"Once we have bitten the quantum apple, our loss of innocence is permanent." —R. Shankar, Principles of Quantum Mechanics
Dear Readers,
I thought I might keep my post material light for your Monday. After all, your weekend has just ended, why should I start off with a very complicated post? In the end I decided that if I was going to do that, I might as well do nothing at all, so instead I am going to jump right in and talk about a topic that has been on my mind quite a lot lately.
That topic is the concept that I like to call Original Quantum Sin. It's a lot better explained as just "decision making" but that lacks the flash (and the significance) that the term really deserves.
This got onto my mind when I saw the recent trending topics on your time-stream's Twitter. Lately there's been a lot of buzz on two films: Inglourious Basterds and District 9. One depicts an alternate past and the other an alternate present. Other than that, I won't refer to them specifically again. As an Anachronist, I have a strong aversion to spoilers, even those I know won't alter the course of history.
The idea of these films' popularity was intriguing to me, especially in light of their reality. They are both possibilities, you see. In one version of the Bible, your time stream's version, Adam and Eve eat the fruit of knowledge. In that version, God does the following: "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way [or which "transformed"], to keep the path of the tree of life." In this myth, the flaming sword can transform the "path" of the tree of life, in light of the choice that Adam and Eve made. That choice was one of many uncertain possibilites for their iconic "first choice." It is not the fruit they ate that mattered, or anything else from this Bible story. It is that they made a choice at all. That is the lesson here.
I talk about possibility. t because the things that are dreamt of in your philosophies are the things that can be in all heavens and earths. What I mean to say is that Borges made the greatest point of human history, and that our world indeed is a Garden of Forking Paths.
These paths are recognized in Quantum Mechanics, which talks about the chances that certain decisions will be made. Before such a decision is made or observed, there exist many possibilities, and so there are many forking paths that extend outward into the labyrinth of time.
Once the decision is made, however, the possibility that happened gets isolated. There is no second possibility; one thing happened, and you can no longer count on its alternatives. You can still imagine them, however. And as you imagine them, you mirror other realities, other time streams, where they are the real events. So each film that presents these alternates, real in its microcosm of your reality, is also real in some other reality where the past flowed differently from its watershed point. Maybe in these other realities they have films where they consider your world to be the fantasy.
It's that concept of fantasy that I call Original Quantum Sin. You make a choice and lose uncertainty, and you can't go back to it. There is no way to undo that choice, its time has passed. And so you have experienced that choice moment and made the decision to bite the apple, take the blue pill, or kill Mace Windu. It doesn't matter what choice you made; for my purposes, each choice is a "sin" because it biases you to believe that the events that resulted from that decision are "reality" and that the events that did not happen are "fantasy." What if you took the red pill? Would the resulting events thus become reality, and the events that "happened" become fantasy? If you are an Original Quantum Sinner, then yes. The choice you made before is the choice that defines your reality. There is no way for you to avoid this "sin."
Not so for me. Not for anyone at this University. We exist in a place where no real choice has been made, or ever will be made. In this place, we can look infinitely far forward and see all of the possibilities stemming from each decision using our Augury technology. The same technology, when invented in a time-normal context, only grants the ability to see the future, not the alternate possibilities in the past and present. It too, is a victim of Original Quantum Sin. It cannot go back or switch realities, like water flowing from a mountain into many tributaries.
What if Adam and Eve, of the myth I referenced before, did not bite the apple? What if no flaming sword transformed their path, but instead they remained naïve to the choice? And what if, in such a place where no choice was ever made, the technology for Augury somehow appeared?
We see worlds where your alternate histories really happened, or the many possible futures that stem out from your time stream itself, and we see it from a world without the "sin" of a preexisting condition. There is no "past" that defines a distinct form of reality for us. Ther are no "consequences" to our decisions. Likewise, we get very little in the way of a future, or a past. For this price--and I assure you, it is a great price that we pay to be here--we can see it all, and study it all forever, without preconceptions about the nature of reality. That is how my "Augury" shows me what I tell you, and it is how I am an Anachronist. I do not study the past, present, or future. I study other times, for no time is my own, in my prison. My "Eden."
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
"Weave a circle 'round him thrice, and close your eyes with holy dread."
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday Seminar: Case Study #2, Emotional Undertones
Dear Readers,
It's time for my Friday Seminar again. This is a weekly feature, where I take you through part of the material in my introductory class, CHRN/AUG 100.
For the past two weeks of Seminar we've discussed the leap from emotive connotations in sources to conclusions about overall "zeitgeist," or spirit, of a given society in a given time stream. To review, we use the emotive undertones of a source to extrapolate what the driving passions of the culture that produced that source are. In principle, it's straightforward. In practice it can be tricky.
Since I featured neo-Aegea this week, I'll use the source I posted yesterday for our case study. My analysis of that source is by no means complete, so the conclusion I come to here are as new to me as they are to you.
The first steps in our analysis, as they have been since the beginning, are to establish a quick idea of the source type and a short critique of that source for us to keep in mind as we go forward.
What I posted yesterday is an easy source type. It was a myth, recorded for the purpose of public performance by a storyteller who hoped to earn money for his efforts. Therefore, I'll call it a mythic play, and leave it there.
What about our critique? That is a little more complicated. Let's keep in mind:
Let's look at some of the major emotional elements of this story:
Now, off to your weekend.
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
It's time for my Friday Seminar again. This is a weekly feature, where I take you through part of the material in my introductory class, CHRN/AUG 100.
For the past two weeks of Seminar we've discussed the leap from emotive connotations in sources to conclusions about overall "zeitgeist," or spirit, of a given society in a given time stream. To review, we use the emotive undertones of a source to extrapolate what the driving passions of the culture that produced that source are. In principle, it's straightforward. In practice it can be tricky.
Since I featured neo-Aegea this week, I'll use the source I posted yesterday for our case study. My analysis of that source is by no means complete, so the conclusion I come to here are as new to me as they are to you.
The first steps in our analysis, as they have been since the beginning, are to establish a quick idea of the source type and a short critique of that source for us to keep in mind as we go forward.
What I posted yesterday is an easy source type. It was a myth, recorded for the purpose of public performance by a storyteller who hoped to earn money for his efforts. Therefore, I'll call it a mythic play, and leave it there.
What about our critique? That is a little more complicated. Let's keep in mind:
- This source is a myth. Myth typically describes any story with some religious tones that would be called "true" by the people who produced it, but doubted by people from virtually any other society. We have to keep in mind not that this source seems false to us, but that it is quite real to a neo-Aegean.
- This source is for commercial gain. Because it was meant to make money for the storyteller, there are places where clearly the events in the original myth are over-dramatized. It's possible that the original myth, even, is not as bombastic as this source. It's possible that the religious account has wild differences from this text. We need to keep that in mind as well.
Let's look at some of the major emotional elements of this story:
- Engineers: Cadmus represents an active authority in his role as an adventurer, explorer and religious official. He is the "hero," and the fact that he is an "Engineer," which means a priest to an Aegean, tells us that religion is rather central to their society. Furthermore, the only entityies that Cadmus subordinates himself to are either gods, or another Engineer like Tiresias, with inspiration from the gods. Clearly, this society has a hierarchical view of the world, with religion at its apex.
- War: this myth is quite foreboding. The "sown men" are meant for war, as Athena warns us. The Storyteller is invited by the stage directions to advertise further stories of war, as well, and to increase the suspense just before the prediction of war is made. That tells us that stories of battle captivate the Aegean audience. These are not pacifists.
- Darkness: dark areas, caverns, and pitch-black oracular halls dominate this story. Aegea is a place full of darkness, and the contradiction presented by a blind seer in a dark room tells us more about Aegeans. Their need to "see" around them is more limited than societies that include greater description in their stories. This may have something to do with their sea floor life, or perhaps some the anti-curious drives that are prevalent in such a Dark Age society.
- Light: still, there is one very strong source of light in this story. The "Golden Bathyscaph" that Cadmus uses to travel, which you would probably call a "golden submarine," is a source of brightness and light. Through the Engineer, darkness is banished, light is produced, and preparations are made to defend from war. This kind of thing entertains the Aegean audience; again we see a centralizaation of the Engineers in their culture, as a source of light against the pervasive darkness.
Now, off to your weekend.
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Myth of the Spartoí
Dear Readers,
Earlier this week, in some of my explanations of neo-Aegean society, I discussed the development of different types of constructed soldiers in that time stream. One early type, which the local contemps will call spartoí, will essentially be clones made for warfare. In the original, spartoí means "sown men," and the name is based on an Ancient Greek myth.
In the original myth, Cadmus, future founder and King of Thebes, visits the Oracle at Delphi. Augury at the Orcale (though extremely rudimentary Augury) tells Cadmus to follow a cow until it stops, and then found a city there. During his attempt to do this, Cadmus and his men ran into a dragon, which Cadmus killed. Athena, who stopped by to have a look, took the dragon's teeth and gave half of them to Cadmus, and told him to plant them. She saved to other half for an adventure with Jason, of Argonaut fame, later on.
Unfortunately, this dragon was sacred to Ares. When Cadmus planted the teeth, men grew from them. These men were the spartoí. In some versions, Cadmus tricked them into fighting each other, and the five survivors helped him found Thebes. In other versions, only five arose to begin with. Either way, it made Ares angry, and Cadmus had to make up for this, but that's another story.
I tell you this background because today's myth, translated from my neo-Aegean Augury data, builds on the myth of the spartoí, though it is not an alternative myth of them. This story, as far as I can tell, is one of many stories that will be written by Civet the Storyteller, a neo-Aegean bard with similar fame to Ancient Greece's Homer, Spain's Lope de Vega, or England's William Shakespeare (the latter two, at least, in time streams where the Spanish Armada lost). Civet's writings, like most neo-Aegean myths, are a mixture of Ancient Greek stories and elements from across the cultural history of the humans of neo-Aegeea. From these references, I am able to surmise that the neo-Aegeans descend from your time stream, or something very close to it.
Story translated below. The manuscript is intended to be read aloud by a storyteller, from memory, and some performance notes appear italicized in brackets.
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
Gather round, deck apes and Pilots alike! Hear the story of the Spartoí, from the greatest story-teller in all Aegea! [It is recommended that one compliment the audience at this point. Jokes also help your audience grow.]
In the days before the Clone War with Nemesis, the Great Engineer Cadmus lived in Aegea. he was so respected that all Cities begged him to serve as their Chief Engineer, but each he refused. Instead, he traveled all of Aegea in a Golden Bathyscaph, almost the size of a small colony in itself, in search of the greatest Oracle. While he possessed some skill with augury, everyone knows that you can never see your own future, and so he needed someone else to read his fate.
In those days, the City of Oz held the best augur-Engineers in the Ocean, and so Cadmus followed the rumors to their Machine Shop. There, he met Tiresias, the blind augur and Oracle of Oz. [Some storytellers tell this dialogue; that lacks style. Act it out!]
Cadmus entered Tiresias's Great Hall, shrouded in complete darkness. The seer preferred it that way. He also demanded that his guests remain silent until addressed.
After three days of waiting without food or water, Tiresias's voice boomed from the darkness, "A SUPPLICANT HERE HAS DARK HAIR AND GREEN EYES, LIKE A NOBLEMAN, BUT LIGHT SKIN, LIKE A PEASANT. HE IS CADMUS, THE GREAT ENGINEER. COME FORWARD, CADMUS."
Shocked that the blind seer could know his features in the dark, Cadmus walked forward several paces. His footsteps echoed through the cavernous chamber.
He began, "Great seer, I-"
"I KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE, CADMUS. YOU WISH TO FOUND YOUR OWN CITY, FOR YOUR SON, TUT, TO RULE. YOU WILL FOUND THIS CITY, CADMUS, AND YOU WILL NAME IT THEBES. WHEN YOU LEAVE HERE, YOU WILL FIND A SCHOOL OF SELKIES. ALL WILL CHANGE COLOR AS YOU APPROACH, SAVE ONE. FOLLOW THAT ONE TO THE ENDS OF AEGEA, AND THERE, FOUND YOUR CITY. NOW GO. I WILL FIND YOU WHEN YOUR CITY IS FOUNDED."
Cadmus, still in awe of the great seer, followed his instructions exactly, and departed as soon as he saw the selkie that did not change color. They followed it as it swam away. His bathyscaph traveled for forty-one days and forty-one nights, to the ends of Aegea itself, just as Tiresias predicted.
On the forty-second night, the selkie stopped in a deep cavern on the sea floor. Cadmus saw this and knew that they found the place to build his City. "Stop the bathyscaph, Thistle," he told his chiliarch, "We shall build it here. First, though, we must find petrol to burn this selkie as an offering to the gods who brought us to this place."
Thus, he and his men put on pressure suits and wandered out in search of a source of petrol for their offering. It was not to be so. Instead of petrol, they found a great beast that breathed like a Promethean Sling, and shot out fire that could burn even underwater. They called this beast Smog, for it choked out black clouds of charcoal and fire into the water around it.
From the moment they saw it, Smog killed hundreds of Cadmus's men with his fiery breath. Enraged, Cadmus pulled out a weapon that he built many years before, with Athena's help. A saber made of Aegis-light, it would kill anyone or anything which did not possess the Engineer's bloodline. He ran the beast Smog through with his saber, and though it tried to belch its flame upon him, the blade proved too much for the creature, and it instantly died.
When it fell, the sea floor rocked and petrol shot up from vents beneath. As the ground quaked, Cadmus and his men were knocked unconscious, and cast into a deep sleep. In dream, Athena visited Cadmus.
"You have come back to me, Cadmus," he glory and beauty were so strong, that she did not need to say these words. Cadmus merely looked upon the goddess, and knew her warm greeting.
Then she spoke, and the power of it almost killed him, "You will take Smog's teeth, and plant them near your City. From these teeth will grow men, the spartoí, who will become your soldiers. You can grow more, also. They can be copied, like any other men. You will need them for the times to come, or too many of your people will die in war. You have done something terrible, Cadmus."
"What have I done?" he wept before her. [This is the point of greatest suspense; your audience wants to know what will happen next! Make them pay you to hear it, since later, they will not feel so generous!]
"Smog was sacred to Ares, Cadmus, and you have slain this creature. The god of war does not forget, Cadmus. War will come, between the Engineers and the City of Nemesis, who do not follow the gods, but follow anger and hatred instead. This war will be called the Clone War, and it will be because of you. Prepare yourself!"
Cadmus awakened, the air in his suit almost empty. He gathered his men, and they returned to the Golden Bathyscaph. They returned to gather the dragon's teeth, and ust as Athena said, they grew into soldiers in just hours. These were the spartoí, the first grown soldiers of Aegea. The Thalassians you know today descended from these soldiers. Each of you might have known war in your lifetimes, if not for Cadmus, who invented the spartoí, so that men would not fight and die in war. [Here you may advertise that you will tell battle stories if your audience stays longer, or if they come back tomorrow.]
Earlier this week, in some of my explanations of neo-Aegean society, I discussed the development of different types of constructed soldiers in that time stream. One early type, which the local contemps will call spartoí, will essentially be clones made for warfare. In the original, spartoí means "sown men," and the name is based on an Ancient Greek myth.
In the original myth, Cadmus, future founder and King of Thebes, visits the Oracle at Delphi. Augury at the Orcale (though extremely rudimentary Augury) tells Cadmus to follow a cow until it stops, and then found a city there. During his attempt to do this, Cadmus and his men ran into a dragon, which Cadmus killed. Athena, who stopped by to have a look, took the dragon's teeth and gave half of them to Cadmus, and told him to plant them. She saved to other half for an adventure with Jason, of Argonaut fame, later on.
Unfortunately, this dragon was sacred to Ares. When Cadmus planted the teeth, men grew from them. These men were the spartoí. In some versions, Cadmus tricked them into fighting each other, and the five survivors helped him found Thebes. In other versions, only five arose to begin with. Either way, it made Ares angry, and Cadmus had to make up for this, but that's another story.
I tell you this background because today's myth, translated from my neo-Aegean Augury data, builds on the myth of the spartoí, though it is not an alternative myth of them. This story, as far as I can tell, is one of many stories that will be written by Civet the Storyteller, a neo-Aegean bard with similar fame to Ancient Greece's Homer, Spain's Lope de Vega, or England's William Shakespeare (the latter two, at least, in time streams where the Spanish Armada lost). Civet's writings, like most neo-Aegean myths, are a mixture of Ancient Greek stories and elements from across the cultural history of the humans of neo-Aegeea. From these references, I am able to surmise that the neo-Aegeans descend from your time stream, or something very close to it.
Story translated below. The manuscript is intended to be read aloud by a storyteller, from memory, and some performance notes appear italicized in brackets.
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
Gather round, deck apes and Pilots alike! Hear the story of the Spartoí, from the greatest story-teller in all Aegea! [It is recommended that one compliment the audience at this point. Jokes also help your audience grow.]
In the days before the Clone War with Nemesis, the Great Engineer Cadmus lived in Aegea. he was so respected that all Cities begged him to serve as their Chief Engineer, but each he refused. Instead, he traveled all of Aegea in a Golden Bathyscaph, almost the size of a small colony in itself, in search of the greatest Oracle. While he possessed some skill with augury, everyone knows that you can never see your own future, and so he needed someone else to read his fate.
In those days, the City of Oz held the best augur-Engineers in the Ocean, and so Cadmus followed the rumors to their Machine Shop. There, he met Tiresias, the blind augur and Oracle of Oz. [Some storytellers tell this dialogue; that lacks style. Act it out!]
Cadmus entered Tiresias's Great Hall, shrouded in complete darkness. The seer preferred it that way. He also demanded that his guests remain silent until addressed.
After three days of waiting without food or water, Tiresias's voice boomed from the darkness, "A SUPPLICANT HERE HAS DARK HAIR AND GREEN EYES, LIKE A NOBLEMAN, BUT LIGHT SKIN, LIKE A PEASANT. HE IS CADMUS, THE GREAT ENGINEER. COME FORWARD, CADMUS."
Shocked that the blind seer could know his features in the dark, Cadmus walked forward several paces. His footsteps echoed through the cavernous chamber.
He began, "Great seer, I-"
"I KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE, CADMUS. YOU WISH TO FOUND YOUR OWN CITY, FOR YOUR SON, TUT, TO RULE. YOU WILL FOUND THIS CITY, CADMUS, AND YOU WILL NAME IT THEBES. WHEN YOU LEAVE HERE, YOU WILL FIND A SCHOOL OF SELKIES. ALL WILL CHANGE COLOR AS YOU APPROACH, SAVE ONE. FOLLOW THAT ONE TO THE ENDS OF AEGEA, AND THERE, FOUND YOUR CITY. NOW GO. I WILL FIND YOU WHEN YOUR CITY IS FOUNDED."
Cadmus, still in awe of the great seer, followed his instructions exactly, and departed as soon as he saw the selkie that did not change color. They followed it as it swam away. His bathyscaph traveled for forty-one days and forty-one nights, to the ends of Aegea itself, just as Tiresias predicted.
On the forty-second night, the selkie stopped in a deep cavern on the sea floor. Cadmus saw this and knew that they found the place to build his City. "Stop the bathyscaph, Thistle," he told his chiliarch, "We shall build it here. First, though, we must find petrol to burn this selkie as an offering to the gods who brought us to this place."
Thus, he and his men put on pressure suits and wandered out in search of a source of petrol for their offering. It was not to be so. Instead of petrol, they found a great beast that breathed like a Promethean Sling, and shot out fire that could burn even underwater. They called this beast Smog, for it choked out black clouds of charcoal and fire into the water around it.
From the moment they saw it, Smog killed hundreds of Cadmus's men with his fiery breath. Enraged, Cadmus pulled out a weapon that he built many years before, with Athena's help. A saber made of Aegis-light, it would kill anyone or anything which did not possess the Engineer's bloodline. He ran the beast Smog through with his saber, and though it tried to belch its flame upon him, the blade proved too much for the creature, and it instantly died.
When it fell, the sea floor rocked and petrol shot up from vents beneath. As the ground quaked, Cadmus and his men were knocked unconscious, and cast into a deep sleep. In dream, Athena visited Cadmus.
"You have come back to me, Cadmus," he glory and beauty were so strong, that she did not need to say these words. Cadmus merely looked upon the goddess, and knew her warm greeting.
Then she spoke, and the power of it almost killed him, "You will take Smog's teeth, and plant them near your City. From these teeth will grow men, the spartoí, who will become your soldiers. You can grow more, also. They can be copied, like any other men. You will need them for the times to come, or too many of your people will die in war. You have done something terrible, Cadmus."
"What have I done?" he wept before her. [This is the point of greatest suspense; your audience wants to know what will happen next! Make them pay you to hear it, since later, they will not feel so generous!]
"Smog was sacred to Ares, Cadmus, and you have slain this creature. The god of war does not forget, Cadmus. War will come, between the Engineers and the City of Nemesis, who do not follow the gods, but follow anger and hatred instead. This war will be called the Clone War, and it will be because of you. Prepare yourself!"
Cadmus awakened, the air in his suit almost empty. He gathered his men, and they returned to the Golden Bathyscaph. They returned to gather the dragon's teeth, and ust as Athena said, they grew into soldiers in just hours. These were the spartoí, the first grown soldiers of Aegea. The Thalassians you know today descended from these soldiers. Each of you might have known war in your lifetimes, if not for Cadmus, who invented the spartoí, so that men would not fight and die in war. [Here you may advertise that you will tell battle stories if your audience stays longer, or if they come back tomorrow.]
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
A Day in the Life: Cyzican Steamworks
Dear Readers,
This marks the second week that I provide a fictional narrative that represents a "slice of life" from a time stream that has captured my interest recently. Like everything else I've written this week, today's Day in the Life focuses on neo-Aegea.
Originally I thought I would write a story of one of Aegea's soldiers, but I decided instead to write about a slave in the vast steamworks and factories of Aegean industry. This one takes place in Cyzica, one of the more industrial of neo-Aegea's city-states.
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
"Olive, you all right?" he heard his mother's voice yell from the other room.
He wanted to say, "No, I'm not all right. I'm coughing up black soot and snot into our tiny-ass sink, Mom, because I'm a slave in a weapons factory." Instead, he coughed up more of the charred mix into the steel basin, as the glowstrips above his head flickered at the end of their lives.
"Olive?" his mother yelled a little louder.
Olive looked at the grey mess he had made. That damned Prometheus Engine caused all this. He cursed his own blasphemy as soon as he thought it. Second Engineer Odysseus would no doubt prescribe a penance. There would be no Aegea without the titan Prometheus's fiery gifts and technology.
He coughed once more, and yelled in answer, "Yes, mother, I'm fine, just...tired from work, I guess." It came out raspier than he hoped. Maybe she would not notice.
In the sheet of polished plastic his family called a mirror, Olive looked at his pale face and tried to wipe away any collateral black streaks. He also tried to fix the places where sweat matted his dark hair. Both efforts were a little bit futile; everyone in Cyzica's dregs looked like that. Slaves could afford little else.
"Olive, we need to go to the Ceres Engine, come out of there." His mother again.
He sighed into the mirror. Dinnertime. He did feel colossal hunger, so he decided his hair would have to wait.
"Coming, mother!"
He opened the rickety metal hatchway and flopped over the threshold, into the other room of their quarters. Its dishevelled space served as bedroom, kitchen, sometimes hospital. Again, the lot of a slave. In the middle of the room, his mother, in her usual sackcloth, stood ready to leave. At twenty-nine, she might even have looked pretty with her copper hair. If she could afford to wash it.
"Let's go," Olive said.
She half-smiled and turned to leave. The Ceres Engine was a short walk from their quarters, though by this time there might be a long line, so they rushed there. Even so, about a hundred other slaves, just off of their day's work, waited ahead of them to receive their daily bread.
At the head of the line, two Brothers of the Gasket assisted the local parish Engineer, First Degree Artemis. They removed the bread from the Ceres Engine as she addressed the crowd, "Thank Ceres, the great goddess, that your food comes this day. Only by her magic does her Engine bring your portion into this world, and so only by her magic, do you live. Rejoice, slaves of Cyzica. The gods do not forget you!"
Olive tuned her out as she continued to preach the faith. As he neared age fourteen, he focused more on Artemis's extremely physical, exotic appearance and less on her words. He heard that speech every night, anyway.
"Don't stare, Olive, it's too dangerous." his mother chided him. He knew she was right. The gods forbade all non-Engineers from lustful stares on their chosen clergy. Slaves, especially, could be killed for leery gazes at young First Degree Engineers.
Still, as he stood in the line of dirty, broken slaves, Olive felt nothing fair in that rule. Everyone around him, just as worthless as he, saw not even a shred of anything holy or clean, save Artemis and the Brothers who supported her. Tomorrow, and every day after that, he would go back to his work in the steamy weapons factory, where much harsher Engineers, like the older Second Degree Odysseus would drive him to repair and feed the Hephaestus Engines. All to make more weapons for Cyzica and her allies' armies. He saw no justice in it, but then just was scarce this deep in the City's levels. Olive shrugged and returned his gaze to the back of the person ahead of him in line. At least he would have bread soon.
This marks the second week that I provide a fictional narrative that represents a "slice of life" from a time stream that has captured my interest recently. Like everything else I've written this week, today's Day in the Life focuses on neo-Aegea.
Originally I thought I would write a story of one of Aegea's soldiers, but I decided instead to write about a slave in the vast steamworks and factories of Aegean industry. This one takes place in Cyzica, one of the more industrial of neo-Aegea's city-states.
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
"Olive, you all right?" he heard his mother's voice yell from the other room.
He wanted to say, "No, I'm not all right. I'm coughing up black soot and snot into our tiny-ass sink, Mom, because I'm a slave in a weapons factory." Instead, he coughed up more of the charred mix into the steel basin, as the glowstrips above his head flickered at the end of their lives.
"Olive?" his mother yelled a little louder.
Olive looked at the grey mess he had made. That damned Prometheus Engine caused all this. He cursed his own blasphemy as soon as he thought it. Second Engineer Odysseus would no doubt prescribe a penance. There would be no Aegea without the titan Prometheus's fiery gifts and technology.
He coughed once more, and yelled in answer, "Yes, mother, I'm fine, just...tired from work, I guess." It came out raspier than he hoped. Maybe she would not notice.
In the sheet of polished plastic his family called a mirror, Olive looked at his pale face and tried to wipe away any collateral black streaks. He also tried to fix the places where sweat matted his dark hair. Both efforts were a little bit futile; everyone in Cyzica's dregs looked like that. Slaves could afford little else.
"Olive, we need to go to the Ceres Engine, come out of there." His mother again.
He sighed into the mirror. Dinnertime. He did feel colossal hunger, so he decided his hair would have to wait.
"Coming, mother!"
He opened the rickety metal hatchway and flopped over the threshold, into the other room of their quarters. Its dishevelled space served as bedroom, kitchen, sometimes hospital. Again, the lot of a slave. In the middle of the room, his mother, in her usual sackcloth, stood ready to leave. At twenty-nine, she might even have looked pretty with her copper hair. If she could afford to wash it.
"Let's go," Olive said.
She half-smiled and turned to leave. The Ceres Engine was a short walk from their quarters, though by this time there might be a long line, so they rushed there. Even so, about a hundred other slaves, just off of their day's work, waited ahead of them to receive their daily bread.
At the head of the line, two Brothers of the Gasket assisted the local parish Engineer, First Degree Artemis. They removed the bread from the Ceres Engine as she addressed the crowd, "Thank Ceres, the great goddess, that your food comes this day. Only by her magic does her Engine bring your portion into this world, and so only by her magic, do you live. Rejoice, slaves of Cyzica. The gods do not forget you!"
Olive tuned her out as she continued to preach the faith. As he neared age fourteen, he focused more on Artemis's extremely physical, exotic appearance and less on her words. He heard that speech every night, anyway.
"Don't stare, Olive, it's too dangerous." his mother chided him. He knew she was right. The gods forbade all non-Engineers from lustful stares on their chosen clergy. Slaves, especially, could be killed for leery gazes at young First Degree Engineers.
Still, as he stood in the line of dirty, broken slaves, Olive felt nothing fair in that rule. Everyone around him, just as worthless as he, saw not even a shred of anything holy or clean, save Artemis and the Brothers who supported her. Tomorrow, and every day after that, he would go back to his work in the steamy weapons factory, where much harsher Engineers, like the older Second Degree Odysseus would drive him to repair and feed the Hephaestus Engines. All to make more weapons for Cyzica and her allies' armies. He saw no justice in it, but then just was scarce this deep in the City's levels. Olive shrugged and returned his gaze to the back of the person ahead of him in line. At least he would have bread soon.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Theocracy or Technocracy?
Dear Readers,
I've decided that this week I'll continue to feature neo-Aegean society, since that is the focus of my work right now. Today: neo-Aegean religion, and its unique elements. Remember, of course, that most of what I write here on this subject is in the very early stages of understanding, so there may be inaccuracies or omissions.
Theology in Aegea (I will use this term interchangably with neo-Aegea for this article) is a rather complicated subject. As far as I am able to tell, the most powerful people in Aegean society are the priestly caste, forbidden from intermarriages with the rest of the population. Of course, that motif is rather common across a variety of eras and time streams.
What's peculiar about neo-Aegean society is that these priests seem also to have very tight control over the technology of their civilization. Knowledge, whether practical or philosophical is protected by this priesthood.
At its core, their religion is based on what you would call the "Ancient Greek" pantheon. This makes it remarkably easy to study. How or why this is possible is not something I really understand, but it seems that in the neo-Aegean time stream, this religion re-emerged even though in your time it is quite dormant. There are clear hallmarks, however, that the pantheon has expanded to include certain folk heroes and icons from the intervening time.
It's also curious that the neo-Aegeans seem to have reasonable Augury technology. That certainly raised an eyebrow. Their machinery still relies on the sacrifice of living things, however. Thankfully the University was able to do away with that particular practice.
So, to sum up: religion in Aegea is inspired by Ancient Greece, but with other cultural baggage. It maintains a tight grip on society, with control over much of the available technical knowledge. It has access to advanced Augury technology, unlike your society. And yet the entire society seems to have plunged into a largely faith-based dark age with little scientific advancement. This is a conundrum that I cannot explain at all.
Furthermore, I have some trouble translating the name for their priests. While I find it hard to believe, the linguistic evidence all points to the idea that they will be called something roughly akin to "Engineers." How interesting.
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
I've decided that this week I'll continue to feature neo-Aegean society, since that is the focus of my work right now. Today: neo-Aegean religion, and its unique elements. Remember, of course, that most of what I write here on this subject is in the very early stages of understanding, so there may be inaccuracies or omissions.
Theology in Aegea (I will use this term interchangably with neo-Aegea for this article) is a rather complicated subject. As far as I am able to tell, the most powerful people in Aegean society are the priestly caste, forbidden from intermarriages with the rest of the population. Of course, that motif is rather common across a variety of eras and time streams.
What's peculiar about neo-Aegean society is that these priests seem also to have very tight control over the technology of their civilization. Knowledge, whether practical or philosophical is protected by this priesthood.
At its core, their religion is based on what you would call the "Ancient Greek" pantheon. This makes it remarkably easy to study. How or why this is possible is not something I really understand, but it seems that in the neo-Aegean time stream, this religion re-emerged even though in your time it is quite dormant. There are clear hallmarks, however, that the pantheon has expanded to include certain folk heroes and icons from the intervening time.
It's also curious that the neo-Aegeans seem to have reasonable Augury technology. That certainly raised an eyebrow. Their machinery still relies on the sacrifice of living things, however. Thankfully the University was able to do away with that particular practice.
So, to sum up: religion in Aegea is inspired by Ancient Greece, but with other cultural baggage. It maintains a tight grip on society, with control over much of the available technical knowledge. It has access to advanced Augury technology, unlike your society. And yet the entire society seems to have plunged into a largely faith-based dark age with little scientific advancement. This is a conundrum that I cannot explain at all.
Furthermore, I have some trouble translating the name for their priests. While I find it hard to believe, the linguistic evidence all points to the idea that they will be called something roughly akin to "Engineers." How interesting.
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
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