Careful
The concept of God is approached very academically in this story. It is not meant to invoke the god(s) of any real-world religion or faith. That said, their will be references to “God” throughout the story to challenge the general archetype of God and explore the concept deeper in a narrative fashion. For the sake of this exploration, I will consider God to be that of the three ‘Os’:
- Omniscient
- Omnipotent
- Omnibenevolent (most difficult to define)
limits
In some schools of thought within Primitia, God would be thought of as the “perfect” mage. A being not limited by the constraints of E.I.R. Casting Theory. At the same time, God would not only not have this limitation, God would be able to perform true magic. That is, magic that is beyond the bounds of the laws of physics. Even a perfect magi not limit by E.I.R. Casting Theory would have this limitation. Obviously this runs into contradictions involving boulders and the like, but I digress.
What is God?
God is sometimes depicted as a power, ethereal being, whilst other times God is depicted as an energy or force. Sometimes the city itself is considered to be God. Often, the concept of God is outright rejected or anathema to society at large.
The Oratory has the power of determination for what is permitted to be believed or not believed about God.
In what might be considered the “actual” canon for this world, God is most like an omnipresent force combined with collective consciousness. Every conscious entity contains a small “piece of God”. Alternatively, God is the culmination of consciousness everywhere in the universe. This is especially prevalent when taking panpsychism into consideration.
WHERE IS GOD?
Whether it be heaven, paradise, or nirvana, God is considered “there” by the Oratory. For some, this is a place origin. For others, a destination. Fewer believe something like nirvana can be achieved by mortal beings.
In actuality, there is no heaven or hell. Only reality. God is every place all at the same time. Heaven and Hell are what entities make of reality in any given moment. This idea takes inspiration from pantheism.
the will of god
The Oratory is not very clear on what the will of God truly is. There is a forward facing answer to the question to the public but ultimately, the Oratory decides based on underlying motives. These motives tend to align with state goals, the desires of the Prime Executor, or (more often than not), the Primitian Initiative.
In actuality, the “will of God” is theorized as an inherit oscillation energy or frequency in the Æther Field; a sort of default flavor of Sentia, that naturally occurs in the field. (Almost like a background radiation or perhaps zero point energy) This oscillation moves sometimes with and and sometimes against conscious entities in the world. With the academic magi community, there is debate as to whether this frequency has any real effect on magi and humans alike.
Aside:
This idea that there is a “will of God” is explored more in the thematic underpinnings of hope or existentialism and nihilism (which I believe is explored in almost all narrative contexts).
If God did have a will, would it align more with disorder, incongruency, and meaninglessness? Or would it align more with order, purity, and hope? This concept is explored more in the magic system when talking about the element of resonance in spell casting. To me, there is a fine line between hope and despair and I want to explore this envelope with in story.