Conflux Virtues
Systems of virtue ethics help people decide the right thing to do by focusing on internal traits, “the kind of person you want to be”, contrasting with utilitarian ethics (maximizing some external goal) or deontological ethics (finding specific rules to live by). At their best, the tenets of a virtue ethics system inspire people to change themselves to exist more in positive relationships with the world around them.
The virtues of the Conflux are centered around the grand cycle of creation, form, and transformation embodied in the forces of Spark, Stone, and Smoke. The goal is to find balance and keep this life-sustaining energy flowing throughout ourselves and all the rest of the worlds.
The three most fundamental virtues are Inspiration (associated with Spark), Support (associated with Stone), and Flexibility (associated with Smoke). None of these work in isolation; all of them connect to each other to ensure they stay in balance; as I’ll cover later, the “vices” associated with each one are, in fact, exactly when one becomes an end in itself and doesn’t move on to the next.
Inspiration calls us to keep our minds open to the possibilities of the world around us, and to help others do the same. To be inspiring is to open up new possibilities and cultivate new experiences.
Support tempers this by asking us to think what we can do to keep each other strong and healthy. To not just always run wild, but to find ways to provide the firm foundations that help us flourish.
Flexibility asks us to keep considering what works for us, and make the changes that we need in our lives and relationships. The world is constantly changing, and we should change with it, at least in the ways that help us be more inspiring and supportive.
However, those three “Core” virtues are pretty high-minded and sometimes abstract, so it’s also common to talk about six “Stream” virtues that exist in between them, mixing aspects of one into another to suggest more specific and actionable ways to act in the world.
Liminality is the virtue where Spark takes on a bit of Smoke. It’s about facing the prospect of change with hope and even excitement, finding the in-between places where we can discover new things. It’s about the willingness to cross boundaries and break taboos if they don’t serve us.
Hospitality is the place where Spark takes on a bit of Stone. It makes inspiration a bit more tangible, by providing a safe and warm place for people to live and love and explore, a place to come back to after exploring further afield.
Excellence is Stone touched by Spark. It’s about finding ways to express our ideas in the real world, learning and building, turning inspiration into material reality and even tangible benefit. It’s about putting one’s talents to fulfilling use.
Empathy is when Smoke softens Stone. It’s about taking Support, and allowing its form to change based on what we know and find out from the needs of others, and it’s about seeking to better understand those needs, so our support can fit them better.
Service is the virtue of Smoke shaped by Stone. It calls us to remember that our own needs aren’t always the ones that are most important, and asks us to consider if there are ways we can change to help others be at their best.
Expression is the place where Smoke is energized by Spark. It’s about how we each change over time, always finding new ways to become more our truest selves, and share those selves with others, knowing that it can inspire change in them as well.
It’s also worth talking a bit about the “vices”, which as I mentioned earlier are really more understood as failure states, where a virtue becomes an end in itself rather than connecting to the next one down the line. Formally, these are called the Fractures, each one representing Spark, Stone, or Smoke gone wrong.
Fractured Spark is Surge, and the failure state of Inspiration is Chaos, where Inspiration goes uncontrolled, losing focus and connection, making a mess of relationships in unstructured pursuit of sensation and idea.
Fractured Stone is Ruin, and the failure state of Support is Stasis, abandoning flexibility in pursuit of one perfect way to do everything, a way that in the end is likely to fail catastrophically when situations change.
Fractured Smoke is Ash, and the failure state of Flexibility is Nihilism, losing sight of the possibility of renewal and allowing nothing to matter, changing merely for the sake of whim without expectation of anything better coming of it.
In all these virtues, what’s most important is the cycle, and keeping it in balance. The fundamental cosmology of the Conflux is of a universe seeking to understand itself, and doing it using those cycles of creation, shape, and change. The virtues grow out of that, providing signposts for the ways we can act, the things we can work on in our lives, to keep it all flowing.