Theology
WARNING
dagen lifeDAO Copyright 2022
Keywords
der Anfang，the Beginning：the root (foundation) of “dagen” universe
die Quelle，the Origin：there are three main directions of differentiation (need extra supplements)
der Metagott，the Metagod：there are three main Metagods (need extra supplements)
der Gott，the God：the level three deities, the great god
der Halbgott，the Demi-God：the level four deities, godling
die Fee，the Fairy：the level five creatures with psychic powers, like monsters and evil spirits
das Geschöpf，the Creature：the creature with spiritual body.
der Bot，the Bot：inanimate creatures that exist by simple rules
der Stoff，the Substance：substance
die Essenz，the Essence：the essence of things
der Schock，the Shock：intense world events in the scene due to conflicts between origins or other circumstances
der Riss，the Rift：a passage to another world (special advanced scene)
das Karma，the Karma：karma, reputation + currency on the three origins
The basic elements of the deities
Philosophy orientation
The setting of deity(god?) is basically based on the concept of Panentheism ( “all in God”, from the Greek πᾶν pân "all", ἐν en "in" and Θεός Theós "god") is the belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time. The term was coined by the German philosopher Karl Krause in 1828 to distinguish the ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854) about the relation of God and the universe from the supposed pantheism of Baruch Spinoza, after reviewing Hindu scriptures. Unlike pantheism, which holds that the divine and the universe are identical, panentheism maintains an ontological distinction between the divine and the non-divine and the significance of both.
In panentheism, the universal spirit is present everywhere, which at the same time "transcends" all things created.
While pantheism asserts that "all is God", panentheism claims that God is greater than the universe. Some versions of panentheism suggest that the universe is nothing more than the manifestation of God. In addition, some forms indicate that the universe is contained within God, like in the Kabbalah concept of tzimtzum. Much of Hindu thought is highly characterized by panentheism and pantheism. Besides, when Karl Krause put forward “Panentheism”, he was based on the related concepts in Neoplatonism, Western philosophy and Orthodox Church.
Philosophical fundamentals that need to be emphasized
The philosophical system of the “dagen” universe is a poly-element system of unity of opposites, against the artificial, forced opposition brought about by Dualism. It’s more like a quest for a more natural, hidden, or even softer contradictory structure. What we want to provide in “dagen” is a soil, on which the creatures can naturally distinguish the community for the benefit, instead of manually categorizing every creature on purpose.
The “dagen” universe seems to be a world with absurdism, but under the whimsical exterior is an anti-absurdist stance: the essense of the “dagen” world is clear and objective (although this “essence” is defined by the “dagen” project team) – this world is “temporarily” beyond the player’s cognitive capacity – “dagen” world is a realization of existentialism, in other words, also a realization of humanitarianism.
The theological system of the “dagen” universe is a metaphor for its philosophical system: since a plain nihilistic world is likely to be mundane and boring, meanwhile instead of an objective world, we need a world with much more fun, that is to say, in this world of non-sense, only our interests do show the essence of sense – so everything we’ve created here, is not to show the rationality just like the mode style of textbook, but to make up a fascinating story, letting all “logic” serves to make this story more consistent with cognitive psychology, so that the imagination in our minds can be formed more vividly and interestingly. –“ ‘dagen’ is a realization of postmodernism”.
Conceptual framework
The Beginning and The Universe
In “dagen” world, objectivity of the universe is the default: the universe is an objective existence; it’s the will of the gods – not created by the will of the gods, but the will of the gods itself. From all fundamental particles, physical quantities and rules to every creature, they all belong to the will of the gods. That is, the essence of the world is the consciousness (or spirit) energy of the First Cause (the only natural objective existence). Due to some incomprehensible reasons, this volitional choice complicated the structure of the spirit energy, resulting in the present “dagen” universe look.
The gods are the only natural objective existence. In the “dagen” universe, we call gods as the Beginning (der Anfang, including the meaning of initiation, beginning, start, outset, onset, opening, inception, origin, commencement)
The Differentiation and The Origin
In the process of creating a more sophisticated energy structure, the will of God diverges into various branches. Take note that the differentiation here does not mean that the God separates into multiple entities; rather, the ‘interest’ of God ‘streams’ in distinct directions (for example, the will to coffee and the will to tea give rise to ‘tea-liking God’ and ‘coffee-liking God’. Despite being composed of different ideas, these wills can be ascribed to a single entity). Because Time is also merely the will of God, these ‘streams’ are independent of the temporal dimension (which is similar to the concept of ‘worshiping buddhas from everywhere in a ksana’).
The Nine Castes
Therefore, in the perception of the players (since time is necessary for players’ perception, illusions arise when it comes to the perception of ‘streams’ for which God needs no time. This situation is similar to perspective projection that we experience on a daily basis): the God is perceived as multiple individuals depending on the caste. However, it cannot be stressed too much that God is unified and one. Specifically, the number of ‘individuals’ of God perceived has nothing to do with God itself, but only relates to the caste that the perceiver (player) belongs to. Just like “Tathagata has millions and billions of incarnations.”
The first level: the Beginning, the First Cause
Unique natural existence, non-personification and incomprehensible existence.
The second level: the Metagod
Three main directions: growth, order, nihility. The embodiment of the multiverse, with the incredible power to completely change the whole universe, or its own will forms part of the multiverse, and can create or destroy the whole world all in a thought.
The third level: the God, Demon
Visualizing, powerful. With incredible power, can violently affect vast areas, like the Son of Heaven, Thor, Phumiphon, Anubis etc.
The fourth level: the Demi-God, Guardian Angel, Spirits
Visualizing, and responsible for specific scenario. They do not necessarily have great powers, but they do have the power to influence or change some part of the world, like the God of Mountain, Local Guardian God. The fourth-level differentiation and above (including the fourth-level differentiation) are all divine beings which are derived direct from the Beginning, such as the God of Mountain and the Deer God in Princess Mononoke, various regional gods in Shan Hai Ching, Dragon King etc.
The fifth level: the Fairy, Celestial being, Monster, Kobold.
A low-level creation with deity, which may have a lot of power from the player’s side, but they have no “divine power” – no ability to influence or change the structure of the world. Creatures in level are “creation from gods” or “ordinary things”.
The sixth level: the Creature (with emotions)
Ordinary creatures with spirits and transformation power: NPC with special functions related to the player and part of the narrative.
TIP
the form of transformation is the projection of the player himself, similar to the player in Terraria, the transformable human in Attack on Titan, the EVA driver, etc.
The seventh level: the Bot
Without spirits, the general NPC, like the eaten plankton.
The eighth level: the Substance
Existence forms: basic material forms, particles, specific energy forms, etc.
The ninth level: the Essence
Abstract energy, no form, Abstract energy, no form, completely abstract concept (also the basic unit of currency).
The three Metagods (three Quelle)
The second level of differentiation of the gods leads to three main directions, the manifestation of the gods differs in each conscious stream. Due to the limitation of cognitive ability, people can’t realize the “uniqueness” nature of the gods. For a long time, players’ cognition will stay in the belief that these three differentiations are three independent objective existences, and evolved into “the three Metagods” narrative. These three Metagods are also called the Beginning or the Beginning God at this time. These differentiations are called the origin (die Quelle, including the meaning of source, spring, well, fountain, origin, repository). , The main god in each differentiation is called Metagott / Metagod, which can also be referred to as die Quelle / the Quelle.
The first Quelle is the differentiation of newborn, new life. Its focus on pure proliferation, chaos, simpleness, relying on pure and meaningless throbbing of life to drive change and development.With a simple form, players can increase productivity by continually scaling up, just like algae, fungi, these kinds of creatures can create huge forests in the end. This Quelle gives players wild space to play as they like, and also not too much restrictions on the shape and scale. However, it’s also difficult to fabricate advanced or delicate structures.
The second Quelle is the differentiation of growth, order. It’s the other extreme attempt by the gods after being bored on the first differentiation. Order and ingenious systems bring this type of creature a very elaborate body structure and various advanced functions (can’t be understood by disassembling them into the combinations of simple functions): eyes, teeth, efficient nervous systems, muscles and skeletons, moreover, the high speed and agility just like the cheetah. The creatures on this differentiation instinctively have a strong impulse to attack those creatures of the first differentiation. They are not satisfied with the ability of autotrophy, but obtain resources by plundering, and do believe that this is an anti-entropic process, a kind of "Justice" that is a necessary process of structuring and ordering the universe. This differentiation gives players beauty in appearance, great power in functions but a relatively small space in playability.
The third Quelle is the differentiation of maturity in spirit. This differentiation is more like… This Quelle have no interests in differentiation, proliferation or oder. Its motive is simply focusing on endless travel, telling the story of eternity. This Quelle gives players the ability to explore. Players can have a relatively fixed form, and keep the ability to defend and attack at the same time. Autotrophy or heterotrophy all depend on environment. This kind of creature have greater environmental adaptability, which makes it easier to step into distant foreign lands, and they will learn the truth of the “dagen” universe earlier… but still keep a indifferent attitude…
The setting framework of the three major Metagott
God doesn’t have one shape
The shape doesn’t have to reflect all the characteristics
The shape is not a simple superposition of elements, but a concrete embodiment of an abstract stand in a specific scene
The first origin / primary origin: the source of life, the source of creation
Color: Green
Tathagata / Tathāgatagarbha life future
The name of Metagott: Tathāgata / Svabhāva
The origin of life represents the childhood, the pursuit of growth.
This origin symbolizes autotrophic organisms. Autotrophic organisms are the earliest forms of organisms. They were born in chaos and have an inexhaustible source of energy. They can develop freely and arbitrarily because of the abundance of resources and the far distance between each other. Thus, there is no competition, no violation, even no concept of “others”.
These creatures are messy, lush, vigorous, active, primitive, self-centered, and they are not aware of the concepts such as "right and wrong", "morality" “rules" ,etc., and just go with the flow (no regard for their own cruelty).
Symbolic image: It embodies the spirit of infants and children: newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. They often try to challenge the world with clumsy and simple methods. They love to eat, drink and play, but they do not have the concept of “possession". They flow like a spring of joy, bursting with vitality, and are extremely self-centered. They can barely restrain and control themselves, and they are completely indifferent, or completely unaware that there are other existences in this world. Sometimes (infringed, obstructed, or for no reason), it goes berserk, unleashing havoc on a large scale.
Their images can be disorganized, stacked haphazardly but living masses. They will also show various shapes, and sometimes the personification of children is more neutral, cheerful, lively, proud, naive, egocentric... Borrow from Azathoth, but a little more "bright" and “vibrant."
Maximum size：⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Production capacity：⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Structure Level：⭐️
Violent tendencies：⭐️⭐️
Destruction Ability：⭐️⭐️⭐️
Destruction Scope：⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Emotional version
Chlorella, Rainforest, Azathoth, Armillaria, Baby in The Incredibles, Freya, Shiva
Concept map
personified version
impersonal concept
The second origin/advanced origin: the source of order, the source of power
Color: Red
Viriya / Vijñānavāda / Yogācāra / energy motivation present
The name of Metagott: Viriya / Rta
The source of order represents adulthood, the pursuit of efficiency and beauty
The second differentiation symbolizes heterotrophic organisms, which obtain energy by plundering the resources of "others", thus requiring greater power and greater structural complexity and precision. At the same time, because it has been living in frequent interactions, the second origin has a clearer understanding of the objectivity of the world. They realize that there are many individuals in this world. At this time, in order to seek the rationality of "plunder", they project "justice" on their own exquisite structure.
** These creatures are rigorous, precise, with exquisite and perfect structure, super high efficiency, strong aggressive power, desire to conquer and assimilate others, clear concept of right and wrong ("I" is justice, "order" is justice), existentialism, search for meaning, ignorance (carrying out cruelty in the name of justice), toughness ( creatures are hard to overwhelm and reconcile). **
Symbolic image: it represents the young male (hot-headed young man): (in their own minds) have strong sense of justice and the concept of right and wrong, and hope to assimilate the whole universe under their own absolute order (justice) to achieve ultimate happiness and goodness. In order to achieve this they are very keen to use violence. They are fiercely aggressive, adept at plunder, and can rationalize all plunder and destruction at the cost of justice. When they are blackened, they will abandon the idea of "justice" and even go to the opposite of the previous belief in "justice", causing amazing damage in a limited range with extremely high efficiency.
Their images are delicate, tight, and powerful structures, often manifesting in personified forms. Their personifications are generally handsome youths, with strength, elegance, efficiency, and perfect bodies bathed in divine light.
Maximum size：⭐️⭐️⭐️
Production capacity：⭐️
Structure level：⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Violent tendencies：⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Destructive Ability：⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Destruction Scope：⭐️⭐️
Emotional version
Michael, Leviathan (the second branch of blackening), mechanical or near-mechanical form (extreme anti-entropy), Brahma, Zeus, Odin, water droplets in The Three-Body Problem.
Concept map
personified version
impersonal concept
The third origin/legacy of origin: the source of wisdom, the source of nihility
Color：Blue
Prajna / Prajñā / understanding void past
The name of Metagott: Nirvana / Prajna
The source of nihility represents old age, detached from a clear purpose and spiritually freed.
The third origin symbolizes the form between living and non-living things (such as viruses), the pursuit of balance and eternity.
Nihilism/absurdism, tolerance, distance, warmth, humanism, coolness, coldness (remains constant even when conscious of their own cruelty). Abandon the notions of right and wrong. Throw away the meaning of everything.
There is unwavering cold-blooded ruthlessness hiding beneath their gentle appearance. However, beneath their ruthlessness is a deep affection for creatures. They have no definite principles and purposes, but travel through endless time and space, singing ancient songs and silently watching the endless stream of life.
Symbolic image: it represents the middle-aged woman who has very complex and elusive values, often shows contradictory behavior, appears to be very mild, but have the tendency to do things that are cold and callous. Their emotions are very stable. In most cases, they will avoid getting involved in disputes, and they will put themselves out of the world in a vague or even cruel attitude. On rare occasions, they will burst into a dominant force when they encounter a strong conflict with their values. Because they are the “Beginning wills” left over from the origin, their wills are fundamental and dominant in the three major origins.
Their image is not mandatory norm, but there is a certain form of presentation. They do not often appear in personified forms. Most of their personifications are low-key middle-aged women, and their introverted appearance reveals undisguised calm elegance. Their endless experiences are more gorgeous than all the forces in the universe, with continuous charming atmosphere.
Maximum size: ⭐️
Production capacity: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Structure level: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Violent tendencies: ⭐️
Destruction Ability: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Destruction Scope: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Emotional version
The grey witch in Record of Lodoss War, Bard, Brahmins, Ancient One, prophets in the Matrix, black holes, hermits, wandering Taoists, walking monks…
Concept map
personified version
impersonal concept
