The multiple parts of the soul idea explicitly applies to gods such as Yelm as well. And to demigods for that matter. The 'all humans' part says that all humans have the regulation 7 parts, and that other gods/beings might not - but its doesn't mean that other beings are outside the the scheme entirely, on the contrary - many other beings simply have less than the full human complement of parts.
Demigod simply literally means 'half-god'. Being a demigod Emperor is nothing new - all the emperors of Dara Happa where officially at least 1/6th god, and Yelmgatha was 5/6ths god, Yelm himself in all ways other than being a big ball of fire in the sky (the Lunars might quibble on the seventh part, but wouldn't argue with his partial divinity).
What we are saying is exactly that the Red Emperor as a singular being does not have the same soul as a human being, just as you are. But we are also saying look at this in a Dara Happan/Lunar manner - they are used to the idea of different parts of the soul coming from different sources, and this is exactly the way in which the Red Emperors return should be looked at. To say that the Red Emperor is different and the soul parts idea just doesn't apply is not just to say that the Red Emperor is different to normal humans - its to say he is different to the Red Goddess, to Yelm, to the previous Emperors, and indeed to every being understood by his culture. Bollocks to that, I say.
And there are many reasons to look at the Red Emperor in this light - - while obviously a being in some ways, with knowledge carried over from manifestation to manifestation etc, not only does he look different but he has a different personality. There is a simple explanation for this in native Lunar/Dara Happn metaphysics - some soul parts are the same, while others differ. Why reject this explanation?
Especially as this explanation seems to be exactly what is said in TFS (in the Lunar Red Emperor document, even) - that many of his parts are not the same, but that 'the Soul of Antirius has united the masks' - ie that the masks share the same Antirius part. I would agree with Peter that they probably share the same Great Soul as well. As for the other parts, I think that some (particularly the physical body) change, and some are reestablished in separate rituals.
>Perhaps his body was given
>to him by a willing noble and this started a tradition of this kind of thing,
>but I mentioned this before on the digest and the response was that it was
>similar to the Pharoah and was a big yawn. So that's out.
Perhaps because you simply suggested a copy of what happens in the Holy Country, and ignored a well-established and far more interesting native Lunar metaphysical framework (the parts of the soul) for explaining what is going on here? Don't throw all variants of that concept out because we didn't like your first attempt.
>The parts on the various masks were written in the lunar period and have many
>places that show DHs in a bad light. I think the spin is Lunar.
Yes, the part on the masks ('the New Empire') is explictly Lunar, and has a Lunar spin. The part about the Red Emperor is also explicitly Lunar, though with a different spin, slightly less . TFS earlier proper is different and explicitly Dara Happan. How far to trust the Lunar propoganda in literal detail (especially where it concerns polically important details of the succession) can be seen by comparing the descriptions of the death of Yelmgatha in TFS proper and in the Red Emperor article. We know its Lunar propoganda with a somewhat casual approach to the truth. If it will tell outright lies about the historically documented death of a great emperor, surely it will ommit details that contradict the official view of the succession?
>>Since the Emperor has Seven Parts, the two parts that are
>>the same could easily be his Seventh (Rashoranic) Self and
>>his Antirius self.
>
>Possibly. But it doesn't say which, so that would be speculation.
It does explicitly say the Antirius part, IMO, at the end of the Red Emperor article. The Rashoranic self is speculation on Peters part that I agree with - consider it a hand extended towards compromise here, backing the claim that the Red Emperor is essentially the same being in the most important way (and that there is more continuity between Red Emperors than between Yelmic Emperors), while leaving room for other aspects to come from different sources, in a way that is explicitly drawn from existing Greggish writing.
FWIW I don't think that its true that the Red Emperor obtains his physical body the same way every time, or that the process represented in Life of Moonson is even close to a typical succession process.
>This does leave me wondering though what we've been arguing about. I've been
>accused of running right over other peoples work
But you attempting to promote
Regards David ------------------------------
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