Some Snippets from The World: Yeola-Camay

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eldin raigmore
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

Post by eldin raigmore »

Following on to Gestaltist's and Micamo's posts about con-biology;
The planet Spacecabdriver's species comes from has a very different con-biology and con-ecology. He himself wasn't born and raised there, however; I don't know about the planet he was born and raised on. Odds are it has a hybrid con-ecology consisting of native species plus species introduced from his species planet-of-origin; or perhaps it was "terra"-formed and has a subset of his species' original-planet's con-ecology.
The planet Adpihi, however, is very Earth-like. It's the capitol planet of Reptigan. Its intelligent species is "humans", originating from Earth. They also brought several other Earth-derived species with them, that they thought they needed to survive. But it already had native life, so it had a breathable atmosphere and drinkable water and an ecology, which almost all of the Earth-derived species integrated into. I have given no thought to that native life, though, and I obviously need to.

Sorry if this is off-topic. I like elemtilas's The World and want to read more snippets.

But I'm very glad Gestaltist and Micamo brought this up.
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

Post by Lambuzhao »

Elemtilas wrote:Tha qanet thon herse te watnam lîthen, beouten tha ne qanet him beude te utpumpe thon water.
[+1] LOL


That should be a translation challenge:

Rozwi

‘od nunā boyim done~gixdu menefueniθ ihmu , kai nu boyim done~selaswētra wa čuzpupē nunā.
PRP water-ACC be.able<PRS>2SG INF=lead horse-ACC 2SG.POSS CNJ NEG water-ACC be.able<PRS>2SG INF=ask<NMLZ> CNJ pump<OPT>3SG water-ACC


Sadraas

cna Ðe lædan ðej Chürse tuo ye Uade, ob nej cna Ðe bitten dåz ütsagghumervegghðen hit.
Be.able<PRS> 2SG.NOM lead-INF 2SG.POSS horse-OBJ PRP DEF.N.ACC water-ACC
CNJ NEG be.able<PRS> 2SG.NOM ask-INF REL out.suck.twirl<PST>-SBJV 3SG.N.NOM
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

Post by elemtilas »

[tick]
micamo wrote:Here's how I deal with this problem: Biology on my conworld doesn't repeat Earth's. However, it does rhyme quite a bit. Evolution likes to invent the same basic blueprints for the same problems, over and over again. This is what biologists like to call "convergent evolution" but I don't like to use that term because it's abused by SF writers too much to justify nonsense like "Let's make an alien planet with independently evolved species that are exactly like Earth species, cell for cell."

So in practice, the creatures of my world for the most part evolved to be similar enough to earth animals that we can relate to them at least in broad terms. The Weng, despite its hexaped weirdness, is an armadillo-cow. The Neng Nia is a sand-gator. The Xtazuk is a whale-shark.
Very nicely put! I like the "evolutionary rhyming" metaphor.
gestaltist wrote:What you say makes sense, Micamo. I will have to give it a good think: I do have humans which are almost identical with us and I don’t have any spaceships to account for it.

I think the main problem with doing a completely original conbiology isn’t the big animals that are important to the story. It is the ecosystem as a whole which would look completely different. I think it is easier to do in rather desolate areas of the world (and both Tazar and the Everwhite would count as such.) I have large swathes of savanna and moderate climates in WoTS which teem with life. And I don’t quite feel like inventing several hundred species (which would be the minimum required to cover animals important for humans.) But then again, it’s not like I am in a hurry.
Those are, of course, trade offs: how different you want the underlying ecosystem to be will quite naturally affect what kind of higher order lifeforms you can expect to find.

For my part, I guess I probably found the World at too young an age to really understand how ecosystems work, or how fiddly differences at the microscopic level will alter things up above. And anyway, it was never supposed to by anything other than a faerie -- a place of wonder and refreshment, a place of repose from the perils of the primary world! It doesn't need to have the details of its geology and chemistry and astronomy all worked out to the sixteenth decimal place. I definitely appreciate that kind of work others put into their realistic worlds; but I've always thought that would rather spoil the magic of a place like the World.

So, Men are humans (but not exactly in all particulars) and I often use words like "wolf" or "whale" or "oliphant" but they don't necessarily signify exactly the same animal we'd find here in the primary world either!
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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Micamo wrote:Here's how I deal with this problem: Biology on my conworld doesn't repeat Earth's. However, it does rhyme quite a bit. Evolution likes to invent the same basic blueprints for the same problems, over and over again. This is what biologists like to call "convergent evolution" but I don't like to use that term because it's abused by SF writers too much to justify nonsense like "Let's make an alien planet with independently evolved species that are exactly like Earth species, cell for cell."

So in practice, the creatures of my world for the most part evolved to be similar enough to earth animals that we can relate to them at least in broad terms. The Weng, despite its hexaped weirdness, is an armadillo-cow. The Neng Nia is a sand-gator. The Xtazuk is a whale-shark.
Sounds suspiciously like MH1-MH4. If you understood what that meant.... (Monster Hunter is a series of games that takes place on a planet similar to earth, which has Earth-like creatures)
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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elemtilas wrote: For my part, I guess I probably found the World at too young an age to really understand how ecosystems work, or how fiddly differences at the microscopic level will alter things up above.
And it probably was a blessing in disguise.
And anyway, it was never supposed to by anything other than a faerie -- a place of wonder and refreshment, a place of repose from the perils of the primary world!
This is something that has inspired me about the World ever since I first encountered it. It reminds me why I am conworlding in the first place: to have new lands to discover, new adventures to live and many lives to experience.
It doesn't need to have the details of its geology and chemistry and astronomy all worked out to the sixteenth decimal place. I definitely appreciate that kind of work others put into their realistic worlds; but I've always thought that would rather spoil the magic of a place like the World.
This in turn is what inspires me about Micamo's work. I sense there is no logical inconsistencies to be found, everything has been calculated and validated. (I might be wrong but this is my gut feeling.) and yet she manages to keep the place magical and mysterious.
So, Men are humans (but not exactly in all particulars) and I often use words like "wolf" or "whale" or "oliphant" but they don't necessarily signify exactly the same animal we'd find here in the primary world either!
I will probably go that route to an extent. It won't be as easy in WoTS though: an oviparous dog isn't quite a dog anymore...
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

Post by elemtilas »

[tick]
gestaltist wrote:
It doesn't need to have the details of its geology and chemistry and astronomy all worked out to the sixteenth decimal place. I definitely appreciate that kind of work others put into their realistic worlds; but I've always thought that would rather spoil the magic of a place like the World.
This in turn is what inspires me about Micamo's work. I sense there is no logical inconsistencies to be found, everything has been calculated and validated. (I might be wrong but this is my gut feeling.) and yet she manages to keep the place magical and mysterious.
I never minded logical inconsistencies -- just part of the landscape, really. Anyway, for the World, sorting out the geology was less about rock densities and crustal thickness and mantle viscosity and more about how do the great Beings that hold up the continents go about their business and what is a hurricane in an ocean of iron like, anyway, and how do the beasties down there manage?
It won't be as easy in WoTS though: an oviparous dog isn't quite a dog anymore...
It might be something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine.
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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elemtilas wrote:
... an oviparous dog isn't quite a dog anymore...
It might be something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine.
Save only that thylacines were marsupials rather than monotremes.
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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eldin raigmore wrote:
elemtilas wrote:
... an oviparous dog isn't quite a dog anymore...
It might be something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine.
Save only that thylacines were marsupials rather than monotremes.
Quite so! Hence "something like"... I don't think there were any dog-like monotremes. Do you know of any, perhaps extinct ones?

Though I suppose it could be argued that an echidna is vaguely reminiscent of a yorkie that's just been blow dried...
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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gestaltist wrote:
It doesn't need to have the details of its geology and chemistry and astronomy all worked out to the sixteenth decimal place. I definitely appreciate that kind of work others put into their realistic worlds; but I've always thought that would rather spoil the magic of a place like the World.
This in turn is what inspires me about Micamo's work. I sense there is no logical inconsistencies to be found, everything has been calculated and validated. (I might be wrong but this is my gut feeling.) and yet she manages to keep the place magical and mysterious.
To the extent that I can, yes: There are some features where I'm simply not willing to budge even though there's no way to make it realistic, and I use a handwavy "well the Founders used terraforming or installed some worldwide supertech to make it this way" (the permanent, bright rings around the moon are one example, built to protect the moon from radiation storms inside Kwan'aach's magnetic field). There are also some places where I haven't fully calculated everything yet, either because I haven't finished that aspect of the world or I'm not currently able to perform the calculations.

An example of the former is climates: I work out climates when I have an idea for how to draw the continents in mind, and if the climates I draw up are no longer consistent with my vision for that part of the map, I toss out the continents I've come up with and redraw them.

An example of the latter is the exact moon system of Kwan'aach. I have them in a laplacian resonance, much like the Galilean moons of Jupiter; What I've read on orbital mechanics indicates that this should make the arrangement very stable, but I'm worried that long-term effects will push my conworld into a more eccentric orbit, causing more tidal heating and a runaway greenhouse effect. Also, I have no idea what the tidal forces from the suns will do to my orbits (the suns are close enough together that it *should* be very small, but even small effects can accumulate over millions of years). Sadly I lack the software necessary to do this kind of hardcore solar system simulation with n-body orbits, so I suppose I'll just have to keep worrying. And if it *does* turn out to have problems, and it's impossible to fix it by adjusting the orbits, I can always fall back to the old "Founders did it" handwave, though I'd prefer to use that as little as possible.

(Also, I have yet to decide anything about other planets in the system, so my current arrangement just assumes they aren't there. I'd have to make up some other planets if I were to actually do a hardcore simulation.)

I just don't like to reveal the details, at least not in stories which I write to be very much about personal experiences. I don't like to pull back the curtain.
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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eldin raigmore wrote:
elemtilas wrote:
... an oviparous dog isn't quite a dog anymore...
It might be something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine.
Save only that thylacines were marsupials rather than monotremes.
Only that my "dogs" are not monotremes. Think more something like these gentlemen:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pristerognathus
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgonops
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

Post by eldin raigmore »

gestaltist wrote:Only that my "dogs" are not monotremes. Think more something like these gentlemen:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pristerognathus
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgonops
[B)] Very interesting! [B)]
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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eldin raigmore wrote:
gestaltist wrote:Only that my "dogs" are not monotremes. Think more something like these gentlemen:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pristerognathus
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgonops
[B)] Very interesting! [B)]
Glad you like. I will talk about my conbiology in my thread right after I’m done with climates.
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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[tick]

The mountain unicorn, such as one might find in the Little Kingdoms along the lower ranges of the Bal Erruyn are stout fellows with shortish horns and are cloven hooved, some kindreds having one cleft (two toes) and others three clefts (four toes). The former are known for goat-like beards while the latter don't have such beards. The steppe unicorns -- not commonly seen in the Eastlands anymore, though sometimes can be found up in the abandonned lands towards the northern woodlands -- are great beasts with long horns and shaggy manes and proud defiant eyes. They're uncloven. Then of course the longest horns of all belong to the Tethian unicorns. Some philosophers account them a kindred of whalefish, but they're really more akin to the steppe unicorns, only they went back to the Sea long ago.

Someone once asked if unicorns are kosher animals. Had a shufty into the matter, and hopefully this will shed some light:

R. Phineas said: "The unicorn is not clean. His foot is uncloven."
R. Yohanan said: "Just as the pig does a courtesy and shows his cloven hoof, as if to say 'I am clean!', so too the unicorn. For, though his foot be cloven in twain, it is written: 'Among mammals, you may eat any one that has true hooves that are cloven, and that chews its cud.' For the unicorn has a cloven hoof yet chews not his cud. It is as Rabbi Phineas has said: The unicorn is not clean."
R. Moise said: "Indeed the unicorn is unclean: this kindred, their foot is uncloven and is unclean; that kindred, their foot is cloven yet he does not chew his cud and is unclean."
R. Jehavadam said: "And yet there is a third kindred, their foot is trebly cleft, and they are clean, for they carefully chew their cuds."
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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Are you Jewish or at least interested in Jewish traditions? That snippet looks like it was taken straight from the Talmud. :)
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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elemtilas wrote:R. Jehavadam said: "And yet there is a third kindred, their foot is trebly cleft, and they are clean, for they carefully chew their cuds."
In real-life all ruminants are even-toed ungulates.
In real-life, odd-toed ungulates never ruminate nor chew their cuds.
So what happened in The World to give us three-toed (or one-toed or five-toed) ruminant ungulates? (Or does "chewing their cud" not correspond exactly to "ruminate"?).

Are there any plantigrade or digigrade ruminants or cud-chewers in The World?
Or are all cud-chewers unguligrade, as in real-life?

Does The World have two-toed and/or four-toed ungulants that are also ruminants?
Does The World have two-toed and/or four-toed ungulants that are not ruminants?

Who is allowed to eat what?
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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[tick]
eldin raigmore wrote:
elemtilas wrote:R. Jehavadam said: "And yet there is a third kindred, their foot is trebly cleft, and they are clean, for they carefully chew their cuds."
In real-life all ruminants are even-toed ungulates.
In real-life, odd-toed ungulates never ruminate nor chew their cuds.
So what happened in The World to give us three-toed (or one-toed or five-toed) ruminant ungulates? (Or does "chewing their cud" not correspond exactly to "ruminate"?).
I'm no exoTalmudic scholar or anything, but if I understand the good rabbi, he's describing a four-toed ruminant. I guess three clefts = four toes! I'm guessing that the other rabbis are describing odd-toed ungulates that are nonruminants: Clearly, R. Phineas is describing the one toed unicorn, which, like the horse, does not chew its cud. Rabbi Yohanan is describing a different kind which, like the pig, has an even number of toes, but does not chew the cud. Rabbi Jehavedam seems to be describing one that has even toes, seemingly four, and chews cud. And very carefully at that!
Are there any plantigrade or digigrade ruminants or cud-chewers in The World?
Or are all cud-chewers unguligrade, as in real-life?
Does the semiaquatic cow count? It's sort of bovine but has webbed flippery appendages. It lazes about in warm waters chewing away.

Does The World have two-toed and/or four-toed ungulates that are also ruminants?
I think the above kind of unicorn would count: four toes, chews cud.
Does The World have two-toed and/or four-toed ungulates that are not ruminants?
Dunno.

Who is allowed to eat what?
Well, clearly, Jews in the World can eat this four toed unicorn! Whether they do or not, is a different matter, though there must be sufficient points of contact between Jewish communities and unicorns in the World that the question of kashrut status has not only come up but has been addressed by several well known scholar rabbis!
gestaltist wrote:Are you Jewish or at least interested in Jewish traditions? That snippet looks like it was taken straight from the Talmud. :)
Interested in, yes, but not Jewish myself. As I mentioned elsewhere, Judiasm is probably about the number four religion in the World by numbers (I think Kristianity and Buddhaism wobble between 1 & 2 while Zoroastrusians ranks 3. A number of related / parallel religions kind of muddy the waters a bit -- like, do we include Baptism and Iscariotism in with Kristianity; or, for that matter, do we include Kristianity in with Buddhaism?

After these big four, numbers drop away precipitously, as most smaller religions are national or regional in scope.
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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Maybe you could talk some more about the major religions then? How are they interrelated? What were their origins?
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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[tick]
gestaltist wrote:Maybe you could talk some more about the major religions then? How are they interrelated? What were their origins?
Sure. But first a story!

Twas in the fall of the year, the heady summer was just passing. Two mighty emperors were vying for one throne. Two armies, their gilt icons reflecting the splendour of the Sun, clashed by the banks of the river near the City. The seat of empire for the last six hundred years was being contested by two men. Sacrifices had been duly made, auspices taken, livers minutely examined; the augurs of both predicted the same thing: al êwas al nejes accas al ican cosmam; both men took the sign as indicative of a successful outcome of inevitable battle! Back and forth throughout the day the armies struggled over the bridgeheads. The day grew hot and the Sun blazed towards noon, riding high above the flowing of blood and feasting crows. Spying one another at a distance, the two mighty emperors looked into each others eyes, each daring the other to meet in the middle ground and settle the score once and for all. At the same moment, they surged forward and men cleared the way for them; they leaped from their mounts at the same instant and flew towards one another! In the sweltering of the noontime sun, a bright light seemed to pierce the very heavens -- the men below feared the very gods themselves were come to watch the mighty heroes take the field of battle! There, under the mighty wheel of fire surrounding the labouring Sun, the two met in the very center of the old stone bridge, its mighty arches spanning the broad river, the sharp rocks waiting below to swallow up the one who would lose the match!

Two mighty emperors fought in the glare of a burning wheel of fire, and one indeed came away victorious; and the other was cast down upon the jagged rocks, where the crows feasted on flowing blood and dying flesh. As soon as the wheel of fire had appeared overhead, it vanished again, and the men of both sides saw plainly one man stood in the middle ground, and both armies bowed low, hailing him the one king of the world.

They took their rest that hot afternoon, outside the imperial City: the emperor and the two armies, one proud and victorious the other defeated but honourably obedient. The emperor sought to refresh himself by a sacred pool not far from the road, and there he saw a young man sitting by the pool. His head was radiant and his eyes clear, yet what they were seeing was far beyond the sight of ordinary eyes. In hand he had a staff and a string of beads from which dangled a curious sun wheel. The emperor thought to turn back, when in the sky he saw again the daughter of Re, and four suns arrayed around her and between them rays of fire and around them a wheel of burning fire. The young man spoke clearly, in the old language, now scarcely heard even in the imperial City: vicisti, in isto signo.

The emperor fell on his face before the one whom he presumed was Ares himself, yet he was not Ares. The emperor asked him how he could have known about the sign he was to look for, and he answered: It is the sign all those who seek are looking for... And they spoke long time. And the emperor went back to his camp only very late at night.

The next morning dawned bright, the daughter of Re rising in splendour over the white ramparts of the imperial City. The emperor entered the city at the head of two armies and sought for the fathers of the City, in the Senate House. They welcomed him and he did there a very singular thing, a thing no emperor has done in the long history of the Empire. He spoke only two words: vici -- relinquoque. He bowed reverentially before the chief of the Senators, laying there before them his sword, his robe of purple, the signet ring.

The man who was emperor, the man who was hailed king of the world, turned and left behind the trappings of kingship. He sold his farms, his lands, his beautiful houses; the money he took and went into the poorer districts and found there the overseer of the community. To this one he turned over all his wealth and now free, went into the hill country where he became a monk. Ever after this saintly man, known only as Thaumaturgos Constantinos, could be found tirelessly working among the poor and the sick, healing who he could, bringing food to those in need, visiting with the aged, bringing cheer to those in the prisons. Few indeed knew the true story, how the king of the world encountered the King of Kings and was crowned with the crown of glory.
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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[tick]

Kristianity

In the Uttermost West there are two great streams of Kristianity. The one is called Nazorean and the other Christological. The former branch gave rise to the religion called Therapeutism, and is primarily a philosophical religion. The other gave rise to Ecclesial Kristianism, and is primarily a ritual and prayerful religion. Both, of course, share much in common: all forms of Kristianity are rooted in the teachings of Yeshue; all of them arose out of the primitive church that formed around the Apostles and the early disciples of Yeshue.

In the Eastlands, the Nazoreans have not made any inroads; the wandering monks of the One Church, the Religion of Light, travelled far and wide along the Silk Road and the Great West Road, even before the ancestors of the Thiets, the Remen and the Galts made their long trek into the Land of Sunrise.

A Nazorean church is plain outside, usually stuccoed brick or stone. Inside, all is colour and ornament: there are never representations of faces or people in a Nazorean shrine. Floral designs, geometric patterns -- those are the hallmarks of Nazorean aesthetic. Philosophical sigils are also prominent, for they say that the good words and deeds of the Great Teachers are superior decoration to any image with a face. The meetings are simple: monks will read from the words and teachings and deeds of the Great Teachers and will discuss what was read. People may ask questions; people may come and go; there is no set beginning or ending, for a Nazorean church is always an open forum of such reading, interpreting and discussion.

In East and West alike, a Kristiological church is plain outside as well, and beautifully ornamented inside. Icons of angels, saints, and of Yeshue and of the Heavenly Father are in evidence upon every wall. The meetings consist of liturgy -- the work of the church, the work of the people of the Kristian community. Now, twenty centuries after the life and times of Yeshue, the liturgy he instituted remains largely unchanged. The cantor, the people and the priest are in a constant state of liturgical chant and singing prayer: the greater and lesser litanies, the beautiful prayers, the readings from the great fonts of scripture -- the Provangelion and the Evangelion, the Mysteries -- are the same everywhere and regardless of the language and the manner of Men who pray the liturgy, from the Men of Auntimoany in Eosphora to the Men of Axiom in Demeteia.

There is before all the Introductory rites -- an interestingly expanded paternoster, the trisagion and the kyrie. The Priest, carrying the Gospel Book on high in both hands wrapped with decorated cloth and leaving only the pamtracon exposed, and preceded by acolytes and other ministers, approaches the arcosoleon and turns to face the people still holding the book high. Each minister turns to the altar, the Priest up to the arcosoleon, and makes a reverence. The Priest kisses the Book and then blesses the arcosoleon, making the Sign of the Cross with the book over it. He may then turn to face the people, blessing them in like manner. The Priest then returns to face the arcosolium and, placing the Book on a stand upon the altar, kisses the Altar table (mensa or antimension), ...

The First Litany contains a large number of petitions and prayers of thanks. Then follows the Commemoration of the Heavenly Queen.

The Ministry of the Word - begins with a recitation of the beatitudes and the Procession of the Gospel. The Gospel Book is processed from one side of the arcosoleon, through the midst of the people and to the other side of the arcosoleon; borne in the same decorated cloth and the discofers precede and follow the Book on this circuit.

ALL. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
P. Widom! Let us be attentive! Let us stand ready and hear the holy Evangel! Be still and keep silence! Peace be with you all.
R. And with your spirit.
P. A lesson from the gospel of holy Saint Mark.
R. + Glory to you, o Lord!



The Sermon -- this is a lesson or exhortation to the faithful: not intoned, but is spoken clearly and with authority.

The Great Blessing and Dismissal of the Catecheumens -- The deacon chants: Let him who has not received Baptism depart. Let him who has not accepted the sign of life depart. Let him who does not receive it depart. The doors! The doors! -- Go, hearers, and watch the doors!

The Offering of the Sacrifice - Let none of the catechumens, let none of the hearers, let none of the unbelievers, let none of the heterodox, remain. Let the mothers receive their children; let no one have anything against any one; let no one come in hypocrisy; let us stand upright before the All Holy with respect to offer. When this is done, let the deacons bring the gifts to the arcosoleon; and if there be a bishop presiding, let the presbyters stand on his right hand, and on his left, as disciples stand before their Master. But let two of the deacons, on each side of the altar, hold a fan, made up of thin membranes, or of the feathers of the peacock, or else fine cloths, and let them silently drive away the small animals that fly about, that they may not come near to the cups.

There is also the custom in many places for the priest or bishop to wash the feet of the people. Many churches observe feetwashing (lavapodes) at every sacrifice, others only at certain times of year. Some churches choose twelve members to participate, in rememberance of the Twelve. In small communities, let the Priest wash everyones feet; while in larger churches, let certain of the community be selected in groups and minister to them, or the Priest and several deacons may all wash together, if the crowd is large. Let the accolytes refresh the water bowl and bring fresh towels as necessary. And after that, let the bishop partake, then the presbyters, and deacons, and deaconesses and sub-deacons, and the readers, and the cantors, and the ascetics; and then of the women, and the virgins, and the widows; then the children; and then all the people in order, with reverence and godly respect, without tumult.

The Second Litany -- like the first one, but a little shorter. It ends with the final blessing and dismissal:

R. Amen! Amen! Amen! Give the blessing!
P. The blessings of the All Holy one be upon you always; may all the holy Saints and Powers and Dominions, especially, Saint N. [patron of the locality] and all the winged angels and archangels and the four winged cherubim and the six winged seraphim, many winged and many eyed, who cover their faces and chant alleluia, alleluia, alleluia before the throne of the All Holy, pray for us and intercede on our behalf; may the All Holy, ever loving, ever merciful, have mercy on us and save us, in the name of the Father and of + the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
R. Amen!
P. You are dismissed! Go in peace!
R. Amen!



The liturgy is sung using a variety of time honoured tones that the cantors keep track of and everyone learns as a matter of course over a lifetime. Some portions of the tones are common to all churches, others might be highly local in nature. The cantor is responsible for leading the congregations responses and for setting the pace of the liturgy. The cantor stands towards the back in a tatum (near the dromes), or else in the middle of the navea in a fasil; and has a plain copy of the Order with various mantras and sentences and tonal settings; but lacks the epistles and gospel readings.

NOTES:

A tatum is an ordinary church, square in overall shape with a cross shaped interior. The arcosolium is at the east end and the dromes or main doors at the west end. The arcosolium is an arched depression in the east wall of the church with a protruding stone mensa about three feet from the floor which serves as the altar, all flanked by two stone columns. The arched space is about three or four feet tall at its highest, the recess is about one or two feet deep and is called munulocolo, which is a frescoed wall behind which is an empty space. And above this a little way is a small edicla, which is a small arched niche that contains the arca, or bread box and often a specially prepared and bound codex, which is a specially blessed selection of gospel and epistle fragments. Often a small arculla is also kept that contains relics or other holy objects. Small churches in towns especially, might be of squarish or rectangular shape if they are rented spaces that conform to the towns street grid rather than the traditions of usual church orientation. Tatum have no windows apart from puteon in the roof or along the upper edge of the walls. Four lucernariones surrounding the central space provide internal illumination, and the walls and ceilings are covered with paintings or frescoes. Tatum sometimes have central domes, and they are of beehive shape.

There are many furnishings particular to a church, each of which are used for specific parts of the sacrifice and which must be especially cared for by the fossores. The most conspicuous articles are the processional cross and the gospel book. After a bell or gong is struck, the processional cross is borne by an accolyte, called the crucifer, and announces the starting or ending of the sacrifice. It is considered courteous to stand while the cross and ministers are processing in or out, recalling the procession of the Lord Krist into Jerusalem. Many people incline their heads or bow profoundly as signs of respect when the cross passes by. Two golden discoi flank the arcosoleon and are brought out to flank the priest when he is intoning the gospel. The gospel book itself is adorned with the pamtracon, the fivefold icon of the five gospel writers, and is borne by the priest or yet another accolyte (called the librofer). Apart from the gospels, it also contains rubrics (instructions written in red letters), mantras and prayers that the priests must know and make use of at various times. The platter (plata) and chalice are those vessels used during the sacrifice to contain the bread (amnos) and wine for the agape meal. They are generally crafted of silver or hard wood, sometimes of ceramics. The censor, when used, is an ornate copper brazier used to burn incense before the altar. It is borne by a long chain upon which are hung small bells, and its lid is also attached by a chain which may be drawn up to release the smokes from within. The chimes (if separate, or else the bells on the censor) are used at certain portions of the sacrifice to draw attention to the central actions at the altar. The water bowl is used by the priest to wash (the lavamanos) before and during the sacrifice; and there are also water dishes set aside for the washing of the feet (the lavapodes). The lance and cup (if separate from the chalice) are small articles used by the priest during the sacrifice, reminding us of the Piercing of the Side by the holy Saint Longinus, and the Collecting of the Blood by the holy Saint Joseph. The remaining furnishings include the ambo, which is a small raised platform that the lector and priest stand upon to read from; the hand cross and two large cloths (one for carrying the gospel book, and one for wafting above the altar during the sacrifice.

The Gospel Book contains first the Order, Rubrics, Incantations, Sentences and Hymns appropriate for use in the liturgy; then it contains chosen readings from the gospels (those of holy Saints Thomas, Hippophilus, Gnato, Makarion and the ancient harmonisation called Dispetrasson); then it contains selections of other holy writings, especially those of The Teacher, Gnato, Zaamzalon, Sylvanus and the Book of the Disciples.

Large churches, called fazil, are laid out in design similar to ships: long and narrow with distinctive front and rear. At the front of a church are the various furnishings and items used by the priest during the sacrifice, and the places for each. This space, at the east end, is generally called the arcosoleon. The rear of the church, called the “boot” or “buttery”, contains various storage places and is the location of the dromes or main doors. The central part is called the navea, and is named for the part of a galley where the rowing benches are located. In this part of the church are located the movable benches where the people sit during sacrifice. Fazil have arcaded windows along the upper parts of the wall, but the lower parts are decorated with frescoes or mosaics; they never have domes.

The Church is One. There are what we might think of *here* as denominations, and these are the great metropolitan churchs -- Alexandrian, Edessan, Antiochian, Mesopotamian, Axiomatic, Niceo-Byzantine, etc. But these are not independent churches having an authority of their own. Kristendom consists of the One Church, and all the bishops of the One Church have their authority in the Councils and Synods. Unity of authority is thus based on collegiality and the consilar nature of the church structure. Unity of practice is based on there being one great litrugy, though there are several principle variants -- the one described above happens to be the Liturgy of Holy Saint Thomas, and is found throughout Eosphora. Unity of purpose and faith is based on the foundations of Tradition: the faith of the Apostles, the evangelion, the creed, the liturgy. There is no ruler, no pope, no first among equals among the bishops. The church is not an imperial structure: it never became the State Religion by imperial act -- the State Religion of the Remen is, of all things, Mithrao-Zoriastrianism. There have been, of course, disagreements and divergences; but there has never been a Great Schism or a Reformation. The nature of a collegial structure is bonding and reforming through hearing of opinions, discussion and consensus adjudication. Had St. Martin Luther had occasion to nail his Theses on a church door in the World, chances are he'd have found that the whole Reformation could be called off on account of there being no need. There was never a papacy at Reme to distort the collegial nature of the Bishops in Council, so the whole Mutual Schism thing never came to be.
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Re: Some Snippets from The World

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Baptism

Baptism was founded upon the teaching of Johannes the Baptiser, who lived some 20 centuries ago and preached repentence in the Jordan River basin in the Decapoleis. According to early Kristian and Iscariotian writings, their own founders, Yeshua of Nazareth (Kristianity) and Judas Iscariot (Iscariotism) were members of the Baptist sect before striking out on thier own; or at least took Johannes's baptism in preparation for their own careers as preachers. (It is maintained by the Baptists that Kristianity is a dissenting sect of Baptism and that Iscariotism is a dissenting sect of Kristianity.) It is claimed of Johannes that he was the appointed messenger or promised prophet of God. After a time, he was brought before the king who was interested in his teaching. The king's daughter was in league with enemies of Johannes and contrived to compel her father to order Johannes's imprisonment and beheading. The king had no choice but to comply or else lose his honor (for so was his thinking, even as he realised how he became duped by his own daughter); but afterward was said to have received a vision of the Baptiser. He repented and atoned for his actions and became the first Baptist monarch in the region.

Baptism remains theologically and practically very close to first century Judaism. Baptists maintained for a long while that they were in fact Jews, citing the developing doctrine of the trinity and the triad in Kristianity and other departures from Judaism. After the final revolt and obliteration of Jerusalem by Roman forces, all four religions (Judaism, Baptism, Iscariotism and Kristianity) had to revaluate themselves, change and cope with the overturn of the old order and the destruction of the temple that was at Jerusalem. Baptists and Kristians as well opened themselves to the Greeks -- the non-Jewish peoples around and became transformed into religions apart from their parent. Iscariotism remained a more isolated religious community.

Baptism is based on the theology of the Fall from Grace (described in Genesis) and the Return to Grace through the process of repentance, atonement and baptism. In practice, Baptism is a rather austere religion. Originally, baptism was a one-time sacrament, but modern Baptists partake of the sacrament several times a year. Worship halls are generally called ecclesias (churches) and are almost always of plain dressed stones which are whitewashed. No icons or any other adornment are to be found within or without. In a prominent location near the front is the arkos, reminiscent of the sanctuary of the Jerusalem temple, and it is in this small room where the scriptures for worship services are kept. Baptist religious observance is marked by performance of austerities and fasting. As Greek influence entered Baptism, doctrines such as the divine God-Man (incarnation) and the Osiris type of resurrexion become prevalent. The doctrine of the Blessed Mother (Elizabeth), who miraculously bore the messiah while at a very advanced age, developped very early on. It became a cult practice to celebrate the advent and birth of Johannes on 25 December (old feast of Sol Invictus) with much hymnody, fasting, exchange of gifts and rites of atonement.

The key proponent of Baptism early on was a man named Apollos of Alexandria who travelled widely in the Levant and Ehrran preaching the baptism of Johannes. The disciples of Johannes (of whom Apollos was chief) each committed to writing memoirs of Johannes's teaching and deeds in a format that would be also utilised by the Kristian evangelists. Several letters from Apollos to various Baptist churches round out the canon of scripture.

An adversarial relationship exists among the Baptists, the Iscariotians and the Kristians in the Westlands, as the writings of these religions make references to the other in a rather dismissive fashion. It is also apparent in the historical Acts of the three churches that several prominent members of the other churches converted to the other religions. The Sutra of John the Baptiser and Sharma Master is known in the Eastlands, though in the West the Baptists have many more books in their scripture, including many Jewish writings not also included in the Kristian bible. Their symbol is a T or cross shaped staff draped with a long, rough garment of the Baptiser.

Baptism spread into the Ehrranean east as well as into the Arabian south. In the former land, the Mandean religion developped among the Baptist immigrants while in the latter land, Baptism remained vigorous and contiguous of creed with the rest of the Levant. Some proponents of Baptism developped a curious set of beliefs concerning Johannes and Yeshua. They accept the old belief that the two founders of the two religions were cousins, but more, they believe that Yeshua's father was one of the fallen angels while Johannes's father was one of the righteous angels. This doctrine made the cousins nephilim, but while Yeshua's nature was of the fallen nephilim (they point to his long sojurn with Lucifer in the deserts and later in the garden at Gethsemane as proof), Johannes's nature was of the unfallen nephilim -- the Sons of God. This dichotomy explained for them the differences and similarities between the two religions (for they account Kristianity as a counterfeit of Johannes's true teachings).

In Arabia, in later centuries, an ardent convert to Baptism was Mohamat and he would compose a new gospel, the Gospel of the Baptist to the Arabs which would bequeathe to Baptism a particularly Arabian flavour.

Baptism has remained the closest to its Jewish roots and this is reflected in its leadership. It does not have the priestly hierarchy found among the Kristian churches.

In Ehrran and the Helladic kingdoms to the north and east, the Baptists are called Sabians. They are described as monotheists who read from a scripture called the Samra or psalms. According to Persian historiographers, the Sabians "wash themselves with water, keep long their hair which they wind up in a kind of turban, and wear white gowns. Their creeds resemble those of the Jews and the Kristians, though they are in fact neither Jewish nor Kristian." They worship the One God through the intermediacy of angels, whom they hold to be "pure and free from physical impediment; who are above place and time, rather they are created pure and holy." They believe the angels inhabit the stars, and some have erroneously called them "star worshippers". When they pray at mid day, they face the south. At morning prayers, they face the sunrise and at evening prayers, they face the sunset. Of those who pray at night, they face the north star. On account of this, some have erroneously called them "sun worshippers". They aver that by facing the sun during prayer, they must close their eyes to all distractions of the world and focus on their prayer alone. Sabians fast for one month.

Baptist priests wear a long white vestment with a kind of coloured scarf draped over the left shoulder so that the long ends hang down from the left shoulder to front and back. Also, a white turban is worn.

Baptist monasteries are secluded places where Baptist evangelists, or "prophets" may go to study and rest from their duties or else meditate in seclusion from society. Baptist monks and evangelists in seclusion lead very austere lives: they eat only very plain foods, wear plain clothing and engage in activities that support the monastery community, such as farming and making or repairing whatever articles the community needs.
Last edited by elemtilas on 01 Nov 2015 16:36, edited 1 time in total.
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