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THE REGENT'S ADDRESS [OPEN TO ALL]
[It comes on fast, once the Regent has your spirit in their hold. Around you, you may see other Aions stumble in the same moment, as if shaken by the same tectonic motion. An inexorable darkness claws at your senses, and you have only a few moments, hard fought, to reposition yourself so that you don't simply drop to the ground when it overtakes you. It has similarities to Communion, to the way another entity's thoughts and words reach out to your mind, but by the same token it's entirely foreign.
This presence is not like another person, it is like a raging, screaming cacophony that drowns out everything else in its path. Whether you be Kenoma or Pleroma, the Regent's presence in this metaphysical realm is staggering. To the Pleroma, though, it also feels caustic, as if the movement of their aura is enough to erode your own, with time.
Gradually, a new world forms. Unlike other Communions, where you are ultimately grounded in reality, here you can been dragged to what seems to be its own distinct psychic realm. A vast, void-filled courtroom, where only the throne at its front has a defined form. Around you, you see shadows of other people, other Aions, that have summoned along with you... but for the moment they seem spectral and unclear, their identities obscured by the realm's aggressive focus on its master.
The Regent sits at their throne, their body swathed in dark fabrics that drift and flutter like smoke. They have no face to be seen, only a faceted silver mask, without any markings or the barest indication of what might be beneath it. Their size is indistinct, maybe a bit taller than you are. They at first sit reclined, but straight up as their 'guests' arrive.]
It's been a long time coming, my subjects.
[At first, they are the only one that can be heard. Though you feel as if you have some physical presence here, a shadowy body of your own, if you attempt to speak no sound emerges.]
To the Pleroma: well done surviving thus far. Granted, I feel as if my Kenoma have made things easy for you. How strange, that most of you were allowed to wander a city within my empire without recourse. Able to summon that wretched creature to your side, even.
I hope you've enjoyed yourself, in the time you've had, because this will be no more. You've spread your infection in Venera, in Godsblood, and it is only necessary that these wounds be cleansed by the touch of the Kenoma. Your presence gives the people ideas... ideas that would disrupt the fragile peace they've come to enjoy, after so many years of suffering. As a kindness, I will only trim the vine, rather than burn the vineyard. What Venerans have taken up your cause, I will see shorn from my empire. And in Godsblood... an example will be made, as of the Sovereign's moon.
My Kenoma will do this for me. Fight them, if you want. But know that I am no longer asking for your fealty. I am demanding it.
[As if opening their court for questions, you will find yourself more able to act. Those that speak or take action will find their physical forms taking shape, standing in the court as people rather than shadows. If you want to question the Regent, now is the time to do so.
OOC: This post is a free for all! We will try to response as the Regent to people who directly engage with them, but you are also allowed to threadjack and interact with each other if you like. Please note that we will not be responding to tag ins done later than the 12th.]
This presence is not like another person, it is like a raging, screaming cacophony that drowns out everything else in its path. Whether you be Kenoma or Pleroma, the Regent's presence in this metaphysical realm is staggering. To the Pleroma, though, it also feels caustic, as if the movement of their aura is enough to erode your own, with time.
Gradually, a new world forms. Unlike other Communions, where you are ultimately grounded in reality, here you can been dragged to what seems to be its own distinct psychic realm. A vast, void-filled courtroom, where only the throne at its front has a defined form. Around you, you see shadows of other people, other Aions, that have summoned along with you... but for the moment they seem spectral and unclear, their identities obscured by the realm's aggressive focus on its master.
The Regent sits at their throne, their body swathed in dark fabrics that drift and flutter like smoke. They have no face to be seen, only a faceted silver mask, without any markings or the barest indication of what might be beneath it. Their size is indistinct, maybe a bit taller than you are. They at first sit reclined, but straight up as their 'guests' arrive.]
It's been a long time coming, my subjects.
[At first, they are the only one that can be heard. Though you feel as if you have some physical presence here, a shadowy body of your own, if you attempt to speak no sound emerges.]
To the Pleroma: well done surviving thus far. Granted, I feel as if my Kenoma have made things easy for you. How strange, that most of you were allowed to wander a city within my empire without recourse. Able to summon that wretched creature to your side, even.
I hope you've enjoyed yourself, in the time you've had, because this will be no more. You've spread your infection in Venera, in Godsblood, and it is only necessary that these wounds be cleansed by the touch of the Kenoma. Your presence gives the people ideas... ideas that would disrupt the fragile peace they've come to enjoy, after so many years of suffering. As a kindness, I will only trim the vine, rather than burn the vineyard. What Venerans have taken up your cause, I will see shorn from my empire. And in Godsblood... an example will be made, as of the Sovereign's moon.
My Kenoma will do this for me. Fight them, if you want. But know that I am no longer asking for your fealty. I am demanding it.
[As if opening their court for questions, you will find yourself more able to act. Those that speak or take action will find their physical forms taking shape, standing in the court as people rather than shadows. If you want to question the Regent, now is the time to do so.
OOC: This post is a free for all! We will try to response as the Regent to people who directly engage with them, but you are also allowed to threadjack and interact with each other if you like. Please note that we will not be responding to tag ins done later than the 12th.]
no subject
Your assuming that it's different is the fear I'm talking about. And I understand if you can't let go of that. For a long time, I couldn't let go of that. I couldn't let go of a lot of things.
But the Kenoma...helps. It gives whatever you experience a purpose. Life isn't arbitrary, and it isn't meaningless. Some of you assume that we're saying that, but we aren't. It's the opposite, actually. Knowing that you're working toward healing the suffering the world experiences on a constant basis is one of the highest purposes that one can work toward.
no subject
Abel goes quiet to give it a momentary thought. he doesn't want to make light of this, after all - to make light of Paul's beliefs and his way of thinking, and he appreciates the open dialogue in this place of all places.
...but even so, perhaps theirs are two viewpoints that might never meet. it doesn't hurt, though, does it? talking like this, sharing how they feel bereft of judgment... ]
Do you believe the suffering man feels now is meaningless? That it's without purpose?
[ an earnest question. does the Kenoma give it additional meaning in Paul's eyes?
or does he feel that the trials of life are simply senseless to begin with, bereft of that purpose?
maybe it's neither. Abel would like to know. ]
no subject
I wouldn't say it's meaningless, not with the way the world is now. Not with the way everything ties together, the way everything works. It shapes us, doesn't it? That's the point that's usually meant to be made when questions like this are asked, and I get it. I know know things like that have shaped me, at least.
As for without purpose... That's not exactly it, either.
[Mm.]
What we believe is that it doesn't have to be this way. Suffering doesn't have to be a part of the eternal plan that's laid out for us. We deserve better. So do you.
I think the word we're looking for is "needless", rather than "meaningless."
no subject
and in others, it is its perfect match.
Abel feels his heart sink to realize the duality of this force of nature. the Kenoma is not inherently evil, and neither are those who follow it; he understands and truthfully believes this. but anything... anything if followed to excess can be detrimental. damaging. can cost one precious things they don't realize they've lost until they're too far gone to even feel the loss.
...the same can be said of the Pleroma, of course. it might not be as immediately evident but it, too, is imperfect and capable of irreparable damage. ]
What you describe... this perfect solace-- this end that is nothing but peace... I can understand why you so fervently wish after it, sir.
[ and if what Paul says is as true as Abel believes it is, then this man's motives for seeking such finality are pure-hearted. but... ]
But suffering is only one part of the human condition, and much as it's a painful one... it's a necessary one as well. How do we learn... grow, if not through pain? How do we learn to treasure what's precious to us if we never know hardship or loss? ...If Venera taught us anything, it is precisely that-- that peace won through such means isn't one we can't accept, can we?
no subject
[There's something a little more invested there now, still calm and even but there's an undercurrent of something.]
Those who have died to plague, or war, or simply because a dictator said so - what growth did they get out of that entire situation? I watched a young girl die of polio once. She drowned in her own lungs. She was ten. Tell me, because I would like to know - what, exactly, was the lesson she was supposed to learn from that?
There are lessons, I guess, that humanity learns - about the plagues, from the wars. My question to you, then, is this: how many people are worth the lesson?
no subject
[ this question is, ironically enough, one Abel asked from the other side of the fence too many times to count himself. it's a little surreal to be on this end of the discussion now - but things have changed, time has passed, and even if he knows better than to suggest he has the answers... because he doesn't, he also knows neither does Paul.
no one does. not a single man on God's green Earth or any world of His creation-- or beyond it. that, Abel believes.
because there is no answer. there is no good answer to this question. ]
If you were to ask me... ask me personally, my answer might not be a satisfying one.
[ it leaves him quietly. Paul has seen what it is for others to suffer in unconscionable ways, and the gravity of that is one Abel can deeply respect and empathize with. this compassion...
is endearing. and heartbreaking. and, sometimes-- blinding. ]
...Because there is no pain I find acceptable, no price I could put on saving someone - even one someone - from that agony.
But I also know that I... I am not capable of passing judgment on how to balance the scales. And I hope you take no offense when I say this, but... I don't believe you are capable either. None of us are-- we can't be.
[ it is no failing of Paul's person. if anything, Abel thinks this man is one he'd quite like, actually - someone whose heart is achingly good at its core, who suffers to see others suffer, who bleeds for the sake of staunching the flow of blood from those around him, but...
this... this is too far. this is too much. they are not gods; they are men - and to summarily pass judgment, to decide the fate of infinite lives, to hinge everything on a mysterious being that has manipulated and abused each one of them to their last--
...Paul. ...please. does any part of him see the flaw in this? does any part of that achingly human heart not feel the twinge of fear he spoke of? ]
no subject
He can see himself in these answers, in the thought processes that go behind them; it's something he might have agreed with once. But that's before the blessings, and the rituals, and everything else that's gone into him and refused to get out again. Perhaps their differences are irreconcilable; perhaps not. He would have liked this person under different circumstances, he knows that much to be true. Maybe there's a chance he still can.
But this is just...]
No. It's not that you can't make that decision; it's that you refuse to. That's the difference that we're looking at.
no subject
[ for all the threads that might bind him and this man in their beliefs, it seems there aren't enough to cross the maw that lies between them. the bridge will only ever go so far before it leads to an empty, terrible fall. neither can make it to the other side - not while things are like this.
Abel hates to acknowledge this reality, but it is what it is. ]
Maybe refusing to make such a choice is a choice in and of itself.
[ some would surely accuse Abel of being a coward were that the case. he would not blame Paul - so utterly rigid, sure in his conviction - of as much. ]
...Even so, I believe there's another way. And I will pray to find it before you and yours are made to do what you cannot take back.
[ oh. if he only knew... ]
no subject
Like I said before, I don't hate you, and I don't fault you for feeling as you do. I can see where that prayer is a kindness, coming from you, and I appreciate it; I really do.
no subject
[ the sentiments go both ways. Abel does not begrudge the Kenoma his perspective and appreciates his honesty - as well as his bedside manner when discussing a matter that is personal, something obviously highly-charged for them both. ]
Have you felt that way since the cavern, sir?
no subject
The answer isn't immediate; it's another that takes him a moment. Words are his thing, as Amos had put it, but that doesn't mean the ones that are readily available are the ones he wants to put out there. How long had it been? Since the waterfalls in South America, maybe. Maybe even longer. Since the polio.]
...If I'm honest, all of this is something I've felt for a long time, but only felt the willingness to act on recently.
no subject
[ Abel gives a small, grateful nod of his head. ]
...If you'd be amenable to it, I'd like to sit with you and hear why. In person, if possible... and I'd like to talk with you about this-- all of this.
[ because he has a feeling that whatever had driven this man to such a perspective is far more than they might have time to properly digest, considering their current circumstances. even so--
Abel would sincerely like to hear him out from start to finish. to try his best to understand. ]
Maybe over tea one of these days? I think I'd quite like that if it's alright with you.
no subject
I'd like that. Even if I don't know how possible that's going to be in the coming days.
If communion is a secondary option you're amenable to, you're welcome to find me.
no subject
[ there's no rush, and Abel has a feeling his hands are about to be very full with the Regent openly declaring war in no uncertain terms.
...but all the same, Abel's offering his hand for an amicable shake. ]
Perhaps when the dust settles. I'm looking forward to it.
no subject
Likewise.