Religion: General

[Admin]

Sun Jan 18, 2009 6:11 pm

Cris wrote:

E.J.'s description of the Terrapyre Stones:

Terrapyre stones have either a Terrapyre Cross or Acended Ichthus carved into their surface. These are often placed within a garden or along a path or in front of a door. Walking on these stones gives Terrapyres a sense of spiritual solace and privacy. The more devout a Terrapyre is, the deeper the resulting experience. By placing the stones in front of a door and stepping onto them before leaving the premises—for battle in particular—reinforces their faith in their return.

My question is, why would walking on the stones provide a sense of privacy? Does it make Terrapyres feel as though they're communing with Christ in a private conversation? Or does this mean that when they walking on this path, they shouldn't be interrupted?

Cris

[Admin]

Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:13 am

JenDiMarco wrote:

Walking on the stones is like them walking through a ripple in space-time. They are surrounded, as if in a bubble, by a living sense of Christ and their focus is intense. They might be speaking to Christ aloud but no one would hear their words.

(Erik Egan used these stones in his story for the battle anthology.)

Jennifer

[Admin]

Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:02 am

EJ wrote:

How strongly and how far one Immortal can sense another varies from one Immortal to the next. However, in general, the "zone" would be half a city block (which averages 2.5 acres square) or about the size of a football field (1.2 acres). I also think that the feeling is much stronger when there is line of sight.

The columns would grant double the protective sensory.

EJ

[Admin]

Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:22 pm

Cris wrote:

Thanks! This clarifies nicely.

Cris

[Cris]

When doing my research for the Hylonome anthology, I came across this fascinating fact that I wanted to share. It comes from the book A Traveller's History of Japan by Richard Tames.

In the late 1500s, a Jesuit named St. Francis Xavier arrived in Japan as a missionary. He established a Jesuit monastery in Nagasaki around 1570 and from then on Nagasaki developed as a Jesuit-dominated port. Odo Nobunaga, who was Shogun at the time, welcomed the Christians "as a counterweight to the influence of the militant Buddhist sects and by the year of his death (1582) there are reckoned to have been some 150,000 Japanese converts to the faith. This represented an astonishing success considering that there were at that time perhaps not more than twenty European Fathers, assisted by thirty local aides."

In 1582, the first Japanese envoys arrived in Lisbon, Spain. "Four Christian boys aged thirteen and fourteen, dispatched by three Christian lords of Kyushu. In Madrid they were received with honour by Philip II and in Rome by Pope Gregory XIII himself."

Eventually, Hideyoshi (who son, Hideyori, would eventually commit suicide when his castle at Osaka fell to Tokugawa Hidetada in 1615) began to require that all vassals get his permission before converting because the idea of Christian diamyo calling foreigners to their assistance was a chilling prospect. This, interestingly, was to foreshadow his own downfall, but he failed to see the signs.

Cris