Conversation · Stained Glass Window

A ruler?

More. An innocence is elected to office by the Founding Party, a precedent that has taken place a mere six times in the entirety of History. The legal system of the Reál Belt is built to accommodate innocentic rule, should it coincide with our time.

What else do I know about her?

Many things. You know she was a woman of the court, the wife of an influential marchese, and eventually the principal advisor to Irene La Navigateur, Queen of Suresne (modern day Sur-la-Clef). Also, that she was gorgeous beyond beauty.

Draped in ancient sadness. Are you sure you want to remember this bit of historic trivia? Standing under her long slender form like this, dwarfed...

Yes -- big bummer. Boring history. Gotta keep it light, man, keep it moving. Get fucked up instead.

Okay, what else? Was she smart?

Terribly. Women of the court were expected to play both contract bridge and chess sufficiently well to prove an interesting challenge to a man -- a similar grasp in matters of philosophy, theology, and science was encouraged. She was, by all means, a kept woman...

She made the most of her position in the Antedolorian court -- a court visited by the most prominent thinkers and artists of the day. In secret, she was becoming the era's pre-eminent philosopher of the state. A scalpel, a piercing gaze...

She was an almost preternaturally magnetic and intelligent individual. To her contemporaries she appeared out of time, a messenger from the future of the species. We all fell in love with her, head over heels. Even before she was declared an innocence her influence was tremendous.

How come?

It was on her advice that Irene La Navigateur sponsored a number of voyages into the pale. A costly, often tragic endeavour, ultimately vindicated by the discovery of the New New World, the piece of reality you're standing on...

She was crowned two years after the first expedition returned, setting in motion what is widely considered the greatest era in history -- the Dolorian Era.

Wow.

Wow indeed. When her innocence was declared -- and the queen she had advised for years fell on her knees before her -- she was so overcome with emotion that her lungs started glowing in her chest...

Bystanders reported golden filaments lighting the already sunlit chamber around her, clearly visible beneath her dress.

That is why the lungs are the symbol of love for the cultures of the Reál Belt.

I don't care.

Okay. When her innocence was declared -- and the queen she had advised for years fell on her knees before her -- she was so overcome with emotion that her lungs started glowing in her chest...

Bystanders reported golden filaments lighting the already sunlit chamber around her, clearly visible beneath her dress. I repeat: Her lungs started glowing. Do you care now?

Where is this coming from?

The past. It's a silo of sadness. Fermenting. You should keep away.

Fuck this pain, bratan. It's unhealthy.

No. You must know.

Right. Better not to go poking any further.

Exactly. Back out of this corner of your mind by choosing the bottom-most option: "To hell with this."

Was there something... terrifying about her?

Terrifying is a term too emotionally charged for your semantic memory. Or what remains of it, but...

Terrifying. It's a simple word. She was bad for humanity and you shouldn't have started thinking about her!

You're right. Time to heed the warning.

Good. Now back out of this corner of your mind by choosing the bottom option: "To hell with this." You've been standing here long enough.

No -- was there something bad about her, I want to know...

You already do. Although she is often considered to be the greatest human being to ever live, there was something ominous about Dolores Dei -- constantly surrounded by her Therriers...

She was the most socially secluded and least self-aware of all the innocences. Some modern thinkers would consider her a war criminal for the campaigns she waged against the Mesque state. And then there were the resettlement programs...

What happened?

The Mesque state tried to detach itself from innocentic rule. Parts of the world were experiencing whiplash from accelerating into secularism. Her mandatory education programs and mass resettlement of upstream Magritte were problematic as well. Dissenters were suppressed by a military force she called “The Army of Humanity"...

Suggesting those who fight against it are not part of humanity.

She adored chess, yes -- but also military war games. Dolores Dei often holds a tiny tin soldier between her index finger and thumb -- in icons such as this. She was also blonde, the blondest woman you have ever seen, with green eyes the colour of the Pisantic mare interregnum...

Little is known of her marchese husband. It's as if he vanished from history after completing his role -- which was to introduce Dolores Dei to court. In conclusion, yes, there is something lonely, paranoid, and even terrifying that people seldom mention, but feel when they think of her...

This subtle terror is part of her iconography.

"Officer, you've stood there for over five minutes..." The lieutenant's calm voice echoes in the cold air of the church.

"What are you thinking of, if I may ask?"

"Why did we tolerate this bourgeois woman that long before we shot her?"

"That's mega cool, man, you coming up with wild left-wing stuff in here like that. Right on!"

"That's not left wing, Andre. I don't think we should have that spooker adorning the club..." Another voice from the back of the church...

"She introduced us to the idea of public education, retirement, and modern diplomacy." He takes his glasses off to clean them.

"Either way... this church, we shouldn't linger here. This isn't a good place to get lost in."

An imperceptible tinge of fear. The lieutenant is afraid of the church. He does not know why, but he is.

"She's somehow connected to the case."

"That's mega cool, man, you coming up with theories in here like that. Right on."

"We should board that old spooker up, Andre." A voice from the back of the church. "It'll only disturb the people while they're trying to dance, unshackled by the failure of humanism."

"How about we don't do that, Noid?" Another voice. "She looks cool."

"She's been dead for three hundred years. I am almost a thousand percent certain she isn't connected to the case..." He takes his glasses off to clean them.

"None of this is, in fact. This church. The coast... This isn't a good place to get lost in."

An imperceptible tinge of fear. The lieutenant is afraid of this place.

"Nothing. Just looking around."

"Cool, man! Yeah! Look around as much as you wanna, this is your place too!"

"We should board that window up, Andre." A voice from the back of the church. "People don't want to see that woman when they're dancing. It's unhealthy."

"Okay. It's just that you've been looking at that window for quite long now. And it's cold in here..." He takes off his glasses to clean them.

"This church. The coast in general... we shouldn't linger here. This isn't a good place to get lost in."