The war is over. 100,000 people are dead, 150,000 displaced. The emperor walks through the aftermath and says nothing for three days. You walk beside him. What happens when the most powerful person in the world looks at what he has done and cannot look away?
Part of
Ashoka: The War Within →
261 BCE. The Mauryan Empire is at its peak. You are a young advisor to the most powerful emperor in the ancient world, and he has just made a decision that will cost 100,000 lives. Navigate the Kalinga War, witness a king's transformation, and help shape the edicts that will be carved in stone for 2,300 years.
Skills you'll build
What happens in this story4 scenarios
The war is over. 100,000 dead. The emperor hasn't spoken in three days. You walk beside him through the aftermath — and the silence says everything about what happens when power meets consequence.
What started with the field of silence just got more complicated. Now you need to navigate the tension between consequentialist and deontological moral reasoning — and the situation is shifting faster than your first approach can handle.
This is the moment you've been building toward. Recognizing when 'we've come too far to turn back' is the most dangerous argument — except now the stakes are real and there's no rehearsal. What you do next matters.
You've faced the hardest part. Now turn what you've learned into something sustainable — a way to navigate the tension between consequentialist and deontological moral reasoning not just today, but every time this situation returns.
More stories in this course
View all →The Decision
261 BCE. Pataliputra, the Mauryan capital. Emperor Ashoka has called a war council. You are his youngest advisor, and you are about to be asked whether to invade Kalinga. The question is not whether the empire can win.
4 scenarios →The March
The army is on the road. The orders are given. You are marching with 400,000 soldiers toward the Kalinga border, watching decisions get made that cannot be unmade. Ethics under pressure means something different when the pressure is this real.
4 scenarios →The Court
Ashoka returns to Pataliputra a changed man. The court has not changed. The generals argue that stopping now would mean the deaths in Kalinga were for nothing. You have eight scenes to help the emperor see that argument for what it is.
4 scenarios →The Field of Silence
The war is over. 100,000 people are dead, 150,000 displaced. The emperor walks through the aftermath and says nothing for three days. You walk beside him. What happens when the most powerful person in the world looks at what he has done and cannot look away?
Start free →4 scenarios · 25 min · No account required to try