Too Like The Lightning: A primer
The following contains spoilers.
The world of Too Like The Lightning is near a utopia. The primary governing bodies are the Seven Hives Alliance, and the bash.
What's a hive? To best explain the Hives, let us start with the six-hive transit system. The six hives who participate in the transit system are:
-- Humanists, who believe in maximizing the human capability and maintain the transit car system.
-- MASON, the Empire.
-- Cousins, who help others
-- Europe, which is all those who value location.
-- Mitsubishi, who value land ownership
-- Gordians, who are psychologists
The Hive not participating in the six-hive transit system is:
-- Utopia, who knows cars sometimes crash and is unwilling to accept the failure rate.
Choice of a hive is a personal choice made when one passes the adult competency exams; the different hives have different rules for entering and leaving.
And what of those who do not choose to join a hive? Three options, they:
-- Blacklaw, who accept only the seven "universal laws", and, in addition, have adopted their own eighth law: do not anger the Leviathans.
-- Greylaw. All minors are greylaws until they pass the adult competence exams. They follow the seven universal laws plus adopted "consensus laws"
-- Whitelaw: Follow all laws of the greylaws, plus accepted "character laws".
What, then, is a bash?
-- A chosen family, of 5 to 50 or so adults and their children before their children choose a Bash. Can be entirely one Hive, but more commonly a mixture.
Every adult has:
-- A bash
-- a Hive, or has chosen to not have one
-- a home for their bash
-- a home food-tree, that grows all sorts of plants and meats
-- free access to the six-hive transit system, which can take you from Spain to Tokya in hours.
-- a job of some sort. For non-vocatuers, about 10 hours a week. For those who are vocatuers, work as long as they like.
Every child has:
-- bash parents
-- everything in a bash
-- the protection of the Cousins and the Greylaws.
Religion: Discussion of religion by three or more people without a sensayer present is a violation of the First Universal Law, as it is likely to end with massive loss of human life as it did during the Church Wars.
What, dear reader, do you think of this world?
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The notion that religious group conversations require a Sensayer is definitely interesting. I’ll admit, my first thought was “how on earth do you enforce that?” Pocket churches have been a thing forever, and anything with rituals, beliefs, symbols, and roles looks like a religion to me, which I suspect includes most bash near the large end of the scale.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s a sensayer do? Say things that make sense?
Sensayers, near as I can tell, help direct people to better understand what they -- the parishoner -- actually believes.
ReplyDeleteI take it that Humanism and Psychology are not considered religions, even though they include ritual and things that cannot be proved by science. Is Buddhism considered a religion? Is secular Judaism considered a religion? What about Shintoism and Wicca? How about Communism, Fascism, and Liberalism (in the sense of humanistic democratic capitalism, not in the sense it's usually used in the U.S.)?
ReplyDeleteRon Stanley I say "psychologists", i mean "brillists" and theirs is science backed.
ReplyDeleteAnd I say "humanists", and what i really mean is "individuals who hold as most important human excellence", not what we'd call humanism.
So what's the difference between "religion" and any other shared belief system that includes unprovable assumptions and sees certain values as more important than others?
ReplyDeleteI'd argue that all belief systems, including science and humanism, include unprovable assumptions.
...but there are probably historical and psychological reasons for me believing that.
...and I haven't read Too Like the Lightning, so it's probably presumptuous of me to even participate in this conversation.
...but I think I'd like to have a sensayer around.
Then you should read it! I think you'll shit it, and this little primer will make it easier to understand. I hope.
ReplyDeleteEasy answer, in the book: Religions start wars, and these people are terrified of the Church War, which nearly destroyed humanity.
ReplyDelete