{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/274",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "whorl",
  "thread": {
    "id": 274,
    "subject": "Sacrifice Mechanics",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1997-05-09T14:00:19+00:00",
    "last": "1997-05-09T14:00:19+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0005-0251@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Joel Priddy",
        "address": "jpriddy at saturn.vcu.edu"
      },
      "date": "1997-05-09T14:00:19+00:00",
      "subject": "(whorl) Sacrifice Mechanics",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Here's another a idea that I'm throwing out to you without\nbothering to check the text (I really need to buy copies of the\nbooks if I'm going to keep this up, huh?): there's been some\ndiscussion as to what happens on a \"mechanical\" level during a\nsacrifice that gets the gods attention. If I recall correctly,\neven when the gods aren't sending theophanies, the augurs are\nable to make predictions from the entrails of the victims, and\nthese can be packed with very specific detail. I think it's at the\nfuneral where Silk basically reads the plotline of the book from\na pile of guts. Is there any way this could be accounted for in a\n\"mechanical\" sense? Maybe if the gods are exerting tremndous\nactive control on the genetic structure of the Whorl's animal\npopulation, and then hypnotizing people to purchase the animal\nwith the right message in it, but if they had that much control,\nthe book would never have happened. So here's the thought... The\nGods of Mainframe are real gods. Wolfe has stated his theory that\nthe pagan gods were real, just not worthy of worship. Perhaps\nthis is an illustration of that. I admit, I hope some one shoots\nthis down quickly and succinctly. I'd much rather keep the gods\non a technological scale where we can at least discuss them. If\nthey've attained a supernatural quality (as a result of worship\nand sacrifice?) then they become just too unkown. But is there a\nway to account for both the hunger for sacrifices and the\naccuracy of augury?\nHrm... I suppose a real theophany did follow the above mentioned\nsacrifice, so who knows what sorts of mental activity was being\nbroadcast in that instance. Are there other instances of very\nspecifically accurate divinations?\n\nJOEL"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}