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willknightauthor · 1 year

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What happens in the Dolorian church in Martinaise is a profound bit of worldbuilding. At first Elysium seems like a normal, secular world, and if anything it's surprising how absent religion is from it. Liberalism has become the religion. The only real reminder that Moralism was once a fully functioning world religion is the abandoned and broken church west of the lock.

But learning about the pale point, the history of the churches, it makes sense now. The pale is directly interacting with human thought and society because they are both manifestations of information in the universe, in an evolving dialectic. Dolores Dei pulled information from the future and literally expanded the world by inspiring others with her dream. She was, by the standards of our world, a prophet. The churches, built around nascent points of pale particles, are a social attempt to control the pale through the collective act of ritual dreaming. By dreaming the divine, humanity pushes back the death of the world, for a moment.

By the time the game takes place, that side of Moralism is long dead. The churches have been abandoned and their function forgotten. Moralism has degenerated into liberalism. The Revolution was a moment of mass dreaming, of the future manifesting itself. It was the best hope to push back the Pale, but the MoralIntern crushed it, and restored global stagnancy. Growing entropy is accelerating the consumption of the world by the Pale, and no-one knows what to do because there is no future, only past.

Harry though, depending on how you play him, has the potential to start the reversal of this process, if just in Martinaise. The man who has effectively dedicated himself to a kind of monastic worship of the Pale (unknowingly) is the first one to start the process. (Never give anyone too much credit, even Harry.) But if Harry helps the homeless ravers start a club in the Church, he is effectively helping to start a new ritual community with the same properties as the old Moralist Church, right under the pale point.

If you get Noid to warm up to you, you learn he's a kind of organic existential philosopher. He even discourses with Tiago. He and the others don't just party as a hedonistic act, they maintain partying as a kind of ritual act of life affirmation and contemplation, an attempt to transcend themselves and realize something new and powerful. In short, they are reaching into the future to create something new. It's ridiculous 90s Euro club music, but the way they do it it's as ritually powerful as any church service.

This ties into the more general theme of Disco Elysium, that the human power to dream of a new future and then collectively act to bring it about is a powerful act of creation that pushes back the boundaries of the universe, and is necessary for our species to even survive. To crush the revolution, to crush democracy, is to crush the future. Elysium has killed God, but they haven't gotten to the next stage of becoming gods.

Dolorian humanism ironically does not end up elevating human beings. Only the communards had a chance at elevating humanity to a level of creative consciousness that would allow them to tame the Pale the same way they used to with religion. And the revolutionaries, even though the Moralists never recognized them as such, were likely pulling from the future as much as Dolores Dei. Kras Mazov will never be recognized as an Innocent, but in terms of prophesying and inspiring people with a dream which could push back the Pale, he effectively was.

Now with the revolution at a low point, the world is in a kind of existentialist limbo, lacking the conviction of faith in either the divine or the future. The old is dead, but the new cannot be born. What happens in Martinaise is the beginning of the return of that faith.

#Disco Elysium #philosophy #religion #existentialism #Friedrich Nietzsche #Kras Mazov #Harry du Bois #Noid #Tiago #Dolores Dei #socialism #capitalism #liberalism #writing #worldbuilding

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disco-elysium-via-polls · 18 days

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🎵 Protorave

"Disco Elysium."

NOID - "Like that Dolorian word for the world, you mean? Elysium..."

ACELE - "But *Disco* Elysium..." She looks unsure. "Isn't it wacky? Disco's kind of gone, isn't it? Forgotten."

EGG HEAD - "THE PAST IS THE FUTURE, BUT THE FUTURE IS DEAD!"

ANDRE - "No, it's beautiful. Beautiful and brave! Like we want it to be."

NOID - "*And* short. *And* memorable!"

ACELE - "It's settled, then. Everyone, welcome to Disco Elysium!" A light beam washes over the dance floor, bathing it in violet blue.

Task complete: Help ravers start a nightclub

+70 XP

Level up!

ANDRE - Andre breaks into frenzied dance-like motion to celebrate the name. Someone turns up the beat.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - You should go with the flow. Join in on the experience.

Start tapping your foot.

(Observe his movement.) "What are you doing, Andre?"

SUGGESTION - It feels good, it feels right... but what is this? What is this *thing* that Andre is doing with his limbs?!

(Observe his movement.) "What are you doing, Andre?"

(I don't care.) "Cool, let's move on to the questions then."

ANDRE - "I'm dancing!" He performs yet another strange pattern of moves, but it doesn't look very cool or modern. Honestly, it looks kind of lame...

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - That soft-core gyrating is supposed to be *dancing*?

"We should talk about it. We should talk about your so-called 'dancing'."

ANDRE - "Yes, my man!" He jumps up and down with glee, his moves punctuated by the stroboscopic flash of the club lights.

COMPOSURE [Easy: Success] - Talk? What is there to talk about if you can express yourself with *moves*?

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Trivial: Success] - Audio waves thump against your rib cage. The speaker set-up makes everything sound much better... but the *BEAT* is still so weak.

"I've been meaning to ask you, what's with the hair?"

"You mentioned some kind Ecclesiastes own the church. Who are these Ecclesiastes?"

[Savoir Faire - Impossible 18] No words. Just dance.

"That's it for now." [Leave.]

ANDRE - "It's to express my individuality."

PERCEPTION [Medium: Success] - Is that a bald spot? It's hard to tell for sure with the fused-together spikes, but it looks like he's balding.

"Or is it because you're balding?"

"Is it important for you? To be an individual?"

"Fair enough."

"That's idiotic."

ANDRE - "...or because I'm balding, yes. I want to fuse the remains of my hair together, before it leaves me."

"I wanna show my hair: I don't give a fuck how old you think I am. I'm twenty!"

"How old *are* you, Andre?"

ANDRE - "Not twenty."

2. "Is it important for you? To be an individual?"

ANDRE - "Of course it is, otherwise I'd just be another poor guy with no education and no money. General-issue, man. Now I'm all that -- *and* I have radical spikes."

3. "Fair enough."

ANDRE - He looks at the molten toothbrush. "Maybe it was a bad idea... anyway."

Let's see talk to the others and see if we can get some more bonuses to this check before we attempt it..

4. "That's it for now." [Leave.]

ANDRE - "Goodbye, officer."

EGG HEAD - "Dolorian church, the place to be! Make some noise, my church people!" Large speakers are set up behind the young man, blasting a familiar song.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Medium: Success] - Vibrations thump through your blue soul. The music sounds much better in the church.

SHIVERS [Medium: Success] - A hawthorn tree on Rue de Saint-Ghislaine. Tangled in its branches, something bronze flutters in the wind...

Already taken care of.

EGG HEAD - He stands on stage behind a table, nodding along to the music and waving his hand in the air. In front of him -- the audio mixer, one reel spinning.

The other reel deck is empty. Cables run hither and thither. On one side, you see an auxiliary line-in with the number 4.5 written next to it.

"How do you like it in the church?"

EGG HEAD - "Yeeaaaagh! Back on the case, no disgrace!" He pumps his fist in the air. "Bring it down to party place!"

"THE FIRST PAGE OF THE SECOND CHAPTER!" His voice echoes all around the grand hall.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Could it be? Maybe for him -- you only have a chapter or two left in you. Last of the penultimate, more like...

Nothing else is new with Egg Head.

ACELE - She's whistling a melody, her trusty contact mic attached to a wooden pulpit. At the sound of your footsteps, she stops what she was doing and turns to you.

"Hey, there." She gives you a shy smile. "I've been recording some new audio from all these beams and rafters. The sounds travelling through the wood are pretty cool -- creaks and stuff. Like you're underwater, you know... But, like, underwater inside a tree."

"And yes, I'm being more like Contact Mike, alright. Don't even bring it up."

"I wasn't going to --"

"But Contact Mike is --"

"Okay, fine."

ACELE - "No-no." She cuts you off before you can finish the sentence. "I actually wanted to thank you. For getting me and my friends in here. And we even found some new... associates, such as they are."

"How's everyone doing?"

"Alright, I got some questions for you."

ACELE - "Good, I think. Noid is getting a read on the place, I think he finds the carpentry very impressive. Andre's been setting up the compressor and... dancing. Egg Head's keeping the party up, he's got the stage under control."

"Soona, the programmer, she's doing... whatever she does, behind that radiocomputer of hers. She doesn't talk to us much. And the crab-man hasn't shown himself, thank god."

"*Now* can you tell me about your associates?"

ACELE - "Sure. You helped us out, I can repay the favour. What do you want to know?"

Task complete: Get Acele to talk about her associates

+10 XP

"Tell me about Soona."

"What about Tiago?"

"Tell me about Andre."

"Tell me about Noid."

"What's the deal with Egg Head?"

"Thank you. Some other questions."

ACELE - "Uh... she's a bit odd, I have to say. Doesn't talk much. I'm not really sure how to vibe with her, y'know? Seems like she's not in a very good mood most of the time."

"But earlier today she told me about... welkins?" Acele grimaces, as if it's the first time hearing the word. "And she seemed oddly happy. Like she had had some idea with those... little creatures. Some artistic idea. I didn't really listen, I was busy with my mic."

2. "What about Tiago?"

ACELE - "Oh, the crab-man." She shudders. "Still gives me the creeps, the way he moves... But he doesn't actually come down that much, just climbs around the rafters."

"I just try to stay away from the crab-man, but he talks to Noid. They seem to have some 'thing' going on."

"Oh, he talks to Noid? What for?"

"What does he do up there?"

"Thanks. About the others…"

ACELE - "Beats me... Noid said they get along, somehow. They're both crazy enough, I guess."

2. "What does he do up there?"

ACELE - "Who knows?" She shrugs. "He doesn't really answer our questions, see. Not that it's easy to ask them. What are we supposed to do, yell up at the tower?"

3. "Thanks. About the others..."

ACELE - "Who do you want to know about?"

3. "Tell me about Andre."

ACELE - "Andre? He's a cool guy. Doesn't really come off as one, but he is. To me at least..."

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - She rubs her sides, but not from cold. Her shoulders are relaxed. She must have taken a hit or she's on an upswing.

ACELE - "He takes care of shit. Sorry, I mean he's got a *vision*. Of what life should be, you know? He tries to push things until everything falls into place. He's an organizer."

"What has he organized?"

"Tell me about the others."

ACELE - "Nothing. But then again... there's nothing to organize around here either. He really wants this church thing to work..."

"Must have taken it as a sign when he found it abandoned like that. Said it was an *augury*. I don't know where he got that from." She smiles. "Andre's not super intelligent..."

"I've never seen him so psyched about anything though -- and he's often psyched. Looked sort of desperate, like it's his last chance or something. Or maybe he was just high..."

"I mean, not that he does drugs. Just *high* you know."

"On life?"

"On his mother's love?"

"Relax girl. We're police officers, but we're corrupt, rotten to the marrow. You can tell us about drugs and shit, I don't give fuck."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Yeah. Drugs. Shit. Fuck. We don't care." He smirks.

ACELE - "Uh, yes. Anyway."

"Could it be that he's balding? Him thinking it's his last chance?"

"Is Andre your boyfriend?"

ACELE - "Come to think of it, yes!" She laughs.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - This is the first time you've heard her laugh.

ACELE - "He's in some kind of a self-destruction mode with that hair of his. Bleaching it like that. Probably wants to get rid of it altogether."

"Is Andre your boyfriend?"

"Tell me about the others."

ACELE - "Yes." She nods.

2. "Tell me about the others."

ACELE - "Who do you want to know about?"

4. "Tell me about Noid."

ACELE - "He's a Faubourger I guess, like the rest of us. Okay, maybe not Egg, I don't know about him, but Noid and the rest are from Faubourg, making the pilgrimage up north to visit The Paliseum."

"He's real hard core about the lifestyle."

"What does he do?"

"What is this pilgrimage you're talking about?"

"Actually, tell me about the others."

ACELE - "What do you mean, 'do'? Like for a living?"

"Yes."

"No, I meant for breakfast. Of course for a living."

ACELE - "He's a carpenter. Trained and all. He's very good, he just doesn't have the mindset to work like that -- in a shop somewhere."

"What kind of mindset is that?"

ACELE - "He abides by the hard core, sir. You would have to ask him yourself."

"And you?"

"Tell me more about him."

ACELE - "Sir," she gives you a switchblade smile. "I abide by *the law*."

INLAND EMPIRE [Trivial: Success] - A strange feeling... like before, when you caught her lying better than she should have. Every now and then something feels off about the way she speaks. She doesn't exactly change tone, but you feel as though there's more about her than she lets on.

2. "What is this pilgrimage you're talking about?"

ACELE - "It's just something poor Faubourg kids do every spring, to pass the time. We walk the entire length of Boogie Street, up to Jamrock. Or as much as possible."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

ACELE - "I don't know man, have you *been* down Boogie Street? It's a little bewildering."

"Let's say I *haven't* been down Boogie Street."

"Oh, I'm sorry... have I not told you I'm a raging alcoholic who recently drank himself into an oblivion so deep he can't even remember what sounds like the biggest street in the city?"

ACELE - "Uhm... kind of? I'm gonna say: yes."

"Well, I am."

"Because I'm not. Now tell me something else about Noid."

ACELE - "Okay, then you should go and take a look, I guess. Boogie Street is cool. It's got a lot of immigrants and all kinds of different people."

"I might just do that if I make it there alive."

"It's unlikely I'll make it there. Chest pains. Need to continue drinking. But thank you."

ACELE - "Yeah," she says, then adds: "I hope you do."

3. "Actually, tell me about the others."

ACELE - "Who do you want to know about?"

5. "What's the deal with Egg Head?"

ACELE - "What do you mean?"

"What does he think he's doing when he yells all that stuff?"

"Where's he from? How long has he been with you guys?"

"Tell me about the others."

ACELE - "Oh, that... he's the party boy."

"What's a party boy?"

ACELE - "Anodic music doesn't really do vocals in the traditional sense. Vocals are thought of as *rock*. That's to say they're a bit *backward*. No offence if you like rock music, though. Rock music is cool by me."

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Ptew ptew! Sweeesh! Your credentials as the resident Futureman of Revachol are being questioned. Show her you're hip with the times, gramps!

"God damn right, rock music is the coolest. Rock music forever!"

"No offence taken, go on."

"You don't have to tell *me* rock is backward. I am The Futureman. I abandoned rock in the Thirties. Stupid rock." (Spit.)

ACELE - "Uh, okay..." She nods.

"Anyway, even if you don't have vocals you still need someone to say something every now and then, right? To urge things on. That's where the party boy comes in…"

"He basically just stands on the stage and dances and yells how awesome everything is. It's very catchy."

KIM KITSURAGI - "I understand. People are usually afraid to do things if others aren't already doing them. Dancing makes you dance like sneezing makes you sneeze. Or yawning makes you..."

"Anyway..." He looks around, a little embarrassed of the enthusiasm of his interjection.

2. "Where's he from? How long has he been with you guys?"

ACELE - "Actually, we don't know where he's from. Or who he is, really."

"One time we were out partying, somewhere in backwater Faubourg. Or maybe even Coal City, I can't remember. Maybe it was Coal City..."

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] - The worst of the *banlieues*. A wretched heap of closed-down mines even west of Jamrock, on the dusty slope of Mont Martin. The remotest possible area of Revachol, no one even wants to exploit those people anymore.

ACELE - "Egg was yelling along to some jams someone was spinning, all night long. Just kept yelling until he didn't have a shred of voice left. When the sun came up over the mines... there were mines? Yeah, it was in Coal City!" She nods.

"Egg came with us. He made this wheezing puppy dog sound all the way back. Couldn't even speak."

"It was definitely Coal City, because it took us two days to walk back to the Fau. He just wheezed the whole way, we never really asked him why he came with us. Or who he was. I think his name is Germaine..."

"People are sweet," she says quietly.

EMPATHY [Trivial: Success] - You can see it must have been a great night. The memory causes her to go silent for a moment or two.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - You wish you'd been there.

3. "Tell me about the others."

ACELE - "Who do you want to know about?"

6. "Actually, do tell me about *yourself*."

ACELE - "Me? Again?"

"Yes, I forgot. Tell me about yourself."

"Actually, no."

ACELE - "I told you, I'm a silver bird."

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - There's that phrase again. It really reminds you of... *something*.

"What does that mean?"

"Okay, lets leave it at that then."

ACELE - "It means I don't answer questions about myself."

"But I'm a police officer. You *have* to answer me."

"There's more to you than you let on. What am I not seeing?"

"Fair enough."

ACELE - "Is there a law that would stop me from lying, though?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "That would depend on the circumstances." The lieutenant taps his foot.

2. "There's more to you than you let on. What am I not seeing?"

ACELE - "Alright." She picks up the tape recorder and looks you in the eye...

"There is."

3. "Fair enough."

ACELE - "Thank you."

7. "Thank you. Some other questions."

ACELE - "Sure."

3. [Reaction Speed - Legendary 14] Catch the silver bird.

+2 Dresscode: Avian investigator.

REACTION SPEED [Legendary: Success] - "O pasăre de argint" -- it flutters by your ear.

It's what the "Zemlyaki" -- the Graadian community in Revachol -- call a person who never breaks under interrogation. It's an organized crime term.

"O pasăre de argint."

"I remember now... it's a Zemlyaki term. For someone who won't break under questioning. An organized crime term."

ACELE - "Excuse me?" She casually brushes her hand through her hair.

COMPOSURE [Easy: Success] - She's attempting to remain calm, but the phrase made her flinch.

"I remember now... it's a Zemlyaki term. For someone who won't break under questioning. An organized crime term."

ACELE - "What do you mean?"

"The silver bird."

"That's why you've handled my questioning so calmly."

ACELE - "All right," she concedes. "My father was a Zemylaki. He died years ago. He was a bad man. Not a lot of good things to say about him and what he did."

"He bought the family a huge house, so we got to live... at least temporarily... in a giant *castle* in Jamrock. And then he died."

"What happened next?"

"Oh, hmm, I can imagine what followed after."

"Never mind, I don't really want to hear any of this."

ACELE - "What do you think? The competition came and took everything away. It was like in a war zone..." She's gritting her teeth.

"So after his death we had nothing left. And we were in danger. My mother had to change her name, mine too. We left it all behind."

"Are you sure about that? What about this drug lab plan?"

ACELE - "It was a stupid idea and I'm still disappointed *I* came up with it."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Aren't there any local authorities who might look down on such activities?"

ACELE - "I took that into account, of course. Coordinated the operation with the Débardeurs, else they might get... unhappy."

"So, what you're saying is... Evrart authorized this?"

ACELE - "Not in person, but I let them know. You can't do anything without the fat ones getting wind. It wasn't too difficult to convince them, really..."

+5 XP

"It's a good thing you ended that mess, though. I felt I was turning dad-wise, into a corrupt business-person. Unpleasant."

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - Hear that? Set justice on its feet. CONFRONT EVRART.

REACTION SPEED - C'mon. This is all fine, but you don't have anything on Evrart now. That's not how these things work.

"We should confront Evrart about this! Maybe we can manipulate him using the information." (Add it to the list.)

"This is all good to know... but let's leave it at that." (Leave it off the list.)

KIM KITSURAGI - "No, I don't think it would lead anywhere with Evrart. He's just going to deny it."

ACELE - "Yeaaahhhh..." She really draws out the word. "Have you seen Evrart?"

New task: Ask Evrart about Acele and the drug lab

3. "Actually, that's it for now." [Leave.]

THOUGHT COMPLETE: THE PRECARIOUS WORLD

BONUSES: Critical success and failure thresholds lowered by 1

SOLUTION:

How *not* to lose? It is impossible not to. The world is balanced on the edge of a knife. It’s a game of frayed nerves. You’re pushed on by numbers and punitive measures: pain, rejection, and unpaid bills. You can either play or you can crawl under a boat and waste away -- turn into salt or a flock of seagulls. Your enemies would *love* that. Or you can fight. The only way to load the dice is to keep on fighting.

This can allow us to succeed at rolls that are otherwise impossible... but it's not super useful if you already have a solid build, imo.

NOID - "You got us in, cop. I can't believe you got us in..." He looks around the hall, examining the carpentry.

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - With wonder in his sharp eyes.

NOID - "Between you and me -- I don't know if you've noticed this about me... I'm a little *suspicious* of authority. But you -- you really came through for the hard core underground."

Task complete: Sync the sines with Noid

+10 XP

KIM KITSURAGI - "Yes. You really came through. For the hard core underground." He spreads his arms, looking around at the speedfreaks setting up shop. "How come?"

ANDRE - Andre is busy cutting some slightly less lame, but still quite ungainly shapes on the church floor, sweating profusely.

ACELE - Acele using her contact mic to listen to a tree, underwater.

EGG HEAD - The one with the large head is blasting the dance track on repeat, while the stained glass window behind him is rattling from the bass.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - Sire, the tent -- 'twas a *securitie risk*! And in here? Sanctuary! 'Twas only noble of you.

#disco elysium #kim kitsuragi #harrier du bois #noid #andre #egg head #acele #soona luukanen kilde #tiago

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