Return to Unfiction unforum
 a.r.g.b.b 
FAQ FAQ   Search Search 
 
Welcome!
New users, PLEASE read these forum guidelines. New posters, SEARCH before posting and read these rules before posting your killer new campaign. New players may also wish to peruse the ARG Player Tutorial.

All users must abide by the Terms of Service.
Website Restoration Project
This archiving project is a collaboration between Unfiction and Sean Stacey (SpaceBass), Brian Enigma (BrianEnigma), and Laura E. Hall (lehall) with
the Center for Immersive Arts.
Announcements
This is a static snapshot of the
Unfiction forums, as of
July 23, 2017.
This site is intended as an archive to chronicle the history of Alternate Reality Games.
  

The time now is Thu Nov 14, 2024 3:18 am
All times are UTC - 4 (DST in action)		 View posts in this forum since last visit
View unanswered posts in this forum
Calendar
 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Deus City » DC: Deus City
[DC][SPEC] Leviticus
View previous topicView next topic
Page 1 of 1 [5 Posts]  
Author Message
imbri
Entrenched


Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland

 		[DC][SPEC] Leviticus
Well as is a bit obvious by my last spec post, I'm a bit convinced that there are going to be some religious overtones to the game. Specifically - Christian ones. That's based on what I've found online about the PMs. All games use various bits of symbolism and religious themes aren't unheard of. Anyway...

I jumped when I heard Dr. Leviticus in the video on Foo's latest blog entry Deus City Logical Appeal to the Masses. It's an interesting choice of a name for someone telling us about tracking and crime and sanity and order.

Leviticus, as you may know, is the third book of the Bible and Torah. It's also the book of the Bible that deals with the Priestly Code and the Holiness Code. Which are much more significant in Jewish law than in Christian practices. It provides the laws of purity and sacrifice as well as things such is idolatry and the Sabbath. Most notably in recent times, is the way that some use it to show that homosexuality is a sin (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13).

Christians interpret the book differently. It's all kind of crazy, but basically, the deal is that much of the Old Testimate was messed up and that it couldn't be fully understood until after Jesus. So, based on interpretations in the Book of Hebrews, the book of Leviticus is actually a prophecy about the coming of the Messiah and so it's not so much about the laws.

Wikipedia explains it all better than I can (as could anyone with an ounce of theological interest - I took plenty of religious courses in school, but my retention of the Bible and, especially, the Old Testiment sucked)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:24 pm
 View user's profile Visit poster's website AIM Address
 Back to top 
Phaedra
Lurker v2.0


Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Posts: 4033
Location: Here, obviously

 		Re: [DC][SPEC] Leviticus
imbri wrote:
Well as is a bit obvious by my last spec post, I'm a bit convinced that there are going to be some religious overtones to the game. Specifically - Christian ones. That's based on what I've found online about the PMs. All games use various bits of symbolism and religious themes aren't unheard of. Anyway...

I jumped when I heard Dr. Leviticus. It's an interesting choice of a name for someone telling us about tracking and crime and sanity and order.

Leviticus, as you may know, is the third book of the Bible and Torah. It's also the book of the Bible that deals with the Priestly Code and the Holiness Code. Which are much more significant in Jewish law than in Christian practices. It provides the laws of purity and sacrifice as well as things such is idolatry and the Sabbath. Most notably in recent times, is the way that some use it to show that homosexuality is a sin (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13).

Christians interpret the book differently. It's all kind of crazy, but basically, the deal is that much of the Old Testimate was messed up and that it couldn't be fully understood until after Jesus. So, based on interpretations in the Book of Hebrews, the book of Leviticus is actually a prophecy about the coming of the Messiah and so it's not so much about the laws.

Wikipedia explains it all better than I can (as could most theologians - I took plenty of religious courses in school, but my retention of the Bible and, especially, the Old Testiment sucked)


Ah yes, Leviticus, the book of the Bible most frequently quoted by people who'd apparently prefer to ignore the rest of it. Rolling Eyes Homosexuality is something to wipe from our society; sex while a woman is menstruating, saying nasty things about your parents, eating shellfish, and violating the Sabbath, not so much, apparently.

Of course, returning to thematic questions, one of the most interesting -- to me, anyway, because I'm nerdy and pedantic and obsessively fascinated with the intricacies of Jewish law -- about Leviticus is that it's largely a discussion of laws based on faith. (In Hebrew it's called Vayikra, literally, "and He called.")

One of the more unusual things about the Bible's legal code is that the majority of the laws give justifications: do this because it will ensure this, or because of this historical event, or in return for the Lord getting your butts out of Egypt. Take a moment and consider how radical that is -- contrary to the customs of the time, in which kings and deities issued laws by right of their authority and felt no need to provide reasons for them, the Bible takes time to explain why you should follow these laws. It's a surprisingly democratic move.

For a lot of the laws in Leviticus, however, the justification given is "I am the Lord."

I.e. do this not because it necessarily makes sense (although it seems to follow most frequently after the laws that do make sense: caring for the poor, pursuing justice, and so on), but because your Lord is telling you to.

That is, if you're going to have a theme where the scientists (the people looking for rational explanations for everything) screw up and the people accepting things on faith are right, Leviticus is an apt thematic choice because the only answers given to a lot of the "why"s are "because the Lord said so."

ETA: Having rewatched the video...

No judicial branch. Merged executive and legislative branches. Majority share in the corporation that owns the government = majority vote.

EEEEK.

There's a certain amount of irony here. One of the things Leviticus lays out is a judicial system with (for the time) some impressive safeguards against the miscarriage of justice. You know, the same thing the judicial system is designed to do in our society.
_________________
Voted Most Likely to Thread-Jack and Most Patient Explainer in the ILoveBees Awards.

World Champion: Cruel 2B Kind

PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:57 pm
 View user's profile Visit poster's website AIM Address
 Back to top 
CrypticVision
Boot


Joined: 28 May 2006
Posts: 66
Location: NYCUKOMTOR

 		Re: [DC][SPEC] Leviticus
Phaedra wrote:

ETA: Having rewatched the video...

No judicial branch. Merged executive and legislative branches. Majority share in the corporation that owns the government = majority vote.

EEEEK.

There's a certain amount of irony here. One of the things Leviticus lays out is a judicial system with (for the time) some impressive safeguards against the miscarriage of justice. You know, the same thing the judicial system is designed to do in our society.


Because of this video, I just lost all faith in Foo. Deus City is nothing more than a quasi-fascist city with a strong cyberpunk feeling.

My new alignment on this ARG is:

Censored Foo
_________________
Those who abandon their dreams,
discourage those who don't.

Deus City

PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 10:21 pm
 View user's profile AIM Address
 Back to top 
Arkaham
Unfettered


Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 353

 		What are you talking about Cyptic? Quasi-Fascist? Strong cyberpunk feeling?

You couldn't be more wrong.

This is completely Fascist and absolute cyberpunk. Cool
_________________
Drowning my worries in Slusho.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 10:33 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Arwyn
Boot


Joined: 26 Jan 2005
Posts: 17
Location: Burning Forest, USA

 		I take offense to that!

On behalf of Cyberpunks everywhere, I declare my opposition to Deus City and encourage my fellow Cyberpunks to follow suit! We will not be suppressed by the Status Quo, contained by Conformity, or negated by Normality.

I shall return to my darkened, blood-soaked corner of the universe.
_________________
World Domination... now in Dolby Digital!

PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:12 pm
 View user's profile AIM Address
 Back to top 
Display posts from previous:   Sort by:   
Page 1 of 1 [5 Posts]  
View previous topicView next topic
 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Deus City » DC: Deus City
Jump to:  


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
You cannot post calendar events in this forum



Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group