the last option isn’t particularly reliable. The Balance will pursue its enemies, if they are persistent.
That sounds like the Balance can’t handle criticism.
Criticism is accepted, but not vicious attacks on the Balance. The reason for that is that the Balance believes that it is the V faction that stands between the order of the Prestige Accords and the destructive chaos of outright conflict between the V factions. It cannot accept the risk of sliding into a position of relative weakness. The Balance sees itself as big brother who is supposed to stop the other kids from hurting one another.
That seems like a pretty arrogant stance. I guess that it is disliked by the other V factions for that.
Actually, the Balance is highly respected as peace keeping power. Nevertheless, for conflict resolution between the V factions often the comparatively impartial Exaltation is preferred. There isn’t really much one can hate about the Balance, perhaps besides being too moderate and sometimes over-complicating things by trying to reach a maximum of synergy.
We haven’t compared the Balance with the Exuberance, yet. Are there many blissies in the Balance?
Yes, but most of them are not the blissies of the classical types. Instead, the Balance developed the variable type blissie, or variblissie , which can switch between the blissie types and also being a non-blissie rapidly. The emotional roller coaster caused by a type transition can be severely disorienting, so intense preparation and training is usually practiced by variblissies in order to remain psychologically stable, and not to get stuck in type I (permanent maximal bliss). Many Balancists opt to become variblissies long after their first odyssey, in order to explore new modes of existence.
How would variblissies recover from a phase of being a type I blissie?
Variblissie psychology is quite complex. Basically, the mind gets split into two personalities active simultaneously: The core personality which is purely guided by the Balancist philosophy and doesn’t engage in emotional extravaganzas, and a shell personality, which experiences states of superhappiness, but can be made to shift to a different blissie type by the core personality. Most of the time, the core personality acts as a detached observer, but occasionally it intervenes in order to pursue certain goals like personal growth or the good of the Balance. The shell personality is configured to accept choices by the core personality with equanimity.