video / action

[hymnals]

Who: Adrasteius; perhaps you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Bishop; kitchens
When: N to the O W

[Adra's in the ship's kitchen, seated at the table. A shimmering, golden aura limns his entire body, concentrated particularly at the crown of his blonde head. The faint impression of angelic wings blinks in and out of corporeality on his back as he speaks, sometimes seeming almost solid.]

I'm here today to speak to you about the Light. No, I don't mean that thing in the ceiling, or the sun, or any physical, mechanical sources of illumination, so let's nip that idiot question right in the bud. I'm talking religion, people, which some of you desperately need. A religion that isn't bullshit.

[He leans forward; steeples his hands.]

First of all: no gods. No capital G 'God' or 'Maker' or 'Creator' or what-have-you. No offense if that's part of the dogma, I guess, but it doesn't strike me right. Most of the gods I've met needed a swift kick to their many-mouthed faces, personally.

Second of all: no judgment. Of course, those who wield the Light can and must judge, but the Light itself brooks no discrimination. Whatever you've done, and for whatever reason you've done it, the Light forgives. The Light is grace: by definition, ever present, albeit never deserved. A gift of the universe.

Because, you see, the Light is an omnipresent, divine force. It is the name we give to every person's individual connection the universe. Under its teaching, we recognize our place in the great span of space and time--and our responsibility to influence the universe positively, to bring comfort, to soothe pain, to offer hope.

[Adra gestures with his hands, and as he does so, Light sparks from his fingers. The energy darts around the room, looking for all the world like a cascade of shooting stars. He might be trying to show off a little--or, at least, just trying to demonstrate that what he's talking about can be empirically observed.]

Practitioners follow a path of three virtues: respect, tenacity, and compassion, taught in that order. Don't worry: I won't go into it. Not today.

[But another day. Sooner rather than later.

The glow around his body fades. He smiles, a beatific, genuine expression.]

The point is--religion doesn't have to be damaging. It doesn't have to be oppressive. There are philosophies, churches, that work for good. Mine is one of them. It's here for you. I'm here for you.

Just letting you know.

Comments

[asinisterkid]

So it's loving and accepting except sometimes burning and/or smiting needs to happen. Got it. At least it sounds like the burning is a here-and-now kind of thing, instead of post-death and forever. Or am I wrong about that?

And how do you define the darkness? What makes a person or an organization worthy of holy smiting?

[hymnals]

Maybe I used too many big words. Let me break it down so you can understand, before we continue with the big boy discussion.

Even if you're an asshole, you can still do better. Even if you're a monstrous, raging, oversimplifying fuck who wants to speak like he's got razors in his mouth from all the edge, you can still do better. Unless you've somehow misapprehended 'love' to mean 'childish complacency in the face of wrongdoing'? Hmm?

[asinisterkid]

Oooh, touchy.

Let me give you a little bit of context: where I'm from, we've got a long history of religions that preach forgiveness and love starting holy wars, killing people for the sake of "saving their souls", and generally being raging dicks, because their idea of forgiveness was posthumous, and their idea of wrongdoing extended to other religions and how people have sex, and with whom. And all of them swore up and down that they were doing good. So far, you sound marginally different that they do, but not enough to make me jump on the "Yay Light!" bandwagon without raising some questions.

So let me break down exactly what I'm looking for. Are holy wars and crusades a thing where you're from? Have they been in the past? Do you have a clear definition of what constitutes wrongdoing, and what constitutes an acceptable use of force for the sake of protecting others?

I'm all for stopping bad people from doing bad things, whether you want to call that religion or basic decency. But where's the line? I genuinely want to know.

[ And him of all people asking where the line is might seem hypocritical to anyone who knows him and what he does... But just because his personal line is far beyond where Batman draws his doesn't mean he doesn't have one. ]

...Asshole or not, I'm willing to be convinced.

[hymnals]

[Well, in the interest of full disclosure.]

I mean, we do have holy wars. But they're against the legions of the undead.

[asinisterkid]

[ Well. That could be a problem. Jason may not see himself as undead, exactly, but he was dead, and now he's not, and he's sure as fuck not Vigilante Jesus. ]

Legions of the undead, huh? Mind telling me what the deal is with them, if it's not too much of a digression?

[hymnals]

Mmm, there's an army in Azeroth, or--there was, it's mostly in fragments now. A powerful entity--godlike, you might say--enslaved scores and scores of undead to his will. The Lich King. He called his army the Scourge, and they razed two kingdoms. Lordaeron, belonging to the humans, and Quel'thalas. My own.

Some of them were mindless ghouls. Slavering monsters, big flesh-stitched abominations, the like. Others retained their own personality, but it was leashed to the Lich King's will. Some of those people broke free, and fought with us against their former master. My own brother was among them, though his freedom was hard-won.

[asinisterkid]

So mind-controlled, kingdom-destroying undead get a holy war, regular "used to be dead, not anymore" types don't. That's reassuring. [ There's a notable lack of sarcasm in his tone, there. ]

...I'm sorry about... Quel'thalas? Is that right? [ He's good at picking up pronunciation, but it never hurts to double-check. ]

[hymnals]

Correct.

[THAT IS A NOTABLE LACK OF SARCASM, especially given his earlier replies. Adra runs a hand through his hair. Hmm. He will save that for another time.]

We lost everything. Nearly wiped out the entire population, in fact. But--that's neither here nor there. You asked about morality.

Within our philosophy, there's Light, and there's Shadow.

[CAPITALIZED.]

Practitioners of the Light believe in creating a good relationship with the universe. So think of what constitutes a 'positive' action. It could be anything from standing up for someone who can't do it themselves to offering food for the hungry. In other words, when you create positive outcomes, you reinforce your connection to the universe.

Now, the opposite. Actions that cause pain, fear, misery. Actions that seek to control others, whether in body or spirit. These actions weaken your connection to the universe, create negative energy, and draw you to the Shadow.

One can't exist without the other, of course, and we can't avoid hurting others all the time. But priests of the Light advocate fostering a positive relationship as much as possible.

[asinisterkid]

Y'know, where I'm from, there are people who take light and darkness metaphors and extend them to skin-color based prejudice: light-skinned people good, dark-skinned people bad. Made a convenient justification for slavery, too, though that's history and not current practice. Not a criticism of your religious symbolism so much as a nod to the fact that there's not much people won't fuck up if given the chance. [ And this would be why Jason's suspicious -- his world makes fucking religion up into an art form. ]

But I digress. So far, this sounds like a pretty decent moral system, even if I can't say much for your means of spreading the good news about your religion. I'm not saying you should sign me up just yet, but I'm game for learning more.

Think I could hit you up for some hardcore moral discussion in a more private setting? [ Too many of Jason's questions about moral ambiguity revolve around things he's done. And while he's interested in just what this oh-so-religious elfy person makes of his particular situation, there are things he doesn't want the whole fleet knowing about. ]

[hymnals]

[Prejudices aren't based on skin color in Azeroth, so while he understands the concept of judgment via arbitrary differences, that particular slice of info doesn't mean much to him.]

Not... sure what all that means with skin and so on, but if you'd like to dig into the specifics of moral philosophy, I'm happy to oblige.

[asinisterkid]

[ Jason's smile is utterly humorless. Though at least the confusion on the other guy's part seems genuine. ]

It's probably for the best that you have no idea what I'm talking about. Just chalk it up to my world's long and ugly religious history.

Anyway, do you have a location in mind? The Paisley's a little short on privacy, but if you'd rather come over here, by all means.

[hymnals]

I've never heard of a world without an ugly history, religious or otherwise. I can come to you. The kitchen, or do you lot have rooms over there?

[asinisterkid]

No private rooms, sorry to say. I get the feeling upgrades weren't much of a priority around here.

The kitchen works for me, though. I've been busy in here for most of the day anyway.

[hymnals]

[He wonders--a cook? Adra loves cooking. Seems a little out of place to ask just now, though.]

I'll meet you there.

[AND HE'S OFF.]

action;

[asinisterkid]

[ Jason's waiting in the kitchen, as promised, along with a pot of meat-and-vegetable soup that actually contains real meat and real vegetables. Granted, they were both dehydrated when he started, and the waystation vending machine wasn't too clear on just what kind of meat it was, but it still beats flavored protein.

He waves a hello when Adra comes in. ]

Hey. We never actually got around to exchanging names, did we? I'm Jason Todd. Can I get you something to drink? Or some soup or something?

[ They may have been verbally sniping over the network, but this guy's here as his guest, and he's not a complete savage. ]

[hymnals]

[He smells that meat. It's a decent, savory scent, so he doesn't disapprove, but he waves his hand, 'no'.]

I only drink water that I conjure myself, and I'm a vegetarian.