"Set in an experimental sci-fi comic book action adventure literary world-building project universe of multi-book series nested within other book series, 'The Zeppoverse' may be a bit disorienting to navigate at first... but you kind get used to it...
Roiling clouds that threaten, but never unleash Rain.
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Cold Feet.Bone Cold.Yet he stood. Stalwart and Steadfast.Breath visibly elevating up and away in the early morning light.
6:15 am
The overcast sky a solid block of roiling, back-light, heavenly bundles of bleak, grey, endless clouds.The bright light managing to filter through was steely, devoid of heat, and flat. The kind of light that irritates the eyes of mere mortals, and veritably blinds those pure of heart, but seem to suit perfectly the ones with the most vile intent in the cockles of their heart of hearts.
"The Light Divides the Day, and the Creatures of the Earth, in parts and parties, in accordance to their hearts; with its many cycles and variable frequencies, so the Lord Said"
In the center of town, at the foot of the Civic Opera House Building's massive staircase, is the Public Square. Along each side of the square were the various buildings housing the various organizations and departments of city and state governance. The Authorities.
The Opera House had been granted the most prominent status, as expressed by size, and sophistication of structural design, for the purposes of projecting the image of having a grand history of creative expression as a cultural center.
Lies.He knew this well. It had pained him as a child to learn it.
Regardless... He admired the almost royal grandeur of the building's facade genuinely, and almost... sentimentally.
The Opera House towered above the rest, and oriented the perception of all who visited the public square. All other buildings existed in relation to its position on the Northern edge of the expansive plaza at the very center of the City.Each morning, a multi-layered and complex buzz of growing activity marked the start of daily civic life in a chaotic yet somehow reassuring scene that reminded him of some long ago watched movie set in ancient London.
Vanilla Breve Late in one hand, and his much beloved, printed, original edition of, what to him was indeed a very holey book- "Light is Law"
This book, little did he know, had already more than once cost many humble, dedicated men and women their lives. One of the few relics to have survived the devastation of WW3, and one of the few to have then since been lovingly, daringly, and quite covertly re-created for religio-anarchic revolutionary protest against The System.
Altho he has taken the Oath in good faith and sane and sober frame of mind, the potential impact of his reading the words openly to others was something he did not quite fully comprehend as fully as he aught too. Bliss is a delightful form of Ignorance.
He lived with the cloak of confidence of having survived the worst of the "bad times" andHe held it close. Despite having done this protest action daily for the past year and a half, he always had a brief moment of fear, in which he felt lost... detached from his Master's watchful eye... and the notion that he would fail his cause and lose the book, or worse allow it to fall into the hands of the officers arresting him. God-forbid! he always silently prayed that he would not be forsaken that way by his master.
The doubt was always brief, and irrational.
His Master, a being of great power and abilities, had never failed to disappear the book, some times from his very hands, as the officers approached.
The book, THIS book, was banned.Possessing the book was punishable by immediate exile and or death.
Few people knew this. The vast majority of the world's population had never even heard of the book, let alone ever actually held a real printed tome in their own hands.It was a rare treasure to behold indeed, this physical book.
So few remained in the world.
There was no outright ban on the printing of books.No, the system had been far too subtle to go that far.
No, the system had simply allowed for the vast majority of the world's library's to be "accidentally" destroyed during the brief yet global destructive WW3, and then, during the rebuilding- the system allowed for "Free Market Forces" to preemptive block the return of the Print based Publishing Industry.
Printed Books were no almost as rare as Faberge Eggs, and only a few sanctioned and heavily monitored Publishing Houses could take on the ironically much publically revered act of printing books.
The content was all highly monitored by the system.
And while few realized, the underground circulation of rare, pre-war era books was a growing concern, something the Government System was currently either honestly ignorant of, or purposefully turning a very convincing blind eye to.
This book, were it to be physically seized, would spell the death of anyone arrested with it in their possession.
Religion is a severely taboo and highly regulated bizness.
Pre-War ideas about spirituality and God, and related topics were at the highest tier of illegality.
The Preacher had been arrested many times.Each time he had been released, almost miraculously. Each time, all those in the state system who had participated in his arrest, somehow lost all memory of that event and woke up each morning with zero recollection of ever having arrested him. His Master had explained that this was so for many reasons, not all of which he could take credit for personally.
His Master had directed him to ignore all desire to understand why, but rather focus on learning how to express himself the most accessibly for those who are curiously listening, without triggering the state to investigate his preachin.
Preachin was, of course, a state-sanctioned activity, only allowed right here, in the Public Square, or in a private (though heavily spied on) Church House.The Preachin Industry was a heavily sanctioned, monitored, taxed, regulated, and censured biziness to get into. Few people did so these days.Most people were natural sheep looking for a charismatic Shepard to lead the way. The state-controlled all the big celebrity Preachers, with direct control over their content.To allow for the perception of fairness and equality, there was no Public Ban on any specific religion and ideology... but you see, the state regulations so severely restricted who even could lease out a private church building, that no "new" churches or religions or interpretations on doctrine of any existing church had organically arisen from the people since the end of the war.
The three big religions, were effectively, just marketing branches of the State System, which of course had one primary function-
To profiteer on the endless War between the Three Religions.You can see why, despite the fact that he was always released un-harmed each time, every morning, the Preacher went through his bought of fear, and angst, and nerves, and doubt, and fear.
He was risking his freedom, his very life... each and every single time he stepped up on his humble preacher's stump, and began to talk to who ever in the Public Square would stop to listen.
Preacher: Good Morning Brothers and Sisters! Have you heard? Man's law is a lie. The only Law is Light!
