Saintly Saturday: The Righteous Simeon

Today is the Feast of The Righteous Simeon the God-Receiver. Simeon appears in the Gospel According to Luke when Mary and Joseph, according to the Law, appear at the Temple 40 days after the birth of Christ to present Him and the proper sacrifice (two turtledoves or two pigeons). Simeon sees them, takes the child into his arms and cries out:

Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel!

In other words, Simeon is asking God to allow him to die just as God promised him. On its face, this seems like an odd thing to say. That is, however, until you read about his life. According to the tradition of the Orthodox Church, Simeon was around 360 years old when he met Christ at the Temple.

He was on of the Seventy Jewish Scholars that answered the call of Ptolemy II, Pharaoh of Egypt, to translate the Old Testament into Greek so that it could be included in the Great Library of Alexandria. Initially, the plan was for all seventy scholars to independently translate the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) and then gather together to see what the differences were and argue from there. When they gathered together again, all seventy translations were identical. It was therefore accepted as a divinely inspired translation.

What eventually came out of that work is today called the Septuagint (coming from the word for “seventy”). When we read the New Testament (written in Greek) all of the quotes of the Old Testament come from the Septuagint. Interestingly, the Septuagint is the oldest version of the OT that we have. The Hebrew version of the OT we have today (called the Mesoretic Text) is itself a translation made by Jews who wished to get rid of all the Hellenic influence out of Judaism after the fall of Jerusalem in the 1st century A.D. It is considered a translation because the original Hebrew did not have vowels. Thus, it was possible to make several different readings out of the same passage by inserting different vowels. The earliest Mesoretic Text we have dates from the 9th century A.D. Today’s English OT translations are based on the Mesoretic, not the Septuagint which explains why there can be such variance in the quotations the NT makes of the OT.

Simeon was translating Isaiah when he came across Isaiah 7:14

Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a Son

He didn’t think the word “virgin” should be used and went to change it, but an angel appeared before him and stayed his hand. He was told:

You shall see these words fulfilled. You shall not die until you behold Christ the Lord born of a pure and spotless Virgin.

Thus, Simeon lived in anticipation of being able to die for almost four centuries.

I am fascinated by this story because it subverts expectations. How many people throughout time have fantasized (and even sought) a way to cheat death? The whole vampire phenomenon is rooted in this primal desire. Yet, here is Simeon hoping to die and even asking God Himself to allow him to taste death.

It also reminds me of one of my absolute favorite characters in all of fantasy fiction: the Yellow King from Lawrence Watt-Evans’ The Seven Altars of Dusarra. In context of an RPG, he plays the role of patron. He is the one who sends the main character on his quests. What makes the Yellow King stand out, however, is that his goal is not money or power but rather, much like Simeon, he is an immortal looking for something that will kill him.

This, of course, is an awesome template for an NPC in any RPG, let alone a FRPG: the patron that pulls strings behind the scenes and helps out the PCs but whose real agenda is actually totally against all expectations.

As I have often repeated on this blog, one of the best things about RPGs is its ability to surprise. An NPC who appears to do one thing that narratively makes sense, but is actually doing something completely different is one of the most entertaining surprises we have available to us.

Saintly Saturday: The Presentation of Our Lord and Savior in the Temple

Today is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church: The Presentation of Our Lord and Savior in the Temple. This comes from the second chapter of Luke where Christ fulfills the Law (found in Exodus) by being presented forty days after His birth at the Temple as the first born son with a sacrifice of two turtledoves or two pigeons.

Waiting for Him is the elder Symeon, who had been moved by the Holy Spirit to be at the Temple that day. Upon seeing the Christ child, he takes Him in his arms and cries out:

Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel. — Luke 2:29-32

This story gets really interesting if one looks into the hagiography of Symeon. He was an Alexandrian Jew who was born over three centuries before Christ and was one of the scholars gathered together to do the Spetuagint Greek translation of the OT. When he came to Isaiah 7:14, he did not want to translate the key part of this verse as the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son. As he was about to write maiden in place of the word virgin an angel stopped his hand and declared that he should not die until he saw this prophecy fulfilled.

In other words, when Christ arrives at the Temple forty days after His birth, Symeon has been alive for over three hundred years and when he says, “Lord now let your servant depart in peace” he is asking God to finally allow Him to die.

In fantasy, prophecy is one of those tropes that I do not care for. This is in large part due to the fact that it fails to understand the real purpose of prophecy, which is the revelation of God. I also dislike it because it is lazy storytelling that largely removes free will from the equation.

Due to the fact that RPGs (especially the way that I prefer to play them) are largely dependent upon player choice, prophecy is not something I have ever seen work well in the context of an RPG. One of two things is likely to happen: the campaign gets railroaded into fulfilling the prophecy (thus begging the question, why is this an RPG game and not short story, novella or novel?) or the character in question does something (like dying) so that the prophecy proves to be false.

A far more productive use of prophecy within the context of an RPG is that found in the historical context of the prophets: they were warning the people of God about the consequences of their behavior. If you continue to ignore God (and the fact that you are made to become like Him), bad things are gonna happen.

This does two things: 1) it honors the true purpose of prophecy — it reveals the characteristics of God that we can aspire to be like; 2) it honors human freedom — there is no coercion when you tell a child that if you touch a hot burner on the stove, you will be burned. This use, of course, assumes you are interested in including the kind of theology into the hobby that I am.

Even so, the aspect of this story that interests me the most is the idea of an NPC who cannot die, but rather than seek ways to exploit it (as the various flavors of undead are want to do), this person is seeking out the circumstances in which they can die. Due to the simple fact that this undeath is not being exploited, such a character is obviously trying to either undo some wrong or seeking out a specific kind of good.

This makes for a potentially fascinating interaction with PCs who are normally obsessed with not only not dying, but exploiting the various powers granted them through experience and adventuring. It turns a lot of gaming (and life) assumptions on their ear and challenges everyone to look at the game (and life) from a different perspective. Not to mention the fact that such an NPC would make an absolutely fascinating patron, because once the criteria of what this person needs accomplished is known, a direct interaction with the NPC is not actually necessary. Thus, whenever circumstances come up that might fit the criteria, the PCs are given a choice — do we make a side-trek to help the patron on our own or do we do what we really want to do and continue to potentially doom this person to what he or she perceives as a curse? What happens when those opportunities are ignored?

This is the kind of NPC that has the potential to be a catalyst for players making interesting choices that result in great gaming sessions — something the fantasy trope of prophecy never can.

Saintly Saturday: Icon of the Theotokos the Milk-giver

I have to admit that I was struggling this week with what to write about for this post. I always look ahead at the saints celebrated on the coming Saturday and normally one just jumps out and inspires with all kinds of ideas. Not so much this week. And then the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) decided for me.

Last night arrived an icon my wife ordered from Romania and today is its feast day. Thus, My Lady the Theotokos the Milk-giver has requested that I write about her.

This is a rare icon showing the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ child. It is a pictorial theological statement that started in the sixth century A.D. in reaction to the various heresies that are scandalized in part or in whole with the Incarnation. There have been various attempts to explain away (and therefore deny) the idea that God Himself in the second person of the Trinity would humble Himself by becoming a helpless babe dependent upon His mother for milk. This icon definitively defends this understanding of Christ.

This idea also shows up in the hymnody surrounding the Theotokos. In the Greek tradition, as part of the Dormition Fast (the preparatory period prior to the Falling Asleep (death) of the Virgin Mary in August), the Paraklesis (supplication) to the Theotokos is sung. The last hymn in this commemoration of her death is this:

You are a tower adorned with gold,
A city surrounded by twelve walls,
A shining throne touched by the sun,
A royal seat for the King,
O unexplainable wonder,
How do you nurse the Master?

Note how it is asked in the present tense…

In the thirteenth century, St. Sava of Serbia (also celebrated today) visited the monastery of his namesake (the Lavra of St. Sava the Sanctified) near Jerusalem. When Sava of Serbia approached the relics, the staff of Sava the Sanctified fell to the floor at the feet of Sava of Serbia. This was a fulfillment of a prophecy given by St. Sava the Sanctified some 700 years earlier. He said that a royal pilgrim bearing his name would visit and that the miracle-working icon of the Theotokos the Milk-Giver should be given to him. The father St. Sava of Serbia was the Serbian king and his mother was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor.

Today the icon is in the Serbian monastery Hilandar on Mt. Athos.

In a sandbox type of campaign, one of the most useful tools of a DM/GM/Referee etc. is the Patron. They are an excellent source of rumors, adventure seeds and sponsors for expeditions that players might not otherwise be able to afford or have the means to undertake.

This feast in honor of the Icon of the Theotokos the Milk-giver demonstrates that, with a little thinking outside the box, that a Patron need not necessarily be a regular NPC. Saints can be Patrons, as can relics, artifacts and magic items.

For example, imagine a party coming into town needing the healing services of the clerics of a particular church or monastery (or training or any number of things a party would routinely show up at such a place). There could be a visiting dignitary trying to move an icon or some relics to another place or their could be some kind of artifact that resides there.

When the PCs arrive with their request, a staff falls at their feet, the artifact reacts in a particular way or the relics themselves have been refusing to be moved until the PCs show up. In this way, these objects are communicating that they wish the PCs to undertake some task — such as moving them from Point A to Point B.

These tasks can always be refused, of course, but then the DM/GM/Referee etc. has an excuse to have this object NPC mess with their lives in small ways until such time that the task is complete.

On the surface, this may seem to be a tool in the rail-road-type campaign toolbox, and it certainly could be used in such a manner; however, if one roleplays the situation and its aftermath instead of imposing mechanical consequences this can add a whole new layer of depth to a campaign world where PCs can have relationships with unconventional things like magic items, relics and artifacts.

Saintly Saturday: St. James the Great Martyr of Persia

This saint was a noble from the city of Bythlaba in Persia. He was the beloved friend of Isdiger I, King of Persia (399-420). Though the King was hostile to Christianity, out of his desire to spare his friend, he lured James with gifts and flattery. The King was successful and James renounced Christ; however, the year that Isdiger died and his son Bahram V (421-438) came to power the rumor that James had become apostate reached the ears of his Christian mother and wife. They wrote him a scathing letter, declaring that if James had chosen temporal glory over the love of Christ then they wanted nothing to do with him. James was stunned and was brought to his senses. Tears of repentance poured from his eyes and he once again attached himself to Christ.

Upon hearing this news, King Bahram (who also considered James a friend), following the successful actions of his father, tried to lure the saint with gifts and flowery words. St. James, however, was better armed for the fight and refused renounce his true King. Angered, Bahram condemned St. James to a brutal death.

The Orthodox Church gives the title "Great Martyr" to those that suffered particularly nasty or prolonged deaths. St. James certainly qualifies. His body was dismembered one joint at a time. He survived having both his arms and legs cut off in this manner. Finally, he was beheaded in the year 421.

I'd like to make three observations: two historical and one RPG related. First the historical:

• This reminds me that until the rise of Islam, Christian Rome's biggest rival was the Zoroastrian Persian Empire.
• Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic (though dualist) religion. I won't belabor the point, but, contrary to the synchretistic and PC impulses of modern man to insist that all religions (especially monotheistic ones) all want to go to the same place, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism are radically different.

Now to the RPG stuff. The story of St. James reminds me that the concept of the Patron is often neglected (especially in fantasy RPGs). This is, in part, due to the nature of the source material where most characters in pulp fantasy were Grey Mouser and Fafhrd types who were tied to no one. When used correctly, however, Patrons can be exceptionally useful tools.

Most obviously, they are a source for adventures. They can give characters "missions" that, if not over used, can serve as "palette cleansers" for normal dungeon and wilderness exploration. Patrons can also give life to the world beyond the characters. By representing their own agenda, they imply agendas that run counter to their own goals. Without much effort, this can lend depth to an otherwise sketchy world. Finally, this background noise can become a major campaign theme/conflict should the Patron disappear/die/get replaced.

In my own campaigns, I try to take advantage of both magic users and clerics in order to insert Patrons into the game. Clerics are more natural for this — bishops make great Patrons. With magic users, they have to get their spells from somewhere. The story of St. James reminds me that there will probably be a major change in store for my players in the near future...