Machinations of Light's Glory - signup, rules, chat

"...and darkness was upon the face of the Deep One. And Dazzler moved upon the face of the waters.And Dazzler said, Let there be light..."

*whistles innocently, strolls off*

ALWAYS. Also I favor the blue and the one you have right now. <3

Speak With Bread IF YOU DO NOT USE ELLIE GOULDING'S LIGHTS SOMEWHERE SOMEHOW <redacted Sturm sternly threat>

...never heard of it, but reading the lyrics, that would be perfect.

GO LISTEN TO IT ON YOUTUBE, IT'S GREAT, IT'S SO GREAT *SOBS*
Edit: Also I wasn't really serious on that threat earlier so no hard feelings if not un.

Wait, in the Dazzler/Deep Ones slash? That doesn't seem quite right.

YOU ARE BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD

Well, let's just say the world doesn't end. The shields are restored, disaster is averted, blah blah blah. The Church still has a problem. Its High Priestess just tried to murder everyone in the universe. In addition, she very publicly attacked the necessity of having a High Priestess (I am of course assuming that someone recorded her awesome death monologue and put it on the internet). However, she inadvertently offered the Church a lifeline: music. After all, Dazzler's music was the only thing that took away the pain of listening to all of those prayers. It was too little too late for her, but the Church latched onto that one part of her speech. They retooled how confession and services were held. Instead of having a single High Priestess, in time the Church would employ thousands of priests and priestesses, all trained musicians and singers. Services came to resemble concerts, where believers could come to be renewed by the music and feel closer to the other people who attended. Instead of making one person carry the burden of all, the Church as a whole would try to ease an individual's suffering.

Of course, the decentralized nature of the new Church and the factionalism which sprang up among fans of different musical genres would eventually cause problems, but that's a story for another time.

Inspired by this.

Hm, I don't know...

Wait, that does sound delicious! I wouldn't even need robotic replacements to outlive the frail humans. Other humans than myself. Of course.

I can work with that. Why I already have someone in mind to lead services! The different new factions of the church would of course each be centered on a seperate aspect of the "Light", as personified by what will be called "The Elder Gods" or "Great Old Ones".

What a glorious future age of humanity! Now let us bow our heads in prayer:

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Decentralization from a secretive society whose members are dedicated to maintaining their power over the world?

I would bet if the Arkioljiss win that they'd have all tapes and evidence destroyed and any leaks discredited. The survivors would rapidly divvy up and assume the levers of power controlled by those who died, and a new puppet pope would be installed but this time 'improvements' would be made - perhaps the need for a fallible human element has outlived itself usefulness. No need for the masses to worry themselves over the details. As long as they keep pouring their secrets into the machine the leaders can keep harvesting that prayer information. And as well all know information is power, targeted advertising, persuasion, money & control.

I guess it all depends on whether the speech is leaked then. There are two possible futures for the Church, assuming of course that the remaining members of society manage to prevent the end of the world.

I wonder if that's how the unleashed forces of chaos would even react to the dystopian world. Is their goal destruction or simply control and feeding off of suffering?

Perhaps upon their release they would actually look upon the works of the Arkioljiss and rejoice?

If the Society wins, whoever remains out of the Society will get to determine what happens. They're the top of the heap, the big dogs; they are the most influential, the most powerful, the strongest wielders of the magic that fuels the Circles, augmented by levels of engineering genius, magical-level telekentic powers, literal ability to manifest light through the manipulation of sound, and suchlike.

Sure, not every member of the Society that's on that level of power is a member of the Twenty-Five. But there's nobody more powerful, and when someone like Sarkus - a powerful enough Spark-esque engineer to pull of what he did - decides that the word is getting out, there's no stopping it.

Also, the Church of the Light Undying already knows that Nebty is dead. The prayers vanish into the aether, without an intercessor to heed them, to give them confession. They don't know that she's evil, but they do know she's dead.

But who does know she was evil and has the tapes? The other Arkiolojiss.

That's what we call leverage. If those cardinals want to keep their own personal fiefdoms then they'll probably be receptive to a puppet pope. It's not the first time after all.

This I agree with. Maybe someone who remains will feel that leaking Nebty's confession will serve them better than blackmailing the techno-cardinals we'll have to see.

It's likely that the Church considers itself a force of Good and that the cardinals are actually men (and presumably women) of strong, pure faith. This is strongly implied by Nebty's character; she exists as, in a sense, a repository for the sins and immoralities of both the laity and the clergy, leaving them cleansed but herself tainted.

That's my interpretation, though I don't consider it canonical (this age/epoch of Light's Glory is, as is every one, ultimately in the hands of the players far more than in mine or roBurky's).

So an attempt to use that leverage, if my interpretation is the one that Nebty would take, would result in the cardinals, now knowing the truth, themselves broadcasting that to the world and to their congregants.

I bet the Vatican also considers itself 'a force for good' in the world but check what the instincts are when they discover an epidemic of paedophiles running loose. Cover up.

People are people and if they have a position in a power structure they'll try to protect it. My guess is that someone in the 'jiss will already have a list of the cardinals most susceptible to blackmail, in fact they've probably all got one or two in the pocket already thanks to other schemes. If there are any true believers lurking in the ranks then they'll just be kept ignorant and isolated. They will will be smoothly outmanoeuvred and outvoted - if it comes to that - in the important decisions. If a true believer does figure it out what are the chances they can get the evidence together and present it before they suffer an 'accident' ?

I'd trust in an outsider to bust it open before I'd trust in the faith of the techno-cardinals.

I'm loving this discussion.

Of course, this is the exact reason the Arkiolojiss takes people with influence, and not just those suitable for rooting out traitors or fighting demons. The world will need to be controlled and remade for its own safety, to prevent a creature like the High Priestess being made again.

I would say, depending on who this crisis leaves in control of the Arkiolojiss, they could even decide the Church of the Light is just too big of a risk. Better to burn the whole thing down and cleanse it from the world. Maybe even all religion must be purged, just to be sure. This is the fate of the world, after all. You can't leave anything to chance.

And then with that kind of holy war and oppression going on, who's to say evil didn't really win in the end?

OMD Nebty, you are way too good at this game, you evil genius you.
And now Bladibla is going to steal your corpse (which I wouldn't have thought of if not for this discussion).

edit to remove in game comment.

It's punishment for trying to exploit the Arcane Reflector by letting her scry herself. I'm sorry guys!

I CAN'T. I JUST, BLADIDA WHY. ARE YOU SO PRECIOUS. *wheezing*
*breathes* Man, the things about Mafia that brings out the looting. Last time it was Speak.

This discussion though, absolutely fascinating! And hilarious, to have others weigh in heh. Since we're talking about the world, Neopythia I am unspeakably curious about the enmity between the two of your characters but soooo much more so about VIRTUAL WORLD AND IT'S EXPLANATIONS GO! Pretty please? I just want to know things. ;w;

Virtual World = The day Youtube and Google get married.

You leave that corpse alone!

Though that's another way this could end. Bladi sells the corpse to the Church. They'd probably hire a Necrobiologist like Equis to start her up again, since it's very expensive and time-consuming to create a new High Priestess. Her mind would be wiped as well, so she wouldn't remember any of this. After all, the reason she brought down the shields now rather than later was because her appointment with the Neurotechnicians was coming up. That's probably a Fate Worse Than Death scenario right there.

HYU HYU HYU

I mean, so how about that last post made by RoBurky eh? You must be having fun. You better be. :C
And just to clarify, I mean that happily because I am freaking out anytime you post!

Theirs is a somewhat old-school marriage.

Maybe! But maybe not. You envision a very different Church of the Light than I do, and that's awesome, because yay stories!

Sure, I guess I'm just spinning off the whole dystopian vibe roBurky set up for this iteration and then extrapolating via real world Catholics and also the kind of church that would raise a young girl as a slave and then effectively let her be tortured until she breaks under the strain. I mean Nebty said that these problems with the popes cracking up weren't exactly a secret inside the church. I mean people basically signed off on this horrible system for years.

In short; my head canon is best canon!!!!

EDIT: Though of course you are still alive and can totally CHANGE THE CANON FROM THE INSIDE!!!

I was thinking of just scrapping the body for parts, but this is an even better idea! Also a much much sadder one :(.

Gunther?

I ALREADY CHANGED IT!!!!

EDIT: Also holy fuck I need to stop mistyping that.

Cannons to the left of them, cannons to the right of them! Volley after volley~!
/mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha bless you Dan C:

Onto the Island of Death rode the...twenty-five. Okay, sorta loses the rhythm there.

I've now added links for each of the death posts to the player list in the first post of the chat thread.
I did it mainly for my own benefit, but it should be useful for anyone who wants to look back on specific days.

Awwwwwwwwww. I confess I have the page numbers on a post it note too.
Should have just messaged you and with the summation of events post....ah well.

I see it as a combination of both. There are a lot of people in the church's administration who would like to think that this whole episode was a result of the weakness of the individual High Priestess rather than the system itself. After all, it's hard to admit that you essentially created a monster. If they get the body back in one piece then I think the temptation to cover the whole thing up would be too great, especially if only a few people ever hear that speech. And of course it all depends on who Bladi would try to sell it to. There are some corrupt Cardinals who have benefited off of the system, some conservative reactionaries who are convinced that the current system is the best possible option, and there are also some people who would actually try to change things. I think the essential factors which would determine whether the church actually ends up becoming what I envision vs what Dan does is whether the speech gets leaked and whether the body is able to be recovered.

I do think that the system began as Aaron said, with the church wanting to do good and help people. After all, a single person suffering for everyone's sins has a precedent, and wouldn't it be great if we all had someone who we could talk to and who would sympathize with us no matter what? And there is an effort to treat the High Priestess humanely. One of the reasons that her memory is wiped every 40 years is to try and prevent her going into an apathetic coma. She's never in any physical pain and she's taken very good care of. I don't think anyone would've been able to comprehend just how much the High Priestess suffered as a result of what she was forced to do.

There's also magic to consider. In my headcanon, communing with the High Priestess actually cleanses your soul, in a way that confession with a Priest doesn't in our own mundane world. Which changes somewhat the dynamic of the Church; those who serve the Church and try to serve it will are far more likely to do so.

See soul cleansing sounds like a pretty disturbing process to me. I think in any moral system worth a heap of beans redemption has to be earned, not cooked up with magic. In my head-cannon (again) magic could provide the feeling of emotional comfort like a drug but in the end it's still just a sort of short term boost. That doesn't mean of course that the church couldn't be of real help to people, just like anti-depressants can help people cope with depression. Of course it's also disturbing.

Mostly, I just find the idea of a church literally being the opiate of the masses too delicious to resist.

Ah, but it is being earned. By Nebty, in sort of the same manner as canon!Jesus; e.g., he suffered to, uh, cleanse us all of original sin (note: not actually that sure about this whole Christian mythology thing) and you don't have to earn that except by having faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior etc etc. So in this case it's sort of Nebty earning everyone's salvation & redemption from their sins by her suffering, which magically implemented is sort of like shortcutting through all of the work required to realize why what you did was wrong and skipping straight to becoming a better person.

But of course the weight of all of that destroys the Priestess.

This isn't to say that your canon isn't also correct! We have multiple canons and they are all awesome. :D

I love both of these interpretations. And hey, either one could be correct.

I do think there's room for skepticism in the Light's Glory universe. In terms of the Church I made up, all of the actual spiritual elements could go either way, really. I mean, the Light does exist, but is it a deity or just a powerful natural source of energy? It doesn't talk to you, it doesn't answer your prayers, but it fuels spiritual magic. The Church believes that each High Priestess possesses the same reincarnated soul, but nobody really knows for sure, including her. Though that would add an extra layer of horror onto the whole thing. And then there's the question of whether confession really does provide spiritual salvation or just the feeling of it.

In my head, the prayers do nothing. This is a world with very real and clear evidence for the divine all around. People do not need to operate on faith. But the gods, whether anthropomorphic or vague aspects of the universe, don't care a jot for the troubles of individual humans, and the Church knows this. The High Priestess is an elaborate extravagance designed to give their flock the assurance that their prayers have a purpose, even if they get no answers back.

All she does is listen. There are no consequences to her compassion other than her own mental health.

I'm no theologian but I get the impression that there is a lot of controversy among the religious among how absolved you can actually be made just from making a confession/praising jesus. I mean Catholics had that whole penance thing as well, and there is a lot of lawyerly language about 'truly repenting' which seems to open up some substantial wiggle room as to how much the rites can really do without some effort on the behalf of the confessor.

Also; "Harbor no illusions; God is not deceived: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." - DAT BIBLE.