#this summer marks the 2 year anniversary of me discovering the steampunk opera and everything spiraling outwards from there

[bebethsas]

New Albion Thoughts, Part 4, Or, ‘and Here’s Where Beth goes really Out There’

And finally, the symbolism and underlying messages sprinkled throughout of the entire arc of Albums set within or nearby New Albion (or the part where I get the most Meta, I believe).

 And another thing I thought of:

it seems that this entire thing is built on continuous, infinite, repeating cycles:

"circles never stop themselves"

that comment from Raven and the Floozy about how it just goes around and around

in ‘The Fallen’ the Angel herself touches on it as she laments about the Carnival she’s trapped within: “round and round it all goes, all the mad circus shows; the carousel creaks, the sane are the freaks, and the show will not clooooooose!!” in other words, the show goes on and on, an unending loop of chaos and pleasure and stimulation in a night that never seems to end.

The Saviour Soul is reincarnated through time in any direction, going back to save people over and over again but always suffering a great loss in the process and suffered a tragic life because of this:

Priscilla died young sacrificing herself for her friend, Constance had her heart broken and lost what was left of her family all in one night, Rachel was orphaned, used by a politician and tossed to the side and locked up in a mental institution for daring to refuse to have an abortion, and suffered for at least 2 years being ‘treated’ for her ‘madness’; Alice suffered through 4 years of endless tunneling and constant work, building the underground room for the AIs, permanently cut off from her family, her friends, and her *home,* while day by day tirelessly toiling as her mind and body disintegrated, and by the time she finally finds love--as well as someone who will help her finish her task--she’s so exhausted and worn out that the ending is left ambiguous to us and one of the possibilities is that she died not long after listening to the ‘Angel’s‘ last message; the Gambler died just before he was finally about to win.

(and on that note HOLY SHIT it just occurred to me that the Mascot3000 could just be yet another reincarnation of the Monk, like Soldier 7285, Thomas, and Alex; New Albion began when the Monk and the Gambler began a “long trek through the open prairies of the north,” which led to their debate, which led to their never-ending card game (yet another thing that goes on and on, a never-ending cycle that not even death or *time* manages to break, since the souls manage to find each other in each reincarnation), which of course led to the construction of New Albion itself. Now Rachel leaves the crumbling world of New Albion and ventures forth into Elysium with the Mascot3000; she’s the only living human allowed there since technically she *shouldn’t* be alive (she’d died so many times), and the Atompunk Opera ends with Rachel and the Mascot3000 traveling through Elysium, alone.

Sound familiar?)

(But anyway)

the ‘neverending’ theme echoes in the history of New Albion too:

a relatively peaceful, innocent, exploratory Steampunk era, the war and chaos of the Diesel punk era, the Golden Age of the early Atompunk followed by the listless boredom once the Voodoopunks disappeared,

now in Cyberpunk it's a war again

I wonder between whom? The humans and the AIs? The humans and the 'post humans'? Are there cyborgs (cyperpunk would probably involve people becoming cyborgs to some degree--I can almost hear the narrator's pitch: "if you're dissatisfied with yourself, your nose is too long, your arms too thin or too short, your muscles too weak, well then never fear! Cyber Corp is here! With our patented technology we can replace your imperfect parts and give you the body you want! The body you deserve! You deserve to be your best You!!" (lol I can imagine that last line being their slogan/ motto)

There are only 30 AIs how could they possibly hold their own in a WAR? And yet they're powerful and strong enough to enslave a bunch of minds—a la Matrix style—into their system and brainwash them, so I suppose they could hold their own just fine (hey, when alive they did spend 20 years constantly fighting against monsters).

XD comparing this to the matrix makes that line "please exit the bunker, take the red pill, and report for active duty" from the Dieselpunk Opera have even more meaning now.

(And here Grimmalkerie suggested that the AIs are fighting their past, human selves, and my reaction was merely: “?! how the-- yes I know the AIs technically have access to time travel, but WHAT THE--?!?!?!?”)

 And now more meta:

What's interesting is the emphasis on 'fire' and 'burning' in all these stories.

For crying out loud, one whole album is called 'Shadows and FLAMES' (in which there's a song called '*anvils*', and the last song is called 'Ashes.'

also "burn in the fiiiiiire, in the fire...in the fiiiiiiiiiireee, in the FI-iire"

"the Coal that sings 'Hosanna' in the fire!...

"Hosana HosannaaaaAAAAaaaaain the basemnts far beneath them, the furnace where you'll burn away!"

and of course, "OOOOOOOOnne DAY, YOU WILL LEARN, AND YOU WILL *BURN* LIKE MY HEART *BURNS*!!"

The dolls aren't hacked to pieces (like Jasper was originally, by Annabel) they're *burned*; "...in 6 hours if we do not return, a war begins, belowground *burns*"

lol, also "in the wastelaaaannd, where the *ashes, ashes all fall down*"

so much emphasis on 'fire' and 'burning' and 'ashes' in all of these

(except in Lost Hollow, which is interesting...)

but it got me thinking...we have Raven, Paul mentioned toying with the idea of Madeleine Magpie...and then I wondered if the Saviour Soul is a phoenix/ firebird?

think about it; they age, catch themselves on fire (for a human, that would be more of a *sacrifice* than anything, don't you agree?), and are *reborn from the ashes*

all the constant reincarnation

what if the Gambler/ Savior Soul was a metaphorical Phoenix of sorts in the story??

(also what i said about it going around in circles--steampunk through atompunk are ordered linearly, yet 'The Room Beneath New Albion' links the first and third together, like it's the link that ties the beginning and the end together, transforming the whole story into a *circle*--lol it also helps that the cover art for each part joins together into a circle ;) )

Aaaaaaaand that’s all I’ve got for now (lol but give me time--I rarely stop thinking about these stories and characters and ‘Uncle Raven’ left me with far more questions than answers).

Let me know what you guys thought of this, and please reblog and comment your own thoughts/ responses below, I’d love to hear corresponding/ differing thoughts on this :)

And Paul Shapera, if you read any of this...honestly, I’m flattered :D

Anyway, until next time: the future, as always, is now on its way...