ataraxion | 001 ∞ VIDEO

Entry tags:

001 ∞ VIDEO

[He's been lurking on the networks since his arrival, reading everything he can get his hands on, but no sign of that shows in his expression. (Better to show trust and goodwill towards his fellow passengers by showing his voice and face. He's wearing the uniform, in order to foster a sense of common ground among those who haven't got other clothes.) Leoben smiles, calm and candid.]

Hi. I'm new here, and it seems to be the custom to introduce yourself. I'm Leoben.

I was wondering - does anyone have any religious texts they'd be willing to share? Or any works on prophecy, divination, or philosophy? Seems like my universe has some things in common with most of yours, but a lot that's different. I'd be glad to know more about other people's faiths, and to introduce them to mine.

I've got a complete copy of the Sacred Scrolls of the Twelve Colonies, and I can provide a digitized copy to anyone who's interested. [He says this as though it's normal, as though it's not blasphemous to set the Sacred Scrolls in print instead of keeping them handwritten, besides being abhorrent for scripture to be in the hands of a Cylon.] Our faiths are similar, but the Colonials look to many gods, while we look to one. It's a little complicated.

I'm very happy to have this opportunity to learn more about such a diverse group of people - human and non-humans of all kinds, their cultures and beliefs - and to spread God's word, in accordance with His holy will, among you all. [He seems to actually mean this, and to be downright thrilled to find himself captive on a creepy half-abandoned spaceship adrift in the stars.]

And Kara? I'd love to see you, whenever you've got the time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Slightly stiff smile.] Being thrown out an airlock isn't the most pleasant way to die. I've had it done to me before, so if it's all the same to you I'll pass. You want to execute me, I'd rather be shot or have my throat cut. [Gentle, reminicient tone.] Especially if you can get Kara to do it, for old times' sake.

I've been called a zealot myself. I don't see it as a bad thing. If you serve your gods faithfully, that can only speak well of you as a believer, even if you don't believe the same things I do.

[ What the frak are you talking about? ]

[It was such a special time in his life, Kara. In both their lives.]

Haven't met Kara. [ And she's prefer something with a little more teeth. ]

Considering it's my job to serve one god in particular, you might be able to see why I'm a little touchy about people going around saying there's only one.

It's never fun to have someone deny your most deeply held beliefs to your face. It's like denying you as a person, and in my experience the two things often happen together.

Who's the god you serve?

Well, you're talking to the bitch who did it, so why don't you tell her that? [ Fun fact: it's the kid. ]

Coyote. An Earth god from North America, trickster, just-like-Creator -- if any of that means anything to you.

I'm not sure who you're talking about, or what happened between you, but I'm sorry.

I've got a little knowledge of trickster gods - the principal one among the Colonials is Hermes, although there are others. [ Beat. ] Did you say 'Earth'?

Told you already.

Hermes is from Earth. Greek, Roman name Mercury -- like the planet. And yeah, Earth. Most of us on this floating deathtrap are from Earth.

I've been to two planets called Earth. Not sure if either is the one you're talking about, or if we mean the same thing when we say Hermes. But Mercury is another one of the names I know, from the Ancient Virgon language.

Only one Earth, as far as I know. But gods change with belief. They're powered by it. If he was the Hermes I know once in your universe, he may still be the Hermes you have heard of now. Just different.

The many gods -- do they have names?

Edited 2012-08-14 03:40 (UTC)

[ WHO THE FRAK ARE YOU (~~OMG, are you the girl, sulu’s frakking?~~) and how do you know about the gods?
(Yes, she believes in multiple gods - unlike the toaster here.)

So please excuse Kara as she quietly listens in on your chatting, as you clearly have her attention. ]

[ ~~KARA HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING~~ ]

[ ~~Shot in the dark. And it's obvious the boys getting some, somewhere. ]~~

Most of them have many names, depending on the aspect of them you're calling on. You could call on Aphrodite as patron of true love or of wronged love, of procreation, of prostitution, of certain cities, of pure and abstract principles or of the common people. I could go on.

The Colonials call the one I serve, "The one whose name must not be spoken."

Aphrodite. Another Greek. Venus, to the Romans. And where I'm from, of the main religions that believes in one True God, some also say you can't speak His name. Some just call Him "I am".

[ Jaye shifts in place, leaning forward a little to get a better look at him through the camera. One of her earrings dangles down in front of her face, silver with a blue feather. ] If I gave you a list of names, could you tell me which you recognize? Names of gods and angels and demons from where and when I'm from, to see which our universes might have in common. It'd be interesting.

[Fascinated now] What's that religion called?

I'd be very interested, too. We believe that everything, all of history and the time before recorded history exists as part of a Great Cycle of Time, in which events recur and we're all born and reborn to different roles. It's not surprising that the same gods would reappear throughout the different, but I'd love to know more.

Judaism. But if I remember correctly, the phrase that made it to be considered one of His names is a part of the holy book of several religions. There are a lot that are connected on Earth, and not just religions with only one god.

Reincarnation. Also not a new concept. Cycles either, though I think I got bored when some of those were being explained. [ There's a rub at her forehead. ]

All right. Just a couple names to start out with, I think. Ares, Mars, Hera, Thoth, Djehuti, Fenrir or Fenrisúlfr, Belial, Anansi, the Morrígan, Uriel, and Tlaloc.

Judaism. [Getting maybe a little too eager/intense, because omg this is relevant to his interests.] Do you know much about the other kinds of monotheism on Earth? Are they all connected, or did they arise in different places?

[Takes a breath, and subsides into a more thoughtful tone] Ares and Mars are generally considered two names for the same god, though there are some differences in practice and legends, as there are for many throughout the Twelve Colonies. Ares was the patron of Tauron, a very traditional and troubled planet.

Hera is the Queen of Heaven, also called Isis or Aset depending on where you are. It's also the name of the first child born between the Cylon and the human peoples, who we all love and revere as the Shape of Things to Come.

Thoth is one of the names of the god known as Apollo in Caprican traditions. It's the name used on Gemenon. I don't know of a god named Djehuti, but it sounds Gemenese.

Morrígan was a queen and priestess of Hecate on Aerilon. Used to be a pretty common name there, centuries ago, but it's considered unlucky now.

Belial...[tone and expression suggests this is getting extremely arcane] There are mentions of Belial and 'Auriel' as messengers of certain gods or perhaps gods in their own right, in some of the more obscure scriptures, the ones the mainstream Colonial traditions consider apocryphal. The Sagittaron traditions call Auriel the god of repentance - think he used to have a small temple in the Pantheon complex in Illumini.

I'm not familiar with the others, sorry.

Judaism, the multiple denominations of Christianity, and Islam all share the beginning of the same Holy Book. They differ on parts that come later.

Ares and Mars are the same god -- Ares for the Greeks, Mars for the Romans. The god of war, and one of the lovers of Aphrodite.

Hera was also Greek, though Isis was Egyptian. Both queens, though Hera is often jealous due to how much her husband, Zeus, cheated on her. Hera is the goddess of women and marriage, and her Roman name is Juno. Isis, or Aset, is often idolized as the ideal wife and mother, and took care of her husband Osiris when he was killed, and stood by him after he returned to life.

Thoth and Djehuty are also the same god, and also Egyptian, though he and Apollo are different -- Thoth was often connected to Hermes, something about messengers. Thoth is a god of scribes, magic, and the moon, while Apollo is a Greek god of the son.

The Morrígan is a goddess of battle from Ireland. She's sometimes considered to be three sisters.

Belial is a demon, while Uriel an angel. Angels serve the One God, while demons and fallen angels oppose Him. Belial's also only mentioned in apocrypha, which suits him pretty well because he's a fucking asshole. Uriel is called the Light of God and the angel of repentance.

[ She tilts her head, smiles. ] It's more than I thought you would know. I could tell you about the others, if you wanted -- it's been a long time since anyone would listen.

Lots of parallels, then. Things recurring. But there's only one tradition of monotheism where I come from, and it's pretty recent. Very recent, actually.

[Returns the smile] The Cylon take a certain amount of pride in knowing more about Colonial religion than they do. And it's my specialty - well, mine and the Threes, but they were always more hostile towards other faiths. [Sounds a little sad, saying this.]

I'd love to hear more. About all of them, but especially about angels. Some of us have had ... associations with angels.

As far as religions go, those three are maybe more recent. There's debate, and I never really did care. But what's a Cylon? Just the name for anyone who follows your god?

There are lots of angels. Not all have names that anyone knows, and they're not my area of expertise. [ A pause. ] "Associations"? You didn't fuck one, did you?

I mean "within several decades" recent. We haven't really had time to develop sects.

The Cylon are a race of biocybernetic lifeforms. We call ourselves the Children of Humanity, but it's...complicated, our origin, and our relationship to humans. Most of us followed the One God, but not all.

'Fuck'? [a little flustered, very unusually for Leoben] If...that means what I think it means... [totally taking the Fifth on this, omg] That...may have been the case. In a couple of cases.

Edited 2012-08-14 06:33 (UTC)

Oh, just wait. You'll rip yourselves apart. Most wars back home involve religion in some way or another, and that's with a rising disbelief in any gods at all.

Okay, you're going to have to use the small words here, Preacher. I stopped going to school at sixteen.

"Fuck" here meaning sex, yeah. It's a versatile word. [ Jaye you just said small words, versatile is not a small word. ] So you boned some angels? They'd be kicked out of Heaven for that back home. I think. That's what they seem to want people to believe anyway, but maybe that's just the Catholic angels.

[Bitter laugh.] Not many of us left to tear apart, after the wars. Some of the humans are converting, though.

What was I too fancy about?

The word's "frak" in Caprican. And ... kicked out of Heaven? Why?

People find a way anyway.

Biocybernetic?

Huh. And because most of those religions, or at least the people in them, seem to think sex is some thing only married people can do. No jerking off either -- that would be masturbating, hopefully it's not jraking off in Caprican because that just sounds ridiculous. Priests in certain denominations are not allowed to marry at all and therefore are doomed to a life of no sex or fun with their own genitals. Catholics don't even like contraception all that much.

001 ∞ VIDEO

Re: video;

(SO NOT HERE)

(Not here either, because you weren't.)

video;

Re: video;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(DONT MIND HER, SHES NOT HERE)

(AND NEITHER IS THIS)

(lalala still not here)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Man, getting a workout from the Battlestar wiki and others tonight.

lmfao SORRY...

Nah, I'm just obsessive. :)

oh she's back to being vulgar again

Re: oh she's back to being vulgar again

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)