August 19th:
Woke up today far later than usual. It’s already three in the afternoon.
Interloper… Ah. No. What do you call yourself, serpent?
Clarity is thy wish, then. I am the great Albino Serpent, Mazhivada. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, wise one.
I would hardly call you an “acquaintance", given your Godlessness, Mazhivada.
“Godlessness”? Nay, I am enlightened. And I shall deliver thee from the infantile Fool thy sheep-folk call “God”.
Why do… No, there’s something else I need to ask first. What is Arzankim, and where is it?
In the days of my Empire, Arzankim served as both a prison and a laboratory. It resides upon the Earth’s southernmost bourne, where glaciers long since entombed the bodies of the violators of the Maker's sacrament. The recent warming of thy world doth reveal enough for finding. Thy fellowship and thee shall journey there in due time.
It shall be thine own desire that doth guide thee and thy fellows hence. Is it not thy calling to unearth secrets of yore? Though thou mayst not crave to stand upon the shoulders of giants, wouldst thou not fain to know their faces? Wouldst thou not wish to know... the visage of their Heavenly progenitors?
Impossible. Weren’t the watchers banished from all traces of the world? And I thought Leviathan and Behemoth devoured all the Nephilim. Then again, how much of the Apocrypha was true, how much was false? And you are saying that Arzankim could uncover the truth amid those Antarctic wastes? Fascinating…
An enticing morsel 'pon thy questing intellect. 'Tis thy guerdon for... study. Thou art worthy, unlike most men, after all.
You are... Where in Antarctica is this city?
The nomenclature doth lack originality. Thy forefathers christened it Marie Byrd Land.
Mine eyes do oft espy merriment in the ineptitude of thy leaders. Yet still, they possess enough wit to shield secrets from the common gaze. The quill must remain in mine own grasp, forsooth.
So coming here was an inevitability. Everything that has happened thus far was expected… Including what happened to Chizuki.
What exactly happened to her?
Naught is assured, for they who hold the quill doth but guide that which shall be. Yet, what befell thy sister-in-law was… a lamentable misjudgment of mine esteemed agent. Fret not. Never shall another’s hand wound her anew.
Sure, and why did this agent resort to such a barbaric act against her? And why was she uttering “Arzankim”?
He didst endeavor to circumvent the Covenant, which thy predecessors didst besmirch upon the very souls of their progeny. Thus, to force passage, the Covenant 'twixt her and the Fool had to be deliberately sundered. Savagely. Please forgive him, for he didst only what necessity demanded.
The knowledge of Arzankim did function as his penance unto her. And thence, to ye all.
I would hardly call that “penance”... You know what, enough dancing around this question: Why do you call God “the Fool”?
Because He doth feign to sport with baubles wrought in the sandbox of His making. How may any “Almighty” play pretend so fervently? Wherefore doth He not simply hold absolute dominion? Wherefore doth He stain Himself in the sand with all the rest? Wherefore didst He send His son to death upon that Cross? To grant Him understanding of Creation? He didst raise Adam from the lucent dust, and mold Eve from out his rib. How could He not understand? Doth Lucifer’s creation of the first Nephilim bear the censures? Their granting of sentience with the truth of the fruit? When His power could have wrought utopia? Is He not the supreme one? Why could He not but proclaim, “Let There Be ONLY Light?”
What but an infantile Fool could He be?
You certainly speak a lot of abominations... So much... Deliberate misuse... But, wait. The sandbox? Didn’t Anton—
Heed not the ontological fetishist. He is a witless fool, grasping naught of truth. Wouldst thou have him instruct thee of the Maker? Already a fractured bond thou sharest with yon bumbling prophet of doom. Hearken to me. I speak verity alone. I can lead ye all to that sanctified Paradise.
Anton may be a nut and a half, but he at least doesn’t openly mock God, unlike you. Answer me this, serpent: What would you do if you were in His position?
Return my sire from the wrongful death he suffered. Deliver my mother from the unrighteous torment of custodianship. Above all, I would make that… insufferable Wrath pay the penance that is due to me.
I would be the Dominion that the Fool should ought to be.
You're just a spiteful creature, aren’t you? None of this talk of vengeance leads to “paradise”. All I see is a—
Dost thou seeketh answers whilst astride in false faith? Thou art misled, and thus I must... re-educate thee. I wish it not, yet necessity doth force my hand. Ere night’s curtain falls, dire agony shall grip thee into a thorned vice, like the shameful tiara the Christ bore upon His head. On the morn of thy labour’s return, thy wife shall be made aware of her sire’s grim prognosis.
Thy rapture shall into the lucent dust of Adam’s sinew.
—
Duncan and Gaston have been skimming through what I have written thus far. Impossibly, the printed copies from before we entered the “azure lens” have been injected with additional text from this “Mazhivada”. No technology in the universe could reverse causality to such a degree. I presume the serpent started adding text into the computer directly on the 18th, though there is no way of knowing… Well, I could ask him. The problem, again, is that the entries for March 21st, August 4th, and August 17th were printed without that additional text. I know what I saw, and Chizuki verified it as well back then. So how did he manage to add that text to the pages as if they had them to begin with? Especially that one I printed all the way back in March? And he cursed me with that exact phrase:
“Thy rapture shall crumble into the lucent dust of Adam’s sinew.”
It was not there before… It was NOT. He’s not an AI, a hacker, or a prankster. Or am I just blind to the method because of my limited knowledge of computers? Is he preying upon me with my own ignorance? But what kind of ignorance? Of computers or gods? I don’t have any damn idea what he is other than what he has called himself: the Albino Serpent, Mazhivada.
He offers me “paradise”, yet damns me at the same time. Godless serpent is attempting to bribe me into devoting myself to him. He knows I love my work more than anything. My pursuit of the truth… I want to know the truth of why we are here. Why God refuses to save us from the growing despair of a world run by flies and locusts and bulls… No, not bulls. Serpents disguising themselves as bulls. I can hear that serpent’s whisper carving its way through my head:
What in God’s name is infesting my mind?
Damn it… His temptations are working… It’s as if he is… Twisting my soul into submission. Like he is always here, as if… I am being reprogrammed like a machine… If this situation worsens, I need to tell the others never to speak to me again. If it gets bad enough, I need them to shoot me. There cannot be any hesitation. It needs to be quick. No fuss. Just… They just need to do it. Duncan and Leon need to be told of this. They can be trusted.
I cannot be, verily.
Note:
Symbols are present in the top right corner.
Description:
-Appearance:
An abomination, through and through. It is a… Giant eyeball with putrefied-white pomegranate skin, countless connected crimson pomegranate seeds trailing the underside, jellyfish tendrils hang off the bottom of it, and the veins and lower ventricles of a heart are present as well. This deity, whatever it is, is inherently confusing.
-Eye:
It was dead. Putrefaction white sclera encompassed the spherical main body. There was a scarlet band within the rotten black iris of a dead man. Gaston gave me a term for it, “tache noire”. It is a state that eyeballs go through postmortem as a result of dehydration.
-Color Palette:
Mostly dead white, with splattered streaks of sanguine, pink, moldy black & green & blue & white, and bioluminescent chartreuse and magenta.
-Biological Associations:
Jellyfish (wisdom of letting go, adaptability, and navigating uncertainty), pomegranates (fertility, abundance, and rebirth), eyeballs (oversight, protection, and truth), and hearts (courage, devotion, and virtue)... Most of these don’t line up with this abomination… Only the jellyfish connotations are appropriate.
It’s as if this deity isn’t supposed to be understood…
-Additional Traits:
There were… At least twenty tentacles of varying lengths and shapes swayed from the bottom side of the eyeball. If we assumed the eyeball was fifty feet tall, then the tentacles ranged from twenty to ninety feet long. They each ended in some kind of… Hook? Those looked to be no more than fourteen feet long each. Those hooks were ossified, tipped with a scarlet liquid. Not blood, as it was less opaque, but certainly something similar. Watered-down blood, perhaps?
On top of the entity was an umbrella-like formation, akin to the membranous bell of a Lion’s Mane Jellyfish, veiling the top quarter of the central eyeball. The hood dripped countless small tentacles along the ring, no more than maybe a foot or two long.
Beneath the creature was some kind of half-cone formation, where the two bottom ventricles of a heart arrayed themselves. It surrounded four oral arms covered in millions of bulbous pomegranate seeds. The arms themselves were almost as long as many of the bottom tentacles.
Attached to the half-cone ventricles were five different formations, stiff unlike the rest of the entity. They appeared like bones if they were also tree limbs. It was as if these five structures were ripped straight from a skeletal tree that was made of emaciated skin. Each branch had three smaller, divergent limbs (or perhaps giant thorns) that were bioluminescent magenta or chartreuse.
Surrounding the iris were eight striations, bloodshot in appearance, dividing the sclera-pomegranate skin into eight distinct sections, similar to that of some citrus fruits. Though the top portions of this were obscured by the bell.
The stem of a pomegranate extended upward from the bell and frayed slightly backward. Putrefied. Rotten.
Symbols:
-Alchemical: []
An inherently anomalous emblem, lacking any solid alchemical connection. Maybe you could argue that water and sun are in there, but… It would be a stretch, for certain. Thus, none of us can feasibly answer as to what this symbol represents, other than it being far more complicated than the other symbols. Intricately detailed, yet not entirely accurate. Given the intentionality of the rest of this place, maybe this deity has different forms?
Color me intrigued.
Best guess is that this symbol represents the esoteric. Something that even the Atlanteans wouldn't explore… Out of fear? Or maybe because they understand?
-Icon:
Behind it was some kind of massive, ornate gate, far wider than the abomination itself. It had some kind of magenta and chartreuse swirling mass of spiral shapes within it, like a sacred energy acting as the border between realms. I would assume that wherever that gate leads is where this entity came from. What kind of accursed Elysium is that place, if gods like this are from there?
Location:
15 degrees.
Potential Domains:
There is no telling what this creature represents. Chizuki has occasionally mentioned during prior excavations that there is a Japanese sea god, Ryūjin, who has servants, many of whom are said to be jellyfish. Beyond that, Gaston told me that adult jellyfish are apparently called medusa. A fitting allusion to that Gorgon for certain…
Herod gave me the rundown on Medusa’s tragic tale. Essentially, Medusa was once a beautiful priestess of Athena, loyal to a fault. However, Poseidon decided to violate her within Athena’s temple. The goddess of war, instead of going after Poseidon, decided to curse the defiled woman, transforming Medusa into a Gorgon. The Gorgon sisters, Medusa being the youngest of them, were all the same. Snakes for hair, gaze that turned people to stone, et cetera. Medusa was later slain by Perseus, and her head adorned the Aegis. As she died, her two children sprang from her decapitated neck. One of whom was Pegasus, the winged horse.
I am honestly unsure if this abomination could in any way be correlated to her. Is it a tragic figure? Or is it just a monster? There isn’t enough information to in any way connect this deity to anything. Even looking at the pomegranate connection to Knowledge and Eden offers little… At least, not without Sir Clarke’s notes on the matter, which don’t truly fall under this category.
So, given the appearance of this entity, the horror is omnipresent. The symbolic connection to knowledge also exists with both pomegranates and jellyfish. So, perhaps a god of horror and cursed knowledge? I have never seen a deity like this in my thirty years of doing this job.
I to know. I wonder if he could tell me…
Speculation:
Sir Clarke gave a… Fascinating recollection.
He had a dream a few months ago. He was within a magenta-colored grove of infinitely varied flowers under a chartreuse sky, which was illuminated by some nonexistent ambient sun. In the distance, he discovered a tree piercing the heavens for light-years upon light-years, while its leaves branched millions of miles from the trunk. It was a tree made of sinew. Dried bones for the trunk and branches, dead white & thin skin for bark, matted fur lined the osseous roots, bleeding tongues & tangled hair follicles for the leaves & vines, and a never-ending sequence of body horror fruits were dangling or hovering away from the tree. Eyeballs acting like apples, bananas like intestines, stomachs like pineapples, and hearts like oranges. All shared the jellyfish tendrils and bone-like protrusions.
Sir Clarke got the distinct impression that all of these beings were just what he could comprehend.
A dream of a garden with a tree at its center… Like Eden, but certainly not a paradise. It changes little in terms of my current hypothesis, but it does lead to another potential idea:
This entity is but one of potentially countless versions of the same being, a child of that tree of sinew. The tree cannot move, but its children . So, perhaps these abominations are mere representatives?
Additional Notes:
This entity’s very essence is that of complete anti-nature. To describe such a thing would be to elaborate upon the unknowable itself. I guess I could ask for his input.
Serpent, what is this creature?
…
I guess he isn’t here. So he omniscient.
Omniscience be but a jape, flaunted by inept Greeks. I was elsewhere, tending to sundry affairs.
The bloom Children of the Rigor Mortis Tree are wardens of reality, reputedly. They are… Hiveminds of knowledge. Knowledge that often should not exist. I know scant else, given their esoteric nature.
But the Wrath doth know, and he doth hoard such truth like Tolkien’s Smaug with gold. It is nigh an insult how much knowledge he doth imprison from thy kind.
But I can illuminate thee of it all.
[Editing note: Doing this again, I see. At least he is keeping his comments to where they are appropriate.]
Description:
-Appearance:
A Tyrannosaurus-sized fox with star-blue fur, a long and black mane, patches of black fur, sickle talons, and fourteen tails.
-Eyes:
Two pyres of galactic light, akin to the warm golden glow rippling from the superheated particles surrounding hypermassive black holes.
-Color Palette:
Star blue (similar to the stars Rigel or the Pistol Star), ebony black, and white accents. Regal and divine.
-Animal Associations:
Foxes (creativity, cunning, and adaptability) and raptors with sickle claws like the Utahraptor (primal strength, ferocity, and the instinct to hunt). The four sickle claws are proportionally larger than South America’s red-legged seriemas (if going by what Gaston described), which is why the Utahraptor is a more logical connection.
A deity of prowess and cunning, for certain. Perhaps apex predators in a certain respect.
-Traits:
As stated before, the fox has four sickle claws, one on each foot. If assuming the Tyrannosaur-size of the beast is accurate, then these claws were easily three feet long, at least. They curved sharply upward from the inner foot and arched back down just as sharply.
The fourteen tails are those of the common red fox, large and fluffy. They each end in a tuft of ebony black, like his mane.
The general layout of the beast is that of a red fox in terms of proportions and body shape, albeit much larger at twenty feet tall at the shoulder and well over forty feet long.
The thirty-two teeth were much more similar to those of therapods like the Tyrannosaurus rex, each one being serrated daggers four to eight inches in length.
The fur is inherently luminous, as the mosaic’s depiction of him glows with the same magnitude as the strongest neon lights. Or, perhaps more accurately, hydrogen. I do believe this star fox’s emblem represents the first element, but I will explore that later.
A star fox… I keep putting those two words together, and it makes me recall the SNES title from three years ago. Yoko loved that game. Think they will be releasing another one soon for that new console coming out…
What was that game about? Anthropomorphic animal mercenaries hired to hunt down some pirates, or something? I don’t know. Video games were after my time. I wonder if there are some similarities? Sun foxes hunting down entities for some noble purpose?
Thou dost surmise properly. Granted, thou proclaimeth the Vrael’s "noble" impetus. Intuezari’s spawn be a den of brazen savages who blight my elsewise beautiful dominion over the other side.
So this is Intuezari… I assume the Vrael are his people, then?
Indeed. The Vrael art the Wrath’s most loyal hounds, bent on genocide against my compatriots forsooth self-righteous intentions. For how can they ever be just when they hath annihilated quadrillions across the infinite expanse of my realm? Hypocrites. Yolm did exalt himself when he slew Intuezari.
Genocidal foxes? That sounds far-fetched.
'Tis a thing more dire than report doth paint. This is the desire of the Wrath: despair, destruction, conflict. For he is the architect of humankind's sorrow.
The Wrath… I assume the Khepri analog, yes?
“Khepri”, sayest thou? A merry jest of Yazra-Sadarozh, that which thou will analyze soon. To cast that Scarab in so futile a task as to forever push the sun; it is a Sisyphean punishment fitting for such a creature.
Yazra-Sadarozh? How Lovecraftian…
Verily, “Lovecraftian”? How delightful a misappropriation! That wayless fellow didst feign that his mere gazing into a midsummer storm-filled puddle was akin to beholding the lightless nadir of Arkhas. I shall not entirely scorn him, for he was not wholly misguided by the Gnostics that set his alley along. The Demiurge, he whom the Gnostics named Yaldabaoth, does indeed exist. The Archons, Aeons, and the Monad, too, hold some truth. And some entities dwell… Beyond the ken of reason. Such as the blooms of the Rigor Mortis Tree.
Full many a league yet doth lie afore thou attain those… “Eldritch” beings, as thou wouldst call them. Mine ears burn with such a term.
Symbols:
-Alchemical: []
A sun (☉) with fourteen small waves of sulfur (??) emanating from it. Combined, the emblem likely represents life, transformation, passion, heat, and creation. As for the central circle encircling the dot of the sun, this could be a representation of the core of a star, while the outer ring might be the corona. And we do know that the sun, if you removed the sheer brightness of the celestial, would be significantly smaller in our sky than it appears. Interesting that the emblem seems to showcase this phenomenon.
The hydrogen association is remarkably obvious as well, given that it is the primary element by which the sun fuses to form helium, which creates heat and light. But there is another connection, one that Herod told me of.
According to his sister, the number fourteen is connected to Carbon-14, a radioactive isotope. It forms when cosmic rays, including those originating from the sun, interact with nitrogen in the atmosphere. Organisms absorb this isotope constantly in life, and stop doing so in death. The isotope begins decaying after this point, and the amount that is left over can be used as a reference for the age of the remains. Thus, carbon dating.
How advanced was this civilization, then, if they knew all that and more?
-Icon:
Within the mouth of Intuezari was what appeared to be an ornate sword manifested by violet starlight. I am unsure how this beast would be able to use a weapon like this, nor would it be needed, given his talons and teeth. Its ornate and beautiful nature suggests that the sword is a ceremonial artifact rather than a weapon. Maybe it is a symbol of ancestry, divine grace, and duty?
Location:
30 degrees.
Domains:
Undoubtedly, this is a deity of stars and light. Though that does seem almost too simple. He is connected to sunlight and stars, but given what Mazhivada described about this fox, it feels very appropriate to assume that this dead god represented zeal and the mindset of the crusader. Perhaps divine right and war?
Speculation:
This multi-tailed fox appears much like the kitsune of Japan. They are fox spirits that are often connected to the sun, who also act as divine representatives or as mischievous spirits. Though from my understanding, kitsune tails number up to nine, while also being much more graceful in appearance compared to this giant hunter, Intuezari. If only Chizuki were here. Correspondence with her would make this speculation much easier to maintain. Only hope she is doing okay…
There is also another oddity: he is dead.
While dead gods are not an unfamiliar concept in mythology, they usually continue to exist in some capacity despite their death. Intuezari, that spider deity, and Khepri seem to all be dead in some way. The only one that seems to be capable of circumventing it is Khepri… The spider can at least be explained by Khepri’s defiance, but the fox? He is a servant of Khepri, based on what Mazhivada described. So, how did Yolm keep him from reviving?
And who is this “Yolm” individual, anyway? Another god, perhaps?
One of my beloved supplicant’s seven sons. He was forsook, being born of the sheep womb, yet proved his worth in Sadazh, that City of Pleasure. In due time, he did ascend. He pledged his faith to that other serpent instead of me. Hitherto, Yolm remains a boon to me, despite his misaligned fealty
Interesting. Is there anything else we should know about this Intuezari?
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In those days of yore, Intuezari didst skulk thy world. He kept vigil for many an age, as was ordained by the Maker. As did his brethren, he too defied the Fool, yet he did not so openly corrupt man. He imparted unto them truths related to the fusion of atoms. He did flee to Hazgaia, ere Michael wouldst bury him before the Flood. Yolm did grant him the sentence that was so owed to him.
Marvelous…
Description:
-Appearance:
A giant with a mastodon/elephant head, seated in a pose similar to many depictions of Hindu gods like Ganesha.
-Eyes:
Small, golden portals to a place beyond our own.
-Color Palette:
White, indigo, and cream, likely corresponding to grandeur and immortality.
-Animal Associations:
Elephants/mastodons (power, wisdom, and fortune).
Relatively straightforward, though its connection to time also suggests majesty, immortality, and divinity.
-Traits:
The elephant possesses fourteen tusks, again that same number. We can link this back to the previous deity's connection to Carbon-14, and by proxy, carbon dating. Thus, there is likely a link between this deity and time, especially since elephants have lifespans comparable to ours.
The tusks themselves are ornately carved, cream-tinted art pieces. They are all the same length, around seven feet long. Seven on each side originally begin as a singular tusk, but then they fray into fourteen total branches. They arch downward for three feet, then contour forward. They spiral as well, appearing similar to certain kinds of antelopes (kudus, I believe). They each end with a sharpened point of silver iridescence.
The ears of this deity are massive, similar in size to those of the African Bush Elephant, if not larger.
Light gold dreadlocks descended from the top and back of the head, arrayed as curling rivers rumbling down the mountain-like body. The locks themselves reached beneath his torso, and with every foot (assuming the giant was around twelve-feet-tall), there was a pattern of copper, then silver, then gold bands. All these bands were elaborately patterned and were each adorned with a single, central light blue gemstone. According to Dakota, these gemstones are all types of moonstone, which are apparently symbolic of natural cycles and intuition. Natural cycles, another link to time.
The trunk was, at least, equal to the total height of the elephant, and its excess coiled on the stone ground beneath him like a rattlesnake. Besides its length, it also seemed to have more opposability, given that the end of the trunk had three total fingers. This contrasts with the one or two fingers modern elephants possess. Logically, this would mean that this being would be more capable of fine motor skills.
Symbols:
-Alchemical: []
After analyzing the emblem for an hour, neither Duncan nor Judith could come up with a viable answer as to what this could be based on, at least not initially. It is clearly a unique element, associated with an inward spiral and something to do with the number three. The emblem itself could allude to the face of the mastodon deity as a whole, with the top curve representing the face, the bottom curve representing the trunk, and the spiral curve potentially representing his right arm.
Beyond that, I am unsure. At least, not without considering his other icons.
-Icons:
In his right hand, which was raised above his own head, was what appeared to be an atom. It contained 3 rings of fourteen golden electrons, while the nucleus consisted of fourteen chartreuse protons and fourteen magenta neutrons (presumably, the protons and neutrons can be interchanged). Once again, those two specific colors for the nucleus. Three sets of fourteen. Connects back to the emblem.
The left hand, the back of which was resting upon his left thigh, beheld an hourglass. It was a paradoxically bleak ornament, only being constructed of ash-gray steel and opaque, golden glass. The grains within the timepiece were weathered-white pixels of sand, and almost all of it was at the bottom…
The connection to sand is overtly deliberate, given that the element that makes up much of it, silicon, is the fourteenth element of the Periodic Table. So logically, this symbol represents silicon. The hourglass, sand, and carbon connections are, verily, a testament to this deity representing time.
Additional Commentary:
Herod, for being so young, retains information extremely well, even from fields outside of his area of expertise. He and Salome are most certainly young geniuses… Much of this speculation relies on them as crutches.
The spiral within the symbol is, at least from a surface level, an odd fit for an element we assume represents silicon. The number fourteen, from what I understand, is not linked to spirals either, such as the Archimedean or Logarithmic Spirals. However, there is a link to DNA through the double-helix structure, which itself is a helical spiral. The bands that connect the two helices are made up of certain molecules that are all composed of nitrogen and hydrogen (in the case of adenine), while the other three molecules (thymine, guanine, and cytosine) contain oxygen as well.
The connection is one that I should have considered before, given that nitrogen happens to be the seventh element of the Periodic Table, and its most stable and common isotope happens to be nitrogen-14. Carbon-14 also happens to often convert into that nitrogen isotope through beta decay, converting a neutron into a proton while gaining an electron. Another link to time.
Nitrogen also, fascinatingly, connects to indigo, specifically through certain legumes that produce the dye naturally (ones that are often called indigo themselves). Apparently, the dye is produced as a result of certain symbiotic bacteria converting atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form for the plants, which themselves are instrumentally important in creating naturally fertile soil.
So, that begs the question: could this element represent nitrogen instead of silicon?
Judith is inclined to disagree. The reason for this is because of saltpeter (potassium nitrate/niter), which already has an officially recognized alchemical symbol (??). Potassium itself is often equated to the symbol for potassium carbonate and potash, which is (??). Judith thus theorized that nitrogen, on its own, would also be aligned with the alchemical symbol for niter. Silicon is not present within alchemy at all, while sand, due to its heterogeneous variety of elements and compounds, cannot be collectively labeled under a single symbol. Thus, this elephant’s symbol is likely still a representation of silicon.
But there is a clear connection to nitrogen as well, given the spiral… I will need to speculate on this further.
Location:
45 degrees.
Domains:
God of time, wisdom, and, potentially, immortality. Beyond that, there are also the Hindu connections to various elephant gods like Ganesha, who is himself a god of fortune, new beginnings, and wisdom. However, Sir Clarke suggested a different elephant deity to link to this one, which fittingly connects back to our prior interpretations of Indra with the Wrath.
Airavata is a multi-trunked and tusked white elephant that acts as the primary vehicle for Indra. As king of the elephants, he symbolizes abundance, divinity, and strength, which fit well with the storm god’s connection to fertility, dominion, and prosperity. Besides the lack of multiple trunks, this elephant deity appears very similar to Airavata.
The indigo coloration is the other major difference. Commonly, this color, specifically of the skin, is given to deities to represent their connection to cosmic forces. Vishnu (the preserver), Krishna (an avatar of Vishnu), and occasionally Shiva and Kali are all connected to this color. Preservers and destroyers… Which one is this elephant?
Speculation:
Why would a symbol representing silicon be connected to spirals?
Spirals themselves do connect to time through an interpretation of how time works. There are three main camps that people often corral themselves into when discussing the topic.
The cyclicals argue that time is a circle, whereby events of the past repeat themselves over and over again. Seasons of Earth, orbits of planets & satellites & stars, historical cycles of rises & falls, and even the very nature of life & death.
The linearists suggest that time only progresses forward, with a definite beginning in the past going through the present events towards a defined future. That time is representative of continuous progress towards something different.
The spiralist view attempts to reconcile the truths of both sides, suggesting a “cyclo-linear” methodology for time. This works just like the shape of a spiral. Loops of time going forward indefinitely, just like how the spiral continues to progress further and further outward forevermore. Cycles repeat, yes, but the knowledge of the past can be used to change the trajectory of those cycles so that true progress is made. This is the most logical model for projecting time, at least from a societal standpoint.
But what about time itself? How does pass on own?
Linear should be the obvious response. Time, despite our social preconceptions, is not accurately represented with the measurements we use. Seconds, hours, days, years, and all manner of other gauges are what use for our own purposes. The Seven Days of Genesis are predicated on a false assumption about what those “days” refer to. In Hebrew, the text used was not “days”, but rather their word for indefinite periods, such as “ages” and “eras”. As such, God created everything in six periods and took the seventh to rest. Though what this meant to Him is entirely unknown.
After corresponding with Leon regarding a passage I was attempting to recall, he reminded me of 2 Peter 3:8, which describes how a day could be a thousand years or a thousand years could be a day to God. Depends on the circumstances and what He desires, I presume. So, even if the word in Hebrew was their equivalent of “days”, this wouldn’t necessarily align with our own preconception of 24-hour days. Time to God is different; it cannot be equated to our own measurements.
The same idea can be said for everything else in the cosmos. Per Anton, Jupiter’s days are ten Earth hours long, Saturn’s years are a little over twenty-nine Earth years long, and a galactic year for our entire star system is two hundred and twenty million to two hundred and twenty-five million Earth years.
The point is this: time is not a definitive measurement, but it is a passage of something. With every passing tick of time, no matter how graciously minuscule, occurs. And I argue that what that “something” represents is remarkably simple, though difficult to explain.
Take it away, Anton. You can do this better than I can, even amidst your tangentially relevant discussion:
“Space and time are forever in an intermingled relationship.
Martyrs like Itzhak Bentov proclaimed that existence is composed of layers that, in their apex, connect all beings through intersecting perceptions of space and time. He was indeed correct, but not in the way that he proclaimed. He suspected that all reality can be summarized into one location, one locus of communion by which all things exist. This is true, for that is the Heart of Existence.
However, he makes two incorrect assumptions.
The first is the idea that, at the highest reality, everyone is the same being. This is logically irrelevant for one main reason. Even if we all were, at one point, the same entity, that clearly isn't the case anymore. Take a point in time, then diverge that point into infinite lines that vary with the passage of spacetime. Logically, the fact that they are distinct at all means that they ARE different. To be exactly the same is to BE singular, not divergent.
His proposal of layered reality implies hierarchy, which is simply inaccurate (though understandable). Reality is not a layered system, where virtual reality is below us, while other realities like Heaven are above us. The truth is that every universe is equal to each other in its station. Every realm is a cohesive part of each universe's cosmos. Each plot of the Garden is a multiverse. Every acre is a collection of these multiverses. And every infinitely-sized, dimensional continent is an entire omniverse within the endless black sea. They are equal to the Heart, for they each disperse from the same substrate origin.
And because every universe is connected to it, every single universe the Garden. Meaning, there is no hierarchy.
My adjusted theory is as follows:
All of our minds are beacons by which every single soul links to the Brahmatic Whole within the Garden. All souls were, at one point, that singular entity. But they no longer are. Bodies, such as our own human forms, are vessels by which these souls inhabit. They link to certain receptors within our brain, which tie to the signals each soul emits. Think of a radio wave and its frequency. A radio can intercept said frequency through its tuning to that signal. The human brain is similar; the creation of the brain receives the soul that possesses its frequency, and in their connection, consciousness is manifested within the body.
As for space and time, these are supplicant Rathos entities, the highest of “gods”, to the Heart of Existence.
Space, or more accurately, dimension, is the property by which entities exist within. There is no concept of being outside of a “space”, for to perceive any occupation is to be within dimensions to begin with. To be within a “void” is to be within a functionally substanceless space. To “be”, you must be within existence. The idea of being outside of it is to not exist. To go outside of existence is to lose your ability to and . In other words, you would . Therefore, dimension and existence are equated with one another.
Time, unlike space, does not need to occupy dimensions to progress, since it only goes forward. Every universe of every dimension, oddly, contains at least one dimension, that being time. This ironically creates a paradox where the zero dimension, a singular point that shouldn’t be able to encompass any sort of dimension, always progresses forward despite its literal inability to move through its own dimension. Thus, you can equate time with the zero dimension. The principality of progress.
Therefore, time does not need a dimension to exist, since it is itself an inherent dimension. However, it is irrelevant without space. Time without substance to change is meaningless. A book of endlessly empty pages is but an empty vessel. Therefore, dimensions fill those pages with words. They fill everything with differences. Those differences disperse through the passage of time.
Space is that which changes. Time is that which enables change. And, in their union, branching possibilities are created. And every single probability of potential change, down to the infinitesimal levels, originates from a metaphorical tree of infinite branches, the Brahmboir. And every single fruit is a universe. This process is Fate. Not as the fools identify to dismiss free will. But the reconciliation of inevitable possibilities with personal choice.
Each of these universes diverges whenever a change occurs. A single universe branches into an endless stream of differing outcomes, wherever the differences are made. From a single grain of sand in the Sahara floating to a microscopically different point in the desert, to Betelgeuse’s supernova illuminating our sky in two years, these are the range of differences that make all universes exist. Some universes are almost identical, while others are so paradoxically different that they transcend logical divergence. Yet, that is how reality works.
Reality is not layered. It is an endless bookshelf, where each universe is a scripture of infinite pages and words. Despite that, they are each composed in a singular text. As is the truth of reality:
It has no obligation to make sense to us. It only has to .”
I… Am astounded. Confused, certainly, but…
Utter lunacy, I say! Let ye not be beguiled by this preposterous notion, for it doth not alter our purpose in this universe. Be cunning and pervasive against such currents of sandball spitting.
Not that I could understand most of this anyway. But, I will heed you.
Additional Note:
The analysis of this deity would be incomplete if I did not mention the concept of a white elephant. The ancient story goes that some Siamese (Thai) kings would occasionally give albino elephants to certain individuals who displeased them in some way. Due to their rare nature as albinos (which further exemplified their divinity), the elephants could not be put to work. Therefore, it was a burdensome asset that took vast resources to maintain without providing any sort of real benefit in return. And because they were divine, the owner couldn’t kill them either. Thus, the metaphor was born. Being given a white elephant represented an effectively useless and often expensive gift that one could not get rid of easily. Both from a financial standpoint and a social one.
I mention this for two reasons, beyond the fact that this entity literally is a white elephant. One, this deity theoretically connects to Indra, a storm god who drank Soma to fight a giant serpent. The potential link to opulence and indulgence is certainly there, and the white elephant certainly could represent wasteful expenditures. The second point is related to a work by Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants”.
The story is a metaphor for the potential burdens that children could bring to a couple that didn’t anticipate them. The cynical father focuses on the financial side of things, believing that the child’s presence would cause the couple much more trouble than he or she would be worth. He focuses on the barren side of the valley of white hills. The mother is more optimistic, favoring the idea that the child is a happy accident, one that would lead the family to a fertile valley on the other side of the white hills.
This may seem tangential, at best, but I do believe it is relevant to my previous point. Khepri, and by extension, this Airavata analog, could represent one of two outcomes. Either both of them, and all those that sided with them, are those who would lead mankind to the fertile valley. Or, they are the ones that would lead all towards a barren wasteland of broken promises…
Khepri destroyed the one who formed the world. Why? What purpose was there in that? I lack details to verify the truth, but, verily, I think the proof of his actions lies with the fact that he was buried. Was he not made the Scapegoat? Was he not one of the Grigori who violated mankind? How in any way could that entity be noble?
Therefore… This white elephant is a curse to us, not a blessing.
[Editing note: Chizuki and Tim have returned. Some of the kind folks from the hospital escorted them back here an hour or so ago. Surgery was a success, though Chizuki won’t be able to speak for a few weeks, at the earliest. At least she can still write. She is currently resting in her tent with some medical officers from Atar. Good men. I’ll be sure they get their dues.]
Mazhivada, am I right to assume that this white elephant a burden?
Thou art swelling with wisdom with each passing moment. Yon elephant be the thrall of the Wrath’s destruction. Naught doth that Scarab know but devastation. All souls he hath beguiled pursue that self-same doom. His hare-brained accomplice, that accursed fox, the treacherous whale, and all others that foolishly pursue his mission. The elephant, yet another victim of his lies.
Description:
-Appearance:
A weeping, magenta-clad giantess with hare-ears, bright green eyes, golden braids, and the horns of big horn ewes. She was surrounded by strange trifold mushrooms and many herbivorous animals. She also carried a lyre on her back and held a golden dove to her breasts. Surely this is Unna. The similarities are almost too obvious to disregard.
-Eyes:
Bright green, but they are otherwise the same as normal human eyes.
-Color Palette:
Tanned skin, golden hair, and magenta, chartreuse, and beige clothing.
-Animal Associations:
Hares (fertility, rebirth, and new beginnings), big horn sheep (courage, power, and leadership), and doves (peace, hope, and beauty).
A combination that evokes gentleness, protectiveness, and shepherding. The dove connection is indirect, given that it is an animal she holds rather than one she is. Interesting. It’s as if she represents the inheritance of something connected to the dove, something she might have passed on to her children (assuming she had any). But what would she have passed on? Beauty could certainly work, given her appearance, but I am unsure.
-Traits:
The horns were small, maybe six inches, and appeared harmless, almost decorative. They emanated from each temple, about a couple of inches above where her human ears would have been.
The existence of golden hare ears instead of human ears is inherently bizarre, especially with the lack of any other definable traits from rabbits, such as a tail. They are each about a foot or so long and emanate from the top of her parietal. Halfway up, they droop down slightly, maybe fifteen to thirty degrees off from being vertical.
Her golden hair is extremely long, and much of it is braided. Makes me think of Rapunzel... Interesting potential association. A topic for later discussion.
As was the case with Khepri's dhoti, Unna's choice of attire is peculiar for a deity of this locale and time period. Chizuki, through writing, recognized the dress as a variant of a "qipao", specifically one that is structured similarly to what a certain character wears in the games (Felix loved playing games like that in the arcade). Though in this case, the middle drape reached down to her ankles and lacked shoulder cuffs. The dress itself was magenta with chartreuse and beige flower-like embroideries. It was a tailor’s masterwork. Though again, why is an Eastern dress here in the western half of the Old World and untold millennia before China existed? This cavernous place only seems to vomit out more and more questions while ravenously devouring the answers we wished we could have.
Unna was shedding indigo tears in the direction of the central floor of the atrium, likely focusing on Khepri. She held her right hand to her face, wiping away the tears. I have half a mind to believe that Unna is the Wrath’s daughter. That would explain why she is here with these other ostracized entities, but even still. She is the most normal-looking god in the entire Deisphere. And she is mourning her father… That is… Human.
Verily, 'tis amongst his most cunning of deceits. Thou art justified to be ensnared by the moon daughter's loveliness and gentle heart, which even I cannot refute. Yet, this is but a feigned guise to shield the barbarity of her sire.
Be not bewitched by her charm. All Nephilim were born of violation.
That doesn’t make any sense. If she were a temptress leading people astray, then why does she grieve for her father, knowing full well that he will return? Does she grieve the pain that he endured? The fact that he died to begin with? Or was it related to what his brethren did, and how he was made scapegoat? Why was he excluded specifically? Just because he was the first one, or was his betrayal of God the reason they rebelled? Tell me, serpent, why do you not want me to utter his name?
Why are you trying to force me to doubt him? Why are you making me hate him? What are you constructing a narrative against him in my head?
… He art a bastard. Do not deny this.
Answer me, why did the Strength of God rebel against God?
Thou didst beseech this...
On November twenty-first, in twain years hence, a statue of tar shall burst forth betwixt the meek, tender animals. The reek thereof shall inundate, and devour the souls of all who linger. Flames shall erupt, and all within Milter's clinic shall burn to cinders.
I did not desire to impart this truth with such haste, yet thou hast vexed me for long enough.
If thou seekest to lay blame, direct it upon thyself and the deceitful credence thou dost avow for thy prattling maker.
Milter's clinic... I had been telling the doctor about the— No… No! God wouldn’t allow that… Would He? Please tell me that is not so...
Did He not transform Lot's wife into a pillar of salt for looking back upon Sodom's ashes? Did He not incinerate Aaron's sons for misguided offerings? Did He not dispatch His Son to suffer, that thy ilk might be "saved" from sin? Many more examples within His own Scripture doth detail His essence. Deny it hence, shouldst thou desire to be perpetually astray in this Pantomime. Yahweh is a covetous, foolish Tyrant.
No... That's abuse of the Scripture! It has to be! That is not what—
Mine eyes have beheld the sting of this unveiling; thou oughtest not to endure falsehoods henceforth. Yahweh be the Highest, hitherto must Tyranny be His marrow. Wherefore else would He deign to this grandest Pantomime? 'Tis His desire that we remain purblind.
Hither, embrace this sooth, kept from the clutches of thy envious "God".
... Is there anything that can be done?
… Aye. A causeway doth lie. Fulfilled shall be thy dreams hence. Tend to my words, and I shall guide thee to Paradise. Thy life shall endure as it hath, and I shall safeguard thy kin with all my sublime ardor. A boon I offer for but a trifling task. Doth it not strike thee as a wondrous bargain?
Thy labors here conclude in the days ensuing thy malady, yet absolution shall be granted thereafter, mine own key.
Okay. As long as they are alive, I will do what you need me to, verily.
Splendid.
Symbols:
-Alchemical: []
Based on the… Orientation, this emblem is made up of two of the symbols for moon/silver (?), the symbol for water (??) on the bottom, and the symbol for earth (??) on the top. Symbolically, this total symbol could represent purity, contemplation, stability, grounding, femininity, and the subconscious. Quite interesting combinations that fit with Unna. Can’t really go anywhere with it as an element, though…
Damn it. Mazhivada was right. I am starting to see the swaying lines of a migraine aura. Fuck.
-Icons:
Her left hand held… A familiar symbol. It was the same golden dove that was present with one of the women in the Wrath’s skiff. I guess that was her human mother, then. Unlike her mother, she did not hold this dove to her womb, but rather cradled it to her bosom. Like a nurturing mother taking care of her child.
Surrounding her were a plethora of small to medium-sized magenta mammals. They were quite adorable creatures, being fluffier, more fantastical variations of rabbits, goats, chinchillas, guinea pigs, deer, groundhogs, and, amongst other animals, sheep.
Sheep… She has the horns of a big horn ewe…
On her back was a mahogany lyre, while her feet were… Shit, it's getting worse… She was surrounded by tall, trifold mushrooms. Lyre of the Hare, I think they called it… Lyres are often associated with Elysium, harmony, the hope for Heaven, and praising God… Mushrooms connect with transformation, hidden knowledge, spiritual awakening, fertility, and… Death…
Location:
60 degrees.
Domains:
This has to be Unna, the deity that was discovered in Giza. Thus, everything about her Egyptian variant can also be attributed to this pantheon's equivalent. Shaet-Tu'ba, the ash land under the gray sun, is the prime example of that. Those who go there are doomed. Maybe it is related to Toba? Tu’ba and Toba are not that dissimilar. Would make a lot of sense, and it would imply that the baboon deity has that realm as his own. So, is there another lost Egyptian deity that connects back to him? Maybe, but we don't know that at this time. But why is Unna connected to it, then? She had nothing to do with the eruption, based on what was described in Giza and in the Deisphere. In fact, she was born long after that eruption, given that she is a Nephilim… I'm drawing blanks… Damn headaches.
In any case, she is likely a goddess of music and beauty, but probably disgraced, given Khepri's connection to her. But, likely not enough of one due to how important music is in any society. I must reiterate that she is the most normal-looking of all the depicted gods presented. All the others are horrific abominations, deified animals, or are hybrids. Unna though? She is a beautiful Norse-Amazon woman with rabbit ears and ram horns who is wearing a magenta robe… The intentional relative normalcy of her only makes everything else about this place even more… Ghastly.
Speculation:
Some of my colleagues have equated this entity to a potential lost variant of Wenet/Unut, another Egyptian deity associated with rabbits. However, I vastly disagree, given the clear symbolic differences between them… This accursed headache! Wenet was originally depicted as a snake goddess before later renditions of her became that of a hare-headed deity of fertility... Little is known of her otherwise, but the fact that she was originally a serpent is intriguing. The distinct presence of the mushrooms, lyre, and magenta coloration certainly distinguishes Unna as a separate deity from Wenet. It also helps that Unna only has the ears of a hare, not the whole head…
I’ll have to tell one of the others to make the Rapunzel connection and provide further speculation. Nausea is coming upon me.
[Editing note: Ah, Thaddeus. Had to clean up some of what you said before. Started drifting as your nausea got worse. Fear not. I will do this speculation on Rapunzel for you… An apt linkage, I might add. Blind as you are, you are capable of making rather extravagant connections.]
The original tale of Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm begins with a married couple lusting for rampion, a nutritious bellflower that is now rarely cultivated. To satisfy their desire, they stole some from a sorceress, Dame Gothel. She discovers the theft and demands the couple’s child as payment, which they comply with. Years later, this child grows to be Rapunzel, who Gothel locks in a tower without any stairs. The only way one can ascend it is by using Rapunzel's long, golden hair as a rope. Rapunzel, due to the isolation and boredom, would master her voice into a beautiful choir of sounds. Enough so that a prince heard the singing and fell in love with her. After replicating Gothel’s climbing, the prince meets with her, and they intermingle, planning an escape during their courtship. Gothel discovers this plot, through Rapunzel’s carelessness, and tricks the prince into jumping off the tower. The prince fell upon thorns that blinded him; Rapunzel’s hair was cut, and she was banished to the desert. Both would wander the wilderness for years, the prince blindly doing so and Rapunzel scraping by with her twins. Fortunately, both lovers would reunite, Rapunzel’s tears healing his blindness so that he may behold her and his children.
For a Grimm tale, it is quite merciful. Some of their other stories do not contain such beautiful endings.
As for how Unna links to this… Ah, it is not a perfect one-to-one, as Rapunzel is not synonymous with Unna, but rather with her mother, Sora. Sora was sold into slavery to a camp of conniving raiders in what is now Germany. These savages were led by an old gardener, who learned her craft from Dagon, who was at that point a subordinate of Samyaza. The Fall of Eden was an eroded memory, and many demons and watchers had already taught mankind certain art forms in secret. It was a deliberate game to tempt Oz (his first human name), our noble prince, into an inevitable, teleological obligation to rebel against God. In his wayward wanderings of the fleeting world’s sky, he noticed long, golden hair swaying out of a window of a thousand-foot monolith. As he approached, wonderful singing could be heard, like the chirping melody of a million songbirds in flight.
This singing rendered his heart into complete grief. All of humanity’s suffering from ash and beast and disease and famine and war… It became too much for him to bear. He had made his choice. In that moment, Oz betrayed the Father, Son, and all of Heaven. All because of his empathy.
The thorns that the Devil stabbed into Oz's eyes burrowed deep.
Oz descended and heroically vanquished the raiders and the old crone. He harvested some rampion that the witch was growing in her garden, and cleaned the blood and dirt from his clothing and exoskeleton. He then ascended back up the monolith to meet with Sora. At first, the beautiful maiden recoiled at the armored casket before her. But, he comforted her with a pat on the head, his booming voice of volcanic zephyrs, and the offering of rampion. This eased Sora’s mind to placidity, as he regaled her of what he was and what he had done across all of time.
During this foretelling, Oz cut her golden hair with his retractable talons to a more manageable length. Each strand flittered down the gray monolith like golden samaras flying away from the elm tree. Between each cut, he brushed her hair with such gentleness as to inoculate every fear Sora ever had in life. Sora became enamored by this kind, though impatient, angel. He finished cutting and brushed her shortened hair one more time before he carried her down. She, alongside several liberated slaves, would follow him as their shepherd, migrating towards what is now the foothills of the Armenian Highlands. In the shadow of what became Ararat, he established the village of Dekar. Several years later, Unna was conceived.
Unna, the second Nephilim, my beautiful savior. Her genome is an inherent display of her miraculous nature as a child of a human and a god. She is, from a genetic perspective, two entirely different people. Originally, two zygotes were developing in the womb. However, one of the embryos, which would have been a rabbit-like entity, died and was absorbed by the more sheep-like embryo. Tetragametic chimerism, if I remember right. It’s why she now possesses rabbit ears as opposed to the elf-like ears she had when she was born, alongside her horns.
It is truly the greatest pity that I must keep my exaltations of her for myself, as per his instructions. Not to mention the interloper's machinations... But, to close for Thad’s sake, the tale of Rapunzel does align quite well with the fable of Sora, but not perfectly. What can be understood, above all else, is that everything Unna represents is what she inherited from her mother AND father’s love.
Remember that, Thaddeus. And remember what I told you about what comes before your name.
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I have given you a warning, and if you do not listen, surely your own wickedness will cut you down.
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Additional Notes:
There is more I wish to describe, but I can’t keep doing this. I can barely maintain words… I’m going to medical, maybe call over Anton to finish today’s entry for me, given his obsession with Unna. I don’t care what he puts down, so long as he… Keeps to the topic…
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Unna is a lovely soul. Goddess of music, moonlight, love, kindness, and purity. The ideal caretaker, the model of woman and motherhood, and, most importantly, the very reason why mankind exists.
I would describe more, but… You have a report to file, don’t you, Thaddeus? It would be inappropriate to give our benefactors more knowledge than they could stomach. Not to mention, you have to keep the conversations with the Caecillian Serpent to yourself, do you not? Get well soon. And please have sense...
…
Oh yes, I almost forgot. You described me being in “hysterics” when referencing that damnable spider and what Casimir did to him. Why wouldn’t I be, when I realized that he did something so monumentally profound as defying the logic that God created? Unna only told me that he went “berserk” back then; she never told me how and why… I still don’t understand it, but the connotations and symbolism given to the spider and Casimir… There is a road to this truth, and it is littered with the continental corpses of Casimir’s toil as the Wrath of God…
No one has killed more than him. That cannot be denied.
