Comments | forissancta: [Multiple Locks]

forissancta

[Multiple Locks]

Nov 12, 2008 14:27

[Locked to Wanderers]

You don't know me, and you have no reason to believe me. I'm just one man, with my beliefs and a few like-minded individuals, but this is something which concerns you all. It's my earnest hope that you'll give me a few minutes of your time, to read my words and to consider them.

Listen:

This was not an accident. Your ( Read more... )

locked: elashte, journal, locked: wanderers

Comments 43

elashte November 12 2008, 23:31:41 UTC

My old friend! I was wondering where fortune would toss you in our direction. Really, I'm surprised you didn't come earlier. (Though I imagine coming mush earlier would have placed you on Romana's warpath. She was not, I hear, much one for Riftcomers.)

We should have dinner sometime. Where are you staying?

forissancta November 12 2008, 23:57:43 UTC

Not one for Riftcomers, and, I would imagine, not one for Nephilim, either. Archangels, past and present, rarely are.

Even so, I'd have been here much sooner, but for certain complications. The spirit was willing but the flesh... Well. Some things are unavoidable.

Dinner would be very welcome, indeed. We've acquired a small building for the time being, at [address, not in the best part of town, but not horrific, either].

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but the fact that a demon has not only proven more sympathetic than I could have imagined, but has come to power while still championing reason...

That gives me hope, old friend. Thank you for that.

elashte November 13 2008, 00:10:01 UTC

Oh, there's no great secret to gaining power among demons. Live to a certain age and a great many will cluster under your banner. It remains to be seen how they will react when the more conservative and reactionary among us decide to make Chicago the place to prove their fortunes.

But far be it for me to dampen your spirits. There is hope yet for all of us. In fact, I should introduce you to the young woman who seems to have taken charge of the Archangels' side; she seems to be quite reasonable.

forissancta November 13 2008, 00:24:08 UTC

Don't worry about my spirits. I wouldn't have lived as long as I have if I was blind to the realities of the world. It's impossible to realise an ideal future without acknowledging the imperfect present, after all.

That said, it's still telling that you've accomplished as much as you have. And if there's a reasonable voice on the side of the Archangels... It seems like I may yet live long enough for some good to come of this, after all.

Thread 5

thatsortofaman November 13 2008, 00:06:03 UTC

I can promise you the Rift isn't conscious. It's a hole in space and time and the walls between universes.

Who are you? And you can forget the "just a messenger" thing, I mean... really.

forissancta November 13 2008, 00:55:27 UTC

Oh, can you, Doctor? With your machines and your hypotheses, your 'Rift manipulator' built from the scraps the Rift itself gave you, have you ever truly felt the Rift? Have you had every flare and flicker write itself in fire on your nerves? Have you looked through it to see the worlds it touches, felt it reach out and take someone and bring them here, to this place, out of every other world it borders?

I have.

Angels and demons, two imperfect halves of a whole, and I myself am a product of a flawed union between them. My kind are the Nephilim, in a species sense, and I'm one of the Emim, if you'd like to get down to sub-types. We're attuned to the Rift. More than what we do, it's part of what we are. This isn't to say all of us share the same opinions. I am, as far as I know, unique in the extent of my study of the Rift, and my attempts to understand it ( ... )

thatsortofaman November 13 2008, 01:19:14 UTC

You couldn't have found all that about me just from the Rift. Someone knowing this much about me before we've even met isn't usually an encouraging sign, if you're me, so. How do you know all that?

And I'm sorry, but it's not. It's really not. That's always the thing with humans - angels, demons, nephilim, whatever you like, you're close enough from everything I've seen - you do love your superstition. Always seeing patterns and purpose when there's nothing but coincidence. I've seen men devote more than thirty-eight years to studying a thing and still come up completely wrong.

forissancta November 13 2008, 03:11:29 UTC

The Rift touches more than the people who come through it. This world is home to several varieties of people who've been affected by the Rift in one way or another, and given abilities beyond the human norm. Shapeshifters, vampires, mages... All of them Rift-touched. A very dear friend of mine receives visions, usually relating directly to those of you that have come through. His own researches on the Rift after discovering his ability led him to me ( ... )

Thread 6

sensi_doctor November 13 2008, 00:38:17 UTC

...

I'm holy?

forissancta November 13 2008, 01:05:30 UTC

It's difficult to believe, I know.

But even the most seemingly trivial of abilities, or the most ordinary of people, is part of a greater purpose. Your actions here, no matter how small, have the potential to change so much about this world.

sensi_doctor November 13 2008, 01:15:34 UTC

Really?

So I can be like a hero or something? I mean, I can make things better here? I'd really like to do that. Somehow. I'm just being a busboy now. I used to be a doctor in my own world, came here and got a fancy power and just... existed. Almost got exploded once, but that's... not really important.

It's just it kind of feels like I just exist here, y'know? Like I don't belong. How can I make sure I'm changing things for the better? And not making a horrible mistake that will alter everything for the worse?

forissancta November 13 2008, 04:49:28 UTC

I'm afraid I have no simple answers. The confidence that there is a larger design doesn't mean I'm privy to its details, nor does it mean that I'm infallible. But yes, I do believe that you could change things for the better, and that if you couldn't, you wouldn't be here ( ... )

shealone_stands November 13 2008, 01:25:13 UTC

Yeah, I've heard the whole "chosen" speech before. Been there, done that, pretty much over it.

forissancta November 13 2008, 12:29:49 UTC

I'm very sorry if that called up unpleasant associations. That wasn't my intent in the slightest.

If it's any consolation, I have no intention of pushing you into a destiny you don't want. I may believe that destiny exists, but I see no reason to force anyone into carrying it out.

I'm here to smooth the path, Ms. Summers. The choice whether to walk it or not is yours, as much as it's anyone's.

[locked] nowinprint November 13 2008, 01:33:10 UTC

Uh, not to impugn your faith or anything, but have you noticed that every once in a while you get a wanderer who's basically the scum of the earth? I mean, I know some great guys, but we're still a mixed bag and every once in a while you get one bad dirty bomb spoiling the bunch.

Or as the Beeblebrox might say, we're just zese guys, you know?

[locked] forissancta November 13 2008, 14:25:15 UTC

No mythology is made up entirely of beings of good, Ms. Lang. I don't expect every Riftcomer to be be a paragon of saintly virtue. I do believe that everyone that's come has had an effect, however, which serves a greater pattern. Ripples in the pond, to borrow an analogy.

I'm not going to wholeheartedly approve of any action by those who've crossed over, by any means. But the sudden drastic increase in Riftcomers is, I believe, a symbol of a greater change that's taking place, and there is a reason for that change.

[locked] nowinprint November 13 2008, 16:34:17 UTC

Okay, but you've been saying you don't know what that greater pattern is. Have you considered that it may not be specifically beneficent or even benign? Even assuming that we can go on a teleological field day with the old Rift, I know of a few wanderers who could, say, rip the damn thing open and start a cascade that'd make it grow to cover the planet. Which, if the Rift is a living thing in its own right, I imagine would make it very happy in terms of survival because there's nothing to say it needs a functioning ecosystem to feed on, while anyone who was invested in having the Earth support life would be SOL. And it's not like it hasn't done things like start earthquakes, kill a bunch of people, and dump plague-ridden corpses through. Even alongside the smaller annoyances like deliberately removing people from things they might need or their own better qualities ( ... )

[locked] forissancta November 13 2008, 20:47:03 UTC

All excellent points, and all I can say to that is that there lies the difference between fact and faith. The facts show both good and ill that have resulted from Rift activity. But it's my faith that tells me that the greater plan is an ultimately beneficial one.

Thanks in part to Riftcomers and the Rift itself, we're seeing a time of attempted peace between angels and demons, in which both sides are learning to listen more to reason than to biological urges. The plague which caused so much pain and suffering resulted in the bonding of a Guardian Angel to a Neqa'el, something which, to the best of my knowledge, has never before occurred.

Too much is in flux right now for there to be any certainty. But I find certain things curious: the Rift in Rome, where, for much of the archaic period, Janus was the supereme god, until Jupiter took his place. Janus, the god who presided over doorways and gates, watched over transitions, even from one universe to another, who saw backwards and forwards in time... And although I have no definitive ( ... )