Locking up the Food

I recently played Cultist Simulator for the first time. I failed to make enough money at my day job and starved to death. And I want to talk about that. …You know, from the grave. Since I died. (I’m funny).

The Hungry Empire seeks to force you to pay them for the right to exist. The late Daniel Quinn, author of “Ishmael”, said that you can tell when you are in Taker territory (his term for the Hungry Empire), when the food is under lock and key and money is required to obtain it. If must you must pay to eat, you must pay to live. This is distinct from having to expend effort to obtain food. The addition of money places an intermediary between you and the food. It is one thing if you can obtain food on your own and choose to obtain it with money or trade. It is another matter entirely if you cannot obtain food without money or trade, because then you are forced to play by the rules of the man who controls the money. The addition of money means that people benefit from your hunger. And those people have power over you.

In the response #551, you wrote: “I’ve never said that Leavers and Takers can be distinguished by the way they get their food. They can be distinguished by what they DO with their food. Among Leaver peoples, food is free for the taking. Takers keep it under lock and key so that you have to work for it.” If locking up the food is a trait that can be used to identify a culture as Taker, why isn’t the act of getting the food through Totalitarian Agriculture such a trait as well?