Annotated 40-11
While Sundar’s stock is rising with Syr’Nj, E-Merl’s is dropping. Take this healing potion for WAV, you drama llama, and quit with the defeatism.
As this scene begins, I offer a reminder: HR is fundamentally mistaken about who Syr’Nj—who any of the Five—truly are. By turns, he will address her as if she’s just a gamer he’s got floating in a tube in his office (“We have met before”) and as if she’s a creation of his own two hands (“I am pretty much your god”), fashioned with or without that gamer’s assistance. Neither concept is correct, but the truth doesn’t feed HR’s narcissism quite as much. So he’s never gonna quite see her for who she is, at least not while he’s truly still “HR.”
This interaction is not really about advancing his goals. It’s about fulfilling his psychological needs. The Cultists’ mostly blind worship is not enough. He needs to be appreciated and understood. And for that he needs…not a peer, exactly, he has no peers…but someone whose intellect he can respect. That’s a lot of what Carol did for him, and one reason he extended her so much trust. Of the Five, Syr’Nj resembles Carol the most closely by far, so here he is, trying to replicate on Arkerra the relationship he had on Earth. Let’s, uh, see how that works out for him.
Like Syr’Nj believes in anything other than Science.
She’d probably first classify Graya a force of nature than consider her one of them magical sky genies.
I think you’re misjudging Syr’Nj.
In the RealWorld, the stereotypical scientist is a hardshell atheist, cuz in the RealWorld, there’s no objective evidence of gods. Which means that gods are either (a) all noninterventionist, to the point where they actively conceal all signs of their existence and actions and stuff, or else (b) nonexistent. Either way, the most parsimonious interpretation of the available evidence is that there ain’t no gods.
In Arkerra, gods clearly do exist, and are decidedly not standoffish, noninterventionist types. So there’s plenty of in-universe evidence that Arkerran gods exist. And Syr’Nj is not one to ignore evidence.
I suspect that Syr’Nj accepts the existence of gods. The only question mark is whether she regards them as “yep, genuine deity-type deities”, or as “eh, jumped-up archmages”.
I was just half joking but I do agree there is enough evidence in this world to make faith evidently a sound choice. I believe I made a post a long long time ago about how easy it is in these settings to actually be a man of faith when you tangibly call lightning, spears of light or heal wounds through your god. That being said, Syr’Nj is somehow still at some point early in the story having a conversation with Gravedust where he explains something with magic or ghosts or something of the sorts and she’s all “yeah I don’t agree that’s real but let’s move along with the conversation” in a way or another (truly wish I had proper links to give instead).
On a side note, the “jumped-up archmages” gave me a good chuckle.
Well, God created Adam and Eve (more or less hairy ape-hybrids) and by them were created the multitude of humankind. And we still give credit to God for creating us, even if I personally was born of my mother with assistance from my father with very little direct influence from said God (at least to my knowledge).
HR pretty much created the womb and set gamer in to develop the “new them” with everything they used to do that handed to them by HR…
So yeah. I would still say it’s them, the gamer, but also the creation, the character, brought to life only by the grace and gifts of HR.
Heck, I still believe in certain God-like primordial creation force and I’m perfectly happy to say they created me despite my parents, my surroundings, my own body, my mind and decisions all having influenced the creation that I am now.
“I am your creator” and “I am your god” are not the same assertion though. Even if my mom created me, she ain’t my god….
True, but my mom doesn’t have near omnipotent powers in my realm or existance and could not just unplug me in another to end my existence in this one either.
Also HR has quite a lot control in this realm in and out of it, with good change that he conjured the whole place up in the first place.
Buuuut we also don’t know just how “real” this realm is and to what are the limits of HR’s powers in it.
Then again, our mythologies are filled with flawed and limited in power deities and we still call guys like Heracles gods even if their whole thing was being strong and doing bunch of chores. Did he even have any actual godly duties of realms of expertise he was the patron or caretaker of?
We know that HR isn’t omnipotent and can’t kill the Five by simply unplugging the people he has in tubes, evidence being: his frustrated, frequently rant-inspiring inability to kill the Five ever since his first appearance in the comic. So I don’t think that analogy points to the conclusion you’re taking it to.
“You’re Gaia?! Didn’t expect the mustache but you know, I don’t judge.”
I think you win