Enoch (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
warriorscribe) wrote2015-06-01 03:54 pm
warriorscribe) wrote2015-06-01 03:54 pm
Snowblind Inbox
[Such a wondrous device. Are there little invisible couriers for these messages?]
It runs in blood much the same way beauty does: avoid traits that cause deficits.
[Given that they live in a system where Magisters get the best nutrition and health care, that would confuse them on how well breeding for intelligence works or doesn't.]
[Given that they live in a system where Magisters get the best nutrition and health care, that would confuse them on how well breeding for intelligence works or doesn't.]
No, I am human. Were I an angel I would not have been able to argue against the plan.
Traits which- I can't say I've been paying close attention, but does an addled mind really tend to run in families?
[Not that his world is equipped to know.]
[Not that his world is equipped to know.]
When not the result of head trauma, yes. Though not all such ailments are the same. Some strike in the womb, some in old age, and some in between.
[Dorian is serious about that.]
Of course, it can be difficult to tell the difference between an ailment and eccentricity in some cases. So perhaps not a perfect correlation.
[Dorian is serious about that.]
Of course, it can be difficult to tell the difference between an ailment and eccentricity in some cases. So perhaps not a perfect correlation.
It seems like something so...erratic, to plan for. Focusing on education sounds much less of a gamble.
You sound like my mentor.
[Dorian means that as a compliment.]
Yes. Education is important and we altus mages have access to the best. I attended three different Circles and spent the bulk of the time from when I was nine to when I was fourteen being privately tutored. I'm something of an outlier but from what I saw, the educational system works well enough for the majority. It doesn't always do well by prodigies nor does it do well with gifted children who would rather visit brothels.
My mentor was in favor of opening the Circles to children from families without magic to get the best of their talents as well. He never made much headway but then he wasn't much of a politician.
[Dorian means that as a compliment.]
Yes. Education is important and we altus mages have access to the best. I attended three different Circles and spent the bulk of the time from when I was nine to when I was fourteen being privately tutored. I'm something of an outlier but from what I saw, the educational system works well enough for the majority. It doesn't always do well by prodigies nor does it do well with gifted children who would rather visit brothels.
My mentor was in favor of opening the Circles to children from families without magic to get the best of their talents as well. He never made much headway but then he wasn't much of a politician.
[Circles sound like schools for mages. Pretty clear from context, so he doesn't consider it worth confirming.]
If that's the sort of man your mentor was, I'll take the comparison as a compliment. Many skills can come from the most unlikely of places sometimes.
If that's the sort of man your mentor was, I'll take the comparison as a compliment. Many skills can come from the most unlikely of places sometimes.
On good days, that's who he was. It's how I prefer to remember him. And I agree. We would all be better off if we offered opportunities to people from all walks of life.
It's one of the things I plan to push for in the Magisterium. Everyone should have a chance at a better life. A fair chance.
It's one of the things I plan to push for in the Magisterium. Everyone should have a chance at a better life. A fair chance.
[It's okay. He knows. It kind of sucks for the angels, really, lacking free will.]
I'm not certain anymore. I was told it is my piety, but I think my passion and patience are serving Heaven much more.
I'm not certain anymore. I was told it is my piety, but I think my passion and patience are serving Heaven much more.
That's how better futures come about. Envisioning them, acting on those visions or empowering another to do so... I hope you can help get your country what it needs should we escape.
[It normally would be "when we escape" but his optimism has taken a beating.]
[It normally would be "when we escape" but his optimism has taken a beating.]
Indeed, I am nearly four centuries old. The Fallen Angels were very well hidden. It took well beyond a lifetime to find them, so I was blessed with immortality.
[That's... okay. That's old.]
Did you find them all before your path brought you here? Are there others like you?
[Flynn, knowing his very own personal immortal, is itching to ask if Enoch knows Judson by any chance – but it's not very likely. Or is it? Maybe he does. Maybe they have their own little immortal club that spans across the universes. It's not like Judson TELLS him anything about these things or something.]
Did you find them all before your path brought you here? Are there others like you?
[Flynn, knowing his very own personal immortal, is itching to ask if Enoch knows Judson by any chance – but it's not very likely. Or is it? Maybe he does. Maybe they have their own little immortal club that spans across the universes. It's not like Judson TELLS him anything about these things or something.]
I did find them. I could not retrieve them all, as some had died, but I did find them.
As for other immortals, I believe Ishtar may be? She was another chosen by God, with a path similar to mine. While I was to bind and return the Fallen Angels to Heaven, Ishtar was to guide the people in their Tower to freedom. But I am not sure of her immortality. Her previous incarnation stopped aging, but I can't say the same with certainty for her current one. I don't know of any others.
[Yeah, he just. Threw reincarnation out there really casually. One more bit of weirdness to add to the mix.]
As for other immortals, I believe Ishtar may be? She was another chosen by God, with a path similar to mine. While I was to bind and return the Fallen Angels to Heaven, Ishtar was to guide the people in their Tower to freedom. But I am not sure of her immortality. Her previous incarnation stopped aging, but I can't say the same with certainty for her current one. I don't know of any others.
[Yeah, he just. Threw reincarnation out there really casually. One more bit of weirdness to add to the mix.]
[Reincarnation, so that's a thing, too.
But Ishtar, now that's a name he's familiar with. Flynn squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, concentrating, going back through his memories of ancient scripture until he finds the verses. His voice slips into a more specific Babylonian dialect that is inherent to the words.]
To the netherworld, land of no return,
Ištar, daughter of Sîn, set her mind.
When Ištar reached the gate of the netherworld,
she said these words to the gatekeeper:
"O gatekeeper! Open your gate for me,
open your gate, that I may enter!
If you do not open the gate, that I may enter,
I will break down the door, I will smash the bolt,
I will break down the frame, I will topple the doors.
I will break the lock, I will tear off the knob.
I will raise up the dead so that they devour the living,
and the dead will outnumber the living."
But Ishtar, now that's a name he's familiar with. Flynn squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, concentrating, going back through his memories of ancient scripture until he finds the verses. His voice slips into a more specific Babylonian dialect that is inherent to the words.]
To the netherworld, land of no return,
Ištar, daughter of Sîn, set her mind.
When Ištar reached the gate of the netherworld,
she said these words to the gatekeeper:
"O gatekeeper! Open your gate for me,
open your gate, that I may enter!
If you do not open the gate, that I may enter,
I will break down the door, I will smash the bolt,
I will break down the frame, I will topple the doors.
I will break the lock, I will tear off the knob.
I will raise up the dead so that they devour the living,
and the dead will outnumber the living."
[Enoch follows him to that dialect naturally, after a moment to process what he's heard.]
Is that the tale they tell of her? Interesting how it has changed. Ishtar's current incarnation was indeed raised by a man named Sin, but she did not voluntarily go to The Darkness, and the souls trapped there - I am sure she would have wanted to free them, but the salvageable souls are few and far between. Her first incarnation's remains were taken to The Darkness before her soul could part from them. Her second one was abducted by a demon as bait so he could have me. It was there that her trapped soul took its rightful place in her body, though I was not there to witness it and only informed ten years after it happened.
[...It sounds really bad when he actually lays it all out, doesn't it? He'll have to ask Ishtar what happened, exactly, to the soul born with that body. Had it merged with hers? Was it always a part of hers? He'd assumed they were always somehow one and the same since Michael had said she had been "transfigured into Ishtar", but now that he's vocally called attention to the ten-year divide between the birth of that second body and her original soul, he isn't sure.]
Is that the tale they tell of her? Interesting how it has changed. Ishtar's current incarnation was indeed raised by a man named Sin, but she did not voluntarily go to The Darkness, and the souls trapped there - I am sure she would have wanted to free them, but the salvageable souls are few and far between. Her first incarnation's remains were taken to The Darkness before her soul could part from them. Her second one was abducted by a demon as bait so he could have me. It was there that her trapped soul took its rightful place in her body, though I was not there to witness it and only informed ten years after it happened.
[...It sounds really bad when he actually lays it all out, doesn't it? He'll have to ask Ishtar what happened, exactly, to the soul born with that body. Had it merged with hers? Was it always a part of hers? He'd assumed they were always somehow one and the same since Michael had said she had been "transfigured into Ishtar", but now that he's vocally called attention to the ten-year divide between the birth of that second body and her original soul, he isn't sure.]
It is a tale of the times yes. It is much longer, I wished not to recite in its entirety.
[And yes, yes Enoch, that does sound a little sketchy. That sounds a little bit like possession there.] In the mythology, she is regarded as the Babylonian goddess of war, love and fertility.
[And yes, yes Enoch, that does sound a little sketchy. That sounds a little bit like possession there.] In the mythology, she is regarded as the Babylonian goddess of war, love and fertility.
She is admirably strong, and certainly blessed. But not a goddess. I wonder where the idea came from.
What else does the tale say about what Ishtar does?
What else does the tale say about what Ishtar does?
Yes, very much so. Better futures don't happen by accident. We have to work for them.
[Which may not be quite what Enoch meant but it's the kind of optimism Dorian believes in.]
Should we escape, what do you hope to achieve where you go?
[Which may not be quite what Enoch meant but it's the kind of optimism Dorian believes in.]
Should we escape, what do you hope to achieve where you go?
[It is exactly what he meant. People create their own paths. Or should.]
I'm not sure. It depends on...well, where I go. If we can follow others, I'm not sure I could simply return to my own world as if nothing ever happened.
I'm not sure. It depends on...well, where I go. If we can follow others, I'm not sure I could simply return to my own world as if nothing ever happened.
I don't think that's true of my world at all. She was certainly involved with him, but I don't know in what way. While I have met Gilgamesh briefly, it was well after they parted ways, and he had yet to take Uruk's throne.
[Also, hundreds of years ago so he only barely remembers him.]
[Also, hundreds of years ago so he only barely remembers him.]
That sounds reasonable, I suppose. I would not want to forget but if that was the price... that's bearable.
[There were people here he cared about but none he cared about more than Tevinter.]
[There were people here he cared about but none he cared about more than Tevinter.]
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