Monday 27 August 2018

God And Downdevils

Poul Anderson, World Without Stars, VIII, p. 54.

Ya-Kela instructs ya-Valland. I divide the instruction into discrete propositions:

"God is the Begetter, the One of the World.
"All others are less than Him.
"We pray to God alone, as He has commanded.
"The downdevils are the enemies of God.
"They deny Him, as does the Herd which serves them.
"...we are right to course for God...
"He does not rule our lives.
"He asks only worship and upright conduct of us.
"He lights the night for us...when He is risen after sunset.
"...the Herd...say that the downdevils made the world and rule it.
"...they have powerful things to give.
"But the price is freedom.
"[The Herd] are afraid of God, even when the sun is in the sky at the same time to hide Him;
"and they worship the downdevils."

Observations
A Terrestrial missionary would be able to work on the Azkashi religion to transform it into a pure monotheism, maybe with the image of the galaxy retained as a symbol.

The "downdevils" worshiped by the Herd are not mythical beings but a real, mentally powerful, species.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Interesting, I had never thought of that, but it makes sense to think a Christian or Jewish missionary could have used the Azkashi's beliefs to transform their faith into a pure monotheism. And images/icons of the galaxy could have been retained as symbols.

Sean