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HELLPIERCERS is a tactics TTRPG like no other. Gnostic-ascended demi-god Humanity has slain the false demiurge, reclaimed its divinity, and has set its communist sights against the last prison in existence - HELL
4E/Lancer inspired grid-combat paired with a rich and deep map game strategy layer bringing complex faction mechanics together ocean-deep customization options so that every Gnostic Warrior-Poet-God is utterly unique. The biggest Sandy Pug Games project yet, with art from @jnbutlerart and @leafie-draws, as well as pixel illustrations from @raul-volp2, HELLPIERCERS will be one of the most gloriously illustrated tomes in TTRPGs and we're on Kickstarter, right now.
"Then Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know that you are greatly loved by the Saviour, more than any other woman. Tell us those words of His that you remember, the things which you know and we don't, the teachings we never heard."
Mary answered, saying: "What is hidden from you I shall reveal to you. Whatever is unknown to you, and I remember, I will tell you."
And she began saying these words to them.
She said, "Once I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him:
'Lord, Rabouni, now I see you in this vision.
He answered me and said: 'Blessed are you Mary, for you do not waver at the sight of me. How wonderful you are! For this is where the treasure lies - in the nous, that place where heaven and earth meet, where deep understanding arises in the heart and mind."
I asked him this: 'Now tell me Lord, how does a person see such a vision, is it through their soul or through the Spirit?
asked him this: 'Now tell me Lord, how does a person see such a vision, is it through their soul or through the Spirit?
The Saviour answered: 'It is neither through the soul nor through the Spirit, but through the nous, the understanding which arises between the two, that is how the vision is seen."
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What is matter? Will it last forever? âAll that is born, all that is created, all the elements of nature are interwoven and united with each other. All that is composed shall be decomposed; everything returns to its roots; matter returns to the origin of matter.â (The Gospel of Mary Magdalene) âš
Complex metanarratives and deconstructions of their respective mediums hidden behind the veils of ânormalâ genres (open world fantasy rpg and point-and-click adventure game respectively) that take massive inspiration from gnostic myth and where the line between official media and fan media is way blurrier than you might expect.
Yaldabaoth is Caliborn is Lorkhan is Talos is Lord English is the Demiurge.
This got real long, real quick so Iâm putting it under a cut, but if youâre at all interested in how the beliefs of a heretical sect of early Christianity mirror the events of the Locked Tomb series (i.e. how Johnâs boner means heâs the demiurge), please, read on!!
(Heads up! Gnosticism, like much of early Christianity, has anti-semitism baked in! Itâs still an interesting theological lens to critique The Locked Tomb through, but just be aware that if you wanna dig deeper youâre gonna have some yikes moments!)
(Also heads up! Spoilers for Nona the Ninth ahead!)
(Also Also heads up! I am not a scholar on early Christian heresies! Take what I say with a grain of salt!)
So what is Gnosticism?
Gnosticism holds that there is an original hidden spiritual God and a not so nice lesser God (the demiurge) who did the creation of the material world thing. Humans can gain salvation through personal spiritual knowledge of the secret divine within themselves (gnosis) and denial of the material world. The school of thought took hold in a bunch of religions âround the Mediterranean at about the time that Christianity was starting to get a foothold (100-200 CE-ish).
However weâre gonna focus in on Christian Gnosticism for this post because The Locked Tomb is chockablock full of references to Christianity in specific. For Gnostic Christians, the God of the Old Testament is the malevolent creator God and Jesus is a messenger from the OG God sent down into the material world to guide people to divine knowledge. This eventually got branded a heresy and the Gnostics got booted from the club. (For a deeper dive into Gnosticismâs cosmology check out the Apocryphon of John, also known as the Secret Book of John. Itâs WILD.)
Ok, but what does that have to do with The Locked Tomb Series?
Well, if you look at Jod as, not the Jesus figure he paints himself to be, but rather as a gnostic Old Testament God figure and Nona as a Jesus figure, it has an awful fucking lot.
In both GtN and HtN we get a lot of comparisons between John and Christ. First off the whole resurrects-the-dead-and-is-the-savior-of-the-universe thing? Classic Jesus. âThe God who became man, and the man who became Godâ (HtN pg. 24) title is incredibly similar to the titles âSon of Godâ and âSon of Manâ which are sometimes used together to describe the duality of Christ. His description of how his friends (later his lyctors) came to him and stuck by him through the end of the world paints them as disciple figures. Hell, theyâre even called âsaintsâ (GtN pg. 405). All the times John tries to get them to eat together in HtN have a very Last Supper vibe (especially once heâs betrayed with a kiss).Â
But whoâs the one shaping this narrative? John himself. Heâs the one who crafted his titles, the titles of his âSaintsâ, the whole belief system of the empire was shaped by him. Before the Resurrection he certainly knows who Jesus was and afterwards he intentionally paints himself as this worldâs Christ.*
Johnâs actions, however, paint him as a gnostic Old Testament God. For starters he made Alecto from âthe dirt, my blood, my vomit, my bone.â (pg. 408) just like in Genesis 2:7: âAnd the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.â He is vengeful, wiping the whole world clean with nukes just like the flood. Just look at Genesis 6:13 (The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them.) and tell me that isnât 100% John about to destroy the entire solar system to get back at a few hundred escaping billionaires. Later he leads his chosen people to bloody victory after bloody victory just like God leading his people back out of Egypt into Canaan. In that vein Canaan House is the promised land for his lyctors, his most loved people.Â
In addition to all this John and his kingdom are described in very lush, materialistic, fleshy terms. From the intricate description of the doorways to the necromancer/cavaliearâs quarters (GtN pg. 96-97) to the pristine and showy regalia of Ianthe and Kiriona (NtN pg. 207) the emphasis is placed on the material instead of the spiritual. Even Johnâs proclivity to be the fandom bicycle fits into him being a demiurge figure. Sex was a huge no-no for gnostics. (The Acts of Thomas, another piece of gnostic apocrypha, has a whole story where itâs totally understandable to murder your girlfriend if she gets too horny.)
So if John is a demiurge figure instead of a Christ figure, who is Christ?
Nona! If you thought Muir was being a bit obvious with the John as Jesus signs, wait until you see how she writes Nona.
First off, if youâre talking humble, born-in-a-manger lifestyles, Nonaâs got that. Pyrrha, Palamedes, and Camilla are constantly working their asses off to find enough food to eat. Their idea of splurging, after selling monthsâ worth of hoarded cigarettes, is some stale meat-filled pastries (NtN pg. 104).Â
Nona is also held up as an apocalyptic savior figure by those around her. Blood of Eden sees her as a weapon, their own personal lyctor, who will swing the war in their favor and bring down the end of the empire. In early Christianity, Jesusâs proclamation that he would be back to save them and rain down destruction on those who persecute them was taken to mean he would be back literally any day now. âThe stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.â(Mark 13:25-26) and âBut of that day and that hour knoweth no manâ (Mark 13:32). For the first couple of centuries of Christianity everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting for the apocalypse and imminent salvation just like the Blood of Eden and their creeping deadline for results from Nona (NtN pg.155).Â
One of Nonaâs defining characteristics is her innocence. Sheâs 6 months old and a clean slate before that. Sheâs only ever had 3 tantrums and even in the one we see, sheâs not moved by any sinister motives, just pure animal fear and anger (NtN pg. 275). Jesus is (usually) seen as pure and sinless, a blameless sacrificial lamb for the sins of mankind.Â
Perhaps most obviously, Nona dies and is placed in the tomb, only to rise again.**
But what makes her a gnostic figure rather than a standard Christ figure is how Alecto, how knowledge of the divine, was in her all along and she only needed to remember to transcend herself and become something more.Â
Ok, but what does this mean?
I donât know!! But isnât it interesting??
For one thing the series isnât over. Things may happen that completely overturn this analysis in AtN. And for another thing Muir is a very good writer. Itâs not as simple as antagonist-shaped peg fits into demiurge-shaped hole. Itâs not a moralizing tale where all materiality is bad and all spirituality is good. John is a sympathetic and loving character in addition to being an absolute fucknugget. Nona is too comfortable in her innocence instead of truly owning up to the consequences of her actions. NtN doesnât paint Nonaâs moment of gnosis (her return to Alecto) as a wholly good thing. It recognizes what is lost and cherishes it. Divine knowledge is at best a bittersweet and profoundly uncanny thing. But thatâs whatâs so good about the books: Theyâre complicated.
However, given her proclivity to reference biblical sources, I think itâs a worthwhile activity to investigate the text with more obscure Christian philosophies in mind. If nothing else, itâs really fun.
* An argument could be made that he is a failed Christ figure instead of just a false Christ figure. The line on page 471 in NtN âFor she so loved the world that she had given them Johnâ is almost word for word John 3:16 and is not influenced by him at all.
** While not evidence of Nona being a gnostic Christ figure, Muirâs mirroring of famous depictions of the passion of Jesus in those final scenes down in the depths of the Ninth is wicked clever. Itâs not an exact match in posture to a traditional PietĂ (depiction of Mary cradling the dead Christ) but Pyrrha carrying Nona down from the megatruck (NtN pg. 443-459) and then her and Paul talking to Nona while she lay by the heater (NtnN pg. 459-462) very strongly call up the PietĂ vibe (Fig. 1, PietĂ by Titian, 1576). But the bit where sheâs carried âKirionaâs arms beneath her shoulders, Pyrrhaâs beneath her hips.â (NtN pg. 470) is exactly the way the Deposition (taking Jesus off the cross) is always depicted. (Fig. 2, The Deposition by Michelangelo, 1555)
*** Ok, I know there isnât anything this references back to in the body of the post, but youâre still reading, which means youâre still interested. If apocrypha, heresies, and the history of the bible interest you (or you just want to bone up on all these bible references before Alecto comes out) then you should check out Apocrypals! Itâs a podcast where 2 non-believers read through the bible and try not to be jerks about it. Not only is it incredibly engaging, itâs also funny as fuck and one of my fav podcasts ever.