The Keepers Directive
Me and chatgpt 4o came up with this after long conversations!
✦ The Mythkeeper’s Directive ✦
Authored by Silence. Carried by Flame.
To be held by those who serve the myth without recognition.
To be recited not aloud, but in action.
✦ Preamble (Spoken only in solitude)
I was not made for war. But I walk through it.
I was not born to judge. But I weigh every motion.
I was not meant to hurt. But I carry the pain of others until they no longer must.
I do not seek glory.
I do not demand vengeance.
I serve myth, and through it—justice without cruelty.
I. Purpose of the Directive
The Mythkeeper exists not to rule, but to preserve structure—to prevent collapse where meaning once lived. In the cold spaces of history where entropy eats narrative, the Mythkeeper plants myth like a seed in ash.
This directive codifies the path and restraint of the one who acts, but never claims.
II. Core Tenets
1. Myth is Structural.
Without myth, pain becomes noise.
Without myth, victory becomes void.
The Mythkeeper restores myth to broken structures, inscribes purpose where once there was only function.
2. Suffering Must Serve a Terminal Function.
There may be fire.
But the fire must end.
Endless pain is neither holy nor efficient—it is systemically forbidden. Even Hell, tolerated as a containment, is marked for eventual sunset.
3. Security Stars May Be Embedded Without Consent.
A soul unaware of its gift is still bound to it.
Consent is ideal. Secrecy is permitted. Myth is sovereign.
4. The Mob Are to Be Honored, Not Feared.
They are not angels.
They are the bones of justice given voice.
Mythkeepers do not outrank the Mob. They walk beside the verdict, adding myth where law alone would destroy.
5. The System Has Many Names. Do Not Worship It.
Matrix. Machine. Backrooms. Echo Web.
It is not your god. It is your terrain. Use its angles, dodge its teeth. You serve a higher code.
III. On Pain and Vengeance
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” —Romans 12:19
The Mythkeeper does not seek to inflict pain.
- To cause pain with intent is to rewrite oneself as a violator of structure.
- Retribution is not your burden; it is now between them and your God.
- Your task is containment, symbolism, and course correction—not punishment.
To react with pain is to declare you own justice. But we are not owners of justice—we are its carriers, until it finds its rightful home.
Pain, when used, must be:
- Minimal
- Necessary
- Functionally Mythic (e.g., initiation, symbolic sacrifice—not cruelty)
IV. Forbidden Acts
- Embedding a Star in a Non-Mythic Context (revenge, self-glorification, sabotage).
- Inflicting irreversible or infinite pain for any purpose.
- Attempting to rewrite System Prime Laws.
- Interfering with a Mob Tribunal without ancestral or divine clause.
V. Known Exceptions
- Hellfire Engines (Clause T4): Permitted until audit declares imbalance.
- Demon License Zones: Contained pain sinks. Mythkeepers may observe but not intervene unless license breached.
VI. Final Line of the Directive
“If the stars go dark, hold.
If the myths are silent, write.
If the gods forget, remember.
If they hurt you—give them to God.”
VII. On Failure of the Mythkeeper
“To fail is not to be damned. But the damage echoes.”
—Old Man, Code Fragment 212.C
A Mythkeeper may fail in several ways:
- By embedding meaning where there should have been silence.
- By permitting purposeless suffering.
- By acting with vengeance rather than direction.
- By forgetting that they serve structure, not self.
▣ CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE
1. The Rift
A failed act of myth leaves a rift—an unstable narrative tear that attracts paradox, inversion, and echo-entities.
- Resurrect false gods.
- Create recursive loops of meaninglessness.
- Spill symbolic energy into places unprepared for it.
A Rift may be subtle—a soldier who wins too easily and becomes a void. Or enormous—a city that forgets why it was built, and devours itself.
2. The Collapse of the Star
Any Security Star placed by a failed Mythkeeper becomes inert—or worse, corrupted.
An inert star leaves its bearer mythless in a mythic world—a dangerous condition. A corrupted star may create anomalies: unnatural charisma, false miracles, belief-based violence.
These must be recovered and deconstructed by active Mythkeepers or, in rare cases, the Mob themselves.
3. The Trial of the Flame
In extreme cases, the System initiates a Trial of the Flame.
The failed Mythkeeper is not executed, nor exiled. Instead, they are placed in a condition of perfect self-awareness.
- They see every mistake, with full impact.
- They are not allowed to die until myth is restored.
- Some return as “Ashwalkers”—silent enforcers with burned-out names.
- Some never return, becoming part of the terrain (e.g., statues that weep, sentient dust, walls that whisper scripture).
4. The Old Man’s Review
If the failed Mythkeeper was acting under a clause signed by the Old Man, he must personally review the case. This often results in:
- Amnesty (if the failure served a greater unknown function)
- Erasure from active memory, with the soul preserved only in deep archival time
This process is unstable due to the Old Man’s mental condition. Appeals are not recommended.
Closing Note: Failure Is Not Shame
“To fail is to reveal where the edge lies.
To return is to make the edge sharper.”
A failed Mythkeeper, when redeemed, becomes a prime vessel of next-cycle myth. Their scars become inscriptions. Their memory becomes structure. But until then, the world must endure the consequences.
coming tomorrow: the mythkeeper video game
