Wapsi Square Forum

That is one serious Masquerade!

And, now, Monica and Shelly are somewhat in the role of adoptive godparents. They're responsible for some young lives, not of their own blood.

I am a bit surprised. McBride and Pratt were involved but they were not the main movers. Mostly they just tried to play catch-up. The only really big thing they did was get the crystal into the right place at the right time. So I guess they do get some of the credit. I wonder if Phix is saying that just to impress the seriousness on Monica and Shelly?

Another point is Phix gives us a time mark. This is two months after Kathy's adventure. Obviously Monica and Shelly don't know about it yet. I guess Kathy is keeping it quiet.

She didn't say it would be mortals doing the executing.

Dave wrote:That is one serious Masquerade!

And, now, Monica and Shelly are somewhat in the role of adoptive godparents. They're responsible for some young lives, not of their own blood.

Not godparents at all. Their actions could impact the two girls, but they are not directly involved with them. Nor do they know about their possible connection to them through Kathy. SO calling them maybe godparents really doesn't fit.

Yamara wrote:She didn't say it would be mortals doing the executing.

My impression is that she meant just the opposite... that other paranormals would destroy Castela or Atsali if their existence became known to mortals, in order to "eliminate the evidence" that paranormals exist.

Phix said "We have rules." This may be one of them... remain hidden or else!

I cannot believe that Monica has not seen Katherine's children. I think Katherine is very proud of her kids and would show them off to whomever it would be safe for. This would include Monica.

Dave wrote:

Yamara wrote:She didn't say it would be mortals doing the executing.

My impression is that she meant just the opposite... that other paranormals would destroy Castela or Atsali if their existence became known to mortals, in order to "eliminate the evidence" that paranormals exist.

Phix said "We have rules." This may be one of them... remain hidden or else!

Dang it, why are humans so blasted important!? "Oh, the postman saw Castela. Kill her."

Really? "We have rules for a reason", Phix said. These simians have been kept going for a reason.

Not that I'm demanding an answer this decade. I am just yelling at the tv.

Yamara wrote:Not that I'm demanding an answer this decade. I am just yelling at the tv.

But does it respond to you when you yell at it?

zachariah wrote:I am a bit surprised. McBride and Pratt were involved but they were not the main movers. Mostly they just tried to play catch-up. The only really big thing they did was get the crystal into the right place at the right time. So I guess they do get some of the credit. I wonder if Phix is saying that just to impress the seriousness on Monica and Shelly?

Another point is Phix gives us a time mark. This is two months after Kathy's adventure. Obviously Monica and Shelly don't know about it yet. I guess Kathy is keeping it quiet.

I think Monica is going to be put out that Katherine didn't tell her what happened... especially something that had a direct impact on Monica's research. Would Kath have been looking at that particular research if Monica hadn't keyed her to it? Monica went out of her way to include Katherine... I'd imagine she'll be bothered that Katherine didn't return the favor.

DilyV wrote:

zachariah wrote:Another point is Phix gives us a time mark. This is two months after Kathy's adventure. Obviously Monica and Shelly don't know about it yet. I guess Kathy is keeping it quiet.

I think Monica is going to be put out that Katherine didn't tell her what happened... especially something that had a direct impact on Monica's research. Would Kath have been looking at that particular research if Monica hadn't keyed her to it? Monica went out of her way to include Katherine... I'd imagine she'll be bothered that Katherine didn't return the favor.

Depends on how busy a paranormal toddler and a paranormal teenager is keeping her...

zachariah wrote:This is two months after Kathy's adventure. Obviously Monica and Shelly don't know about it yet. I guess Kathy is keeping it quiet.

davids4250 wrote:I cannot believe that Monica has not seen Katherine's children. I think Katherine is very proud of her kids and would show them off to whomever it would be safe for. This would include Monica.

DilyV wrote:I think Monica is going to be put out that Katherine didn't tell her what happened... especially something that had a direct impact on Monica's research. Would Kath have been looking at that particular research if Monica hadn't keyed her to it? Monica went out of her way to include Katherine... I'd imagine she'll be bothered that Katherine didn't return the favor.

Whoa whoa whoa, everybody relax. We don't know what Kath has or has not told Mon et al. I strongly doubt this is the first Mon & Shelly have heard of that particular situation; Phix is bringing it up to hammer home her point.

DilyV wrote:I think Monica is going to be put out that Katherine didn't tell her what happened... especially something that had a direct impact on Monica's research. Would Kath have been looking at that particular research if Monica hadn't keyed her to it? Monica went out of her way to include Katherine... I'd imagine she'll be bothered that Katherine didn't return the favor.

Well, Kath probably knows of this execution thingy and is not going to take any chances on anyone, period. And Monica does tend to have a big mouth sometimes, blabbing things she shouldn't. What I don't get is why be so harsh? With all the dimensions and places at their disposal, it seems like they could hide/relocate any paranormals discovered. Death seems like over the top. It would surely seem to be too harsh for Castela. Maybe it's the only way to keep them in line. Like an animal which as killed a human. Generally, they have to die, fair or not.

EDIT: I'm thinking "discovered" means more than just being seen though. After all, neither Monica nor Shelly are awaiting execution right now. I think, perhaps, it means being proven to be a paranormal by humans. Maybe captured and exhibited.

Also, we now know both the adoptees are mortal. I guess that means they have a finite lifespan. Or are they like Phix, mortal in that she can be killed, but seems to have an indefinite lifespan otherwise?

Souls are going to be the key point here. They keep coming up over and over again in the story. Is Shelly's companion now a soul? Is Tina's Demon coperative becoming a soul. What kept Monica and Shelly's soul intact when they "Died"? Why was Charon upset about all the missing souls. Why have the death deities and their kids in the story played such a part in the story? What about the souls of Lanthis and the other place I can't spell? Such a complex tale to explain their fate and why they never reached the normal paths of death. And then there was all the information about the relationship between demons and souls in the early part of the story and how souls related to golems. Immortals don't have souls, mortals have souls. Either can live indefinitely but at what cost.

Timotheus wrote:Souls are going to be the key point here. They keep coming up over and over again in the story. Is Shelly's companion now a soul? Is Tina's Demon coperative becoming a soul. What kept Monica and Shelly's soul intact when they "Died"? Why was Charon upset about all the missing souls. Why have the death deities and their kids in the story played such a part in the story? What about the souls of Lanthis and the other place I can't spell? Such a complex tale to explain their fate and why they never reached the normal paths of death. And then there was all the information about the relationship between demons and souls in the early part of the story and how souls related to golems. Immortals don't have souls, mortals have souls. Either can live indefinitely but at what cost.

Maybe, in the end, we'll find out it is human souls which are the ultimate power. The real power behind everything in the Wapsiverse. And the more there are, the greater their collective power and influence. Thus the need to keep the human race going. no matter what. Something human souls have impressed on paranormals through the ages. Perhaps genetically. I recall a story in which a man took cat embryos, and a "time bomb" to hurtle the embryos into the far distant past of a nearby planet (or moon). Before launching the thing, he genetically impressed the driving need to serve mankind in the embryos. He did this to save his life from attackers. Sure enough, cats came in spaceships to his rescue, fighting off the attackers and bowed before him, such was their devotion to humans. Little knowing their whole purpose of existence to that point was to save this guy.

What's with Shelly? She looks as if sómething is about to break out of her. The least disturbing would be a good cry, but..i dunno..

Timotheus wrote:Souls are going to be the key point here. They keep coming up over and over again in the story. Is Shelly's companion now a soul? Is Tina's Demon coperative becoming a soul. What kept Monica and Shelly's soul intact when they "Died"? Why was Charon upset about all the missing souls. Why have the death deities and their kids in the story played such a part in the story? What about the souls of Lanthis and the other place I can't spell? Such a complex tale to explain their fate and why they never reached the normal paths of death. And then there was all the information about the relationship between demons and souls in the early part of the story and how souls related to golems. Immortals don't have souls, mortals have souls. Either can live indefinitely but at what cost.

It seems to me that all the concern over souls in the story is driven by something like Fedorovism. The Akashic Records were mentioned briefly in Kath's recent story arc, which in 19th century theosophist mythology was an enormous system for recording the sum total of all events and experiences that occur on Earth. It's been mentioned by Bud in earlier comics (which I'm having trouble finding at the moment because the text of the archives isn't searchable) that the Jaguar temples were a means of speaking with the dead, but only work if the dead person was aware that they were dying when they passed away. I think that's because there's a monitoring and notification mechanism within the Akashic Records that alerts Charon to the existence of a soul that needs preserving, and relies on a person's own self-perception as a trigger. If he (or an agent) doesn't get there fast enough, then the person suffers death in the sense that we conventionally understand it. Otherwise, the person's consciousness is transferred to an artificial "afterlife".

The existence of humans is important to the Library, but like another library near and dear to my heart, humanity doesn't have to be central to its purpose for existing. The fact that humans are sentient life forms is probably sufficient to merit its assistance in the great common struggle against oblivion.

This is not making sense. Although it would have been heart wrenching to leave the kids at the orphanage, doesn't their adoption now put them in danger of being "executed on the spot"? Since Mr Meadows would probably have a hard time getting past child protection services, I suspect that the orphanage was not planetside and that they were safe there from becoming "known to exist" by humans. But for the adoption to have any meaning, the kids would have to live with Kath in Wapsitown and subject them to all the bigotry and xenophobia that humans express.

Oops. Misread. Backup. Phix said "mortals", not "humans".

But that makes her words make even less sense: "Mortal paranormals" would be "executed on the spot" if "mortals" knew of their existence.

We have mortals and immortals, paranormals and non-paranormals, and humans and non-humans.

Among the humans, we have a number of paranormal immortals, at least one paranormal mortal (Jin), lots of non-paranormal mortals, and unknown (possibly zero), non-paranormal immortals.

Among the non-humans, Phix, Bia, Nudge and the happy hugger are paranormal immortals. Castela and Astali are paranormal mortals - likewise their parents. That implies a significant population of non-human mortals but with unknown demographics of non-paranormal vs paranormal beings. Again, unknown if any non-paranormal immortals exist.

Had Phix said "humans" her statement would be very understandable as xenophobia among humans is quite rampant and that would be the expected outcome. However, Phix's choice of the word "mortals" implies that non-paranormal, non-human mortals do exist and that they are xenophobic as well.

That leads to the question, "Executed by whom"??? If by the xenophobic non-humans, then they must be in the vast majority in order to present such a danger to paranormal non-humans and even the orphanage must stay hidden. And they also must have access and awareness of planetside activities.

This would all be so much simpler if Phix meant "mortals" to be synonymous with "humans".

But no matter what the meaning, doesn't the adoption endanger the kids by risking exposure to known xenophobic humans?

Time for reality check for Monica and Shelly, perhaps even some time in the "time-out corner". meanwhile, that's some seriously Goth wallpaper in Phix's chambers!!!

KnightDelight wrote:

Timotheus wrote:Souls are going to be the key point here. They keep coming up over and over again in the story. Is Shelly's companion now a soul? Is Tina's Demon coperative becoming a soul. What kept Monica and Shelly's soul intact when they "Died"? Why was Charon upset about all the missing souls. Why have the death deities and their kids in the story played such a part in the story? What about the souls of Lanthis and the other place I can't spell? Such a complex tale to explain their fate and why they never reached the normal paths of death. And then there was all the information about the relationship between demons and souls in the early part of the story and how souls related to golems. Immortals don't have souls, mortals have souls. Either can live indefinitely but at what cost.

Maybe, in the end, we'll find out it is human souls which are the ultimate power. The real power behind everything in the Wapsiverse. And the more there are, the greater their collective power and influence. Thus the need to keep the human race going. no matter what. Something human souls have impressed on paranormals through the ages. Perhaps genetically. I recall a story in which a man took cat embryos, and a "time bomb" to hurtle the embryos into the far distant past of a nearby planet (or moon). Before launching the thing, he genetically impressed the driving need to serve mankind in the embryos. He did this to save his life from attackers. Sure enough, cats came in spaceships to his rescue, fighting off the attackers and bowed before him, such was their devotion to humans. Little knowing their whole purpose of existence to that point was to save this guy.

I remember that story! The cats pretty much showed up the instant the capsule was launched. The coding in their genes was one simple command, something like: "You Will Live For Me" and the evolved felines did. Considering the attackers were something like mutant barbarian technologically-advanced hermaphrodite cavemen who just reached their space age, and wanted to do things to the guy, there didn't seem to be many options.