cosmology

<Ikiryo> But yeah, basic cosmology(Or at least, what the main church believes): Originally, the world was founded by 16 archangels. It was sung out of nothingness by them and for a time all was good. They formed the spirits and gods and mankind.
<Ikiryo> Then there was a split. Some angels wished to guide the infant creatures towards good, others wished to rule over them to prevent evil.
<Ikiryo> 14 Archangels.
<Ikiryo> Not 16, misstype
<Earthflame> kk
<CDatWork> ah, nice
<CDatWork> the good traditional mystical number of 7 to a side :)
<Ikiryo> They spoke...then argued...and then finally, fought. Those who wished to rule, seven of them, fought hard but the greatest of the Angels, the angel of Humility cast them down. They became the rulers of the hells and crafted demons and black spirits to serve them.
<Earthflame> So there's a distinction between animistic spirits of things and the divine spirits of Heaven and Hell?
<Ikiryo> Yep
<Earthflame> Which would a Ghost be closer to? Or are they significantly different from both?
<Ikiryo> Powerwise: Spirits(good and evil) are weaker than Gods and Demon both of which are weaker than Angels and Fallen Angels.
<Ikiryo> Ghosts are spirits
* Earthflame nods
<Ikiryo> At least, in general. The lines can be fuzzy
<Earthflame> Yeah. I can imagine old and powerful spirits of certain places might give Gods or Demons a run for their money.
<Ikiryo> Anyway, the fallen Angels have long ago cast aside the idea of goodness but they still desire to rule. This makes them much, much more willing to be direct than the forces of light.
<CDatWork> clever inversion, too, at least with the nomenclature
<Ikiryo> As Choice is the core of why they split.
<CDatWork> yep
<Ikiryo> The angels of light can guide and aid...but they rarely directly act in ways people can see. For they want mankind, spirits and gods to chose the side of right because they want to.
<Ikiryo> Not because a ruler tells them they must.
<CDatWork> <3
<Ikiryo> (12:20:16 AM) CDatWork: clever inversion, too, at least with the nomenclature
<Ikiryo> Oh?
<CDatWork> Angels > gods
<CDatWork> and yes, I know you mean the latter in the shinto sense
<Ikiryo> Right
<Earthflame> Hmm... I wonder how much of the 'Cast aside goodness' is true and how much its a tenet of the faith to make the sides easier to draw. Maybe some of them have, but a Fallen Angel who truly acts out of love, and simply believes that a benevolent dictatorship would be the greatest compassion they could show, would be interesting.
<Ikiryo> Who knows EF? :P
<Ikiryo> But yeah, I wanted to do a few inversions with this.
<Ikiryo> Angels > Gods
<Ikiryo> And I REALLY didn't want to do the 'Good just wants mindless puppets' stereotype.
* Ikiryo glowers at JRPGs
<CDatWork> lol
<Earthflame> lol
<CDatWork> so the angels of light rely on marketing, both direct and word-of-mouth...and the angels of darkness instead will use forced conscription, seduction, and other tricks :P
<Ikiryo> Yep
<Ikiryo> And it's why light...well, it's not doing so great. Though it's getting a lot worse over the last coulple of centuries.
<Ikiryo> It WAS a lot more neutral before. Now it's weighed towards the dark
<CDatWork> yeah
<Ikiryo> Reincarnation has become a lot less certain, dark magic has been called up and there is even rumours of demons.
<Ikiryo> EF's character is an example of #1.
<CDatWork> add to that--the light can only promise goodies AFTER your time on the mortal coil. Whereas the darkness promises everything now.
<Ikiryo> There shouldn't BE ghosts. The dead should pass onto peace and be reincarnated. But that hasn't stopped them appearing.
<CDatWork> GOOD JOB WHATEVER YOUR CHARACTER'S NAME IS
<Ikiryo> (Well, or become angels if they were holy enough)
<CDatWork> woot
<CDatWork> angels is best goal
<Ikiryo> (Angels and Demons were both human, long ago. The Archangels are the exception to this)
<CDatWork> I like the "sang the world into existence"
<CDatWork> it implies there's a power to music
<Ikiryo> I'm a sucker for it.
<CDatWork> (lol suddenly we symphogear)
<CDatWork> yeah
<Ikiryo> And yeah, the 7 Angels are: Castitas, Temperantia, Caritas, Industria, Patientia, Benevolentia and Humilitas. Humilitas is theoretically the leader but she does very little direct leading.
<CDatWork> but then I'm also biased
<CDatWork> so they're the Seven Virtues :)
<Earthflame> Nice, Iki. The Seven Virtues are cool, and get so much less coverage than the seven sins. Although they're also somewhat less strictly defined.
<Earthflame> I've seen a few different sets of seven, with a few swapped out or merged or split.
<CDatWork> yeah
<Ikiryo> The 7 Fallen Archangels are: Luxuria, Gula, Avaritia, Ira, Invidia and Superbia. Superbia is very MUCH the leader
<CDatWork> whereas I can remember the 7 deadly sins by virtue (hah) of an acronym taught to us in high school
<CDatWork> PALE GAS :P
<Earthflame> I know them well :P I once played a character in a DMC game who had armour formed of demons of each of the seven sins.
<Earthflame> Superbia was the golden helm.
<Ikiryo> Which is another of the issues. While matched in power...the Heavens are less organized together than the Hells.
<CDatWork> yep
<Ikiryo> The Heavens tend to work more on 'As long as you are not hurting another, you are free to act on your nature' so they all do good...but they do it seperately.
<Ikiryo> While the hells all answer to Superbia.
<Ikiryo> EF: This answer your issues a while back about gothic settings where holy stuff very much DOES work (And can even work openly?)
<Ikiryo> About how it's hard to keep them leaning dark?
<Earthflame> yeah
<Ikiryo> Cool
<Earthflame> I like the ideas
<Ikiryo> Cool. I will freely admit: I'm making up a lot of this as I go along
<Ikiryo> But I figured there needed to be SOME cosmology to work with :P
<Earthflame> yeah :P
<CDatWork> (now I'm considering ways to wedge in actual singing to my character somehow)
<Ikiryo> Feel free to ask questions and I'll answer or at least make something up :P
<Earthflame> Would any Archangel have the cycle of reincarnation in their purview?
<CDatWork> >reading a blurb on cracked about famous movies that almost didn't happen
<Ikiryo> Nah
<CDatWork> >#1 on the list is Return of the Jedi
<CDatWork> >half of it is Lucas' fault
<CDatWork> I am SO goddamn glad they gave him a toy and told him to sit in a corner for Episode VII
<Ikiryo> heh
<Earthflame> That is a large part of why I have hope
<CDatWork> do you have, perhaps...
<CDatWork> a new hope?
* CDatWork rimshot
<CDatWork> uh. What's the usual worship style? Are there organized churches for the Light, or does light-Archangel worship tend toward the same kind of decentralized approach they espouse?
* Notify: IterationDrive is online (Sup/tg/).
<Ikiryo> Very roman catholic. Shrines/Churches tend to be 1-3 Archangels
<CDatWork> k
<CDatWork> incoming ID btw
<Ikiryo> Cathedrals might have an altar for al 7
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