Chapter 2: Balance
The Hero and the Villain
Richter Rancid said: A warrior’s value is measured by the might of those who oppose him.
A society thrives when forces of preservation and disruption remain in equilibrium.
A total triumph by either side shatters that balance.
Absolute victory of the Villain begets the end, Warbands rampaging through the system too weakened to protect its charges.
Absolute victory of the Hero begets rigid autocracies. Regulations and protections smothering possibilities of risk and improvement.
To prevent these extremes, both Hero and Villain must practice restraint.
Yet praise flows only to the Hero who strikes down the Villain, and scorn follows the vanquished.
This adulation crowns the Hero as guardian of women and children.
The Hero’s greatest strength lies in constancy, defense of the known and the comfortable.
Comfort breeds stasis, and stasis stifles innovation.
The Villain, for all their scorn, excels at diagnosing the rot within the system, and catalyzing course correction.
Unfettered by dogma, villains think from first principles and explore novel paths.
Free to err, and adjust course swiftly. Each failure a lesson, each lesson a tool.
Following these trials, both Villain and society grow more resilient.
Thus Hero and Villain are not merely foes but counterweights in civilization’s advance.
The Hero defends what is, and protects the impotent.
The Villain forges what could be, and empowers the impotent.
The Hero sacrifices self in order to preserve stability.
The Villain sacrifices comfort in order to accelerate change.
In this tension lies the health, and the wealth, of every realm.
