three. video. id: the Outsider. later tonight.

[crypdick]

[ It's traditional, when asking simple, broad questions to the Network to do so in a text post but that's not nearly melodramatic enough for the Outsider.

He's in the desert in the outskirts of Jeopardy, night has fallen and he's looking not at the communicator but up at the stars. There's some faeries nearby he's bribed to leave him alone with pizza, but they make it cold enough you can see his breath glittering on the air. ]

The places you come from are varied, where even the things that you take for granted may be different here, or for other imPorts. Even this reality is changing week to week.

With that in mind, I have a question for you.

[ Now he turns to look at the comm, eyes empty and black. He tilts his head. ]

What do you think makes a god a god?

(( And regular reminder that if you respond with video, you are completely free to include a vision for him to see if you want! ))

Comments

audio;

[dragony]

Being one, for starters.

[ thanks ruka. ]

audio;

[crypdick]

[ He switches to match. He almost sounds amused. ]

That does make things easier, doesn't it?

[loyal_soldier]

[Hello. It's a man with the same face as that extremely boring guy on the network from a couple months ago. The hair's different, though.]

There's no such thing. Beings are just beings, no matter what they look like or what they're capable of. Thinking of anybody or anything as a god creates an unearned and illogical power structure without basis in reality.

[crypdick]

[ Ugh, at least this one is slightly less boring. Slightly - it's not a particularly interesting response either, but he can work with it. ]

To you its simply a title, and one that cannot be earned.

Are you going to claim that is true across all the worlds, or just where you come from?

[jadus]

[Jadus is, coincidentally, also somewhere in the Jeopardy desert. The view of the stars is not unobstructed in his video, however: there is a strange structure surrounding him, metal but organic in its curves and voids. Without lights, it's hard to see what it might be.]

Their devoted and their adversaries. It is an external title, rather than one that can be forced or denied by desire alone.

[crypdick]

[ Now that's interesting. Perhaps he could find Jadus, if he looks. ]

Either way, by your definition one doesn't choose to be a god.

But is it solely a matter of the faith of others?

video;

[goodtobebad]

Probably anyone who has to ask, definitely isn't one.

The only God I know is distant and Ineffable. Hasn't talked to anyone in centuries.

[crypdick]

That's an assumption, isn't it? Are you sure?

[ After all, he's asking. ]

But as for conversation, perhaps yours hasn't found someone worthy of their conversation.

[hatestrashcans]

Easy: Gods aren't real.

Null set.

[crypdick]

How dull you must be, to assume such a thing.

[pocketfulof]

Controlling aspects of the known universe, requiring relevancy to exist, having too many children with random mortals and taking no responsibility...

[Bitter demigod feelings coming through. He may be feeling better about his dad, BUT STILL.]

[crypdick]

[ Wow. There's just so much to unpack here. ]

That last point sounds particularly specific.

[Video]

[sleight_of_hand]

Their ability to destroy the world as well as how punch-able their face is.

[ Him? Want to punch a certain gas station attendant? Nah. ]

Re: [Video]

[crypdick]

Not a fan, I take it.

video

[melodramagic]

[ A good question, Sabrina ponders herself. ]

When people begin to worship a being, if you go by a religious definition, I guess. A being with miraculous powers?

But that's too broad. Many imPorts have that kind of ability.

[crypdick]

There is a line between those with power and those who are gods. The question is defining where that line is.

audio;

[ambasciatore]

Belief.

Though there are many things that make a god. What makes a god for you?

audio;

[crypdick]

A common thread, among many.

Where I come from, belief is irrelevant. As long as there is a god in the Void, then a god they are. Even if every cult and relgion passes from memory, the believers' bones rotting away.

video

[viciousmaukery]

If someone can channel divine magic coming from them, it's probably a god. [Probably.] Other than that, I don't know—the power to affect things even locked away through agents in the world? Being locked away at all so they don't break a mountain when they sneeze? It's all a bit nebulous.

What's the question for?

[crypdick]

Let's just say I've found my understanding of godhood different from many I've spoken to.

Yours, however, bears a distinct familiarity. Not the same, but warmer.

[khajidont]

That really depends on who you're talking to, right? Some people live with people who are just incredibly powerful and immortal and call them gods. Other people have... more complicated standards for it, I guess. Omniscience, omnipotence, that sort of thing.

Why are you asking?

[crypdick]

So it would seem. And many have a more fluid concept, or complete disbelief.

I was curious. Like a rat sniffing the cheese on a trap, I should have left it alone.

( text | anonymous )

[sathan]

Mortal definitions won't hold your answer.

Text;

[crypdick]

But I had thought some would at least be entertaining.

voice;

[mycrosstobear]

[You know, those eyes are really damn creepy.]

It's not something you understand. That's the point of faith.

voice;

[crypdick]

Is it really about faith?

private | video

[leatherboots]

[ Here's Rupert, cheerful and bright-eyed as usual, completely ignoring the question at hand: ]

I do believe I owe you a story.

private | video

[crypdick]

You do.

[ He's not bothered by this in the least. He settles on a nearby rock, signalling his readiness to listen. ]

video

[am_i_a_monster]

[Abigail smirks slightly.]

You don't ask easy questions, do you?

[She takes a moment to think it over. The figures that were god-like to her, especially Hannibal, had one thing in common.]

I'm going to give you a simple answer. Power.

[crypdick]

Easy questions aren't worth my time.

[Small talk is always dull. ]

Simply power? I suppose that depends on what kind of power, and how much.

Video (Vision to come)

[stlg13bomber]

Hi, Outsider! [Small, eager wave.] And, um...I mean, I'd say the Bible says so, but I know there's plenty of folks that believe in things besides the Bible, so that's complicated.

[His people, for starters. Or parts of his people. What little education he's had from the native parts of his family has been scattered and corrupted, to the point that even Carter knows there are pieces missing, something he feels a little sad about when he thinks about it too hard.]

Re: Video (Vision to come)

[crypdick]

Hello, Carter.

[ Oh Carter. Perpetually cheerful to the point of amusement. ]

The Bible -- that is one of the holy texts of the religion here.

video;

[storyseeker]

I hear phenomenal cosmic power is a thing.

[crypdick]

[ Reference - >


His head. ]

And how much power does it take to become phenomenal and cosmic?

permavid

[killtime]

Nothing special. People can make a god out of anything.

[crypdick]

Symbolically or literally?

[ video ]

[nightmarist]

Aseity, infinity, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and a whole bunch of other three-point spelling bee words.

I've been called a god, but I think people just say that because of what I do.

[crypdick]

But you don't fufill any of those, do you?

[fremde]

Someone once told me that God is Time.

[crypdick]

Time itself?

video

[psychophilia]

There only being one.

[crypdick]

At a time?

[video]

[topmeup]

You know how to ask the hard questions, don't you?

Gods become gods because someone thought they were powerful enough to be called one, I'd guess. It's an otherworldly kind of thing people put on someone else or some idea that have.

[crypdick]

A title, for those who lack any other descriptor.

video;

[bifroster]

Mostly it's people's perceptions.

Back in my home world, turns out that the beings that were thought to be gods thousands of years ago were actually just aliens from another part of the galaxy who had powers. There wasn't anything divine about them.

[crypdick]

Quite the little mixup. Though it does make one wonder what exactly makes something divine.

video » id reads "lester papadopoulos"

[lesterzeppelin]

Belief. A shared, common faith in a power greater than your own, and - [ he falters here, and for all of his mortal trappings, Apollo can't fully articulate his own thoughts. When the Outsider looks at him, there's a flash of a vision - a tall, athletic blond man weeping over a laurel tree and falling to his knees at the sight of one.

Apollo looks up, pressing his lips together: ] I mean, you could say power and immortality, but that's not really what keeps a god alive.

[crypdick]

[ Now that is curious. He doesn't have enough information to build on what he's seen to comment on it for now, but he tucks it away for later. ]

The idea that a god requires belief to function is a common thread. You're the first to mention immortality. Do you mean unaging and eternal, or do you mean they're unable to be killed?