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Accidental (?) allegory


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Just started replaying Geneforge 3, and I suddenly noticed--this entry in the series makes a pretty good allegory for the war between God and Satan in Christianity. On the one hand, you have humans who in this game are capable of summoning hails of fire and all that, and hence might as well be angels. They created the less-intelligent beings, including serviles who remind me, at least, of normal humans. On the other hand you have other humans who desire the power of the more powerful humans, and who are aided by serviles who desire freedom from the control of their creators. The powerful humans are arrogant and controlling, but the rebels may actually be the more evil side due to their willingness to slaughter indiscriminately in the name of freedom. There's even a Devil in the person of Master Hodge, a former high-ranking Shaper who has become a rebel leader but is steadily going insane. Too bad this doesn't work for the other games--the Barzites could be the angels who sided with nobody but themselves and were cast out to wander the Earth for all eternity, but there's just no equivalent of the Trakovites. (And yes, I have nothing better to do than this. Could be how I lost my last job . . .)

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There are only a few basic storylines, so it goes to reason that you will always find something to which you can compare any given story. Usually they are totally independent, Tolkien's LotR for example was accused (wrongly) of being allegorical of some silly war. Some, like the C.S.Lewis tales, are intentional.

 

I've consulted with several experts on this subject, and we've decided that Geneforge is not an allegory for the war between God and Satan. Sorry. frown

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Perhaps there are two things I should explain. One: I'm a Satanist. Not one of those people who sacrifice pigs and consider lettuce an unclean food, but someone who honestly believes the Christian devil is a better choice than the Bible-style Christian God (not to be confused with the God most Christians I know believe in, which really isn't Christian at all, but tends to turn up in every religion when you question its followers closely enough.) Now that I have set myself up to almost certainly get flamed, let's move onto number 2. I tend to come up with weird theories whenever I encounter an ongoing artwork (book series, TV show, game series, etc.) that keeps everything really mysterious and doesn't let you know what's going on. Every once in a while I catch something really major, as when I predicted that the final villain on Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be this one baddie called the First who appeared in a single episode years ago, but more often I just make people roll their eyes. ("Watched Lost the other night, and hey, did you notice that when Claire had that dream about the bloody cradle, Locke's eyes matched those pebbles Jack found in a bag next to those bodies from 50 years ago?") This is just me--don't take me seriously.

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Feo: I thought Satanists were mostly free-will atheists poking fun at Christianity? (While others are drawn to it just for the concept of rebellion and maybe a somewhat unhealthy identification with the Satan character?) Also, isn't the "pig sacrificing" stuff very nearly entirely myth? I don't know any Satanists, personally (I'm an atheist myself, and if it makes you feel more comfortable: there are a number of like-minded people on these forums.)

 

Forgive me if I mistook your first message as that of a 'devout' Christian (not that I dislike Christians, of course, only the ones who try to push their beliefs upon other people).

 

Anyhow, I suppose literally any story at all can be matched inaccurately and even unfairly with another well-known story, especially moral plays... and for particularly religious people it's only natural that the linked story should be found in the Bible (hence my first thought that you were a devout Christian). The Geneforge games are very much moral plays, maybe G3 most of all since there are only two sides and both are clearly wrong... but that in no way connects Geneforge to any other moral play that's been written, of which of course there are many.

 

I for one would enjoy a conversation about Satanism. I have much to learn in that area.

 

For one, I've never heard the one about lettuce being an "unclean food". That's pretty funny, actually.

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But of course, "religion" can be tricky word. Again I'm speaking, though less than most people would, from a place of relative ignorance (although I've looked into Wicca, and even "Satanism" which adopts the Wiccan (and subsequently Christian) symbol, more than most people have -- anyway far enough to see the overlaps)... but I'm not so sure that Satanism and Wicca are really so much religions as they are lifestyles?

 

But thanks for the link, Nalyd, no less. I'll add it to my collection. (ha!)

 

I did look at the Church of Satan's website, a while ago (I still have the bookmark for it), but didn't spend much time there and I don't trust it... "Satanism" seems to mean different things to different people.

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This is getting kinda weird . . .

 

About the "pig sacrifice" thing: whether or not you do that depends on whether or not the parents you're rebelling against are pig farmers. I suspect that, if you eliminate the unearnest, I'm a religion of one. And really, I don't believe this stuff--it's kind of like that story about a guy who worships a water tower, not because he really believes it's an incarnation of the "Divine Ocean", but because the religions of those around him seem to him to be ways of promoting hatred. Besides, I'm a Socialist, and in America we're expected to be Satanists. grin

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Originally Posted By: Evnissyen
Forgive me if I mistook your first message as that of a 'devout' Christian (not that I dislike Christians, of course, only the ones who try to push their beliefs upon other people).


If he were a Christian, he'd have to be either a pretty strange one or a poorly informed one; I'm not aware of any mainstream Christian denomination that claims humans were created by angels.

Originally Posted By: feo takahari
Besides, I'm a Socialist, and in America we're expected to be Satanists. grin


It warms my heart to know you're not a LaVeyan Satanist. We had one of those here before and she was intolerable.

But if Geneforge is an allegory for anything, it's the American Civil War.
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