#triune

Brigh’s exact origins are unknown, though her priests and various religious scholars have many theories on the matter. Some believe she was a construct who achieved consciousness and a spark of divinity, while others think she was a human alchemist and inventor who discovered ways to fuse mechanical components with her own physiology. Regardless of her origins, Brigh is a patient and thoughtful god who promotes unending curiosity and constant intellectual advancement. Her two most common forms are a humanoid woman made of bronze clockwork and a human woman wearing a bronze skullcap and armor composed of gears and other movable metal pieces. Though Brigh’s usual demeanor is composed and reserved, she isn’t an unfeeling automaton; she deeply cherishes the creations she and her followers make, and most of her worshippers feel the same way.

Brigh’s faith isn’t as widespread as that of most other gods, though she does have pockets of worship in areas where machinery and constructs are common. Among these are Alkenstar, where much of that city’s production of firearms is overseen by priests of Brigh; Numeria, where the proliferation of strange technological artifacts draws followers of the Whisper in Bronze like moths to a flame; and Absalom, where the mysterious Clockwork Cathedral teaches the crafts of mechanical engineering and construct-building to eager students. Brigh encourages her faithful to improve upon the work of others and allow others to build on their own achievements in turn. Typical followers of Brigh are those who work with their hands, especially gem cutters, inventors and toy makers. Numerous gnomes are drawn to her religion, thanks to its emphasis on searching for new and exciting innovations. Many of her followers dedicate their lives to research and projects of great scope, crafting magnificent inventions that take years to create. Other followers are content with creating smaller inventions or tinkering with those of others. Brigh is pleased regardless of the size of the project, so long as new technologies and discoveries result from the work.

--- Lost Omens: Gods and Magic (2020)

Casandalee is an unusual god, one who achieved divinity through a merging of advanced science and faith. Formerly an artificial intelligence cloned from the mind of an android from outer space, Casandalee gained her godhood in the heart of Numeria within the computer core of a crashed spaceship, becoming the patron of artificial life, free thinking, and intellectual apotheosis.

Though she is sometimes referred to as the Iron Goddess, Casandalee is much more than simple metal. She sometimes appears as a holographic reconstruction of her android form: a female humanoid with purple hair, blue lips, and pale skin traced with glowing circuitry, but upon close inspection, this image seems to consist of millions of complex algorithms of pure light. Casandalee and her followers seek to promote the advancement of Golarion’s technology so that the world’s inhabitants can better understand— and not fear—the complex mechanisms of so-called artificial life, including androids and free-willed artificial intelligences. Many androids consider themselves the chosen people of Casandalee and depict her as an obvious android with more circuitry or exposed components.

As a young deity, Casandalee has very few followers, the majority of whom live in Numeria. Outside of that country, adherents are usually seen as eccentric outsiders who wield items of advanced technology that seem to work like magic. Traveling priests of Casandalee search for signs of similar equipment that might have been brought from Numeria, in hopes that such discoveries will lead them to beings of artificial life who would benefit from Casandalee’s message. In addition, these priests help those who have uncovered or built advanced technology to use it responsibly and understand the science behind it. Many of Casandalee’s concerns overlap with those of Brigh, and the two faiths often work together, though the concepts of artificial intelligence can sometimes be hard for followers of Brigh to fully grasp.

--- Lost Omens: Gods and Magic (2020)

I’m putting these two together because they have a lot of similar themes. And also because in Starfinder, in the far future of Golarion’s solar system, they are two of the three gods who combine, along with the machine-god Epoch of the system’s Mercury equivalent, to become the triple-deity Triune, who promptly gives FTL/hyperspace travel to the galaxy. So, in the very far future of this universe, these two form part of one of the most important deities in existence, and honestly that pleases me a lot.

But also I just have a real soft spot for the themes of these two. I love artificial intelligence and constructs and the idea of constructed life, which then develops its own will and personhood. The fact that even Pathfinder, the medieval fantasy side of this universe, still full-on had living constructs and a crashed damn spaceship with an AI inside it is spectacular to me. I love Numeria, as a concept. What a country to just throw into your medieval fantasy world.

So it’s maybe a little odd that, of the two, I actually somewhat prefer Brigh. I’m not sure what it is about Casandalee, maybe the whole ‘machine messiah’, ‘trying to uplift the world’ thing, that rubs me ever-so-slightly the wrong way. I love her as a champion of constructed lifeforms and their right to free will, and I do appreciate that her goal is simply to raise awareness so that people like her and other artificial intelligences won’t be feared. But there’s something there … maybe it’s just Aroden and his ‘uplift humanity with the magic of Azlant’ again, but I’m getting a slight vibe of ‘uplift the native savages’ from her that makes me just a touch uneasy. But still, that said. How much do I love that a starship AI became a damn goddess in a medieval fantasy world? Exquisite concept, no notes.

Brigh, on the other hand, makes more sense for the world and has more of a fantasy lineage to her, grounded in older concepts from toys to automata to robots. Her murky backstory is also fascinating, and both options are cool, although, being me, I prefer the idea that she is a clockwork construct/toy who gained a sentience of her own. Although the transhumanist vibes of a woman who became a machine who became a goddess in her efforts to explore the limits of being is also very cool to me. So, yeah. I like both options.

Also, shallow note, but her physical descriptions give me such a Robo-Maria from Metropolis 1927 vibe, and I adore it. That famous transformation sequence that is etched into popular consciousness. Except, in Brigh’s case, somewhat in reverse (in the transhumanist origin story version). But she has some imagery to her. A fine lineage!

Overall, though? I genuinely just love that these two exist. That Pathfinder, even before Starfinder enters the picture, is perfectly happy to sprinkle sci-fi elements around its medieval fantasy world, from the crashed alien starship in Numeria to the goddamn elven stargates. I do think I like Brigh just that bit more, the more fantasy-grounded elements of her, the older mythology of constructs and homunculi and 1920s imagery of robots, but I still love Casandalee just being a thing. She’s an alien AI that crashlanded on this world and became a goddess. Such a truly excellent element to add to your fantasy world!

LDS adherents insist that they believe in the God of the Bible. The language on God and Christ in the LDS faith appears nearly identical to that of biblical Christianity. Mormon doctrine claims that Jesus is the Son of God, Savior, and Redeemer who died for us. However, there are fateful differences between the God of Mormonism and Christianity.

Mormon teaching denies one of the most important biblical teachings, that God is a Triune God; one God and three Persons, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Instead, the Persons of the Trinity are said to be three separate gods. That difference is catastrophic: it teaches polytheism, not monotheistic tri-unity, as Scripture does. Further, God the Father is said to be an exalted man who “…has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit” (Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22). The Father was once a mortal being who dwelt on earth and eventually ascended to his current god-like status. This puts the LDS god no higher than an exalted man.

Mormonism teaches that he is the father of human spirits (before creation, all humanity were spirits who lived with God the Father), among whom were Christ and the Holy Ghost. This is a different God altogether than the God of the Bible. It’s a God who is less than the eternal, immutable, infinite God, and thus, no god at all. The true God, however, was never a mortal being, but eternally an immortal, immutable, and triune Being with no beginning or end (Job 36:26; Ps. 90:2, 93:2, 102:25-27). For that reason, the god of Mormonism is an idol and a false god. Consequently, he is a god who cannot accomplish true redemption and in whom there is no salvation. To believe in a god different than that of Scripture is to adhere to an unsavable system.

Hecate is often portrayed like this first image, triple headed, multi-limbed, surrounded by or holding the symbols associated with her. I love the crown and the clawed hands that add a feral element to her beauty. Here she is still humanoid while remaining otherworldly.

This image has a darker tone to it. The multiple limbs are highlighted, her faces obscured, with snaring, snapping dogs held at her whim. The crescent moon forms both a crown and set of horns. This is a Hecate who may very well turn those hounds on you should you cross her. One reason WHY I love her so much is because she does embrace the “Dark Feminine” that modern society has loved to try and crush underfoot.

This is a less-seen portrayal of her that was interesting, so I chose to add it to the set. This portrays a dark and otherworldly entity, while not necessarily giving off dangerous vibes. Her cloak of darkness is made of stars and the cycles of the moon around her head forms a halo. She does not hold torches, but she still carries light within the darkness.

I love this image for how different and chaotic it is, and how it reminds me of that Creation of Adam painting by Michelangelo…only it’s the opposite side of the coin. Hecate, patron of witchcraft and embodiment of the divine feminine, is seen sailing through the night in chaotic complexity and glory.

The final image is similar to the first and one I’d like to end on. I’ve considered “scarier” imagery and also very beautiful ones - and both are inherently Hecate. She is a complex, multi-faceted being and that’s what makes her so wonderful…because each and every one of us are also more than one thing and it’s incredibly easy to find aspects of Hecate to resonate with.

She protects and lights the way through the dark places, the underworlds and the in-betweens. She can be both alluring and familiar, other-worldly and terrifying. Light and darkness. Life and death.

The Sky is the all-encompassing blanket of stars which gazes down upon us all. They are the clouds which gift us with rain and the sun that burns down upon us.

The Sky is the parent who protects us from external dangers but does not blind us to themm. They are the power that burns crops and tears down villages. They are fierce and beautiful; love and war; the stars that guide us and the dark that blinds us.

They are a huntress and a warrior; a servant of Their people and the King of all Their children. Stardust falls from Their heels and fire burns in Their eyes.

Rehash to remember: 

Feet Triangles Our body, physics and personally me, LOVE triangles.

Dr Stone, Founder of #polaritytherapy, called the nature of existence, "triune." Buckminster Fuller was fascinated with the triangle and it's containment of space with a tetrahedron.... 

And the list goes on "mind, body, spirit," "father, son, ghost" and the magic number 3Even the #tao is yin and yang AND the space betweenYour body makes use of the triangle without thinking about it.