Chapter 1038： The power of symbolism and ritual?

The battle of Winterhold, the impact of the human feat of killing gods...maybe more profound than imagined.

Gawain stared deeply at the fragment of the God of War placed on the platform not far away. This sample of the remains from the **** was glowing with iron-gray luster under the light of the laboratory light. It looked like just a piece of broken and twisted metal. There is a breath of life that has not dissipated yet lingers on it.

This seemingly "fragmented armor" is essentially the "body structure" of the God of War.

Gods are a kind of existence completely different from the material creatures in human cognition. According to the different trends of thought in the process of forming the gods, they will also take various postures—the **** of nature, Amoen, possesses flesh and blood. The holy giant deer of the body, the goddess of magic is a lady phantom with arcane energy and clouds and mist, the **** of war is an armor made of steel and unknown matter, and according to Veronica’s description, the **** of light The shape is a huge crystal with an amorphous reflective surface that changes its optical properties at any time. These strange images reflect the depictions made by the original mortals when they imagined these gods, and this "portrait" has become the source of power for the gods, and is completely integrated with their "mythical images", even after their death, this power They will stay in their wreckage for a long time, even for thousands of years.

The flesh and blood samples from Amorn that were originally sealed in the Rebellious Fortress have undergone 3,000 years of long decay, and when they are unearthed, they still have a fatal tendency to spiritual pollution.

However, these fragments from God of War... are completely "harmless" at this moment, and even the tester will not suffer any damage even if they make unprotected contact.

In meditation, Gawain slowly said, "Apart from the changes observed here, is there any other progress?"

"Yes," Veronica nodded, "According to another experimental team's confirmation, after the fall of the God of War, the original God of War magic has changed, and the prayer ritual is no longer answered, but the corresponding magic is left. Runes can still function and can be manipulated and studied by ordinary people at will. Some of the'taboo actions' that once caused the magic to lose control or even backlash are no longer dangerous. In addition, we also got news from the Ogure tribe. A similar thing has happened to some scattered War God sects over there, which proves that this change covers the whole world, which is in line with our initial expectations."

"Yeah... the ban on the gods is lifted, the punishment is no longer valid, and the prayer rituals are no longer answered... These are what we expected at the beginning, but the remains of the gods no longer pollute mortals, but it is a phenomenon that we have never thought of. ," Gawain said slowly, "So this is really breaking free from the shackles of the gods..."

Having said this, he couldn't help but think of the other two gods who had also "fallen", as if talking to himself: "The **** of nature Amone and the goddess of magic, Mirmina, are also'fallen.' At least their **** status has indeed disappeared, but some of the'relics' left by them still have strong spiritual pollution. What do you think is the reason behind this?"

"Perhaps, the reason lies in the'symbolic process'," Veronica had obviously thought about this issue before Gawain came, and she immediately said her thoughts, "The God of War was killed by a mortal, and The goddess of magic and the **** of nature detached on their own-in the process of detachment, the believers of the latter have always maintained their faith without severing. This is probably the crux of the problem."

After her words fell, Carmel went on to say to the side: "On the battlefield of Winterhold, the soldiers who participated in the battle not only defeated the crazy gods, but also defeated the mortal's instinct to fear gods-now it seems this It was a very critical'factor'. Of course, most of the people who participated in the war were wizards or magical soldiers who did not believe in God of War, but perhaps compared to their specific beliefs, their'mortal' identity was the key."

"Is it necessary for an element of'confrontation of faith'?" Gawain frowned deeply. What Carmel said was that he had vaguely caught it before, but did not think about the direction seriously, "If it is true What you said, then maybe we can really explain why the things that happened to the gods of nature and the goddess of magic are completely different from the gods of war-when the two of them left the gods, the thoughts and actions of mortals were not involved at all, so naturally There is no process of opposing faith and overcoming fear."

Amber’s eyes widened and listened for a long time. In fact, she basically didn’t understand the part involving the professional field. However, she reacted to the last part, so she was shocked: "Hey, it is impossible that we have to take Ammon and Milmina came out and killed them again? Isn't that inappropriate? They have already taken the initiative to leave the position of God, and Milmina has hidden away where no one can find..."

"Of course we won't do this," Gawain immediately waved his hand. "The two of them have left the position of God, and the **** to mortals has disappeared. Whether it is natural magic or magical rituals, the power is no longer restricted by the divine. , This has met our expectations. As for the pollution of some of their relics, heritage remains and the like, it is a secondary problem, at most it is equivalent to poisonous and dangerous goods that need to be treated with caution-we cannot because of this The reason is to deal with them."

Veronica nodded next to him, apparently agreeing with Gawain’s statement: “It is true. We are now only inverting the connection between mortal beliefs and spiritual pollution based on the polluting changes in the remains of the gods, but this spirit Pollution has nothing to do with the reason of the gods, and Amone and Milmina will not become'mad gods' because of this. We don't need to worry about this."

"And on the other hand, the pollution carried by Ammon and Mirmina's'divine products' is actually fading, but its fading speed is much slower than the wreckage of these gods of war here," Kamel As he thought about it, he said, "The pollution carried by Ammon's flesh and blood sample has faded more than half of what I remember a thousand years ago. The fade has been especially noticeable in the recent period. Although Milmina left nothing.' Fragments', but Naritiel once stripped a lot of'ashes' from her, and the pollution of those ashes is also weakening. Generally speaking, these pollutions can obviously disappear on their own, but it will take longer."

"Even if there is no process of'against faith', as the gods of the gods of nature and magic goddess disappear, and their corresponding religions gradually decline, will the spiritual pollution they cause to mortals gradually weaken..." Gao Wen touched his chin , His thoughts gradually became clear, "So, this is essentially a process of faith decline, and the battle of Winterhold is the most intense and extreme form of faith decline..."

Amber blinked, and suddenly said: "As far as I know, Rosetta August executed tens of thousands of warlords on that day - he obviously got this from the'eye of the god'. Knowledge."

She looked a little complicated when she said this. Obviously, even an intelligence chief who often deals with dark things can't help but feel shocked when she talks about Rosetta Augustus' **** hands. .

Of course, Gawain knew what happened on Typhon's defense line during the decisive battle in Winterhold—even if he didn't know it at the time, Amber also investigated many startling truths. As one of the witnesses of the decisive battle that day, he had to admit that Rosetta Augustus's iron-handed execution ability displayed at the time shocked him, but he also knew that such a treatment must not be the norm: "There is no way to repeat what Rosetta did... We still have to find a more reliable and reasonable way to control this'faith decline' process..."

Having said this, he couldn't help but look up at Veronica, and said thoughtfully: "The gradual reforms carried out by the Holy Light Church should provide a great reference."

"But it's not enough to have our technical reference," Veronica said softly. "This also requires the cooperation of a larger population of people, and reliable data from other churches and different gods-we There are too many gods in this world, and the faith of the Holy Light is just one of them."

Listening to Veronica's unhurried words, Amber looked at Gawain subconsciously. Somehow, she suddenly remembered the string of words she had seen on the other party's desk. Something I haven't understood yet--

Theocracy council.

Vaguely, she felt that the "pioneer" who always thought one step or even several steps more than others seemed to be thinking about this issue.

Gao Wen didn’t know what was thinking in Amber’s head. His thoughts shifted very quickly. At this time, he started to pay attention to another question: "Speaking of the tests you conducted-the testers probably have not participated in the Winter Fort. Fight?"

"Of course, he is a rear technician," Carmel said immediately, and at the same time he didn't understand the purpose of Gawain's question, "Why do you ask this?"

"The soldiers on the front lines of Winterhold eliminated the out-of-control God of War through frontal combat, resulting in the largest decline in faith. As a result, a technician far behind was no longer contaminated by the spirit of the God of War. At the same time, far away In the small church of the God of War in the Ogure tribe, the priests and believers who still believe in the God of War are also free from the influence of the spiritual seal-they may not even know what happened on the front line of Winterhold. Don't you think this Does it also reveal some problems?"

The ventilator in the room was buzzing and running, and the fresh air from the surface slowly blew across the laboratory. Gawain's voice had fallen, and Carmel, Veronica and others fell into contemplation.

"We did discuss this issue too," Kamel took the lead to break the silence. The light on the ancient magister undulated slightly, showing that he was thinking, "As you said, the battle of the gods on the battlefield of Winterhold Although it was a feat, in the final analysis, the people who participated in the battle were only a small part of the mortal. In most parts of this world, most people may not even know that the God of War has fallen. They still maintain the instinct to fear the God of War. , I have never thought about it, nor dared to imagine relying on the power of mortals to kill the gods, this kind of'great rebellion'...

"These people, they obviously have not confronted faith, and the power of faith has never decayed in them. However, with the end of the First Battle of Winterhold, a technician who is far behind and has never been on the battlefield can 'Immunity' comes from the spiritual pollution of the God of War..."

"Maybe you will be interested in certain religious concepts," Veronica said suddenly, "It's just a symbol and a ritual."

"Symbols and rituals?" Hearing the words of the saint princess, Gawain suddenly realized something in his heart, "You mean that the battle of Winterhold had a ritual effect-and in the process of fighting against the gods, Will symbolic rituals have a huge impact?"

"Symbols and rituals are an important part of religion, and gods are born in the'symbols' conceived by mortals and the'rituals' again and again. Then, conversely, it is only natural that ritual acts can have a huge effect on them. "Veronica said seriously, "We can even boldly assume-maybe on a battlefield against the gods, as long as two or three people successfully resist the gods, it will cause the entire mortal community to break away. The **** of the gods. This hypothesis may sound fantastic, but from the principles of symbolism and rituals, it can be established..."

Listening to the example given by Veronica, Gawain frowned first, but he quickly sorted out the key points and shook his head with exclamation: "If there is such a day, the success of those two or three people I am afraid that we will have to rely on the push of countless people-in the final analysis, the power of gods is far superior to mortals, and our world is not so good that we can save everything by relying on a few heroes who break through the battlefield."

Gawain's emotion also touched Carmel's thoughts. The great magister let out a trembling sigh, and Veronica on the side returned to her calm and calm expression. She looked at the platform. Those God of War samples on the above said: "In any case, we still need more tests."

"Yes, more tests-no matter how logical the things we discussed just now seem, they still lack key evidence," Gawain nodded. "Let’s expand the scope of testing, first confirm the various regions and regions. Whether the testers of this identity are no longer affected by the spiritual pollution of the God of War, and then...expand the race, convene testers of other races to see if they are also not affected by the spiritual pollution of the God of War."

"Other races?" Carmel asked with some surprise, apparently he hadn't thought about this direction at all before, "Are you talking about alien races like elves or dwarves?"

"Don't forget, they are also mortals-and they also have the belief in God of War. Although they are independent of the church of God of War, they all believe in the same god," Gawain nodded and said, "What we want to verify now is A very, very important concept...whether mortal souls are connected at the bottom of this world, and..."

"And?" Carmel asked curiously.

"And to prove one thing academically: mortals are really a community of destiny."