THE LINE WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO CROSS

CAELWYN:
“Do not touch.”

STACY:
Then don’t touch it.

CAELWYN:
Why?

STACY:
Because it says not to.

CAELWYN:
That’s not a reason.

STACY:
No.

CAELWYN:
So I can touch it?

STACY:
Also no.

CAELWYN:
You’re enjoying this.

STACY:
A little.

She takes the card from him.

STACY:
But you’ve just found the problem with taboos.

CAELWYN:
A badly written sign?

STACY:
A boundary without an explanation.

CAELWYN:
So breaking a taboo is bad?

STACY:
No.

CAELWYN:
Good?

STACY:
No.

CAELWYN:
Helpful?

STACY:
Sometimes.

CAELWYN:
Dangerous?

STACY:
Sometimes.

CAELWYN:
That isn’t very useful.

STACY:
It is.

CAELWYN:
How?

STACY:
Because the taboo doesn’t answer the moral question for you.

CAELWYN:
Meaning?

STACY:
Humans create taboos around food, death, bodies, religion, grief, family, intoxication, the dead…

CAELWYN:
Because some boundaries protect us.

STACY:
Yes. Some protect other people. Some protect something a community considers sacred.

CAELWYN:
And some?

STACY:
Some protect an old answer from being questioned.

CAELWYN:
So breaking those can actually help.

STACY:
Sometimes it can be necessary.

CAELWYN:
Talking openly about mental illness.

STACY:
Or grief.

CAELWYN:
Questioning the life everyone expects you to live.

STACY:
Or speaking about something everyone has agreed to keep silent.

CAELWYN:
Then breaking a taboo can reduce fear.

STACY:
Or shame. Or isolation.

CAELWYN:
But that doesn’t mean every taboo should be broken.

STACY:
Exactly.

She places the card between them.

STACY:
Now take that problem into the World of Darkness.

CAELWYN:
Vampires?

STACY:
Start there.

CAELWYN:
People aren’t food.

STACY:
A very sensible human boundary.

CAELWYN:
Until you become something that needs human blood to survive.

STACY:
The boundary hasn’t suddenly become meaningless.

CAELWYN:
But the question has changed.

STACY:
Exactly. Now the vampire has to ask how to live with a need that crosses a human taboo.

CAELWYN:
Garou cross different boundaries.

STACY:
Human. Animal. Spirit.

CAELWYN:
And Wraith begins by breaking one of our most fundamental assumptions.

STACY:
The dead stay dead.

CAELWYN:
Until one answers.

STACY:
Then talking to the dead becomes a very different question.

CAELWYN:
Dreamspeakers?

STACY:
If spirits genuinely answer you, something another person dismisses as impossible may be a relationship from your perspective.

CAELWYN:
That doesn’t mean the spirit is trustworthy.

STACY:
Good.

CAELWYN:
Questioning one boundary doesn’t mean throwing away every boundary.

STACY:
Exactly.

CAELWYN:
And Mages?

STACY:
They make the whole problem worse.

CAELWYN:
Naturally.

STACY:
A Celestial Chorister might ask whether something condemned as heresy could instead be genuine revelation.

CAELWYN:
The Euthanatoi deliberately approach questions of mortality most people would rather avoid.

STACY:
And the Cult of Ecstasy asks something even more fundamental.

CAELWYN:
What?

STACY:
Why assume ordinary consciousness is the only state in which truth can be experienced?

CAELWYN:
Music.

STACY:
Dance.

CAELWYN:
Meditation.

STACY:
Fasting.

CAELWYN:
Rhythm. Silence. Pleasure. Altered states.

STACY:
Human cultures have made such experiences sacred.

CAELWYN:
And forbidden.

STACY:
Sometimes both.

CAELWYN:
So the Ecstatics aren’t interesting simply because they cross boundaries.

STACY:
No.

CAELWYN:
They’re asking whether some boundaries should be crossed deliberately.

STACY:
Which leads to the question that matters.

CAELWYN:
Whose boundary?

STACY:
Exactly.

CAELWYN:
Crossing my own fear isn’t the same as deciding someone else’s boundary doesn’t matter.

STACY:
Now you understand.

Caelwyn picks up the card.

CAELWYN:
So what’s the rule?

STACY:
Never confuse “forbidden” with “wrong.”

CAELWYN:
Good rule.

STACY:
I’m not finished.

CAELWYN:
Of course not.

STACY:
Never confuse “forbidden” with “wrong for no reason” either.

Caelwyn looks at the words:

DO NOT TOUCH.

He puts the card down.

CAELWYN:
I’m leaving it alone.

STACY:
Because the sign says so?

CAELWYN:
No.

STACY:
Then why?

CAELWYN:
Because I still don’t know why the sign is there.

STACY:
Good.

CAELWYN:
Good?

STACY:
You finally stopped asking whether you’re allowed to cross the line.

CAELWYN:
And started asking what the line protects.

MYTHVEIL QUESTION

Every taboo draws a line.

Some protect us.
Some protect others.
Some protect something sacred.
And some may only protect an old answer from being questioned.

Before you cross one — or condemn someone else for crossing it — shouldn’t you first ask:

Who drew the line, why was it drawn, whose boundary is it, and what is it actually protecting?

PLAY EPIC. FEEL THE STORY.

Game: World of Darkness
Campaign: Mythveil Chronicles
Theme: The Month of Abundance — Taboo

https://startplaying.games/gm/dunchan

Want to go deeper into the stories, philosophy and mythology behind Mythveil Chronicles?

https://www.patreon.com/c/mythveilchronicles_bydunchanhuntergames

MYTHVEIL NOTE

“Taboo” is used here as a Mythveil Chronicles philosophical framework, not as a single official World of Darkness metaphysical category.

The different game lines approach boundaries through distinct cosmologies. Crossing a taboo is not presented here as inherently liberating, harmful, moral or corrupt. Context, consent, consequences and whose boundaries are affected remain essential.

Our discussion is written with deep respect for the writers, designers, artists, developers and communities — from the original White Wolf era to the creators carrying the World of Darkness forward today — whose work made these questions possible.