[Dragaera] Messianic figures

[Elizabeth Dalton]

Margaret Young wrote:
> So are messianic figures in dragaera qualified as messianic not by their personal character but by their house membership?
> 

There's often a relationship between the two, isn't there? But in any 
case, a "messianic" figure is commonly defined as follows: "Jewish, 
Christian, Zoroastrian and Islamic eschatology teach that there will be 
a "Messianic Age" when the Messiah will come and bring peace and 
prosperity to the earth." (Wikipedia, "Messianic Age".) Judaic tradition 
specifies a ruler in the secular sense, as well as a religious leader. 
Christian tradition often specifies a more spiritual definition of 
"messiah" involving the salvation of individual souls.

Possibly whether someone in the Dragaeran Empire can be a "messiah" in 
the Judaic sense depends on where their House is in the Cycle, though 
arguably Kelly & co. are trying to bring about a change in prosperity 
(for the majority) irrespective of the Cycle. It's hard to see how house 
membership would have much to do with messianic qualities in the 
Christian sense (and as Jon has pointed out, where all souls are reborn, 
this concept may not be particularly relevant, unless one wants to 
consider the threat from the Jenoine).

What "messiah" might mean outside of the Empire, where the Cycle seems 
to hold no meaning, is a different question. Presumably they are also 
threatened by the Jenoine, though they don't seem to be part of whatever 
the Lords of Judgment are doing with the Empire. (My own theory is that 
the Lords of Judgment are using the Empire and the Cycle as a power 
generation source-- the characteristics of the different Houses, and the 
way they force cyclical change by their very nature, pushes the physical 
Cycle and generates power that the Lords of Judgment use to hold off the 
Jenoine.)

Here's an interesting question: we think humans reincarnate on Dragaera. 
Did they reincarnate before the Jenoine tampered with them? Did *anyone* 
reincarnate before the creation of the Greater Sea of Amorphia and its 
subsequent use by the Dragaeran Gods?

e