Chapter 33 Imitation and Ritual

Jiuxia was not only populous, but also boasted an unbroken cultural heritage. Even after Dayfall, the immense and active power of cultural imagination hidden within this land still persisted. Thus roamed the social gods haphazardly across the land.

Some rituals were only effective in Jiuxia, ineffective anywhere else, because they tapped into the collective cultural imagination of the Jiuxia people.

The essence of tapping into this cultural imagination was "imitation."

Imitating those legendary stories, imitating the immortals and mutant beasts of myths—if the imitation was close enough and could evoke such associations in others... then the cultural imagination would take effect. Therefore, in Jiuxia, when some esteemed individuals performed rituals, they often summoned a large crowd, since the "recognition" of the audience itself generated power, drawing forth that vast cultural imagination.