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Ancient Religion Or Dangerous Cult? By Tennessee Ernie Ford
WARNING: THIS DISCLAIMER (although silly) LIMITS OUR LIABILITY
PLEASE READ
The following is a work of fiction.
As such, it is written expressly for the amusement and entertainment of the
reader. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the underwriters, the
publishers (electronic or otherwise), those who produce or distribute the game
(including, but not limited to the 3DO Company and New World Computing), the
game's players, nor even the author.
Reasonable people can sometimes find offense where none was intended by other
reasonable people, including the author. The author would like to make it
clear that the similarity of persons (living or dead), characters (fictional
or semi-fictional), deities (worshipped or forgotten), or religions (supported
or abandoned) is entirely coincidental.
PLEASE DO NOT READ if you take seriously your religion, your games, or your
politics. The author does not intend to belittle or disparage, impugn or put
down, compare or contrast. However, some people could be dismayed or taken
aback upon reading the story.
Additionally, those whose game play is still in progress are advised:
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS.
It is recommended that you not read the story unless you have completed The
Temple of the Snake.
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/Perry/ Welcome to this edition of "Point-Counterpoint." I'm your host,
Perry Riposte and tonight's topic is the mysterious and newly materialized
Temple of the Snake. For our discussion, we have with us:
* Pailey O. Lithic, spokesperson for Anthony Stone, titular head of Enroth's
official religion;
* Carmen Gardner, recently consecrated Assistant Chief Ssssshaman of the
Temple;
* Dolly Ewing, Sub-Priestess of the Temple of Baa, which has recently been
granted freedom to practice in Enroth by Wilbur Humphrey, Regent of Enroth for
His Royal Highness, Prince Nicolai I;
and finally,
* Royal Enrathian Historian, Lord Brian vis Gaim VIII.
Welcome, everyone to P-C.
/guests/ Sssss; Hallo; Baa!; Mmmph
/Perry/ Mr. Lithic, let's begin with you. You claim that the Temple of
Snake represents the deadliest threat to state security since the Great
Enrathian Forest Fire of 1906, which led to the Great Timber Wars. Why? What's
so dangerous about a small temple located leagues from Blackshire, the nearest
town?
/Pailey/ Perry, I hardly know where to begin. Should I first mention the
recent Heady Medal concerts, where dozens of teenage music-lovers were found
stoned? Or perhaps we might focus on the threat posed by the capture and
imprisonment of a gold dragon rook and how that will affect relations between
humans and dragons. Need I stress the peril of concentrating so many gorgons
in one place? Of course, there's the recent disappearances of dozens of
Blackshirean citizens; their clothes, jewelry and other personal effects have
been found within a stone's throw of the temple. Finally, our office has been
investigating allegations that the temple has no true converts, rather that
medussae have been casting charms on first-time visitors.
/Perry/ Dra Carmen, how do you answer these allegations? Have you
permitted youth to get stoned? Why a dragon in a snake temple? What about the
charm spells?
/Gardner/ Perry, these sssstories are jusssst outrageoussss. Firssssst of
all, the Temple of the Ssssssnake is sssssomewhat of a misssssstranslation
from ancient Xeen. We should more properly be referred to as, "The Church of
Latter Day Ssssssserpents," although ssssome ssssscholars prefer, "Church of
Sssssserpentology." Naturally, we have ssssscaled creatures of all ssssssorts
on the temple grounds: cobras, geckosss, ssssskinkssss, and ssssso forth.
Medusssssssae and Gorgons are, ssssscertainly, ssssssome of our mossst
ssssssainted creatures, ssssince they sssssso sssstrongly sssssymbolize
ssssserpentry. The ssssssalcious rumor of the dragonrook napping is
ssssslanderous; Vermatrix Goldenhyde is our mosssst honored guesssssst and a
delegate from our cherished ancesssstral cousins, the Gold Dragons of Xeen.
Finally, we think that Anthony Sssssssssssssstone has become
obsessssssssssssssssssed with the Royal Church's failure to protect itsss King
and Country. The failing economy, the increasssssed pressssence of monssssters
near civilized Enroth, the dissssssssapearancsssse of King Roland, and
sssssssssurge in the appearanccccccccce of Ssssssstarbucksssss
ssssstorefrontssss has driven Enrathians to look for sssssolace in the old
religions. We cannot help it if Ssstone's leadership is sssssssuspected and
his flock has flown. He ssssssssshould admit that his sssssselection of a
Sssssspecial Prosecutor to investigate our church is pure partisan politics.
/Perry/ And how do Baathians taken this, Mother Dolly? Your church has
only recently received official sanction from the House of Ironfist. Do you
consider the new herpetology as a threat?
/Ewing/ Baa be with you, Perry. No, the Church of Serpentology poses no
conceivable threat to Enroth; the idea is laughable. We Baathians have long
argued that the Crown must expand freedom of religion in these troubled times.
We see clearly that the old gods have not even prevented the resurgence of
harpies in the vicinity of Stone's own castle! Even Stone himself now refers
to his homeland as, 'The Frozen Highlands,' so impotent has he been in dealing
with the Endless Winter.
We see it as a sign of the times: the old gods must always make way for the
new. We, of course, are confident that Baa, the One True God, reigns supreme,
but He extends his favor to all creatures, even the lesser deities, such as
the Serpent God. So, we welcome our new friends who pray with snakes, as well
as those who follow the teachings of the Royal Church, and everyone else as
well. Baa loves you all.
/Perry/ Last, but not least, we turn to Lord Brian vis Game VIII. Sir, you
have recently discovered documents that indicate the Temple of the Snake is
nothing more than a wormhole created to allow deadly denizens to enter Enroth.
The structure, the religion, and the presence of lesser serpents… you claim
all this is cover for the real temple activities: the sacrificing of young men
in order to summon demons and devils to our planet. Can you tell us more?
/Brian/ Hmmrumph, hhmn. Ah, yes, Perry, I believe Lords Stone & Humphrey
have completely underestimated the, shall-we-say, hazards posed by the Temple
of the Snake. These forged, ahem, Xeenian documents mentioned earlier, refer
not to some ancient religion; they are instead, mmmgghmm, directions for
building various children's toys. As I am one of the few humans still schooled
in the ancient tongue, I believe the hggghgt so-called church's officials
believe that secret will remain hidden from the public.
But clearly, there have been great disturbances in the fabric of space
emanating from Star Island. The lesser snakes, the gorgons, the medussae, even
the gold dragon-they are not there to worship-far from it-they are there to
prevent humans from wandering into one of the Invocation Ceremonies by
mistake. The religion was invented to explain the presence of so many guard
animals and monsters.
The church's mythology also allows a plausible explanation for the presence of
peasants on the premises. Supposedly, they are there to pray, to study the
ancient ways. In truth, these men have been bewitched by the snake-haired
guardians and will eventually become sacrificed during one of the dark
rituals.
However, if I might add, we have much more to fear from these, hrrumph, snake-
oil salesmen posing as congregationalists. I would venture to say we should be
worrying about something that threatens the very foundations of reality which
allow our planet to exist. This peril is more immediate, more powerful, and…
/Perry/ I'm afraid we're out of time for tonight. Thank you all for coming.
I've enjoyed our discussion immensely. I hope our viewers have learned much
from this evening's guests.
Tomorrow night, join us at Point-Counterpoint as we discuss the disappearance
of Rocklin in "Lord of the Dwarves: Master Embezzler or Victim of a Well-
Orchestrated Coup?" I've been your host, Perry Riposte. Stay tuned to this
emanation for a brand-new episode of, "Nights of Our Deaths," the hit soap-
opera about love and betrayal in the Clan Corlagon.
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