Bloodcookie
Explorer
So is Eadric free to date around during the empty quarter?
Open, polyamorous relationships among cosmic archetypes with virtually immeasurable power to reshape reality - NOTHING CAN GO WRONG.
Aeon (updated 10/9/14)
Open, polyamorous relationships among cosmic archetypes with virtually immeasurable power to reshape reality - NOTHING CAN GO WRONG.
Bloodcookie
Explorer
Not to flood the thread, but there is one thing I was wondering if Sep would speak to. Apropos of nothing other than the fact that I've finally gotten around to studying it in some depth - was the cult of Cheshne basically conceived with the idea "what if the philosophy and ritual practices of Tibetan Buddhism were taken to an absurd, evil extreme?" The patronage-based sorcerous cabals, the worship of annihilating emptiness, not to mention much of its aesthetic, all strike me as dark parodies of that religion, which (even if this wasn't your intent!) I think would be a very original source of inspiration for a villainous organization.
Baron Opal
First Post
This is a marvelous campaign you're building, but I don't think your current players would have the heart to play.
And, I was wondering where the cup would come into play.
Sepulchrave II
Legend
RedTonic said:
Yes, when Fillein imprisoned him. She was part of the original cabal, but had misgivings about him being bound on the Prime and dismissed him.
RedTonic said:
Maybe, if I ever get round to it.
Cheiromancer said:
The previous update tries to draw so many disparate threads together, and I felt it might be too ambitious. Sometimes, I can be incredibly pedantic about the language I use, and fuss over tiny details. The Eadric/Soneillon Yab-Yum/annihilation passage caused me enormous grief, as I wanted to convey too much at once: a sense of mature mutual comfortableness, emphasise the mystical experience, and preserve the erotic subtext without resorting to overtly sexual language.
I'm happier with it than I was, as I've had a chance to process it a little. There comes a point sometimes when I can't bring any objectivity to bear upon what I write. I experience a kind of mental constipation; if things are flowing more freely, I'm less self-critical.
Bloodcookie said:
The Cheshnite religion is a kind of hybrid of Shaktism and Tibetan Tantrism with a very dark cast put upon it; ugras and bhitis might be considered the equivalent of the most malevolent aspects of Tantric yidams. The fact that I've chosen Sanskrit to represent the language of Shuth further reinforces the connection.
Buddhist philosophy and religion in general is massively implicated in many aspects of the campaign; the practice of Saizhan itself is essentially a restructuring of Buddhist objectless meditations such as zazen or Dzogchen. The common ground of being/not being - the transmetaphysic -features heavily in Madhyamaka philosophy; in saizhan the third ontic state, Becoming, is also implicated; this differs from Buddhist philosophy, where Becoming is generally viewed as the solution to the being/not being conundrum. The comment made by tleilaxu regarding Heidegger's Dasein is also very close to the mark: there is an essay here if you're interested.
tleilaxu said:
Good question. That would be a logical deduction, given its status as the fourth "royal star." Its opposition to Regulus would also cement Shomei's role of Adversary, of course.
You'll have to wait and see.
Baron Opal said:
Liberally embossing after the event in order to build a story and mythology on what has gone before is what it's all about. The players tend to want to just smite things or blow them up. Fortunately, I have a knack for manipulating symbols.
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Bloodcookie
Explorer
Awesome, thanks for the link, Sep
tleilaxu
First Post
Sep said:
Being oriented towards the Chinese I feel resonance with the daoist sensibility.
http://www.sunypress.edu/p-4268-nietzsche-heidegger-and-daoist-.aspx
http://books.google.com/books/about/Heidegger_and_Asian_Thought.html?id=bUa8ctgqeC8C
as always, i'll be here to read whenever the next update may be. in the meantime: praecipio
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carborundum
Adventurer
"The players tend to want to just smite things or blow them up."
Thank goodness! I thought you might have found uber-metaphysical players to match your uber-metaphysical campaign. They sound like normal people after all ;-)
Thank goodness! I thought you might have found uber-metaphysical players to match your uber-metaphysical campaign. They sound like normal people after all ;-)
