Checkup: A Higher Power

""What!?!?!"" Don and Diana were unified in their exclamation of shock.

"Should I not have said that?"

"Jesus is, was, considered the greatest cultural and religious mystery of our time!" Diana, who showed great interest in the past, was enthusiastic in her explanation. "His existence could be reliably confirmed owing to the large number of third, second, and even first hand sources, but we could make nothing of his miracles which supposedly happened. Some could possibly be explained as sleight of hand, others might even be described as a slightly more advanced understanding of scientific principles, but there were some that just didn't make sense no matter how we tried to look at it."

"Yeah. I'm not exactly religious, nor am I too educated on the historical or cultural fields, but even I know about the Enigma of Nazareth."

"Well, I suppose your reactions make sense considering the fact you don't know the intricacies of split..." The Arboreal Maiden trailed off. She seemed like she was seriously contemplating. "I suppose it would be unfair to deny you an explanation at this point wouldn't it. In that case, you should understand that most of the stories related to that man are true, most. After his death, some details of certain stories were embellished in the same way rumors are, but by and large they all hold true. This even applies to the circumstances of his birth, that being Mary the Virgin."

Diana and Donovan alike were staring at her with rapt attention. This was huge for them.

"Rather than being impregnated through intercourse, Jesus was conceived by the Great Csillacra's direct fertilization of one of her eggs in order to create an avatar which it could use in order to enact change. Split, as you might imagine, was involved in this process. Remember that your universe was only severely lacking in split, not absent of it. Jesus, as he was named, was not under the Great Csillacra's direct control but rather acting under its suggestions and tutelage."

"Wouldn't that make the Great Csillacra the father?"

"The father?" Donovan was confused at Diana's interjection.

"Part of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was the Son, God was the Father, and the Holy Spirit was... I guess we don't know yet, do we?"

"About that..." The Arboreal Maiden shyly raised a finger. "I, might have had a part in all of that." Her cheeks were ever so slightly redder, clearly embarrassed about it.

"You're the Holy Spirit?!" Diana was further shell-shocked.

"Not . . . quite. You see, the Great Csillacra isn't the best at conveying certain emotions, considering it lacks the relevant biological features. So, when needed, I may or may not have had to act as a substitute in order to achieve the desired effect. Anyways, Jesus was often told to go to a certain place and perform certain actions that would further the Great Csillacra's plans. That isn't to take anything away from his own character of course, he was a paragon of your virtues through and through. Many an occasion he performed acts on his own out of the goodness of his heart. Unfortunately, that caught the attention of the local Empire and lead to his eventual death.

I think you might be surprised to find that the effects of this, especially those related to his 'resurrection', were far more effective at accomplishing what the Great Csillacra set out to achieve than what it had originally planned to do."

"He was actually resurrected?"

"Kind of, at least by your standards. It might be more accurate to say he was forced into a near death coma that took three days to recover from."

"How long was he without food? Water?" Donovan was more surprised with his tenacity and will to live.

"He could replicate bread, presumably through split, and fasted for forty days and forty nights at one point. I imagine a mere three or four without it would be possible." Diana answered his question, much to the Arboreal Maiden's delight. It really made her job easier when someone she was working with had the gist of the it.

"That is indeed the case. After he recovered enough to move the boulder from his tomb's entrance and fled, he began working small 'miracles' behind the scenes for some time before his death."

"Wow. Here I was thinking we would never get the answers..." Diana looked up at the sea of leaves above them. "In that case, who was the devil? Was there someone else you had play the fool?"

"No, the devil was not an individual or other such entity but a 'manifestation' of humanity's, no, Terranity's more evil nature. In the context of religion, you might call it the original sin, or cardinal sins, those instincts and desires that epitomize barbarism."

"So the devil is within us all after all, huh?" Don was thinking about all this new info. He wasn't exactly an academic, but he could tell when something was probably very important for him to know.

"While they certainly are rather destructive impulses, I should tell you that they are not without purpose. In fact, the Great Csillacra purposefully designed you to be that way not only to survive the early stages, but so you may be better suited to accomplish the task it has for you.

Lust, while necessary to make sure that your initially limited numbers grew and that you would continue to the point you would be introduced to the greater universe, introduces problems in a society that has grown past a certain point. At the same time, chastity as an antonym might be thought of as lust for a single person, monogamy, an important societal function to have if you wish for everyone to be at least somewhat pleased and able to continue their lineage.

Gluttony was a prerequisite for civilization to bloom, the desire for food incentivizing a sedentary lifestyle so that you might focus your attention on progressing as opposed to survival. However should one become too gluttonous they will suffer from health risks, those associated with being fat, and so a degree of temperance is required to maintain a suitable store of food and a healthy body.

Greed, alongside Sloth, serve to incentivize growth both technologically and economically. Charity is a necessity in order to make sure that no single person becomes overly wealthy and therefore despised by others, while Diligence is required to actually get things done.

Envy is a powerful motivator as well, encouraging people to better their skills and usefulness to society in small amounts in order to attain what they desire, though too much of it will result in actions such as theft. To counter this a societal pressure consisting of kindness and liberality to take care of others must be implemented to disincentivize theft and encourage others to reach their desires, the objects of their envy.

Pride, then, is ultimately what moves people to better themselves, at least in small amounts. Pride can push people to properly enforce laws, protect others, and provide care, though it may also push them to do nasty things or make them stubborn. Therefore an air of humility is required to keep it in check, to always be open to someone being better than another.

All of these sins and virtues needed to be balanced in order for you to grow. Tip the scale too far to one side and your species might even start to regress. A people too chaste will begin to shrink in size and ultimately die. A person too temperate will end up malnourished. Someone too charitable will only end up impoverishing themselves, another too diligent in their duties may end up working themselves to death. Someone too kind may end up being taken advantage of, empowering those predisposed to sin. Those too humble will not only draw the ire of others, thinking it to be a mockery, and potentially even miss chances to display their skills."