#knight syndrome

[sburbian-sage]

I have a theory about why that guy didn't get Knight syndrome:

I firmly believe that each class in Sburb is basically a different take on what it "means" to be mature.

The Thief, for example, is for those people who think maturity means being yourself no matter what anyone else thinks, proving yourself to be useful in a material sense to the point that you cannot be disposed of, etc. while not really valuing the interpretations of maturity that focus on socialization, or doing what others want you to do, or not spending resources, or what have you.

To give another example, the Maid would be someone for whom maturity means doing your job. No matter how tireless, thankless, and generally exhausting it is. Someone who's idea of a mature adult does not particularly include moments of rest or relaxation beyond perhaps the occasional scheduled-out and earned vacation.

So my idea of the Knight is: in another game, where classes didn't have the one syllable rule, the Knight would be called the Soldier.

And not the actual reality of a Soldier, but instead, the sort of culturally idealized version. Someone who must fight. Not because they want to, but because they have to. For the money to support their family, to defeat an intolerable evil, for the sake of their friends, and so on.

And of course, the absolute most idealized version of a Soldier, must not enjoy fighting. They cannot revel in war. It is their grim task, that they must train to even be capable of performing, and that will scar them forever.

I think Knight syndrome is Sburb trying to force that last bit. Which it kind of needs to do, because you mostly just kill underlings in this game, and they are mostly not worth thinking about when it comes to morality. The task at hand, while still grim (creating new worlds that will themselves someday be destroyed to make more Sburb sessions), is almost the opposite of what this "ideal" Soldier should struggle with. They should not be fighting for a dubious goal, they should be fighting for a glorious one, but have to do awful things to get there, and the game (mostly) just isn't set up like that.

So if a Knight doesn't experience Knight syndrome, then I think by this logic there's a few reasons why that may be. That guy seemed to imply that he was generally following orders from others about what to do. I think that's normal for a Knight, as a passive class (bluh, something about that doesn't sit right with me, but that's a topic for another time) but I do think most Knights struggle with it?

I think that "following orders" is something the hypothetical Soldier class would be a bit mixed about. Obviously a lot of people's idea of the perfect Soldier *WOULD* disobey orders sometimes, to do what's right instead. But then, in real life, doing that could be downright treasonous.

So I think a gradient may exist. If there was ever a Knight who truly believed in their heart of hearts that following the orders of others was part of their duty, to such a degree that it should exonerate them of everything, that to apply their own will would make them a *bad* Soldier... they could perhaps skip the "put their emotions aside" thing that the Glitch FAQ says they are to do. No need for it. They truly and absolutely believe that questioning what they are doing is not something they are supposed to do, and so they don't.

And without that self doubt, the game can't spin up the syndrome inside them.

...Well, those are my guesses anyway. Sorry this was so long! Hope it doesn't read like total nonsense! I've only ever rolled Knight once, and personally my syndrome was so bad I nearly didn't make it through the session, so I'm not really speaking from experience.

The first bit on "Classes as a meant to maturity" is pretty commonly accepted game lore, which is not only corroborated in how Classes are attributed, but GGTG even made the "Knights are soldiers" metaphor originally. I understand it's building up to the main point though, so I won't harp on it.

A more critical misunderstanding is that Knight Syndrome is not exclusive to Knights. It happens to Knights *frequently*, most likely because the Knights have to suppress their own desires to act as executioner (as opposed to the Page, who achieves actualization through constant combat), but Knight Syndrome is found in both the Combat Classes. And if you're willing to entertain my iconoclasm, might just be a general "tendency" that we point out more frequently in the Combat Classes, in the same way everyone makes home bases and hideouts but we recognize a Seer's Den as being a specific thing for questionable reasons. The same way everyone gets hasty and makes an assumption that causes issues, but we pathologize it when Seers and Sages do it, even though I've never made an assumption that didn't end up being correct. But that's beside the point.

The point I AM getting at, is that Knight Syndrome, from my perspective, happens for a few reasons. Firstly, Page/Knight is assigned to people who don't want to fight in the first place, so breaking down and not wanting to fight later on hardly seems surprising. Second, while Underlings are basically negligible as far as killing goes, a Combat Class fights in a fundamentally different way. Other people fight Underlings they run into while doing a task, or temporarily go on a grinding spree when they need Grist. Pages and Knights are constantly getting sent to the really tough bosses, the enemies with nasty or tricky abilities, the Atomyk Ebonpyres, or "advanced Grinding duty", which is certainly more stressful than "normal combat", where those things are to be avoided or circumvented. Third, and more specific to Knights, it's the eradication of the self I alluded to earlier. Where the Page wields their Aspect like a weapon, it's not a stretch to say that the Knight is turned into a weapon by their Aspect. They have to walk up to other people, ask for permission to kill something, or get told to kill, and they walk off and do it. That's the essence of a soldier, and it can be quite dehumanizing. I know I hate being told what to do, so imagine my angst if my job for the entire Session is not only to get bossed around, but to constantly put my body at risk doing someone else's dirty work.

I do agree with your final conclusion though. If one not only doesn't mind the dehumanization inherent to soldiering, but in fact derives comfort or strength from it (strong sense of duty, abdication of responsibility, genuine love for challenge, weird sex thing), then it's unlikely to sap them of the will to fight, thus preventing Knight Syndrome. Though I do have to say, I still find the "I'm immune to Knight Syndrome because my brain is wired wrong and I'm literally built different" explanation to also be a compelling alternative. God personally hand-crafted that guy to be a Knight and like it.

[sketchywasteland]

hollow knight in cult of the lamb style! just a lil thing ive been working on since january. almost all the chars are here lol

(def click for better quality, it got crunched badly)

[slavicdolll]

John Galliano for Christian Dior fw 1997

[elmushterri]

Me upon seeing Jules:

She’s got the worst case of Imposter Syndrome ever!

She’s the Queen Knight but not the formerly acknowledged one, she’s a knight but can’t use her powers/transform, and the other Queen Knight is friendly and outspoken when she is more surly and destructive.

Plus, the fact that she’s book smart and that still didn’t get her the proper title of Queen Knight or its powers.

Yes, this girl is a mess and I already love her

YOU READ HER SO WELL. And yessss, Sidra is the more friendly one, and the one who can use their powers/go into Knight form/summon her weapon! Jules is so insecure. Also Sid’s sportier and stronger, while Jules is the academic one.

I haven’t given Jules a royal/ceremonial outfit yet (Jules never got her coronation, they only crowned Sidra properly!) but yeah!

Her plight is similar to Breath of The Wild Zelda’s one! She has no clue why she doesn’t have her powers. “What’s wrong with me?!”

[bogdanovics]

[theboyskisser]

Couple of uhhh,,, my fave shots from the latest episode

[madou-dilou]

"Shut up. You are the chosen one, but not of these gods. You are chosen by the gods who reward, faith, determination, you are the chosen one of the only gods who repay the price of shed blood. "

Kaamelott, Meleagant to Lancelot, Book V, by Alexandre Astier

[thechloris]

I think they could have made it clearer, but their pre wedding relationship problems feel different than the post wedding ones.

Pre-wedding anger => post-wedding fear (with jealousy mixed into both)

If the queen hadn’t shown up to threaten all the Bridgertons I feel confident they would have had a wedding night. He was softening and remembering how much he loves her but then the queen threatened her and she won’t promise to give up Whistledown. So now he’s freaking out and sleeping on the couch.

[felix-krain]

I have been going slightly insane about her these past few days... help.

[sburbian-sage]

The weird thing about playing Knight for me is that I never really burn out and get Knight Syndrome? Like, I’m a native Knight Of Light and in my first session, I just did what I was ordered to, no complaints. Like, I need to kill that horde of underlings? Okay, you’re the boss. And this continued through all of my sessions Playing Knight, which I roll a lot for some skaia-forsaken reason. Like, there’s something so comforting about knowing that someone will always be able to point you to a problem and you can fix it, I don’t why anyone would ever get burnt out on it. Is this normal for native Knights or is my neuro just diverging?

It is actually the opposite of normal for Native Knights and your neuro is very divergent right now. My impulse was to explain why Knights feel Knight Syndrome, but on second thought I'd rather not poke at your psychology and make you lapse into the occupational hazard you've managed to turn into a source of strength. Just feel a sense of satisfaction from being Built Different and keep on fighting dude.

[colonelcuckoo]

misc sketches as i'm trying to figure out how i want to draw each character still

[zetsuboushachi]

A collection of Indie Games drawings from 2021 I did.

Remembered having alot of fun with this one back then.

[slavicdolll]

Angelina Jolie 2001

[morfosi]

I need help and I have nowhere else to turn. I'm trans, physically disabled, and I need to raise enough money to graduate college and escape a dangerous living situation. I had to leave the details of my dangerous situation out of the gofundme page to prevent anyone from calling the police, because that will not help me. Please please please help me, please donate anything or share this to someone, I am begging for help

adding popular tags, im sorry for clogging tags i dont mean to bother anyone im just really really scared

[moonknightblog]

Marc- The oldest child

Steven - The middle child

Jake- The youngest child

[wetndwildsstuff]

You take the man out of the city, not the city out the man.