Severing

One of the most famous seers was Helix, a slave taken from the First Fold. Helix was trained by her owner as a shaper, and then discovered her powers of foresight. In the mid-1800s, Helix was troubled by a series of disturbing visions. Her visions were so vivid and terrible that her owner brought her to the Conclave. After weeks of debate, including supporting and contradictory testimony by other seers, the Conclave agreed that Helix' visions revealed a coming threat to the Delirium. Collectively, Helix' visions came to be called the Prophecy of Severing, because of how the Conclave responded.

Until that time, the Dream Monarchs had allowed their shards to evolve more or less in tandem with the First Fold: Earth's cultures, fashions, technologies, and the like. The nature of passions in the First Fold had changed over time, but in general the Delirium benefited from its close ties. However, in the Prophecy of Severing, Helix foresaw a time when the passions of the First Fold would drastically change. New technologies, especially, would affect the balance and production of passions.

Government would change. Leaders would no longer raise from the ranks of warriors and statesmen, but would be figureheads of massive, corrupt political parties and bureaucracies. These bureaucracies would grow ever larger and more labyrinthine, until most people felt disconnected, distrustful, or openly cynical about government.

War would change. Weapons like mustard gas and missiles would depersonalize conflict even more than gunpowder had. There would be fewer glories for lone warriors. Officers would no longer fight alongside their troops. War would be fought on maps by weary old men.

Crafting would change. Mass production would replace cottage industries. An object would no longer be made an individual or small group. Rather, assembly lines would lead to wage-slave jobs, as workers' labor became diffuse and uninspired. Corporations would disconnect employees from investors or customers. Millions of men and women would blandly imprison themselves in beige cubicles. Fewer people would make anything for themselves, and the relatively bland passion of mindless consumerism would take the place of pride in self-sufficiency and a job well done.

Entertainment would change. While new media would lead to some new geniuses and their masterpieces, the greater effect of mass media would be pacifying. In the noise of headphones and the glare of televisions, passion would wane into dazed, restrained boredom. The most passionate arts like plays and storytelling would wane.

The Prophecy of Severing covered many other areas of life in the First Fold. In almost every area, Helix' visions were bleak. The majority of the Conclave agreed that the Passion Trade was threatened. They were particularly worried by her incomprehensible but terrifying glimpses of things like the US Civil War and subsequent emancipation of slaves, the Nazi Holocaust, nuclear weapons, and environmental crises (e.g., endangered species). There would be a flood of black crystals. But in the Delirium, it's widely said that a shard needs the full rainbow to prosper.

The majority of the Conclave were powerful, conservative Monarchs. They were happy with how things were in the mid 1800s, and didn't want to risk the effects of the coming radical, widespread changes. So they called for the Severing. The shards of the Conclave would no longer evolve in parallel with the First Fold, but remain in or slowly progress from the 19th Century.

The Severing was and still is controversial. Some Dream Kings and Queens and other Passionate think the close ties to the First Fold should be restored.

[The Prophecy of Severing is loosely inspired by the some of the ideas of Objectivism, as played out in the video game Bioshock and the novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.]